AS RE-TAKE: Evaluation Question 1

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

In my media product I have used many forms and conventions of real media products in order to attract audiences by the typical magazine style. I have followed the common conventions of music magazines but have also developed and challenged some other conventions.

An example would be that I have developed the convention of the masthead on my front cover. Looking back at my textual analysis of a music magazine front cover which is Q magazine, the masthead uses the convention of the left third. This makes the title easily recognisable in a display of dozens of competitors. Whereas, the masthead on my front cover stretches across at the top of the page like Vibe magazine, giving it that distinctive look, but also making it recognisable with just the first letter of the magazine name ‘U’.

The convention of my selling line is used and displayed above the masthead on my front cover, but I have slightly developed this by putting it in a small font. Though, Q magazine’s selling line is also found at the top of the page, it is in a very large and bold font stretching across the page which is different from my selling line.

Unplugged's selling line

Q magazine's selling line

Another convention that I have developed is the main image. It is common to feature a medium close up in music magazines, but I have featured a mid-shot image instead. I did this because Blender magazine usually features a mid-shot image of a female on their front cover which is similar to my magazine as I’m using a female as well. Also, this shot type particularly shows off the model’s body as they are wearing limited amount of clothing and revealing skin. As a result, this may attract a huge amount of potential buyers of mostly girls and perhaps some boys who might be very keen on the relative attractiveness of the model.

Unplugged magazine   Blender magazine

   

Along with this, I had my model making direct eye contact connoting confidence that she knows she’s being photographed by looking at the camera. This is seen in many existing magazines and the textual analysis I did on the front cover of Q magazine which featured Cheryl Cole supports this common convention.

My model's nvc     Chery Cole's nvc

In addition, I have challenged the common convention of the dateline, price and website link being placed altogether on the barcode as seen on Q magazine. I wanted to make my magazine look more original so I placed the dateline and website link together and away from the barcode found underneath the masthead, while the barcode stands alone with the price on it at the bottom right of the page.

Unplugged's dateline/website link/barcode/price

Q magazine's barcode/dateline/price/website link

Furthermore, I have used a banner at the top of my front cover which reads “EXCLUSIVE! UPCOMING UK ARTISTS [P.99]”. This is a popular convention used in music magazines to persuade the audience even more into buying the magazine. An example of a real media product doing this is Blender magazine featuring Katy Perry on the front cover.

Unplugged's banner

Blender's banner

I have also used coverlines which are used in all front covers magazines regardless whether it is about music or not. This is to attract the audience’s attention by displaying the magazine’s content in brief, eye-catching, colourful texts. My coverlines are distributed around the main image in different colours, sizes and fonts to create a sense of variety. I chose to use colourful texts as the coverlines so that it stands out against the model’s pale complexion. However, most of these coverlines are distributed on the left third of the magazine because it is easy to read short coverlines in shops where the magazine is not shown full frontage.

The conventions I have observed in professional products in terms of design are that a contents page colour scheme matches the front cover and double page spread. I have applied this rule to my product where the colours that are mainly used include pink, blue, beige and black. However, I have kept the colours to a minimum on my double spread following a simple colour scheme of only pink, black and beige, creating a modern and contemporary look. 

Real media products often have white backgrounds to allow readers not to be distracted, keeping attention on the text. On my contents page I have used this form of convention so that pictures, headings and text boxes stick out to readers. These text boxes come in a variety with headings in a bold type and capital letters to intrigue the reader and separate the categories. I have page numbers that run up high to 104 to keep readers engaged by including many articles. My magazine contents page is also laid out in columns because it is simple to read and the pictures have page numbers labelled on them which anchors them to the text. The headlines and sub-lines are in the same font but differ in size with the sub-lines being smaller in size than the headlines which are common conventions in music magazines.







What's more, I added the magazine name ‘UNPLUGGED’ on my contents page as a logo for advertising and branding purposes. Following that is the title ‘contents’ and issue number which are typically found in Q magazine as their common conventions which make them recognisable. Another code I followed is having a smaller image of my front cover on my contents and an editor’s letter including a small image of myself as the editor of my magazine.

Music magazines usually place their issue date, website address and dateline together at the top of the page where the title is. But, I have slightly developed this convention by putting the dateline, website address with the page number at the bottom of my contents page. I did this because readers will tend to notice this in every page of the magazine and are more likely to remember it. This certainly suits my target audience who are teenagers as they are mostly persuaded by repeated exposure of the same thing.

We would say that a convention of a double page spread is to feature one large image that takes up a whole page, but occasionally some magazine might have the image blend between pages. I used this convention and had a part of the subject's clothing blend on the other side of the page to link the two pages together and also had the subject obtain a direct address pose like the pose she had on my front cover. Her non-verbal communication demonstrates her confidence and reveals the fact that she knows she’s being photographed. In order to match the subject with the article, the subjects name ‘Ella Defalco’ has been put in a different colour to denote a sense of importance.

The headline reads out a question with the subject name at the end ‘Who the hell is Ella Defalco?’ which is placed on only one page and the word ‘hell’ being in italics to show the common language teenagers used, while ‘Ella Defalco’ is in a pink font all in capital letters to make the subject appear important. The article is written informally because it allows the personality of the journalist interviewing the subject to come through such as, words like ‘yeah’ is included. After the headline follows a by-line crediting the photographer and journalist’s name and to show where the reader should start reading, a drop capital has been used at the start of the article. Just like my contents page, my double spread is laid out in columns making it look more professional and easy to read. Also, a quote taken from the interview is enlarged and positioned by the picture which is a convention seen in real media products.