IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?

In compar ison to other mainstream media products of th is type such as the VIBE magazine, my product has demonstrated a var iety of the s imi lar forms and convent ions in i t . For example when looking at the f ront cover I have inc luded a very bold master head us ing the graffi ti font which refl ects the urban nature of the Hip-Hop genre. As wel l as th is the main image on the f ront cover is of a young person who represents a famous indiv idual in the music industry as seen in most music magazines. This shows that I intend my product to be fami l iar to i ts audience by making them fee l intr igued to see the known face in the feature. A lso the main image on the f ront cover re lates to the exc lus ive art ic le in the magazine which is a convent ion demonstrated across a l l magazines I researched and analysed dur ing the research process. In addi t ion to th is I have used a main headl ine and cover l ines which are convent ions of a music magazine. I have done th is by making the main headl ine stand out wi th a background colour. However I have developed the use of cover l ines by adding pictures and i l lustrat ions to them. This shows development as i t i s not often seen with Hip Hop magazines. Furthermore the f ront cover of my product shows e lements of convergence as seen in a l l music magazines. For example i t shows l inks to soc ia l network ing contacts such as twi t ter and face book. Also the issue date and barcode has been c lear ly p laced on the f ront cover which is another convent ion of music magazines. However co lours on the f ront cover consisted of some dark and v ibrant colours that contrast one another which shows how I have chal lenged the convent ions of a music magazine.

In relation to the contents page, I have mainly used rather than develop and challenge the conventions of a music magazine. My product shows that I have used page numbers to make the accessing of the diff erent articles easier. Also the organisation of the page follows the traditional structure of most content pages in music magazines. My contents page also follows the theme of the graffi ti text which gives elements of consistency. I have additionally broken the magazine down into diff erent sections and categories as seen in other magazines.

When looking at the double page spread, the conventions are very clear here. I have used columns to present the main body of text as seen in the real media magazines. By doing this it makes the spread look easier to read for its readers. The left side of my double page spread consist of only an image of whom the article is about. This convention of double page spreads is used throughout the magazines of the diff erent genres, highlighting how I have used the conventions.