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

In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of real media products?By Ben Page

How I have followed forms and conventionsFor most of the three components of my magazine, the front cover, the contents page and the double page spread, I feel I have done very well in aiming to follow the codes and conventions of typical magazines. For example with the layout of my pages I have aimed to achieve a look that most people would come to expect when buying a magazine. This involves various placements of different essences of the cover including the barcode, masthead and main image. The masthead is at the top of the front cover as it would be expected, the main image is placed in the centre and takes up most of the page, and the barcode is at the bottom corner along with the price. Another way I have followed the codes and conventions with my front cover is with the cover lines. They all share the same font apart from the main cover line which is a different colour and is larger allowing it to stand out, which is what you would expect from a main cover line.

With my contents page I have also held to a lot of traditional conventions. The page is split into three separate columns which each contain either a specific set of information or images. This is commonly used in contents pages as it allows the reader to differentiate between different subject matters. In the left hand column I have the main page numbers of the bigger articles in the magazine, in the centre column I have images of various band members and people associated with the production of the magazine and also who are the topics of some of the articles inside. The contents page also includes the main masthead, the title saying contents and the date. These are all things we have some to expect when buying a magazine.

For the double page spread I have followed the main conventions in a few ways. The page contains the masthead of the magazine and also the title of the article. The main body of text also takes up the majority of the page which is what one would expect from a double page spread based upon an article.

How I have gone against forms and conventionsOne way I have challenge d the usual forms and conventions in my front cover is with the masthead. In some magazines the main image will cover up a portion of the masthead. However in my magazine I have not done this. Mainly because my magazine is a first issue, therefore covering up the masthead wouldnt make sense as people are not familiar with the magazine and will not be able to recognise it based on its other elements. With large name brands such as NME, which I noticed in my research, the masthead was often covered by the main image. They can get away with this as it is very famous and easily recognisable to a wide range of people. Often magazine feature more than one image on the cover. However I have chosen to stick to one image, as I want the main focus of the front cover to be the main image as he is the subject of the double page spread.

In many double page spreads from magazines that I have analysed the image poses as the background and takes up the entire two pages. However on my magazine the main image is smaller and takes up about only a quarter of the page. To compensate from this however I have ensure to include multiple image on my contents page. I do not feel this is an issue as having an image for the background can often make the text harder to read, therefore there is not problem with this on my contents page.