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

media products?

Olivia Dexter

Mast head The masthead needs to stand out against the background to ensure that it engages the eye of

the customer when the magazine is on sale. ‘Top of the pops’ magazine uses a masthead, which is clear and has a bold title, which instantly attracts the reader’s attention. The title and fonts used are also indicative of the genre, whilst looking at pop magazines I noticed a trend in having the word pop within the magazine masthead. As a result I wanted to conform to popular pop magazine conventions and include the word ‘pop’ within my magazine. This also further illustrates to the buyer what genre the magazine is about. I choose to conform to this convention, by calling my magazine ‘Teen pop’ as it clearly illustrates to readers what the genre the magazine is.

The cover lines should have a link, to featured artists in the magazine. I feel like my magazine successfully correlates between the cover lines and content on the contents page, as I made sure that there was a link between all.

The artist or band chosen for the cover must be relevant and attract the target audience. This is why choosing the model who will appear as an artist on the cover was so important, as they will be representing the genre. My choice of model had to be specific because of this I wanted to make sure that all of all 6 models I choice have the potential to work in pop culture, because they are all stereotypically attractive.

Cover The main background image should feature a band or artist

who is relevant to the target audience and music genre. The featured artist must also be of interest to the target audience, supported by a cover line.

Using the left third of the page for plugs to attract the reader, the mast head is commonly placed on the left of the front page. I have conformed to this convention by placing my masthead in the left hand corner .Pop magazines generally use the bottom third to present a range of topics you will find inside, such as Gossip columns and interviews. My magazine also conforms to this convention as I have shown a selection of different pop music related topics along the left hand side of the magazine. Pull quotes are used and scattered around the page, with the intention that readers will see the quote and want to read further. I haven’t used this on my cover because it’s not a convention of Pop.

The cover consists of various different images, which are placed strategically to catch the audience member’s attention. The images often contain a pop ‘star’ in a studio shoot, in which they make eye contact with the audience. I conformed to this convention in my magazine by showing my Pop star in a clear studio shoot.

Text My use of a bright colour scheme is an intentional way of attracting the reader’s

eye at the point of sale news stands. The colours used are also conation of the target audience I have used ‘Girly colours' to show I want to attract a younger female audience, because of this I used a primarily pink and female associated color scheme. The text must engage the audience and entice them to further look at the magazine in a buying environment, tag lines must be enticing. I have attempted to achieve this throughout the cover and contents however it could have been done more successfully. Using visually appealing fonts will appeal to a younger pop audience who will get bored if the page is consumed by lots of text. Diversity is really important to the younger fox thinker.

Bold fonts used in sub headings or cover lines to indicate what the story is about. I have used bold fonts to highlight particular parts of the text which are important and show readers what the rest of the text is about.

The use of fonts within music magazines is representative of the genre.

Contents page- They use on average 6 images however one the main image must stand out against the other images on the page.

The title of the magazine is often repeated on this page and the date is evident to show as this is important institutional information. Sub headings next to the page numbers. This is to give a clear idea of what is inside the magazine and makes it easy to navigate.

They use page numbers which are highlighted in another colour to show their significance, followed by a few words to say what is on the page.

Images will have a caption box which will draw the reader to the story, the caption will make them want to read the feature. Colloquial language found in pop magazines to suit the younger audience. I have used colloquial language throughout the production of my magazine as it appeals to the younger audience as they require a less sophisticated vocabulary.

As a convention of pop magazine the contents page is typically full of images and text. As it provides a tasters as to what is in the magazine It also allows for easy nagaviation around the magazine.

Conventions of Pop music Artist are clothed fashionably in mainstream

culture outfits. Artists are portrayed happy, enjoying themselves and content with life. Pop stars are almost always stereotypically attractive. With female stars this works as women aspire to be more like their favorite celebrities.

Lyrics within pop songs are based on love and relationships.

Bands often express through lyrics unity associated with other teens, which is the main target audience.

Pop songs usually last between 3-5 minutes with a set structure and a consistent beat.

The pop music industry, follows current trends rather than being independent in making something new and unique. The form of pop songs usually follows a verse-chorus-verse structure, using hook line which are catchy for the audience.

Pop music promotion is done via radio stations and magazines.

Imagery Songs usually include a beat which is dance orientated.

These songs are stereotypically associated with people in their teens.

A lot of the imagery created is based on sex or partying as this is stereotypically what teens enjoy.

