In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of music magazines)

The magazine title…

For the masthead of my magazine I used the font ‘Octin Vintage’ from ‘Dafont.com’.
However the font was quite thin and I didn’t feel it was bold enough so I edited it on
Photoshop using the ‘fill tool’. I think it follows conventions in the way that it is
placed at the top of the magazine, beginning at the left. For example, it could be
compared to ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine Masthead because it uses a different, but eye
catching font and spreads across the whole of the top of the page. It could also be
compared to ‘KERRANG!’ magazine because again the masthead stretches across
the whole of the magazine. Also, capital letters are used which I think makes more
of a statement and makes the magazine title more memorable. However, I think
that my masthead challenges conventions in the way that this font may not be seen
as a ‘regular’ style for a magazine and could have connotations with the text on an
‘American high school jersey’ so therefore could be seen as a bit ‘young’ to be on a
magazine, however I still think that this text works because my target audience is
teenagers and young adults. Also because the font is used throughout my other
magazine pages so therefore makes it stronger. I chose the name ‘STATUS’ as I think
the name is easy to remember as it is just one word, so that follows convention as it
is important for the magazine title to be memorable so that the audience
remembers what your magazine is called. I also chose to put the title into capital
letters as I think the look gives more of an impact and gets it noticed more.
 Graphology/page layout

I think that the graphology of my

magazine front cover matches
conventions in the way that the
masthead is at the top of the page, the
image takes up the majority of the
space and the cover lines also fill a lot
of the space. It could be compared to
NME magazine because this is
standard layout of their magazines.

I think that the graphology of my

contents page again meets
conventions, and can be compared to
Q magazine through the use of simple,
square images and a coloured box
behind subheadings and different
sections. However I think it challenges
conventions with the use of the bigger
box at the bottom of the page as this is
not usually seen in magazines.

I think that the graphology of my double page spread does follow conventions of again, magazines such as ‘Q’ through
the use of simple, square images, although slightly edited (I adjusted the lighting and contrast and also converted one
image to black and white on Photoshop) . I also think that the use of quotes in different and larger fonts follows
conventions as magazines do this to draw readers in. I think that the banner across the top of the page with the title on
slightly challenges conventions as it is not seen on many double page spreads and titles are often kept a smaller space on
the page.
Costumes, props, iconography used to reflect genre

I think that the costumes/outfits that my

models are wearing are conventional to
the genre and a magazine because they
are not too over styled that it disagrees
with peoples taste and shrinks the target
audience, but their outfits have been kept
simple as to match my magazine theme
and I think that this outfit, and the others
used throughout my magazine would be seen in a real
magazine.

Camerawork and framing of images

The camerawork I used throughout my magazine does

match conventions, firstly on the front cover because of the
mid-shot. This is common on most magazines. I think the
camera work could challenge conventions on the contents
page when the two models are looking at each other rather
than the camera, however I still think this works as it is still
clear who the models are. Again, on the double page
spread, conventions are also met with a full length image
used, this would also be found in real magazines.
 Title, article, header etc. font and style

Title: For all three of my pages, I have used font ‘Octin

Vintage’ I edited it using Photoshop for the front cover, to
make more of an impact. I think that this font does work
well because it is large and stands out from the rest of the
fonts.

Article: For the article I used Times New Roman, I think this
matches conventions because it is a simple, clear font. I
think it works well and goes with my genre well.
 Header: For the headings/cover lines I have used the font
‘Edgar da cool’ and ‘Jack Input’. I think these challenge
conventions slightly because the fonts are quite different
from each other, I included the Edgar da cool font to match
my aim to include ‘handwriting’ fonts and I think they work
because the ‘egdar da cool’ font links to the ‘The like’ text
which was ‘Ba Wet Paint’

Genre and how the magazine cover, contents and spread

suggests it

I think that the genre comes across in my magazine in

quite a conventional way because of the way it is similar
to other magazines with the same genre e.g. NME, Q. I
also think that the black and white images on the front
cover, contents and double page spread and also the
editing of the images help to get the genre across. Also,
obviously, the cover lines straight away get the genre
across to the audience because of what bands are
included in the magazine.

How your artist(s) are represented

II think my artists are represented conventionally as I

researched music magazine poses etc. I think that the
images and poses would be featured on a real magazine
and I think the editing would be included too.

Colour scheme
My colour scheme is conventional, and this was done on
purpose. After trying out a different colour theme, I didn’t
think that it was strong enough so I researched and
found that red was very common with black and white
magazine images. I think the red works well because it is
more eye catching and contrasts more against the black
and white, which makes more of an impact.