EvaluationQuestion 1

Katie Banner

AS Media

Cover Page- Uses…My cover Page uses conventions of a music magazine front cover by having things like a banner and a skyline at the top and bottom of the page; both holding information about content of the magazine.

I chose to include both a skyline and a banner because I wanted to include as much information as possible onto my cover page without making the page look too cramped. By splitting it in to these sections, it helps make the text easier to read and you know where the main pieces of information are located.

I think that my choice of including these elements has proved effective because I think it makes the overall look and finish seem uniformed and professional. By incorporating on-going shape designs into these elements, it helps to keep a consistent house style throughout my media product.

Cover Page-Develops…My cover page develops codes and conventions of a typical music magazine by having a main image that is not specifically a medium close up shot. I chose to keep the image relatively close up so that you can at least see the necessary detail on the image however, I wanted to have it further away than most front cover images because I wanted to incorporate more of the background into the overall look. When editing this image, I chose to keep the background black and white and then make the subjects in the image (the band members) in colour. To be able to see the contrast in colours, I had to make the image a mid-shot rather than the typical medium close-up.

I feel that by making the image a mid-shot, it has made more room for article titles and I was also able to fit in a smaller image in the left hand corner, with plenty of room around it for its own article title.

Cover Page-Challenges…The cover page that I have produced challenges conventions of a music magazine cover by having one member from the main image who does not have a direct mode of address with the camera.

I chose to use this image even though it was lacking the above feature because the other three members of the band all had a strong direct mode of address individually, that the fourth wasn’t necessarily needed. I think by having this one abnormality in the image, it gives off a quirky vibe because it immediately draws your attention to that subject; which subsequently draws your attention to the main article on the cover.

I have included the bands instruments into the image as well, so this automatically shows the group are as one and does not need that fourth direct mode of address to show that they are a band.

Contents- Uses…My contents page uses the key code and convention of having a banner at the bottom of the page.

I wanted to include subscription information somewhere on the page so I chose to add the banner thinking it would fit appropriately in my media product.

After reviewing this area of my contents page, I have realised that there is too much empty space in the right hand area of the banner and therefore, does not look like the banner is formatted and spaced out correctly. If I were to change this area, I would maybe think about adding more information/text within the banner to make it look more uniformed.

Contents- Develops…Having formatted columns on my contnents page is a code and convention that I have developed.

I chose to only have two columns for my article information because I wanted to have an area made solely for my smaller, supporting images. I believe that this is effective because you can clearly see all of my articles and know which articles my image match up to, even though they are not necessarily next to each other.

My ‘Regulars’ article space is a lot smaller than the Features so I therefore, made the fonts smaller so I could fit in an extra image. This develops the consistency of columns and font size because you would usually see both sets of information in the same font size. I wanted to have more room for images and feature content so believe that the decision of making this area of font smaller, has been well thought through.

Contents-Challenges… One thing that I have done in the production of my music magazine that challenges the conventions of a professional music magazine contents page is that I have not put a caption on top of each image that I have used. On the bottom image, I have decided to refrain from adding a caption to it. This was mainly due to the use of colour in the image and the fact that I did not want to defy the house style of my overall magazine. I have however, placed said image next to the article it relates to. Although it is not extremely obvious as to which article it relates to, there are certain aspects of both the image and the article that relate.

Also, because the image already has text on it, if I had of added a caption to it, it may have looked too busy and would have drawn your attention away from the actual image itself.

DPS- Uses…My magazines DPS uses codes and conventions such as: a main article image and smaller images that relate to the article.

When I was preparing my photo-shoots, I chose to prepare two different locations and styles so that I would end up with a variety of images that I could use throughout my media product. This proved successful as my end product resulted in many images that I could not only use on my DPS but I could also incorporate into my cover and contents pages.

I chose to edit the smaller images in a similar way with a similar colour scheme so to keep my overall house style consistent and professional. I made the main image fit the entire left hand page so that I could use a pull quote as a design feature.

DPS- Develops…My DPS develops certain codes and convention of a typical music magazine in areas such as using the artists name as the main article title.

My reasoning for doing this was that I didn’t want to have too many large pieces of texts; having a main title, a sub heading and then a pull quote, would have looked too busy on the page. By using the artists name as the main title, it pulls everything on the two pages together because everything looks like it links together.

I believe that choosing to do this has proved effective because I have managed to Include a title that Is relevant, links in with the text and images and is in keeping with the overall house style.

DPS- Challenges…My magazine Double Page Spread, challenges some codes and conventions of the typical music magazine DPS. One of these challenges, is that I have chosen not to include a magazine website address or the magazines name, anywhere on the page.

I have chosen not to include these because I felt that they weren’t a necessity at the time of production. I didn’t think the room I had available would benefit from having either of these extra elements.

Now that I have looked back and reviewed this area of my DPS, I have come to realise that my DPS would have benefited from having the masthead and a website address on the page. This is because it would have filled in some of the empty space and made the overall finish look more professional. If I had more time to go over and change anything on my DPS, this would definitely be an area that I would re-visit.