In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Codes and conventions- MastheadThe masthead of my magazine is similar to NME and Q magazine where it is located on the top left of the front cover. I used the same colours (red background and white text) which links back to the rock genre. It is also in a sans serif font in white and in a red rectangle shape. Moreover, it is also used as a logo which makes it recognisable for the readers. I used a masthead which is noticeable and would grab the audience’s attention. I came up with ‘AMP’ as it is short and quick to remember; as it links to the rock genre and it’s a shorter version for the word ‘amplify’ as it means increasing the volume; which suggest that rock music is usually loud and increases the amplifier. As you can see, the font that I’ve used is bold as it shows that it’s important and has a strong effect on the rock genre of my music magazine. The colours of my masthead is in red and white which fits in the theme of my magazine and they are a perfect colour combination for the masthead, due to the fact you can see the contrast between the two colours and they stand out together. I decided to use ‘Invisible Killer’ font, consequently I think it links to the logo name itself because you can see the style of the font is in different stages like the volume and has a rocky style. Furthermore, in some magazines such as Kerrang! and MOJO, the masthead spreads across the page which they also use a bold text for it to stand out on the page. If I had my masthead across the page it wouldn’t look good as it is a short masthead just like NME and Q. The main image on my front cover will cover a bit of the masthead similar to most magazines and it is a convention that suggests that the company is well-known enough to hide their name, as it shows the aim of my magazine is that it is to the present and trusted customers. In addition, as seen in NME and Q magazine they use the logo on the contents page and for Q magazine they have it on nearly most of the pages of their magazine.

Mise-en-scene – front cover imageThe use of images in my magazine plays a big role, as they are the main aspects in a magazine to attract the audience and they are the first things they see especially on the front cover. So, it was vital to think very carefully about the models that I used and what they were wearing. They need to act representative for the magazine and they have to immediately reflect the rock genre of my magazine, which will make it bait to the audience that as soon as they look at the front cover they will know it’s a rock magazine. I used four models due to the fact that most bands are usually made up of three or four artists. I instructed all my models to wear the typical rock star style which are black leather jackets (but I asked the main artist to wear a red leather jacket so he looks different and stands out from the rest of the models), black jeans/leather trousers and sun glasses. As soon as you look at my front cover image, you can straight away feel that it has a sense of rock genre which without having to say they are a rock band from the way they are dressed. From my research, most of the rock bands wear fully black and leather clothes; so I tried my best to make them fit in which perfectly does and I’m very proud of. Moreover, I added a black and white effect on the image as most of the rock magazines that I have research the main image is in black and white which links to the name of the band and it implies that the band has a dark side and a light side. The shot was taken in the studio as it has a pure white background and was easy to manipulate on Photoshop and Ipiccy and I had professional lightings which made the image look perfect as the models faces lighting is balanced. Furthermore, I edited the image so I took off the black and white effect of the red leather jacket that the main artist is wearing would show and stand out to the audience more than the rest of the artists. In addition to that even though he is sitting on the floor and they are above him, he still looks dominate and the main focus is on him as his facial expressions also suggest that he is a serious and like he doesn’t care about the rest. All the facial expressions of the band emphasises that they are ‘undefeated’ as it links to the name of the band which is ‘The Undefeated Muse’. The colour red connotes danger, love, passion and evilness, so in this case the red leather jacket is used to show danger referring back to the name of the band. The image below of Q magazine illustrates what I am trying to get across for the conventions with regards to mise-en-scene; however the main image is not very similar but her facial expressions suggest emphasise that she is evil and what reflects on it is the red sharp heels goes with her evilness and danger. On the other hand, my image doesn’t look as dangerous as the one of Q magazines front cover; it links with the splash which is ‘kicks off’ so she is kicking with her sharp heels which suggest it links with danger.

Mise-en-scene – contents page imageThe contents page image is similar to Classic Rock’s magazine as I was inspired by their main image on their contents page; so I got my model to pose the same way with a microphone as I think it looks effective and as if he was on stage. The posture of my model links very well with my target audience. I decided to make it in black and white as I wanted to keep a theme between the front cover and the contents page. The way he is posing suggests that he is a fun and young artist as he is not very serious. The use of the microphone suggest that he is an artist. The fact that the artist on his own suggest that he is the main artist and the cover story links to him as it will be a Q&A about his band. Moreover, this image illustrates his style of music by the hair style, facial expressions and the way he is standing. I also left the background plain as I wanted to prevent distractions by the readers so they meet the new artist and get a sense of how he is. In Classic Rock magazine I can see that it is a common convention to only add one image on the front cover which takes up most of the page, so I used this convention as I thought it would be effective and the reader can see a lot of the image and meet the artist. From research into MOJO magazine, they also usually include one image of who the main cover story is about and this example on the right also uses a black and white effect on the image to keep a theme of the magazine; as it is very important to keep a theme throughout the magazine to give it a sense of professionalism and when the reader sees my magazine they will feel a sense of consistency while reading through the magazine as it is very important.

Mise-en-scene – Double page spread image For my double page images, I made them look and interesting and something that will grab the audiences attention, so I was very careful with the choice of images throughout the constructing of my DPS. For the main image which is spread over the two pages; I took this image on the performance stage as I wanted to change the setting as the audience would be bored of seeing the same white background more than twice. I used crops like guitars and microphones which are usually used in a rock performance and most rock stars play the guitar. The models in the image look like they are into the performance and are very passionate about performing. Furthermore, from their facial expressions they look as if they are performing their best piece of rock music ever. I decided to put a blue effect on the main image as it looks like when the picture was taken the lightings in performance hall were blue and it looks very cool. They were all organised carefully on the stage where the main artist is standing at the front holding a microphone and is into to his singing, where all the rest of the artists are behind him. Moving on to the next image is located between the text where it’s a black and white image of the main artist holding a guitar which is there to make them less bored of reading the article as it will catch the reader’s attention as it is important to keep them interested and have something to look at not just text. The image shows that there is a sense of humour as he pretending to hit someone with a guitar which suggest that it is a fun band and fits in with the target audience which is for young people so they would like to see themselves being part of the band and that they have an impact on their life.

