1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL

MEDIA PRODUCTS?

TITLE OF MAGAZINE The name of my magazine is Insight! I have chosen this name as it links to my magazine having all the latest knowledge and gossip from the rock music industry and the artists.

The title for my magazine has the conventions of the title from Kerrang!, I have chosen to replicate this magazine as it is a very popular music magazine and because the magazine is of the same rock genre of my magazine. The black outline makes the white stand out and since black and white are contrasting colours it also makes my magazine look more professional. I have used the same colour of white as the Kerrang! Title as the main font colour and it also has a black outline effect. I have tried to develop this convention by adding a black shadow effect so that the title looks 3D and so it stands out to the audience. I have used the classic colours that are seen on many rock magazines, red, white and black on my own magazine, this is because they are very bright colours and they all contrast with each other so I have tried to recreate this on my magazine.

I used the website, DaFont to choose my font style for my magazine, I selected the font WrestleMania as it is bold and it is quite and unusual font also it looks like it is associated with the rock music genre. I have positioned this title at the top of my magazine front cover because this is the usual position for the title. The common convention of the magazines has the title either in front or behind the models head, so it was my own preference on where it was positioned. I have also positioned the title so that it is in front of my model, I have decided to place it here as I think it looks more professional and so it stands out most.

COSTUMES AND PROPSDuring my research and planning, I looked at a variety of magazine front covers and double page spreads. I used a variety of different pictures of models in rock music magazines and I decided that there is only a small amount of female models in rock magazines. Therefore I decided that I would use a female model in my magazine, I decided that most models wear black but I wanted my model to look more feminine.

I had my model wearing a colourful flowery top as it looks bright and it stands out, the top also looks quite feminine. I also had my model wearing black, leather shorts and lacy tights. The leather shorts are a typical costume seen on models as it links to rock music and they are a dark colour, also they attract the male gaze. I think that the lacy tights are appropriate as they link to rock music. I think that the whole outfit links to the attitude expressed from the rock music genre.

My model is also wearing Doc Martens, these have been a consistent style that have been seen in rock music magazines. The Doc Martens link to attitude and a lot of rock musicians have been pictured wearing Docs at concerts and in a variety of different photo shoots for various magazines. I have also placed a bandanna in my models hair because they are vintage and they link to the old school classical rock music.

MISE EN SCENEI have used a concert picture that I have taken of Fall Out Boy for the contents page of my magazine. I have used this picture as it makes my magazine more credible and it helps to show the genre of the magazine which is rock music. I think that this shows the mise en scene of my magazine as the main suggestions to the genre of my magazine are seen through the pictures.

I have decided to use this picture because it is easily identifiable as the lead singer of Fall Out Boy and it will attract my target audience also it links to the rock genre of my magazine. The artist is also holding a guitar which shows the audience that this is from a concert and that this is a music magazine. A large amount of my pictures on the front cover and on the contents page are of concerts, the remainder of the pictures are of my main model, they do not contain any musical instruments but the clothes that she is wearing links to the genre of the magazine.

PEOPLEI have tried to create a gender balance in my magazine through my research I have seen that there isn’t a large amount a female models or musicians on rock music magazines. Therefore I wanted most of my models to be female, so I have used a female model as my main artist and I have used male models on my contents page.

I have tried to make my model look like a musician by choosing certain costumes and poses that reflect the attitude shown by rock musicians. I have also used pictures of real musicians to make my magazine look professional and to link to the articles in my contents. These pictures reflect the rock image that I wanted to recreate for my model so it helps to suggest the genre of my magazine.

A common convention of music magazines is to use a wide variety of very popular bands or artists on the cover and on the main double page spreads of music magazines. I have tried to show the audience that my magazine focuses more on upcoming or new artists which have not been featured in many other music magazines.

WRITTEN CONTENTI have used a used a variety of conventions from real music magazines for my double page spread. I have used a drop capital because it makes my magazine look more professional and it is common in most magazines especially Q and fashion magazines. I have placed the question in bold for on my interview so that it stands out to the audience and so the audience can easily select a certain question to read that interests them.

I have tried to make the content of my magazine very similar to the layout of interviews in real music magazines. I have tried to make my article interesting and slightly different so that it will attract the attention of my target audience. I have also used pull quotes on my magazine so the audience will be attracted to my interview and the musician related to the interview. I have also tried to put a variety of popular artists into my interview so it is more credible and so the audience is more likely to read the interview if they see the name of one of their favourite artists or bands.

