This document analyzes how the student's media product uses, develops, or challenges conventions of real media products. It provides a detailed comparison of the student's magazine cover and content page to a real magazine called "We Love Pop". The student followed several conventions including using a masthead, barcode, color scheme, footer, cover lines, categories and layout. However, the student also developed some conventions such as having fewer cover lines, not linking the main cover image to the main line, placing the main image on the right side, and not including captions on small images. The document demonstrates an in-depth understanding of how the student both followed and developed conventions based on their target audience and the example real magazine.

1. Q1. In what ways does
my media product use,
develop or challenge
forms and conventions
of real media products?
By Ellie hawkins

2. Comparison

3. Barcode and main image
Masthead
Barcode

4. Issue
• I have also followed convention
by stating the issue number on
my front cover. I decided to
place this inside the barcode to
make my audience focus
primarily on the text and
images but also as the we love
pop has done this, suggesting to
me that this is a good place to
position it. I also know from my
questionnaire that my audience
do not care much for boring
and ungossipy information,
another reason why i placed the
issue number in the dead
space.

5. Masthead
I have followed convention by placing
the masthead to the top left hand
corner. As you can see this has also been
done by the we love pop magazine.
Naturally people read left to right,
making it practical for the masthead to
be positioned here on the front cover. I
followed convention by making sure that
the masthead was a bigger font that the
rest of the text which should make the
audience focus on this, hopefully
remembering it to promote the
magazine further. I also made the
masthead in capitals as did the we love
pop magazine, making it standout.

6. Colour scheme
As you can see I have created a colour
scheme of purple, pink and green for my
magazine, showing that I have followed
convention. The colours pink and purple
have connotations of love and passion. I
would hope that these colours would
attract my audience due to them
stereotypical being female colours. The
we love pop magazine also has a colour
scheme, however this contains red and
blue. Although different colours have
been used it still shows that I have
followed convention by having a colour
scheme that links in with my audience
Pink and purple are girly colures as is red in the we love
pop magazine both having connotations of love

7. Footer
• Similar to the we love pop magazine I
have followed convention by having a
footer at the bottom of my magazine,
illustrating that there will be a quiz in my
magazine, telling you what type of
celebrity style you have the most. As my
audience are teenage girls they would be
interested in Gosspop but also things
that link to themselves and what they
are like. At this age you are starting to
learn what type of person you will
become when older, thus making this
quiz fit in nicely with my teenage girl
targeted music magazine. This is why I
have chosen to follow this convention.

9. Cover lines
• I have developed convention by having
less that 7 cover lines on my front cover
. I have done this as a result of the
feedback reserved from my audience
regarding images and text in my
questionnaire. They said they would
rather have little text on the front cover,
making the images the main focus.
Therefore this is why I did this. This was
also justified by the we love pop
magazine. As you can see most of the
front over is predominately covered
with images rather than text with it also
only having 5 cover lines on its front
cover not 7. This is why I developed this
convention
Cover line
Cover line

10. Main Cover line
• I have also developed convention by
having my main cover lines not link with
my main cover image. As I decided to
focus on bands for my magazine the
main cover line promotes my bands
rather that the single main image model.
The we love pop has done a similar thing
by having almost two cover lines one
also promoting a band ( one direction) .
This is also justified by double page
spread being connected to my main
cover line of which is about a girl band,
known as Mashup

11. Main Image
• I have also developed convention by
placing my main image to the right
hand side of my front cover. I did this
to allow for more room for my
additional images and as the we love
pop did their front cover in this style
which demonstrated that this did help
to create more room for cover lines
and image

12. Content Page

14. Title
• I made sure that my content page title was
the biggest text on the page and that it was
clearly visible to my audience, thus placing
it at the top of the page, due to the
audience naturally reading left to right.
When comparing this convention to the we
love pop magazine it appear that they have
developed convention by not stating that it
is the content page. I was also further
surprised to find that the top of the pops
magazine also did not state it as the
content page which seem to suggest that I
have developed convention by having
stating content in my pop music magazines
content page

15. Main Image- developed
convention?
• I have also followed convention by having
a main image placed at the bottom of the
magazine. However I did place this at the
bottom, known as the dead space and
also had additional images which could
have confused the audience into thinking
there wasn't a main image suggesting
also that here I have developed
convention. It also suggests that i have
developed convention due to the we love
pop magazine having a clear main image,
it being placed in the centre of the page
where the audience are most likely to
look and see it.

