media school homework coursework questions one a levels sixth form media studies exams preparation powerpoint presentation music magazine front cover contents page double page spread article images editing text layers text masthead coverlines

1. Q1. In what ways does your
media product use, develop
and challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

2. How I used and developed forms and
conventions
I used forms and conventions by using a masthead and placing it at the top of the
cover. I made the text bold and red so that it stands out – getting inspiration from Q
where the letter ‘Q’ is in a red box at the left top of the page. I stuck to the
conventions of music magazines by having the masthead at the top of the page. By
having it at the top of the page it means that the reader’s eyes are drawn to it, as it is
easily seen.
Inspired by Q’s bold theme of red, black and white I used red for the text
and a black drop shadow. The reason I didn’t use white in my masthead
was because the background of my image was light so it wouldn’t stand
out.
I used inspiration from ‘Rolling Stone’ by having the image of the
featuring artist overlap the masthead. However, I didn’t have any of
the letter’s fully covered by the overlap of the image as, obviously
‘Rolling Stone’ is a well known magazine and I didn’t want any
uncertainty of the name of mine.

3. I was conventional when I did the headline for my cover, as the font I used was
bold and fits with the theme of the magazine. The font is large so that a lot of the
focus is on the headline as it is an important form of my cover. I took inspiration
form Q as they used a sub headline in their cover with Muse which makes it
more interesting for the readers and would make them want to read on. I also
had the headline half way down the page underneath Jackie’s face which is also
seen in the cover featuring Muse. I knew that Q were successful with this cover
so I decided to do mine in a similar style.
Headline and sub headline

4. The photo that I took sticks to the
conventions of a magazine as she
maintains eye contact with the camera
which draws attention because it appears
she is looking directly at you. I placed the
photo so that she is the center of the page
meaning that she would be the main focus,
this is conventional. The type of photo is
also conventional as it is a mid shot,
meaning she isn’t too close or too far away.
I used dark eye shadow on her eyes to
emphasize her her bold style, similar to
what was seen in Cheryl Cole’s cover for
Q.
Image

5. I used the convention of a pull quote on my cover. This pull
quote is taken from the article later on in the magazine.
Using a pull quote draws readers into the magazine
because it will make them want to read the whole article (if
the quote chosen is interesting) I decided to use the quote
that I did because it doesn’t give much away but it makes
you want to know what it was about. It’s also conventional
as it is down the right side of the cover, which is where pull
quotes are usually found.
Pull quote

6. For my cover lines I used two different sizes of font and
colour. The names of the artists are in a bigger font
and are red which draws attention to it, whereas the
other text is smaller and black so that it doesn’t steal
the attention away from the artists. The reason I did
this was so fans of these artists would be more likely to
buy the magazine. I placed the coverlines on the left
side of the cover. They will be easily spotted – having
them on the left side – as your eyes automatically go to
the left side of the page.
I also have one coverline on the right side, which is
underneath the masthead. I have used the same idea
of having the most interesting phrase in a bigger font
which is red.
Cover lines

7. The strapline I have placed at the bottom of the page. It
doesn’t particularly catch your eyes when you first look at it
because it isn’t vibrant and it doesn’t have anything to make it
stand out, but this is what I aimed for as this gives a little more
detail about what readers should expect to see inside therefore
should not draw too much attention at a first glance. I have
purposely not given much information so that readers have to
look inside the magazine. I was inspired by NME to have the
strapline at the bottom as it fills up the cover – giving a busy
look which is what I was going for.
Strapline
I have included a barcode on my cover as it is expected to be seen on a
real magazine in order for it to be able to be bought. I had it horizontal
along the right side of the magazine as it is commonly seen here on
magazines as it is easily seen.