The written content in the form of plug lines on the front cover of my magazine are persuasive techniques used to convince my target audience to buy my magazine and to read all of the articles. I have tried to put the most interesting stories on the front cover of the magazine as this is a common convention of all music magazines. I have also added a brief description about the story underneath in a smaller font so that the audience can get a brief introduction into the article before they read it, this will also convince them to read or buy the magazine.

CONTENTS PAGEI have mostly used NME magazine as a guideline to making my contents page, I have used some of their techniques such as the band index which I thought was a good technique for helping the audience to find which page their favourite band or artist has been mentioned.

I have also used the way that NME divide their contents into sections to make it easier for the audience to select which articles they should read. I have used my own variation of this technique by splitting my contents into news, reviews and features. I have also used a common convention of both Kerrang! and NME on my contents page as I have used pictures to illustrate my articles instead of a large amount of text, this is why my pictures are very large and a numbered so they correspond with the contents.

I have continued to use the red black and white colour scheme on my contents page however I have used more white and black because they stand out more clearly and I used a great deal of red on my front cover.

TITLE FONT AND STYLEThe tile of my articles on my magazine front cover are all in the same font as my magazine name, WrestleMania. I have chosen to use this font again because it is bold and it looks professional, it also makes my magazine look consistent.

I have decided to use the colours of black font with a white outline because it is the direct opposite of my title and because it stands out the most against the background picture of my model. I think that the white outline makes the titles of the articles stand out the most as the white frames the black and makes it look 3D. I have decided to use a red font with a white outline on the brief description underneath the main article title.

I think that these colour make the description stand out but the smaller font shows that they are not as significant as the black title. I think that all of these colours contrast and they look professional on my magazine. I have also made the font for each of these titles quite large so that they stand out on the front cover and so they can be read easily be the target audience.

LAYOUTI have used a simple and common layout for my magazine front cover, I have done this so that it is similar to other music magazines and so it can be easily identified. Whilst taking my pictures I decided that I wanted to place all of the plug lines down the left hand side of the front cover as it is a common convention for music magazines therefore my model is positioned slightly to the left of the frame to accommodate these.

I have closely followed the layout of many rock magazines such as NME when creating my contents page and my double page spread but I have used Kerrang! mostly for my front cover. I have used a variety of persuasive techniques whilst creating my products, I have used buzz words such as Win and Exclusive and I have used pull quotes on my double page spread. I have used a medium close up of my model as I

think that this was the appropriate size as it filled my front cover and it left enough space for the remainder of the design features on my magazine. I have used common conventions on my magazine such as having my title at the top of the cover and the name of my artist in the middle followed by a quote from the artist. I think that these conventions are essential for making my magazine recognisable and professional. I have also added pictures from concerts which make appearances as articles in my magazine, I think that theses pictures stand out as they are brightly coloured and they are not usually placed at the bottom of the magazine as they are usually in a circle at the sides of the magazine. I have also used a banner on the top and the bottom of my magazine as it think that they frame my magazine and they are common conventions however only one is usually used at the top of bottom.

MUSIC GENRE AND HOW YOUR MAGAZINE SUGGESTS IT

The genre of my music magazine is rock. I think that my magazine suggests this genre through the use of design features such a Plus banner, circles and the written content in my magazine.

I have added a Plus banner at the bottom of my magazine. I have positioned it at the bottom of the magazine as this position is a common convention of rock music magazines. The purpose of this Plus banner is to persuade the audience to buy the magazine and so it stands out on the shelf. I think that this suggests my genre as it has a list of bands and artists that can easily be identified as being of the rock music genre. These bands and artists are also very popular and they have a very large fan base which are most likely to read and buy a rock music magazine, especially if it contains the latest gossip about their favourite bands or artists. I have used a red font on a black background so it stands out to the audience and so it matches the remainder of the front cover of my magazine. I have used the colours of red and black because they are contrasting and because they are common colours used on rock music magazines. I have used a white coloured font on the black background so it stands out but does not take the effect away from the red font used on the Plus. The white font stands out on the black background as white and black are contrasting colours and they look the most professional. I have used the font of WrestleMania again as my font so that my magazine looks consistent and because the font is bold and it stands out the most.