EVALUATION QUESTION ONE

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

2. MASTHEAD
My masthead was a major factor to
consider when creating my magazine cover
page. I decided to call my magazine
‘Rhythm’ as rhythm is a word associated
with music and fits the conventions of a
music magazine; many music magazine
names i.e. ‘Rolling Stones’, ‘VIBE’, etc. are
titles that have a connotation with music.
My masthead is centred in middle, going
from the left corner and stretching over to
the right corner, which is typical of codes
and conventions. The masthead is big and
bold which is needed as it makes it both
eye-catching and attractive to the audience,
and encourages them to possibly buy the
magazine, making it typical of house style.
MAIN IMAGE
The photos I took across all 3 of my media
project are conventional of an R&B magazine.
The main image on my cover page has me
wearing sunglasses in a blazer, with jewellery
over me. Clothing is essential in drawing in an
audience, so I chose to go with a suit blazer as
male R&B artists commonly portray
themselves as sophisticated, such as The
Weeknd and Usher. When it came to lighting
the flash from the camera created a glare on
the glasses, which I had to edit and mask
through Photoshop. The lighting and
background all in all suited my vision for the
photo overall. I did not challenge any
conventions for the photo or the mise-en-
scene for the cover page and used a blank
background for the photo-shoot.
TITLE FONT & STYLE
The title font and style definitely
develops forms and conventions of
real media products, this is based
upon the fact it is bold and eye
catching. The title font of my
magazine and the font for the
coverlines are the same, and are a
typical of an R&B/Hip-Hop magazine.
SKYLINE
My skyline is rather simplistic
and does not challenge any
conventions, as I used
recognisable artists to help draw
in the readers.
COVERLINES
When researching other R&B
magazine covers, the vast
majority have coverlines on only
one side of the page. I opted to
put coverlines on both sides in
order to stand out and challenge
the conventions of an R&B/Hip-
Hop magazine.
SLOGAN
Slogans are used on various
magazines as a unique selling point. I
positioned mine underneath the
masthead, which I believe follows
shared codes and conventions.
MAIN COVERLINE
I wanted to make my main
coverline eye-catching and
enticing to the reader. The artists
name is in yellow and features a
dollar sign for an ‘S’, which is can
idea I continued to the other
words in the coverline. This gives
a sense of continuity to the
featured story, challenging codes
and convention by standing out
with this uniqueness.
PUFF/STICKER
My puff is a generic one
‘RHIANNA TOUR SOLD
OUT,’ and does not
challenge conventions. A
puff is something commonly
expected on a music
magazine cover.
COVER PAGE
ISSUE/DATE
Both the issue and date
are very conventional of a
magazine cover.
BARCODE/PRICE
My barcode is just any
generic one and
certainly meets the
codes and conventions.
Similarly, the price does
not challenge any
conventions or develop
any shared codes, as a
price for a music
magazine
conventionally ranges
from £3.50-£5.

3. MASTHEAD
Similar to the masthead on
the cover page, I continued
the blue theme and put the
‘CONTENTS’ in white with a
blue background. It follows
conventions as blue is a
colour commonly used for
R&B magazines and through
my audience research, the
most popular colour was
blue.
MISE EN SCENE OF PHOTO
For my contents page photo I took a photo
of me kneeling down wearing sunglasses,
and pulling off a pose for the camera.
Doing poses for a cover page is not only
conventional of R&B/Hip-Hop magazines
but of music magazines in general, as
artists tend to do them to give themselves
personality and an identity for the
audience. The posing also compliments
the main coverline on the cover page as it
states that my young artist is ‘FLA$HY’,
which is clearly shown in this photo for
the contents page. The photo had to be
edited by changing the saturation and
brightness/contrast of the image, but I am
happy with the outcome. I placed my artist
in the centre left and enlarged the photo
slightly, as he is the main attraction of this
edition of RHYTHM magazine.
ARTIST
My artist fits the conventions as R&B
artists tend to be ones of African
origins, as the genre was originally
used by record companies to
describe recordings marketed
predominantly to urban African
Americans, at a time when "urbane,
rocking, jazz based music with a
heavy, insistent beat" was becoming
more popular. This follows that
specific convention and also the
artist having a sophisticated style is
how R&B artists like Usher for
example portray themselves,
developing that convention too. This
would satisfy the target audience as
it meets their expectations.
TITLE & FONT STYLE
I continued the sophisticated style for
the title and font, something that I
noticed other R&B magazines do in my
research. The written content of the
contents page directly addresses the
reader with ‘HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017’,
making it more personal and more likely
evoke an emotional response from the
audience.
MUSIC GENRE
The jewellery (ring) and trainers help conform to the R&B/Hip-Hop genre. I
used them for that approach but to also make my artist stand out as, like the
main coverline says, he’s ‘FRESH, FLY & FLASHY. This portrays how my
artist is embracing his new found success, by physically displaying it to the
readers of the magazine.
CONTENTS PAGE
FEATURES
I displayed the
features on the
contents page in a
visual way, again
continuing the blue
colour theme and
incorporating a dark
to correspond with the
puff/sticker.
PUFF/STICKER
The puff/sticker was
made to stand out on
the page with the red
and gold colouring,
in order to contrast
with the blue, grey
and white. This uses
conventions as puffs
are used to stick out
on the page to entice
the reader with the
contents of the
magazine.

4. MISE EN SCENE OF
PHOTO
This was the only photo
across all 3 of my media
products to be shot outside
of a studio. I went away
from the sophisticated
clothing i.e. blazer, glasses
etc. and decided to use
more casual clothing, whilst
still keeping a suave
essence. The photo was
edited to have a deep haze
on it in order to help the
colours stand out, such as
the red bomber jacket, the
greenery of the grass and
bush, etc. The artist is
looking directly into the
camera, addressing the
reader. I used this technique
as direct address engages
the audience personally, as
if the featured article is for
them specifically. The photo
is a long shot with the artist
positioned in the middle.
This connotes a sense of
dominance and gives my
artist a unique style, which
helps compliment the direct
address. I credited the
photographer also, a
convention on double page
spreads.
WRITTEN CONTENT
The double page spread interview is a major aspect of all magazines and for
mine, I made it a more personal insight into my artist’s life and career. It
details how my artist had a less affluent upbringing, a story many artists of a
similar genre have; rags to riches. In this way, it could be argued that it
reaches conventions. The text of the interview is displayed in two columns,
which is conventional of magazines.
TITLE & FONT
STYLE
I abandoned the blue
theme used in my cover
and contents page and
used the colour red for
the font, to correspond
with the bomber jacket.
Red is a colour that
connotes power and
strength which relates
to the photo but also
passion, which links to
my artist’s passion for
music. The font for the
feature article is the
same one I used for the
covellines and the
contents on my
previous media
products but for the
readers to differentiate
between my artist and
the interviewer, I put the
interviewers text in red.
PULL QUOTES
I have followed the standard codes and conventions by
using pull quotes, something the vast majority of
magazines do. The effect of pull-quotes depend on their
attractiveness, both visual and textual.
DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD