2. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and
Conventions of Real Media Products?
Cover Page
Challenges Convention Conforms to Convention
•There is a different shadowing medium shot placed to the
right of the main picture. The image is transparent and
•I used a medium shot where the artists face is not showing, anchors the phrase ‘battling her demons’. This image
instead she is looking away from the camera. This directly complies with convention as the artist is looking straight
challenges convention. This effect is used to produce a ahead, making eye contact with the reader.
mysterious vibe, which anchors with the story of a new artist • The placing of the articles featured within the magazine are
venturing out into the music scene. This adds intrigue and located on the left hand side of the cover page. This follows
could lead the reader to purchase the product. the structuring of many real media products.
• The readers attention is immediately drawn to the main
image, which is placed towards the left – complying with
convention.
• The text used is large in font and complies with the colour
scheme of purple, white and black. it does not distract from
the secondary header which is in line with convention. I have
chosen to use a scheme of 3 main colours this is a feature of
many real magazine products.
• The logo is large in size and located in the left hand corner
of the page. This allows for easy recognition by the customer
and will ensure the magazine is easily identifiable. This is a
feature used by many established music magazines.
•The secondary heading is white in font and is placed on a
black background. This gives a striking effect and catches
the readers attention. This is used by many magazines and
can be seen in magazine covers in my research.
3. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge
Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?
Contents Page
Challenges Convention Conforms to Convention
•My contents page has a colour scheme of purple, white and
black which continues from the cover page. This supports the
conventions of a real media product as stereotypically they
• My contents challenges convention by not follow a 3 colour scheme.
featuring the main artist. Instead the exclusive
interview with ‘Ella Fris’ is in the ‘Features
•The contents page is clearly labelled with the masthead at
Column.
the top of the page. Featured in this masthead is the issue
number, date and the magazines website. This complies with
convention although the issue number is usually featured on
the cover page of the magazine.
•The contents page features images from the articles within
the magazine this gives extra information to the reader and
enables them to locate the article with ease. This complies
with convention as images are used to create intrigue and
breaks up the text on the cover page.
• The images vary in shot with the use of a long shot and
medium shot photos. This adds dimensions to my contents
page and complies with convention.
• I developed the convention of clearly labelling the articles
within my magazine from real media products. This enables
the reader to effectively navigate through the articles.
4. In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge
Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?
Double Page Spread
Challenges Convention Conforms to Convention
•My double page spread uses the forms of real media
products. The topic of the article is of the artist
• The long shot of my artist, although large in size, does not
featured on the cover page adhering to convention.
take the main focus of my double page spread.
• The article is also shorter in length than many of those •Quotations from the interview which are deemed most
featured in the magazines I researched. shocking or interesting to the reader are shown across
the star. It is of larger font and develops the
convention of real media products as many magazines
use this technique.
•The interview conducted is in a question and answer
format and uses the convention of real media
products. The question part of the interview being in a
different colour to the answers given by the artist. It is
important to note that not all music magazines use this
technique but it is an easy way to reduce the volume
of text.
•The images used on the double page spread anchor
the idea of the ‘high-flying riser’ whom is new to the
music industry. This adds intrigue to the article and
may provoke the reader to invest in the article.
5. How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?
• I believe my media product represents the younger generation. This is done through the:
– The use of a sleek colour scheme of purple, black and white which is considered ‘fashionable’ and would
represent the younger generation.
– The use of font types which are of a graffiti style, which represents the age of the artist the main article is about
whom of which is in the R’n’B industry.
– The articles featured within the article also reflect the younger generation who is interested in the current
events within the music scene; such as the death of Whitney Houston.
The colour scheme is bold yet stylistic
appealing to an older audience. I have chosen to directly
challenge convention. This is
done by using a female singer
whom is not posed or clothed in
a seductive way. I did this to
show the female gender that you
don’t need to be ‘sexy’ to get
attention. This reflects the
The inclusive of ‘on – trend’ singers direction as well.
topics represents the
younger generation the
magazine aims to appeal to.
6. What Kind of Media Institution Might Distribute Your Media Product and Why?
• ‘Q’ Magazine is distributed by Bauer Media group. I believe they would also distribute my product to the main
magazine retailers due to its original format of news stories within the music world.
• My magazine will be released monthly enabling for the collection of news stories within the music industry to
accumulate.
