By analyzing existing music magazines, the author learned about common conventions like the masthead location, color schemes, and page layouts. Dark colors and somber feels are commonly used for rock magazines. Most magazines place photos on the right and text on the left of spreads. However, the author challenged this convention by placing the photo on the bottom left for their magazine. To capture photos that fit the rock genre, the author used a studio setting with white backgrounds, grunge effects, younger models, and rock-inspired clothing.

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

2. Before I could start making my magazine, I
had to learn about many of the different
things that featured within in it. I found
this information out by looking at various
subject text analysis( the images below are
photos of front cover and a contents page
from a variety of my STAs.

3. What you learn from STAs?
By doing the STAs, you are able to gather various knowledge about what I need
to include in my music magazine. You can see items that every magazine
includes; whether it is a pop, rock or even classical. One thing that features on
every magazine is the masthead, from doing the subject text analysis, you can
see that it is at the top, so that the consumers can clearly see it when browsing
the magazine shelf.
I also learnt about house style. This includes colour schemes and the way that
the magazine is laid out. By doing the subject text analysis, I saw that the music
magazines in the rock genre tend to have very dark colour schemes which have a
very somber and mysterious feel to it. Therefore, this helped me as I then
decided to use very dark colors throughout my magazine. When looking at the
double page spread subject text analysis, I noticed that many of the magazine
layouts had the photograph on the right and the writing on the left, so the
audience is draw to the photo when they turn the page. Although, when I made
my magazine I challenged the normal conventions of music magazines and
placed my photo in the bottom left as I felt it worked better with my magazine.

4. When taking my photographs for my front cover, contents
page and double page spread, I used the studio, so I could get
the correct lighting that would befit the genre of music. I used
the white background so that I could change the levels and
make the background darker and have a grunge aspect added
to it , so it fits in with the magazine and be easily recognizable
as a magazine from the rock genre. When taking the
photographs I decided to use younger aged models as they
also fit in the target audience age range and it will allow the
target audience to relate to something within the magazine.
They were wearing very rock inspired clothing, in order to
show what the genre of magazine was.