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

Front coverMy media product uses various codes and conventions of a magazine throughout to make my music magazine successful and make it seem more professional. On my front cover, my masthead is the biggest font on the page and is the most noticeable. Nearly every magazine uses this convention as it makes it clear to the audience what their product is and what it is called- it’s showing their brand; making it established. My strapline is situated underneath my masthead, this is a common convention which many magazines use, but not all. Other codes and conventions which I used on my front cover included that my main image took up the most space on the page, with cover-lines and sell-lines surrounding it. Direct mode of address is also used in my main image. All of these are heavily used in real media products. Also, on my front cover I have included a barcode, which makes my media product seem more realistic. In addition, on my front cover there is a pug. This is a convention used my many media products in order to attract potential readers with a freebie or competition. My magazine front cover challenged conventions though as the date of my magazine and its issue number is on a rotation; this is something not normally seen on a magazine front cover. However, this works well for my magazine as it makes it more edgy and sharp.

Contents pageMy contents page uses various codes and contents such as carrying on with house style as my front cover. My house style obviously uses the colours red, black and white. This is also continued onto my double page spread. Other codes which are followed on this page are how the articles are listed out. This style is featured on many magazine contents pages as it easy and clear for the audience to read. The images on this page feature a triangle and their page number; indicating to the audience that these articles are the top stories, therefore attracting the audience to read them. Again, this is another convention used by many products of large institutions. My contents page again, uses codes and conventions as I have included an editorial on the bottom of the page. This creates a relationship between the readers and the editor (me) of my magazine, making them feeling involved and allowing them to go on and become prosumers.

Double page spreadMy double page spread uses codes and conventions of real media products by having the main image as the person whom is being interviewed, this shows that this article is focused primarily on them. I have included an information bar on my double page spread, this is a feature that only a few media products use, but its give the reader more information on the person being interviewed. The readers are more than likely going to be interested in this information as they are bound to be fans of the artist as he is of the hip-hop music genre. Another convention which I was used, was having a quote in large font, from the interview. This is used by many real life media products. The only thing which I challenged here was that I didn't use the same style of font throughout. For the word ‘EXCLUSIVE’, I used a completely different font to that, that I have used else where in my media product. This works well as it stands out more, showing that this article is truly ‘exclusive’.