People The choice of the people to use in my photo-shoot was a vital element to consider while planning out the image, as they have to look like they are part of this type of genre and have a realistic and make it believable that these type of people would be in a band together. The models I chose looked perfect as they looked in role and had a rebellious rock look which I think was perfect for my magazine. They were aged 17-18 years old which links back to my target audience. My target audience would be from 17-24 which young and would like to see artists similar to their age. I didn’t want to base my magazine on just for men like most rock magazines; so I included three girls and a boy main artist, so both males and females would be interested in reading this magazine.

Font and Style Typography is a very important aspect to consider while creating my magazine, as they had to fit in and have a purpose why it has been used in my magazine. The main aim that it has to be readable and attracts their attention. As I stated before in my house style, the masthead font which is ‘Invisible Killer’ it links very well with the masthead ‘AMP’. I felt that it illustrated the volume and as the word ‘AMP’ is a shorter version to amplify; I got this font from InDesign. The size of the masthead was big enough to read and be noticed from a far distance and the audience will straight away know that it is the masthead of the magazine as it is the most superior font on the front cover of the magazine. Another main font that I used on the front cover is the band name which is in ‘Husky Stash’ which I think fits in very well with the image and it is noticeable; moreover, I think that the way I placed it on the front cover suits the front cover. I used a ‘Segoe In’ font for the pull quote which I also used for the pull quote on the double page spread. For the text on my contents page I used a simple ‘Times New Roman’ as it is easy to read, so I used it for the text on my double page spread to keep a sense of consistency throughout the magazine and the size of the text was 10-11pt as it is a convention to have small sized font on the DPS. The colours of the text is also consistent which is red, black and white which fits in with the colour scheme for my magazine, so the reader will be more attracted to read the magazine.

Layout – Front CoverThe layout for my magazine is one of the most important aspects that I considered how I should layout the features on my front cover. I used the research into magazine layouts such as MOJO, NME, Q and Classic Rock. If my layout especially for the front cover wasn’t laid out professionally; it will look unprofessional and the audience would not want to buy a magazine that has an over-crowded and messy layout. I used the common convention for the masthead where I located it the on the top left of the page where the main image is slightly covering the masthead which is seen in most magazines as I wanted to keep the attention on the main image as it is what will sell the magazine. For the first draft of my magazine front cover it was a bit empty for a front cover as I don’t have many features for the bottom half of the page. So, I decided to add a pull quote to fill it up and make it more interesting as it will catch the reader’s attention. However, I had problems with placing the pull quote on the page and make it noticeable and easy to read for the reader from a distance. The main problem was that it covers some the image and doesn’t stand out on the page, so I played around with it and had to move the barcode up a bit so I could put it instead which gave me a good outcome overall and you can read it perfectly fine now. Furthermore, where I similar to NME, I placed the barcode vertically on the side of the page which I think this convention fits well to the theme of my magazine. I took the idea of the puff from MOJO magazine, as I think looks good and stands out on the front cover as the colour yellow is quickly noticed when the reader looks at the front cover.

Layout- Contents Page

The layout is simple and I was inspired by Classic Rock’s contents page mostly from my researched. I liked the way the main image on the contents page how it takes most of the page and it is left with a small column to place the content on. I decided to use an image of the main artist in the band as it will be an interview with him on the double page spread which links to the cover story. I located the date just below the contents title, so I let the reader know what month the issue is as it is a common convention to include a date on the contents page. A vital convention is all magazines is the subheadings which are normally the features, regulars and reviews. So, I put a box a black rectangle shape around them and made the writing in black which makes them stand out and clear for the readers to see them as they are in a clear and logical structure.

Layout - DPSOverall, the layout of my double page spread fits in very well and follows real conventions of magazine double page spreads. I think that my double page spread is very effective due to the fact as it has a sense of professionalism. I was inspired by MOJO’s double page spread and the conventions used on it such as the text wrapped around the image of the main artist and this will make it less boring for the readers and they will stay interacted throughout the reading. I also placed a pull quote to also make it more interesting to read which is a common convention in magazines have on their double page spreads. I liked the convention that MOJO used for the pull quote and the title of the article where the words are stuck together and they are separated by colours (e.g. DOUBLEPAGESPREAD), so I used it as I thought it catches the reader’s attention and they would read it in a different way to the rest of the text and it would feel as if it is shouting at the audience as it is in capital letters. I included only two images as the main image of the band as the interview is based on them and the main artist, and the other image of the artist holding a guitar pretending to hit someone which creates a sense of humour as the target audience is for 17-24 year olds. I also started the interview with a drop capital as it is a common code and convention for DPS and it has to stand out, as it shows where it starts and brings attention to the audience.

Written Content

The written content is the most important part of the double page spread as I had to focus it on the target audience and make it interesting to read. The most vital part is the language used that the readers would find it easy to understand. It was straightforward to write up the text for my double page. My main aim was to make the introduction very interesting which will make the audience want to finish reading the magazine as it will be the first thing they will read as it a brief summary.

Referring back to criteria checklist