Artists express a sexual and seductive image with their pop music, trying to lure the audience, in a show like manner. However more recently artists have chosen to dress in a provocative way portraying a sexual atmosphere. Previously women in pop were presented in a Mulley's male gaze, however more recently they have been making a conscious decision to dress provativley. This conforms to gauntlets theory of empowered females.

Hair and makeup are more commonly being used as a way to commutate the artists feelings, views and express a message; this plays a major role in pop music videos.

Technology recently has been used as a major part of music videos, animation is used to create an exciting, loud and lively atmosphere

Pop music videos are known for their heavy lighting and vibrant colors. This makes the video more attractive.

Gossip magazines There is a large cross over between pop magazines and gossip magazines like More and

heat, because of this I had to ensure that my pop music magazine didn’t cross over into this. Because of the culture of pop is popular culture it was obvious in other pop magazines that I looked at for content such as Top of the pops, that the majority of the content was gossip related to people in popular culture including music artists.

I had to ensure that I met the brief, therefore I had to make sure that I didn’t create a gossip magazine which, I had to be careful of during the planning. Keeping the focus ultimately on the music element of pop was essential to ensure that I kept to the brief of the magazine.

Throughout production of the contents page I had to ensure that I had an equal balance of gossip and music entertainment information. My contents page is the largest page in the production which shows that there was a slight dominance of gossip, which could have been approached in a better way. Having more content on things regarding music is the most achievable way of doing this.

• During the planning of the DPS I wanted to encouperate some narrative theory into the heading. To achieve this I have used a new equilibrium within the heading. “This album is about people who understand me” the implication of this statement is that she is no confined by the media and what it tells her she should be doing.

• I have also used binary oppositions by using this statement which may have connation's of he intelligence .With an article which implies that she is merely just a pop artist which lacks consistency. These two concepts appose each other and will create a more interesting interview.

Females in the media Whilst planning my magazine I wanted to make sure that female

represented in the magazine were positive representations of females, as the younger audience that I am looking to target are easily influenced.

As my audience is primarily a young female audience, I needed to look at the sexualisation of young people for a teen audience. As the magazine has to appeal to the secondary audience of parents who will be buying the magazine. In my magazine I decided not to sexualize any of my models as I was keen to portray a positive message within the magazine.

The main shot in the DPS may appear to be slightly sexualized because my models facial expression. However I feel this is appropriate for the magazine because young people seek out racy programmes and magazines to satisfy pre-existing appetites, which are determined in large part by how they are brought up.

While campaigners have long blamed the media for forcing sexualized imagery on children and teens, the study found that those teenagers with an interest actively seek it out.

Critism’s of my production In this I want to evaluate, elements within my production which I potentially could have done better. The first of which being the DPS which I personally feel is the weakest and would work in a conventional pop magazine.

The font used although very readable, isn't conventional of the genre as it maybe needs to be more exciting to attract the younger audience.

There is also potential for use of things like plugs and tag lines to attract the younger audience.

The colour used should be more of a bolder pink to make the page more appealing to female readers. It should also show a correlation between the colour used throughout the magazine on the cover

The page is dominated by text which may not appeal to the younger target audience which I am aiming at. However may appeal to a more sophisticated audience who

prefer content. This page I believe is the page which least conforms to conventions as it doesn’t appear to appeal to the typical target audience. As the large quantity of text would imply that the magazine is more suited to an older audience.

The image I feel is very effective in the space which it is placed. However the image type could have been more adventurous often in pop magazines the artists is saying something about them or their record in the shot. This could have been portrayed more effectively.

The teen pop masthead is a similar colour to the one used in the background and the font doesn’t immediately attract the eye. As the mast head it should be more The images on the left side of the page of ‘Jenn’ and ‘Katy’ don’t correlate with the other images. They appear to lack planning because of he way in which hey are shot shows that the camera and lighting may not have been as good as that used in the other studio shoots. If I were to do the planning again I would, choose a different heading for he images to relate to. As the ‘no makeup’ shoots appear unprofessional. The textbox beneath the images on the left remains white and appears unfinished because of the black and white used. I

The mast head doesn't have an attached connation of pop. We love pop uses ‘we love it’ there is also evidence of the brand logo on the contents page next to the logo. This shows clear correlation between throughout the magazine. The contents page I believe is the page which most successfully conforms to the conventions that you would expect to see in pop magazine. As it conforms to the conventions you would expect. Such as the large variety of images and the content which is displayed throughout the magazine

The vibrancy of colours and the contrasting images are conventional of the younger audience.