16. Set categories and sub-heading
• My magazines content page has followed
convention by having set categories depending
on the type of articles contained in the magazine.
I have chosen to do this as the audience would be
used to this layout, making it easy for them to find
their desired section. I have also done this as my
audience are of a young age, whereby they might
find it confusing and difficult to understand if it
wasn't presented in this manner which could have
potentially put off my the magazine. I can also see
that the we love pop magazine has also done this ,
therefore this is another reason why I decided to
follow convention. I also used the we love pop
magazine for inspiration into where to place the
categories in order to make it appear easy for the
audience to read. The sub heading also cover the
things in which I know my audience enjoys
including make-up, fashion and gossip collected
from my questionnaire, making it specific to the
genre of pop.

17. Background and colour
scheme • I have also followed convention by
having a white background so that the
text is easy to read and clear. As you can
see the we love pop magazine also has a
white background despite it containing
lots of colours in its colour scheme. As
my target audience are teenage girls
they are most likely to be attracted by
bright and pretty colours as they have
connotations of fun and youth is said to
be associated with fun. Therefore this is
why I have also used lots of different
colours in my content page to attract the
audience. In my focus group my
audience said they would prefer a
colourful content page than a front
cover, thus this is another reason for me
following convention by having a bright
colour scheme like we love pop has.

18. Rule of thirds
• I have followed convention by using
the rule of thirds. This makes it easier
for the audience to read and also
makes the page look professional and
neat. The we love pop magazine has
also followed this convention thus
suggesting to me this it was the right
choice to follow the rule of third
layout.

19. Editors note
• I followed convention by having an
editors note. I did this to make the
audience feel closer to the people that
made the magazine and thus having a
passion for what they are reading. I
also did this as the we love pop
magazine has an editors note which
talks to the reader about what the
magazine will contain also suggesting
that this would be a useful convention
to follow by drawing the audience in
by deciding the content of the
magazine briefly.

20. Masthead
• I has also follow convention by
having a recurring masthead in
my double page spread. This
reminds the audience what the
name of the magazine is, thus
meaning that they are more
likely to remember it , telling
their friends or others about the
magazine. I had positioned this
in the top right hand corner,
which despite being in the dead
space should prove to be useful
in getting my audience to
remember the name of my
magazine. The we love pop
magazine has also done this
suggesting that this was a good
thing to follow convention.

21. Double Page Spread

22. Masthead
I have followed convention by
continuing my masthead
throughout my double page spread
in the hope that this will remind the
audience of what my magazine is
called and thus increasing the
likelihood of them telling others
about my magazine. It was very
important for me to do this due to
my magazine being the first issue ,
meaning that my audience would
be unfamiliar with the name of my
magazine. However the we love pop
magazine has not done this. I think
they have chosen to do this as a
result of the magazine being well
known by the audience therefore
meaning that by repeating the
masthead it would not be beneficial
in the promotion of the we love pop
magazine.

23. By Line
I have followed convention
by having a by line in my
double page spread. I have
done this as typically you
would find a by line in a
music magazine and this is
why I have done this.
However the we love pop
magazine has not done this.
This is due to them having a
slightly different target
audience and also as they
wanted to focus on the star
within the article, the
audience not being
interested in who it is by.

24. Pull Quote
I have followed
convention by having a
pull quote in my double
page spread. I have
done this to draw the
audience, making them
interested in the article
and thus more inclined
to read about it. The we
love pop magazine has
also done this and as
they have a similar
audience and have a
successful established
music pop magazine this
is why I have done this
also .

25. Caption for your small pictures
I have developed
convention by not having a
caption on my small images.
I did not do this as I have
made it clear in my front
cover and content page who
the models were on my
double page spread
therefore I felt that it was
not required of me to repeat
this. I can see that the we
love pop magazine has done
this however these images
are not professional so they
want to make it clear what Is
happening in the images,
mine does not require this.

26. Main headline
I have followed convention by
having a main headline. I have
done this to inform my audience
on what my article will be about,
thus making them feel they
understand where the article is
going, making them more
inclined to read it. The we love
pop magazine has not got a main
headline, opting for a pull quote .
This is also a way of informing the
audience about what the article
will contain therefore this
justifies why I have used a main
headline.