In what ways do your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?EVALUATION – QUESTION 1

Before beginning to construct my magazine I researched into the common conventions of my magazine genre, particularly looking at NME. I also looked at other similar magazine such as Q and KERRANG where I learnt about the main conventions needed to make my magazine look realistic. These conventions included masthead, coverlines, pull quote, page number, barcode etc… The more I looked at different front covers, contents pages and double page spreads the more I knew how to apply these conventions on a page. The style and format of my magazine needed to be consistent throughout in order to make the genre obvious and represent my audience accurately.

PURPOSES OF EACH PRODUCT

To ensure a product of a magazine looks sophisticated, official and professional the standard conventions should be used correctly to their full purpose.

The front cover is the most important page of a magazine for a company as it represents the style and content of the rest of the magazine. The page must look aesthetically pleasing, be easy to read and stand out against other products. It is the first thing a potential customer will see therefore advertisement is key via coverlines and puffs to attract them to open the magazine and read on.

The contents page is the next page which should inform the reader what the magazine contains by chronologically listing each article. The page should also be easy to read so the reader can navigate across the page to find the article/s they want to look at. Articles should be again be advertised e.g. through pictures, linking to a article.

A double page spread is an article spread across two pages which could be an interview, review, report or advertisement. Standardly, conventions such as pull quotes, images and text are used.

CONVENTIONS USED

• Front Cover

PuffMasthead/logo

Pull Quote

Strapline Barcode – issue date, website address and price

Slogan

CoverlinesMain coverline/headline

Issue number

Main image central on the page

Buzz word

Thirds

INSPIRATION – FRONT COVER

COMPARING FRONT COVERSMastheads

My issue of VINYL and this issue of NME are very similar in that style and conventions used are almost the same. Firstly the standard convention of positioning the masthead in the top left hand corner of the page has been used, enabling the Z theory to be followed. The masthead as well as the logo both use a very blocky and bold sans-serif font making it easy to read from a variety of distances. When choosing possible fonts for my masthead I was inspired by the style of NME as I really liked the shape of the letters and thought they were effective and confirmed to their purpose. Unlike NME I wanted to make my masthead look more stylish and quirky to suit the ‘indie’ persona, therefore I stretched the V to make it more iconic and memorable like a logo should be. I found my inspiration for this idea from Q magazine’s logo which is simply consists of a stylish capital q against a red box. I also changed the colour of the V to a dark electric blue which has obvious connotations of music as well linking in with my colour scheme. The word VINYL also has connotations of music, mainly older more retro music emphasising that my magazine includes older indie artists as well as new ones.

COMPARING FRONT COVERSMain Image

The two main images are very similar in the fact that the subject matter is a young teenage girl. By using a female on the front cover of my magazine subverts the traditional stereotypes of an indie music magazine. Usually only males feature on the front cover denoting that the magazine is aimed at men. I found this out after struggling to find a indie magazine on the internet that had a female as the cover model. The compositions of the models are very similar as a mid almost close-up shot has been captured, a standard convention of a front cover. Both images have also been taken from a slightly higher vantage point with the model looking towards the lens. This creates an intense and intimate relationship between the artist and reader which is an important way of engaging the reader and catching their eye. Both images have been captured against a white backdrop making it easy to layer other colours around the shape of the model, another common convention. However the poses the models are expressing are very dissimilar. Usually artists would show no obvious facial expression connoting seriousness. However my artist subverts this idea as she is smiling whilst sticking her tongue out and winking adding more fun and creating a light-hearted mood. I think this pose is more appropriate for my age group especially as it connotes Millie is a happy fun person, making her more interesting to read about.

The mise en scene of the models is very homogeneous as they both wear tartan flannel shirts in a very untidy scruffy way. Their hair is not perfectly styled and they both wear minimal make-up.

COMPARING FRONT COVERSCover Lines

Both VINYL and NME have included a pull quote taken from the double page spread article about the cover artist. I think this is a very effective and clever convention to include as it gives the reader a taster of what the article is about, making them want to read it further inside. To accentuate mine, I highlighted words ‘2015’ and ‘MAKE IT’ against the solid black box contrasting the bold colours. I think the pull quote I chose is very effective and intriguing, hopefully making the reader want to read more. NME doesn’t use very many cover lines especially compared to VINYL, which is fault of that magazine.

Other similar conventions used include a puff used to advertise a competition, cover lines, barcode and issue information.

