This document discusses how the media product uses, develops, and challenges conventions of real media products. It uses conventions such as a dominant cover image, house style colors and props, and mid-shot portraits. However, it challenges conventions by focusing on one artist rather than variety, potentially limiting its audience. The contents page similarly uses conventions like multiple images and organized layout, but challenges norms by having female-dominated images despite articles on male artists. The double-page article challenges conventions the most through its varied layout, images from different settings, and focus on diverse outfits rather than a single photo shoot style.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My product uses the conventions of real media products by using a dominant
image on the cover, and keeping within a house style in colours and props.
The main colours uses on this NME cover are black, blue and pink very bold
unusual colours which also reflect the boldness of the artist on the cover. I
have chosen to only use one image like the NME cover to make the page
look more professional instead of making my page look too busy and
cluttered. The similarities between the two pages are the uses of mid shots, I
used a mid shot to avoid the loss of focus to the magazine and make the
cover artist more ‘recognisable’ to draw an audience in. Although the pose
my model is using isn’t all that striking, the use of a mid shot emphasises the
expression of the artist rather than the outfits and props.
However, by using one image of one artist I have challenged the conventions
of other media products such as Kerrang and Top of the Pops by attracting a
smaller more limited audience. The usual target audience of males and
females between the ages of 15 and 20 may seem more biased towards the
female audience in my product as the cover image and stories are all
successful female artists. This is something other media products may try to
counteract with male stories on the cover, therefore my product is
challenging this by appealing to the nature of one audience in one issue
more than another.
Another convention I have used is the title boldness, colour and positioning
on the page. All magazines have a bold title that colour ties in with the theme
amongst the page, shown with the pink title and font on the NME page, and
the green on my product. By having bold titles on magazines, readers come
to expect that a clear and visible title to be on the page- most commonly in
the top left corner. I thought that by lowering the dominance of the title it
would look less sophisticated and provide less comfort for the audience as it
would be less clear on what magazine they were reading.

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Again I have used the image conventions on the contents page, using more than one
to give an insight into the style of magazine from the artists poses and outfits. The
magazine I have taken most influence from for my contents page is ‘Q’, I liked the way
that the split between text and images were equal and neither one was overwhelming.
The clear borders between text and image also makes the pages look sophisticated
and organised and this is a convention I have developed more by using a bolder
border between image and text, although I have got an image ‘overlapping’ the border
to create a sense of freedom so everything isn’t boxed in. I have also used the
conventions of a real media product by using different images from different settings
on the page, this hopefully prevents the page being boring by not using the same
photo- shopped image on a plain background and also adds some colour.
I have used the conventional page numbers down the side, in order with the title of the
stories on the right. This was to avoid confusion and keep the page looking organised
as everything has it’s place. The page numbers are clearly marked and all within a
column with a readable sized text. I felt if I changed the layout and went against
convention then my contents page and front cover would be completely different and
look like they wouldn’t belong to the same magazine.
I have gone against convention with defining the target audience on this page
too, although many of the articles contain male artists and bands, the main images are
both girls dominating the shot, implying that the magazine or this edition is aimed at
mostly females.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Overall I would say my double page article goes against the
conventions of a main article of an existing product mainly due to
the layout. Typical articles have a dominant image usually spread
across a full page giving a clear indication of the subject and artist
involved. Where as mine has two pictures on the first page and a
long shot on the second page going against the conventions of a
real media product. I also took and used a variety of images so the
choice was not limited and as a result the page has more diverse
outfits and settings, which usually wouldn’t happen in an article as
the photo shoot would be staged and planned all within a style and
genre. I did this purposely to create different sections within a page
and different stories within the article, making it more exciting.
However, I did develop on the idea that facial expressions of the
person in the shot does affect how the reader perceives them. For
example, a shot with no eye contact to the audience reflects a
lesser connection to one with a smiling model. I used this to create
a mystery about the model (Hollie) within the video as her
expression is hidden. Which is why for my bigger more dominant
image I used a long shot, showing posture and clothing with a
cheerful expression to create a more cheery tone conveyed to the
audience in contrast with the other two images.
The other images I used reflect the subject of the article well as they
look like action shots, which fits the theme of my article which is a
music video review. The second image shows the artist drawing an
‘R’ into the sand, a well know symbol for Rihanna. This follows
conventions as the Florence and the Machine article I annotated
shows her sat on an American flag, which demonstrates the
purpose and subject of the article making subtle hints to the reader.