• It will retail at the price of £2.99 making it accessible for my target audience.
• Newsagents will also be a • This is a well known
• My magazine will be distributed by location where my magazine company and therefore
the media institute to all major will be distributed to. My stocking the magazine in
supermarket chains. This allows for audience will live in cities their stores will give the
my target audience to access the (which reflects the urban brand ‘chant’ a reliable feel
magazine. theme to my magazine) and – boosting sales.
therefore will have easy access
to newsagents.
7. Who Would Be The Audience For Your Media Product?
• I am aiming at a teenage audience, which have a interest in the inner workings of the music industry. The raw and
straight to the point articles within the magazine clearly reflect the age group of 13-19 year olds. This age range
are too old for younger pop magazines and wish to invest in a product, which has a professional and more adult
look to it.
• From the questionnaire I gathered that the magazine had to be:
– Low cost – accessible for the younger ages whom have little/no income.
– On-trend with up to date stories and exclusives.
– A ‘Adult’ feel – to get away from the teenage pop theme magazines.
I believe I was able to meet all of these points in the construction of my magazine.
• To appeal further to my audience the article on my double page spread is short in size. I’ve done this to ensure that the
audience will stay engaged in the article and will be more likely to re-purchase the magazine.
• I feel the magazine appeals more to a female readership due to the fonts, colours and articles featured. I could
improve my magazine by opening my target market to feature both genders through a change in the colour scheme, fonts
used and articles featured.
8. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From the Process of Constructing
the Product?
• This software enabled me to
•I’ve been taught to use bloc • I used this website to present my research around the
backgrounds to take pictures. This access fashionable fonts. successful institutes in the music
enables me to remove the backgrounds industry.
in Photoshop with ease. • I chose fonts that were
clear yet still stylish. This • It allows me to import images
• I learnt the effects of lighting on my and text to allow for a full
relates the magazine to my
pictures, having to choose the location target audience but still explanation of my findings and
of my photo shoot with a clear idea of enables for easy reading by construction.
how I wanted my images to turn out. the consumer. • From my preliminary task to my
main task I was able to fully
understand the conventions in
which PowerPoint should be used.
9. What Have You Learnt About Technologies From the Process of
Constructing the Product?
• I used Photoshop to edit the images on • Whilst creating my magazine I • This allowed me to upload all
my magazine. I also used it to construct learnt of the programme of my research, planning and
the magazine itself. Slideshare. This allowed me to construction PowerPoints to
upload my PowerPoint's to my one place.
• I’ve learnt the process of layering a
blog.
document, placing images and text on •It allows for the general public
separate layers to allow for easy editing. I •It allowed for my PowerPoint's to to view these PowerPoints and
also learnt to alter the opacity of each be viewed in a video format make their own assumptions of
layer. Which I used to create the effect of accessible to all. my work.
an overlooking image on my cover and
• I have learnt that this website
contents page.
is a great hub to share
• I learnt to use the background tool. This knowledge on existing
enabled me to use a one bloc colour magazine creators and also
background with diminishing colour. This how other candidates go about
added a professional element to my constructing their own music
magazine. magazine.
• I learnt to effectively edit my images in
Photoshop with the removal of
backgrounds with the ‘magic wand’ tool. I
also used the ‘clone’ tool to heighten the
colours in my image.
10. Looking Back at your Preliminary Task, What do you Feel you Have Learnt in
the Progression From it to the Full Product?
• We can see the clear progression from my preliminary task to my main task. In my preliminary task I used
a simplistic font style as well as limited effects on the images and backgrounds of the cover and contents
page.
• I chose to use a black background as from my research I concluded that block colours were frequently
used. From my preliminary task I was able to deduce that this colour was too strong to use on a music
magazine and instead opted for a ‘gradient’ style background of a light shade of purple.
• The contents of my preliminary task worked well with a banner to label the page. I decided to carry on this
style to my main task.
• In my preliminary task I chose to use the logo ‘prospects’ this did not have a different colour from the
background and instead made the cover page appear to look more like a poster than a magazine. I altered
this in my main task using a black circle to separate the logo from the rest of the magazine, for easy
recognition.
• The placements of my articles on my preliminary task in the centre of the page. This also made the cover
page look like a poster. I changed this in my main task to show the articles on the left hand side of the
cover page. This complies with convention.