• Other Comparisons

CONVENTIONS USED

• Contents Page

Masthead

Menu of mainarticles – main written content

Page numbers

Image captions

Subscription offer advertisement

Social media information

Summary of this issue

Logo

Images

Issue information and website address

Page number

Side Headings

INSPIRATION – CONTENTS PAGE

COMPARING CONTENTS PAGESMasthead

Together Q and VINYL have very similar mastheads. The company logo is positioned next to the word ‘CONTENTS’ with other conventions such as website address, issue number and date positioned underneath. The typography is similar as another bold sans-serif font has been used, however in VINYL the words has been made italics and bright red. I did this because I felt when constructing the contents page the masthead did not stand out as much as it should, therefore I made these alterations. By adding extra red I was continuing my colour scheme from the front cover onto the direct next page, making the reader recognise the magazine they are reading.

COMPARING CONTENTS PAGESMain Menu Text

Both my magazine and Q’s challenges the convention of dividing the page into three columns. This is a common convention seen on most contents pages. However instead I divided mine into two columns, still making the page look organised, easy to read and navigate around.

I also organised the list of articles in chronological order under three main side headings; news, reviews and features. I chose these features after researching into other contents pages including NME, Q and KERRANG. I liked the look of white text backed behind red boxes as it clearly divided up the sections more clearly. I also added grey backgrounds to some sections of the page, again to add clear divided sections.

• Other Comparisons

CONVENTIONS USED

• Double Page Spread

Logo

Credits

Main article text

Main headline/pullquote

Page number

Pull quote

Photographinformation

Artist name

Drop Cap

Summary of artistIn relation to article/ kicker

Main image

Columns

INSPIRATION – DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

COMPARING DOUBLE PAGE SPREADSMasthead // Pull Quote

To introduce the reader and captivate them to the article I used a pull quote as the masthead of my spread. The quote taken from the main article is a standard convention of a double page spread. In resemblance to KERRANG, I rotated the pull quote and added coloured boxes behind the text to really absorb the reader. I also emphasized the word ‘BIGGEST’ hugely just like KERRANG emphasized ‘ABSOLUTELY’. This is very effective technique as these words are both very powerful and important to what the article is about. I also thought it made sense to make ‘BIGGEST’ the largest word on the page, making the masthead shout out to the reader. In the masthead I have also used all the main colours from my chosen colour scheme.

COMPARING DOUBLE PAGE SPREADSMain Image

The main similarity between these two articles is the main images used. Both individual artist's are positioned left of the shot allowing the text to be positioned to cover the right. The background colour behind the singers consist of grey, however mine is far more interesting as it detailed street art. The model’s poses are very chilled and casual, where they look comfortable in front of the camera, possibly connoting that they feel comfortable opening up to their fans via their interview. Both shots are mid- shorts with a lot background space, the image has then been stretched over two pages. This then makes the spread successfully flow across the two pages instead of making them look separate.

• Other Comparisons

HOUSE STYLEA common form of VINYL is that very relaxed and informal language is used to appeal to my young audience. However standard and correct English is used to make the product seem official and legitamle. I have used a consistent colour scheme consisting of mostly red, blue and black with random bursts of other neutral colours such as white and grey. On the front cover and contents page I also included a dark burgundy shade taken from the cover models t-shirt she wears in the main image of the front cover. The font style is also very fluent as I have used very similar or the same font throughout including mostly ‘Microsoft Sans Serif’ and ‘Segeo UI’. I used mostly sans-serif fonts as these are the easiest to read and a common style used on indie music magazines. Whilst analysing NME magazine I discovered that bold round fonts are used which is where I gained inspiration for the font of my masthead. I really like NME’s font therefore I wanted to find one very similar using dafont.com. To make my logo slightly more quirky and different from others like NME, I deliberately stretched the V and made it a different colour to make it more prominent and noticeable. I also added a slight dark shadow around the letter to project it off the page and make it stand out increasingly against the white background. Another common form of this issue is using the colour red to highlight artist name or important words. For example, on the front cover I used red boxes positioned behind the text to highlight the exclusive and exciting artists featured inside the magazine. Following the contents page I used red for the masthead and side headings, then pull quote on double page spread.

Overall I feel have successfully followed and applied well the conventions of a music magazine. Due to the fluency of my three products I feel my magazine looks very professional and well-designed.