Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of a real mgazine?
- 2. Plain background so they can easily layer text without it looking overcrowded or childish and unprofessional. Only one text colour so it’s not overly colourful which could look tacky or childish and put off more sophisticated readers. Different but clear text fonts and styles of magazine article titles. The largest cover lines will be the most important and the ones that sell the magazine the most as they are what the reader’s are interested in. Cover lines in bold with more information about the article underneath not in bold as it’s less important and they want to catch the reader’s attention quickly. Clear image with the model looking directly at the camera. The lighting is good and there are no shadows on their face or body. Patterned dress draws attention to the model as it’s the only colourful piece on the cover. It also gives the impression of what genre and topics are in the magazine. Large, bold masthead which is easily recognisable and is always at the top of the page.
- 3. ‘Warning’ is in red and catches your attention it’s also emotive language which catches the reader’s attention. Cover lines in bold with more information about the article underneath not in bold as it’s less important and they want to catch the reader’s attention quickly. The model is wearing red which ties him in with the masthead and cover lines. This sets a consistent house style which will be continued throughout the magazine. Nothing overlapping the masthead so that’s easy for readers to see. This is especially important for new magazines as they are not yet established. The cover lines have the same colours as the masthead which helps maintain a house style. This magazine has listed popular musicians/artists that feature in this issue of their magazine. They are all from the same genre as the artist on the cover and the genre that this magazine represents – typically rock and pop. Plugs other popular artists of the same genre
- 4. Challenges the generic conventions as it has the artist’s head layering over the masthead banner. This is especially unusual in new magazines that aren’t yet well established. I put the articles on the left hand side third so that they will be read first by customers as this is the most important information on the magazine cover. The barcode and price are on the right hand side third as they are least important. I also want the customer to decide they want the magazine based on the articles before seeing the price as it is expensive. I plug other well-known artists that are featured in the magazine to gain the readers attention I put the main cover lines in red with more information in a smaller font and different colour underneath I used a red block theme for my house style and kept this consistent throughout the magazine in order to establish it
- 5. Small article on something typical of the magazine’s genre. It will be the most important/popular article in the magazine and typically has something to do with the artist on the cover Small masthead/logo and the date that this magazine was issued. Image of cover on the contents page. Lots of smaller images which link to other articles within the magazine – typical of the magazine’s genre Social media links to engage the younger and more technologically aware audience Main article in one colour and then more detail underneath in another colour as that information is less important Articles are organised under headings to make it easier for the reader to find what they’re looking for
- 6. I continued the use of the red block themed house style I included the main article on the contents page and gave some information about the artist and the interview The logo is at the bottom of the page as it would be in a typical music magazine I should have included a website address and social media links to engage the readers further. Also as my target audience are quite young then they’ll be technologically aware and use social media. I included lots of detailed content in the contents. I categorised them under titles to create a clear layout I put more information under the article title and put the page numbers in red to make it easy to navigate I used lots of images to visually engage the reader
- 7. Clear sans serif font with a drop case letter at the start of the interview Clear layout so you know exactly who the interview is about Page number and date and also the magazine logo which maintains the magazine’s house style Large image of the artist which shows readers who the interview is about and will catch their eye if they are just flicking through quickly Introductory paragraph shows what the interview is about- artist may be going on tour or releasing new music Typically the text is organised into three columns and the text is justified to consolidate the lines Hyphenation is removed so that it’s easier for the reader to read the interview without words being broken up The image fits in with the mise- en-scene and genre of the artist as well as matches the cover image to establish house style
- 8. Hyphenation is removed so that it’s easier for the reader to read the interview without words being broken up I included an image of the artists debut album which is unusual as they usually just speak about it in the first introductory paragraph. I included the logo and page number of the magazine using the house style theme of red blocks I pulled out quotes from the artist that I thought would be of particular interest to the reader and will make them read the whole article if they’d just been skimming through I arranged the interview text in three columns which were justified to consolidate and define each column. The artist’s name is clear so the reader knows who the interview is about The artists image fits in with the Indie genre In music magazine interviews they integrate speech into the main text body rather than use a q and a style interview I use the block theme to maintain house style but change the colour to grey to avoid repetition
- 9. Overall I think that I included many of the generic conventions of a traditional music magazine, such as masthead, cover lines and page numbers. I did challenge them in some forms through layering the cover image over the masthead and including an image of the artist’s album on the double page spread. To improve and include more generic conventions I could have included a wider variety of artist’s images with different mis-en-scene. I could also have included social media links so that I could develop more links to the readers.