9. The title for my contents page is conventional as it is large and it
is placed at the top and centre of the page. The text is all in
capital letters so that it stands out more, as the title should be
(besides any images) the most noticeable part. I have used the
same font as I used on my cover to keep the same theme running
through my magazine and to make all the pages link together. I
have also stuck with the colour scheme of using red text.
Title

10. Images
This is the photo that I used for the main image of my
contents page. I wanted to use a photo of Jackie (the
‘artist’ being featured in my magazine) for the main
image as I wanted to make the readers really
interested in what her article is. This mid shot shows
her more edgy style through the facial expression she
is pulling – and also by the way her hair is surrounding
her head. It appears that she is shouting in the
photograph. Having her wear a leather jacket also
helps her edginess be expressed. I placed this image
on the right side of the page so that as readers quickly
flicked through the first couple of pages they wouldn’t
miss out the contents because the image would catch
their eyes.
This photograph was taken by me at The Vamps’
concert. I felt it fits in with the style of my
magazine nicely as the electric guitar screams rock
pop. Also the bright blue colour of the lighting is
very striking. I placed this image just below the
main image (having a few images packed together
in a magazine is commonly seen).

11. Subscription
In a lot of magazine’s contents pages there is a subscription box found
which persuades the readers to subscribe to the company of the magazine
for a certain amount of money. I wanted to make the subscription box stand
out in some way because I feel editors want to make this stand out most
because this will potentially make them a profit. I took inspiration from NME
as I saw in one of their contents pages, they made the subscription box
stand out by making it yellow. I used the same font for ‘subscribe to us’ as
used on my cover and also made this bi of text bigger to make it stand out
more.

12. Feature column
I have separated the feature column into two
parts – one for featuring artists , the other for
other things included inside. I separated it by a
red box with black bold text in labeling what
each part is about, making it clearer for the
reader. The page numbers are red to make
them more prominent than the other text.
Underneath each artists name (or other
information inside the magazine) I have some
detail about what the reader to expect on each o
the pages. I made this text small. As I didn’t
want to put people off the magazine by thinking
there would be lots of writing, but the detail is
there if they do want to read it.

13. Pull quotes
This pull quote is taken from the article. I decided to use this one
as it expresses her anger and her personality. It implies that she
is really angry about something which would make it interesting
to read. I placed it as a caption for the image I used on the
contents page as I felt that what it said linked well with her facial
expression and style of the photo.

14. Article

15. Title
For the title of the article I was inspired by Q’s article with Cheryl Cole
as I thought it worked really well with having the title of the page as
the artist it is featuring. The first name is italic and the second name
is regular. I decided not to do exactly as they have done in the article
from Q and have her second name in capitals as I thought it fit better
with my article to have it in lower case. Also, I used a similar font. I
have this on the right corner of the right page so, when flicking
through, the reader can easily see that this is the page her article is
on.

16. Pull Quote
This font is very striking as it is different and appears that the letters
have been splattered on the page, having a change between a black
surrounding and a grey surrounding of the letters. Again, in terms of
what the pull quote says, I tried to choose an interesting part of the
article in order to draw in the reader to it. I put it on the top of the
left page so that it would be one of the first things that will be seen,
as it is the darkest bit of colour (for text) used on this page.

17. Image
Her pose in this photo shows her
edginess and it is a bold photo
expressing the personality of the
artist. I have the image on the left
page, as I tried having it the other way
round and it looked much better
having the image on the left side of
the text, in my case.
I used inspiration from the
photo shoot Cheryl Cole did for
her feature in Q for ideas of
what she could wear. I could
see that leather was used so I
got her to wear a leather jacket
with gold zips, as Cheryl had
gold studs on her top.

18. Text
I had the text on the right page
of the article, contrasting the
double page spread I was using
for inspiration as it was on the
left. I did this because I felt it
looked better this way round on
mine. I have arranged the text
so that it is in three columns.
This gives it a busy look, while
still remaining sleek. The article
is a Q&A with the artist, I wanted
to do this style of article
because I feel in many cases
that it is the most popular and
interesting.

19. How I challenged conventions
I kept my magazine conventional, as I knew that by doing
this it couldn’t really go badly wrong and I knew that it had
already worked on many magazines already.
However an example of an unconventional magazine is
for the cover to have no cover lines or pull quotes and for
it to be almost completely bare of text. An example of this
is is i-D:
Another unconventional feature of a magazine
is for the person on the cover not to be looking
into the camera or for it to be a long shot.