Laura Lee

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

FRONT COVER COMPARISON

Main image following the rule of thirds

Barcode

Masthead

Strapline

Cover lines

Articles

These are the main conventions of a music magazine cover page. This magazine cover is one of the examples of a successful magazine that I used to base my magazine on. By using these conventions and features I was able to build a magazine that looked professional like a real media product.

MY FRONT COVER

Mast Head- My masthead was placed at the top of my magazine cover as my research showed that this was the most common place for it to occur. I chose a font and colour that would be easily recognised by the audience but still chose to have my masthead in front of the model rather than it being partially covered which appeared to be a regular occurrence with the well known magazines I researched. My masthead fits with the theme of my magazine and the colour of the font has regularly been tied in with all elements of my product. I chose to use blue as it was one of the most popular colours that was chosen in my questionnaire. The colour and boldness of my font also fits the indie music genre as it is said to be a stand out type of music that is easily recognisable. I included the flowery border around my masthead as I felt it broke up my text and as my target audience is females I felt it added a more girly feel to the cover.

Plugs are used to tell the reader what free items are included in the magazine to make the reader want to purchase the magazine for the added features

I used the rule of thirds to make my cover page more enticing. I chose an image where the model was looking straight at the camera, I chose to do this in order to engage my audience and give a false pretence of a relationship between the model and the reader.My main cover line is a bigger font and has a blue stroke that ties in with my masthead, these are common conventions that music magazines follow. Including the celebrities name in this cover line will engage the audience as they will already be aware of who the artist is and what to find out what her secrets are.

MY FRONT COVER

Barcodes are a practical convention used in all types of magazines to ensure that the product can be sold. I placed my barcode in the top corner with the price underneath so it was out of the way but yet still visible to the audience so they are aware of how much the magazine is. If the price was put in a bigger font it may cause the reader to be put off from purchasing the magazine but a smaller font means that the audience will already be attracted to the magazine and the price will be less of an issue. Including the date makes it easier for the reader to know that this magazine is from a regular issue meaning they are likely to keep buying each issue.

With the internet being widely used by teenagers I included a webpage link to an online version of my magazine, this showed to the reader that my magazine is available online and many music magazines use this convention in order to get people to sign up to monthly subscriptions.

Pull quotes give the reader an idea of the content that is included within the magazine, this is selling technique and makes the reader want to know the story behind the quote. The bottom banner draws the audience in and makes them wonder what will be in the magazine that includes these artists and again makes the reader want to buy the issue to find out.

The model I used on my cover page represents my target audience well as she clearly fits the set age and gender that I want to purchase my product. Teenage girls tend to buy magazines that contain information about celebrities that they idolise and this was the thought I had in mind when picking my model. My Model is Caucasian and I used a close up shot in order to show my models natural beauty.

CONVENTIONS OF CONTENTS PAGE

Title

Images

Online exclusives

Charts table

Dominant page numbers

Highlighting events

Feature articles

Name of magazine

MY CONTENTS PAGE

Organising my contents page with articles under headings makes it easier for the reader to navigate through my magazine and know exactly where the article they are interested in is placed within the magazine. The headings also help to give the contents page a more organised look overall.

Including page numbers next to images of artists also helps to organise my contents page. If a reader sees an image of an artist they are interested it is very easy to then find the article where it talks about them with the use of these page numbers.

Using images especially the one of the main artist in this issue Scar means that the readers are aware of who they are even if they do not recognise them by name. It gives a more personal touch to the contents page and helps to add variation to what is included.

Including the title of my magazine on my contents page gives the page an overall finish and links it to the cover page effectively.The title of the contents page is simple does not draw the attention away from the rest of the information. The bold font also integrates well with the font I have chosen for my front cover.I included a chart table as I felt like it would reach my target audience well. All teenagers like to be up to date with which songs are the most popular at that moment in time.

Having this page broken up with lines that match the colour of my cover page masthead ties all of the pages together and keeps a constant theme throughout and helps to match the colour scheme I selected after handing out my questionnaire.

Adding this message in the bottom corner explains the free gift to the reader and also make them feel like the issue is personal to them.

Adding information about events and online exclusives gives the reader somewhere to go after reading this issue and the online exclusives also helps to get the magazine subscribers' and wider audience range.

CONVENTIONS OF A DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

Use of columns

Main image

Use of small text

Pull quotes

Masthead

MY DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

My masthead is bold and makes a clear reference to my front cover so that the reader knows this is the feature article of my magazine. The text font is the same used on my contents page to keep a clear house style for my magazine and give it a more professional finish. The text is bold and intriguing and keeps the audience interested wonder which secrets will be revealed this week.

My images break up the article and give it a more enticing and personal look. It also clearly advertises the artist the interview is with.

Pull quotes are used to draw the audience in and gives in insight in to the most important and interesting parts of the article.

I used an interview as this is a common convention of a magazine double page spread.

The artist profile helps to make the reader feel like they know the artist on a personal level which makes the reader more intrigued in the rest of the article.

I included a subtitle to give an introduction to my article and make it clear that this is a weekly occurrence in inside indie.

I used columns are these are one of the main conventions of a double page spread and help to make the magazine look more organised and easier to read.

I included a list of gigs that scar was doing as this will help to keep the audience interested and give them further information they may want to know.