In what ways does your media products use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• My chosen GenreThe genre of my music magazine is Indie. I knew I had to take time on deciding on this as I had to decide what genre I would work best with. I chose this because its a type of music that I enjoy, and know about already. I fit into the categories of social groups and target audience, so it meant that I could relate to other readers.

• Conventions of Indie Music-Male bands-Acoustic-60/40 male to female listener ratio.-Sing about love and life- Outgoing-Music festivals- live sound rather than digital. Band members will each have a particular job and nothing is done on computer. However, RnB music for example is often done on computer.-4 or 5 people in a band, rather than 1 or 2 that can often be seen in genres such as dance.-Style is often quirky and doesn’t follow current trends.

• RayGunRay gun is a magazine that challenged conventions. I have written about it previously on my blog. In short, it was a magazine that went out of its way to challenge every convention it could. It went out of business because it wasn’t continuous so couldn’t maintain an audience.

• Conventions of a front cover- Font/colour of masthead can be seen throughout the magazine.- On main image on cover, usually of an Idolised artist-Image of artist is usually related to main story within the magazine or is featured in an ‘exclusive interview’-Headlines that attract the readers attention and make them want to read on-Banners and text boxes, again to attract attention-Catchy phrases often humorous or persuasive.-Bar Code-Price-Issue number + date- Bold colours-often really busy, no spare space.

• My front coverconventions I followed;- Font and colour of mast head can be seen throughout the magazine, I didn’t want this to vary a lot as it would make it look unprofessional.- Idolised artist on cover, I picked an attractive young girl. This will persuade males as they will think she’s good looking and females will admire her.-Bar code, date, issue number, price.-Headlines that attract the readers attention and makes them want to read on. -Bold Colours.

• Conventions i challenged-As I have said previously, I wanted my magazine to look more minimalistic than packed like others. This is because I wanted it to have class and resemble the ‘sleek’ sounds that come from the title.- I have only one main picture on my cover for this reason. - I have left out banners and text boxes and I felt this was more conventional of broadcast magazines, I know that now Indie music is becoming more popular, but I still wanted it to follow conventions of a Niche magazine so that readers feel more welcomed and friendly.

• Conventions of a contents page- Features more than one image-Tells the reader what’s in the magazine-Page numbers- Letter from the editor- Features the magazines website or email -Orderly

• My contentsconventions i followed;- Orderly & organised-Displayed the page numbers- Featured a photo from main story ( however how I displayed it was unconventional)- Included a friendly editors note, explaining what was in the issue

conventions I challenged• - I challenged the way that pictures

are displayed on the contents. Although I included a picture of the artist featured on the cover, I displayed it differently. Again I wanted to upkeep the minimalistic and artistic feel so made the photo cover the whole of the background.

• Conventions of a double page spread-higher percentage of text than usual-eye catching images-one main image -Main title/headline-Usually an interview of some sort-Colourful-Interesting parts of text are highlighted-’Drop capitals’

• My double page spreadconventions I followed;- I would definitely say that my DPS has a higher percentage than usual.-There’s a main title/headline-There’s a main image-Colourful-Used ‘Drop Capitals’conventions I challenged - The main convention I have challenged is the fact that I have chosen a festival guide rather than a stereotypical interview. I feel this relates more to my readers as the DPS has been specifically made for them. - I didn’t highlight specific parts of the text as i feel due to my house style, it would make it too cluttered and busy.