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

2. I feel that my indie rock/ singer songwriter music magazine
Encore! For the most part challenges and develops the forms
and conventions of real media products, instead of fully
conforming to the conventions of music magazines. During the
stage of research I analysed various different music magazines
including 'Top Of The Pops', 'NME', 'Q', 'Kerrang!' and 'Billboard'.
I felt that by analysing various different music magazines which
are all different genres and have different target markets, I was
able to get better understanding and knowledge on what the
main conventions are of a music magazine and therefore I was
able to apply these conventions to my own magazine, to ensure
my magazine appealed to my target market as much as
possible, therefore hopefully making my magazine successful.

3. House styleFirstly when doing research
into the different conventions
of music magazines I found
out that the more successful
magazines like 'NME' that
have been around for a long
time and are still going, have
certain house style colours
which are carried out
throughout their front cover,
double page spread and
contents page. I planned on
having the same house style
colours throughout my
magazine too, as it makes the
magazine easier for the
audience to navigate and find
in a shop and if they like what
they see the first time round
when they buy it, they will go
back and they will be able to
easily navigate it when they go
back to purchase it, thus
making the magazine
successful. These images
show that I have kept the
same house style throughout
my production just like ‘NME’
does as it is a conventional
feature of this genre of music
magazine.

4. House Style
When doing a case study on ‘NME’ I found out that
their genre of music magazine is ‘indie’ music, just like
mine however their house style colours were very
different to mine as they were predominantly red,
white and black.
I felt that although I wanted my music
magazine to stand out, I wanted it to stand
out because it was different, not because it
was eye-catching. My music magazine
features the colours purple, indigo, lilac and
blue tones therefore standing out because
they’re different and unconventional therefore
this will interest the readers and they will
hopefully want to buy my magazine as it
looks different to other music magazines
which will intrigue them. I also had my house
style colours featuring the colour indigo to
play on the fact, that the genre of my music
magazine is indie and the colour ‘indigo’
sounds like ‘indie’. In addition the fact my
house style colours are different and new
,reflect that the artists featured inside my
music magazine are different and new as my
magazine features new and up and coming
artists.

5. House Style
• Another unconventional feature to my
music magazine in regards to house
style is that I have put a border on
every page unlike any music
magazines I’ve researched into. I think
this gives the music magazine a more
professional and coherent look which
was important as I wanted to suggest
that even though the magazine
doesn’t feature very famous artists
and it only features up and coming/
indie singers, the magazine is still a
professional magazine and it is just as
worthy as ones with very famous pop
singers on it which have a more
popular genre. All of this makes my
music magazine stand out from the
crowd which is what I hoped to
achieve when creating my music
magazine.

6. Layout
The layout is a typical layout like
most music magazines as the
masthead is at the top of the
page, I have used different
headlines and I have one main
image in the middle.
I also placed the image slightly
over the masthead, many music
magazine which I have
researched do this as it means
that the magazine already has a
big enough following to be easily
recognized without having to see
the whole masthead, meaning
that when the magazine is on the
shelf the target audience will
already notice the magazine and
also the effect of having it at the
top of the page means that the
audience can see it as soon as
they look at the shelf, as it is
eyelevel to the reader.
I have put information all around
the music artist on the front
cover creating interest for the
reader and they’re more likely
going to read the headlines and
want to buy the magazine to see
what they’re on about inside.

7. Layout
For my contents page I have
used a typical layout with
columns showing what’s on
each page by using page
numbers.
I have also used many different
images in order to hint the
content inside. This is so the
audience knows exactly what
they’re getting for their money as
my contents page tells the
audience everything which is
featured inside the magazine.
I would say that the layout for
my contents page is similar to
the magazine ‘Kerrang!’ as I
included more than four images,
a review, and a subscription box
and also a list of what is
included in the music magazine.
I did this as I wanted to get as
much on the contents page as
possible as I believe it gives the
contents page a more organised
and aesthetically pleasing look
and having more images than
writing gives the magazine a
more visual appeal.

8. The masthead
A conventional masthead usually has a
background colour just like ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ and
‘Kerrang!’ making it stand out, however i felt that
that was not needed on my music magazine
because when creating my masthead in
Photoshop on the inside of each letter I put an
inner shadow which made my masthead stand
out to the reader without having a bold
background colour.
Another unconventional feature of my masthead
is the shape. I did my masthead in the shape of a
sound wave to reflect that the word is something
that is shouted at the end of a gig. This is
purposely done because most music magazines
from the indie genre like ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ are in a
rectangular shape due to the background colour
but my music magazine is called Encore! And
‘Encore’ is a sound that an audience say when
they want to hear more which is a code to the
audience that artists featured inside are that
good that they’re going to want to read and hear
more about them.
Kerrang!’s’ masthead has an exclamation mark
at the end of the word because ‘Kerrang!’ is a
sound and the exclamation mark makes it
appear as if the sound ‘Kerrang’ is louder and
shouted. I have also put an exclamation mark at
the end of ‘Encore!’ as I felt that it reflects that
people were shouting the word ‘Encore’.

9. Mise en scene
I got the person modelling on the front to look
directly at the camera therefore it gives the
impression that they’re on the same level as
the reader and therefore the reader will feel
that they can relate to the artist. When looking
at this front cover by ‘Q’ this is a conventional
feature of a music magazine.
The image I have on my front cover I would
say is unconventional in some ways too in
regards to mise en scene because on ‘Q’ their
front covers usually have a plain background
and the artist's face covering most of the
magazine or a plain coloured backdrop and a
medium shot of the artist, however this was
intentionally done as I wanted my magazine to
conform to the genre of indie, therefore I felt
my magazine had to be different to others and
having a brick wall as the main backdrop for
my front cover gave my music magazine a
more 'grunge' like feel giving connotations of
mystery and leaves the reader interested as
it’s something unconventional.

10. Mise en scene
I wanted the settings in all my photos to
reflect the genre of the magazine and the
target market, just like on one of ‘NMEs’
contents pages that I did a textual analysis
on during my research, the image of the
band ‘The Courteeners’ was set in a rural
setting which has connotations of festivals
and indie music is what usually gets played
at festivals suggesting the genre of music
magazine is ‘indie’, suggesting that the
image of ‘The Courteeners’ set in a rural
setting will attract their target market as
their target market goes to festivals and
listens to indie music. So on my magazine
the image of the artist ‘Haley summers’ is
set in a rural setting having connotations of
festivals and indie singer songwriter music
is what gets played at festivals suggesting
that the genre is indie and because my
target market like that kind of music and
attend festivals it will attract them.

11. Mise en scene
I also got all of the models to pose in a different way
to suggest that each one are individuals and different
from another, for example one has a sulky yet content
look, another is smiling and another is smoking
reflecting that even though they are all in the same
genre of music their looks are all different and posing
different represents them and their music to all be
different, creating interest for the reader as each one
is interesting.
I dressed my models in 'indie' clothes, for example
bowler hats, denim jackets, leather jackets etc. I felt
that it was important for my music magazine to have
the models dressed in an appropriate way to suggest
the genre of music indie. This is because in my
research I found out that people who like indie music
also get style inspiration from indie music artists.
Another conventional feature of an indie music
magazine was that makeup was done quite dark so
I’ve done dark eye makeup etc. to keep up with the
conventions of the indie style. When referring to
dyers star theory i have done this because the artist is
not just a singer but they have been constructed to
appeal to a particular indie genre.