This document summarizes how the media product, a pop music magazine, uses conventions of real pop magazines. Key conventions included are a bright pink masthead to catch attention, three coverlines and a central image on the front cover. The mode of address is informal and chatty to relate to teenage girls aged 14-16. Images are clean cut and professional looking to portray a happy, fun magazine. Puffs and free posters are included to entice readers. Formats like barcodes and pricing are used to look like a real magazine without challenging conventions of the pop genre.

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

2. My media product, which is a pop music magazine uses key conventions of real media
products in many ways. In order to create a realistic magazine I have adapted an almost
identical layout to other pop magazines that I have looked at in my research into the pop
genre. I found that a pop magazine must include a bold, bright and striking masthead in
order to catch the buyers attention. The front cover must also be extremely crowded and
busy, thus creating the idea that the magazine provides a lot of content which is worth
the buyers money.
Therefore, I chose a bright pink masthead ‘In The Mix’ to abide by the key conventions of
a pop magazine. The striking pink colour connotes the main and overall theme of pop
magazines, femininity and youthfulness. I have chosen to use the same font style and
colour on my contents heading in order to maintain a consistent house style and ensure
continuity throughout my magazine.
I have also included three coverlines, puffs, a central image and also a large eye catching
splash on my front cover which overlaps the central image. This is commonly seen across
pop magazines.

3. Mode of Address
Another way I have used forms and conventions of real media products is through the
mode of address I have used. I decided to use an informal and chatty mode of address as
from my research I found that this was commonly used in pop magazines and also it
relates well to my target audience, which are teenage girls aged 14-16 as it connotes
friendliness and freshness. Consequently, because of this I also included many
abbreviations and slang terms, such as “OMG!” and “SWAG!” as young people find this
relatable and easy to read. I ensured I used many exclamation points as this connotes the
idea of excitement and fun.
In addition to this, I also adapted a similar colour scheme to those found on pop
magazines, opting for bright, almost ‘happy’ colours such as pink, white and purple. This
colour scheme connotes freshness and femininity which is perfect for my target audience.
The colour scheme also adds to the overall house style of my magazine. Portraying it as
instantly recognizable as a pop magazine and evident as to what audience the magazine
is aimed at.

4. Fonts
The majority of my fonts were sourced from a
website called DaFont as they reflected my target
audience perfectly. I have an overlap of fonts as I
wanted to create continuity between my magazine
pages.
I have used the same variations of fonts across all
three pages. For example my main splash headline
uses the same font as the questions on my double
page spread. This creates a consistent house style
throughout my magazine.
All of my fonts connote a sense of fun and
femininity which relates well to my target audience
of teenage girls.

5. Mis-en-scene & Images
The mis-en-scene of my images follow and abide by the key
conventions of real pop magazines. Upon research into ideal
images for pop magazines I discovered that all the images used
were extremely clean cut and professional looking images.
Therefore, I replicated this with my own images. I ensured every
photo had a clean, white background as not to distract from the
artists and that the facial expressions were happy and exciting.
Instilling the idea that this magazine was happy and fun.
All the clothing the models are wearing connotes freshness,
fashion and youthfulness. All of the clothes are fairly fashionable
which is to be expected from young, current artists.
The central image on my magazine is of a teenage girl, which fits
within my target audience of teenagers 14-16 and so therefore is
instantly relatable to my target audience. My target audience tend to
also idolize female solo singers and this is a key convention
commonly found on pop magazines.

6. Puffs
From my research I found that many pop magazines use puffs in
order to entice the audience into buying their magazine in the hope
they can win prizes or chances to meet certain celebrities. This is a
key and common feature found on pop magazines and therefore I
also added a puff.
I have also included three free celebrity posters along the bottom of
my magazine front cover which people can take out and put on their
wall. This is also a key convention and selling point of pop
magazines.

7. Using/challenging forms and conventions of
real media products
I used many forms and conventions of real media products in order to
create a magazine that was instantly recognizable as a pop magazine.
However, I did not challenge any of the forms and conventions as the
pop genre is extremely mainstream and therefore needs to have the
common features that are found in other magazines in order to make
it sell.
From research I found that all magazines include a barcode, date, website and cost on the
front cover. I downloaded a barcode from the website DaFont to create a professional
looking magazine and add to the overall house style.