1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?

2. The way in which my music magazine uses forms and conventions
of real music magazines is by using things commonly seen on the
front covers, contents pages and double page spreads. After
researching different pop music magazines such as Billboard
Magazine, I saw that on their front covers they had a PLUG saying
things such as ‘Exclusive Interview Inside’ and other things that
would be used to interest readers. Billboard magazine don’t use
many but I wanted to use a PLUG because it was a convention of
many other music magazines and I wanted my music magazine to
follow the conventions in order to be successful if it were to be
actually available for purchase and it makes it look like a real life
magazine. Other conventions that I used for my front cover include a
bold masthead. After looking at many other music magazines I saw
that they had all used a bold font for their masthead so that their
magazine name can be noticed when looking at their magazine. I
followed this convention so when looking at my front cover, my
masthead is one of the biggest piece of writing that can be seen on
there other than the main article name which also needed a big font
number so that it would interest readers and make them want to buy
my magazine so that they could read the featured article/double
page spread. I listed the names of regular and feature articles on my
front cover also because these are conventions of music magazines
as seen in Billboard magazine and others. For this, I made the
artists’ names in a bolder font and different colour than the article
name because music magazines use this technique to interest
readers by making the artists’ names noticeable when looking at the
front cover so the readers can expect those artists to be in the
magazine. One of the main conventions of a music magazine that I
followed was the main image. Not only magazines dedicated to pop
music use this convention, all genres have a picture of the artist that
will feature in a double page spread on the front cover. My ‘artist’ that
is used for the main image of my front cover is the same girl that will
be seen in the picture used for my double page spread therefore
following the convention.
My music magazine front cover.
Billboard magazine. Include conventions I followed.
FRONT COVER

3. When researching other music magazine contents pages from
my chosen genre, I saw that all of them had a picture of the artist
that is seen on the front cover and the double page spread. The
picture of these artists was the biggest picture on the whole of
the contents page because of their ‘special’ article/double page
spread advertising this artist once again. Another thing that I
commonly saw on a contents page was the ‘REGULARS’ and
‘FEATURES’ sections that listed the article names that were
regularly in the magazine and the ones that were being featured
for that issue. I chose to do this for my contents page as well
because it was a good way in which to show the readers what
they can expect in the rest of the magazine. If there is a new
reader they can look at the regulars section and can easily look
at what they expect from my magazine with each issue. The
other contents pages showed me that smaller pictures were also
included in the contents page to go alongside the other articles. I
used two other pictures on my contents page that were smaller
than the picture of ‘KT’ – the artist that features in my double
page spread. These smaller pictures are numbered underneath
to show readers which article they go with. Also on my contents
page, there is a small section informing the reader how to
subscribe to the weekly magazine for just £1.99. A website link is
shown there making it easier for them to subscribe to the
magazine by doing so through the Acclaimed magazine website.
I used social media in my contents page after seeing other music
magazines do so as well. At the bottom of my contents page
there are small Facebook and Twitter icons and the account
names so that the readers can follow the Acclaimed accounts to
find out about any upcoming issues and competitions.
My contents page.
Music magazine contents pages. Include
conventions I followed.
CONTENTS PAGE

4. Some conventions that I followed for my double page spread
includes the main image of the artist taking up one whole page.
In the magazines that I researched, their main image of the artist
was either taking up the whole of one page or placed in the
middle of the whole spread. I chose to follow the first
convention, as then I would have the other page for my article
whereas if I placed my image in the middle I would have to work
around the image. By using the left page for my article and the
right page for the main image, my double does not look messy
and unorganised as I thought when looking at the double page
spreads of other music magazines. Another convention I
followed when creating my double page spread was by keeping
the same type of font and colour scheme for my artist’s name –
KT, and the article name ‘GLAD TO BE BACK’ as seen on my
front cover. When looking at both my front cover and double
page spread, you can see that they are the same exact font and
colour. This is a convention I saw when researching music
magazines where they used the same fonts and colours for the
artist name on the front cover and double page spread. This
continuity shows the readers that the double page spread article
is the one they saw advertised on the front cover and may also
be the artist logo so they use this to advertise the artist’s music
and brand.
My double page spread.
Music magazine double page spreads. Include conventions I followed.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD