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

Final Evaluation Question 1

Forms and Conventions…what are they?

The forms and conventions are the way a magazine is created, for example the way the overall layout is of each page of the magazine. The conventions are like the set of rules for example every magazine cover has a large cover image on the front page, a large masthead at the top of the page, a selling line above the masthead, large headline with a sub-heading under (usually a pull quote), the cover also has cover lines, margins and finally a dateline. The forms are the way something is written, the graphics and finally the images.

Photo shoot for the Cover Page

Conventions of my Cover The Cover Image I have used all the conventions in my

final cover such as eye contact, I made the model look straight at the lens when I took the photo to make the cover look more realistic and to engage the reader more and make them want to read the magazine.The image was in

the center of the page as that would be the main focus point when the target audience looks. To show that the image

is the main focus I decided to have some of the models arm overlapping a bit of the title of the magazine TTR to show what’s more important in a way.

I made the image link to the overall layout by giving the model a bright red lipstick and a red, white and black scarf which made up the house colors.

Cover page ideas I got the ideas for the photo shoot from an existing magazine ‘faze’ featuring Taylor Momsen. I like the positing in which Taylor was on the cover however I didn’t want to completely copy it therefore I increased the warmth in the photo to make Claudia appear tanned in comparison to Taylor. I also liked the red lipstick however I made it brighter as those were the house colors of my magazine.

MastheadOne of the main conventions is a Masthead on the top of the page. I chose to have my Mast head in the top left corner, filling up about ¼ of the page to make it stand out.

I made it quite large to make it as visible as I could, I also wanted it to be covered up by the models arm a bit to make the model stand out however it still had to be readable.

Many real magazine covers have a different font for the title compared to all the other text on the cover page, however I decided to leave it as it is because I wanted all to be linked and to look the part. I have improved the title a couple of times to make it look the best, above is the final idea.

The Cover-linesI made all the cover-lines go around the models face as she was meant to be the main focus on the cover, however I made the text stand out by putting them onto 3D rectangles, I decided to make them 3D to make the magazine look more realistic. I made all the writing to be Abadi MT Condensed in capital letters as that was one of the easiest to read fonts and they stand out well

I used red, brown and white. Instead of black I used brown as I felt like that would be too heavy and the shadow wouldn’t show up very well so I decided to give a black shadow instead. I changed the colors of the text to nor make it confusing for the reader, I also didn’t want to change the font because that would make it look messy and all over the place.

There is a visible margin on the left side of the page to make it more realistic

because of that was the cover page it should have a margin because when the page opens the side of the magazine will get bent and if it does get bent it wont be

very readable.

The HeadlineHeadline is also an important convention

because this shows the name of the artists who is usually on the front of the magazine, meaning that the main article will be about

that certain artist. In my case Claudia.

The headline should have the largest font, however I decided to make it the second biggest, after the masthead because I feel like that’s

more important, also if I made the headline bigger it would cover up more of the model which I tried to avoid. I decided to add a shocking

drop quote overlapping the headline Claudia to make it more shocking, especially for Nirvana fans, which will make them want to

pick the magazine up and read why Claudia doesn’t believe that Kurt is dead.

Selling lineThe selling line is typically next to the masthead or on top of the page, it usually says a little something about the magazine or information about being able to win something such as gig tickets.

At the top of this PowerPoint is my selling line, I decided to write something bout the magazine because it’s a new magazine I wanted people to know a little bit more about it. “biggest magazine in the UK

answering all your rock questions” suggests that my magazine will have lots of Q&A’s which will be a good magazine for people who are seeking answers or want to see different point of views. I also decided to write the date of when the magazine was produced and the issue

number to make the magazine look official and for the readers to wait for the next issue.

I decided to make the selling line black because I feel like I haven’t used enough black in the rock magazine.

Conventions of my Contents Page

Features and content Content is the information about what’s inside the magazine and what’s on what page. I used the same text font as I used on my cover for the cover-lines to link the cover to the content page. I also used the same house colors to make it look alike. The font of the page numbers are a size bigger, bold and black to make it stand out and to not confuse the numbers with the artists names for example ‘18 30 seconds to mars’ can be confusing because there are two numbers next to each other therefore I had to make the numbers larger and a different color to not confuse the reader.

Above is a content page from the Q magazine, this is where I got the idea to make the numbers different colors for them to stand out, I also got the idea of putting the titles in visible blocks to make them stand out.

I only used 2 columns as I thought more could be too much and would look messy

The content page photograph

I have only included two

images on my content page

as I didn’t want the

content page to look busy and when I

tried putting another

image in it looked messy.

The two images are, a ‘selfie’ of the editor to show the readers what the editor looks like and a large image of Claudia to show that she is the

main focus in this issue in the magazine

The page titleThe content page title has the same font as the cover page as I used the same TTR logo but I just added ‘content’ underneath the logo, I did this so the audience would recognize the logo and not necessarily read it but know what it is.

I liked the idea that the Rock Sound magazine uses because their font is very plane a large however very effective and that’s what I did to my title however to make it stand out more I decided to have it two colors, red and black. The Rock Sound magazine also has their title in the top left corner which I liked.

I added the date and and issue number under the name which is also what the Rock Sound magazine did. I made it smaller so it doesn’t draw too much attention away from the most important aspects of the page, I added the date and issue number for the reader to not have to turn to the front page to see what the issue number of the magazine is.

The Editors letterI decided to add the editors letter to the content page to show the reader what the editor looked like. I also got the ide from existing magazines such as the Kerrang! Magazine, they usually add editors letter and say a little something about the magazine issue.I decided to add an image

of myself as one of the 4 photos required to show the readers what the editor looked like to make it more friendly and personal. I also added a link to the magazines Instagram web page for media lovers who like to be up to date will all the gossip.On the left is a screenshot of the kerrang magazine editors letter which includes an image of the editor and short paragraph of what the magazine issue is about.

More informationI decided to add more information about the magazine and any promotions or opportunities to win.

I decided to add a border below with more information about the magazine for example the phone number for the reader to call if they’re interested in getting a magazine delivered to the door every month which will be cheaper than just buying the magazine in a shop.

M

I also decided to add a small image of the cover page in the corner to show the reader what magazine it is so they can look in the corner and see the magazine an not have to turn the page to see what issue of the magazine they have, they could also look at the date which is under the title.

Article

Photo shoot for the article

Main imageThe conventions of the main image is that its usually of an artist or band who the article is about. In my case I decided to have an image of an artist who is on the front cover, she is covering up half of the background with her bodies and the flying papers around her are under the text to make it look like a part.I decided to have a large image of Claudia to show the reader that the main article is about her. I made the model look serious to show the reader that the article is serious and the flying papers around show the busyness of the article.

I made the model wear red lipstick and a red rolling stone logo on her top to show the rock aspect of the article as well as link to the house colors of the magazine.

“Quotes”

I decided to add a lot of main quotes on the article page and I made them very large for it to be more eye catching for the reader, when the read the quotes they will want to carry on reading the article.

All the quotes are somehow linked to Kurt to show the reader who the article is about.

I added a quote onto the cover and the content page therefore to make it all like I added three more quotes into the article page which can be found in the article.Finally I chose the colors to be red, white and black for all the quotes to link with the house colors and stand out at the same time.

The article Blurb- is the little paragraph of information about the article for the reader to get a small introduction to the article.The blurb is where the reader decides whether they want to read the article or not therefore it has to be interesting.The main article is split into two columns to make it easier to read. It’s a Q&A therefore I decided to add the questions in red and the respond in black for the reader to know what is what. The main article is Claudia’s opinion on Kurt Cobain’s death and what she thinks happened.

Title of the articleI decided to use a different front for the title of the article to show the independence of Claudia and the different view.The title uses up ¼ of the page which shows the

importance of her name and how important her story is which will make the reader wonder why her name is so big on the page.

At the top of the second page is a quote about Kurt that Claudia has said. I decided to add such a dramatic quote to make the reader wonder if they actually know everything about Kurt and if there is more they need to know which will make the wonder and want to carry on reading.

The color of the title is black to show the simplicity of the article however the font size shows the importance.

Forms All the images that I have used were taken by me as shown in previous slides, the cover photo and the content page photo were taken outside using a Nikon COOLPIX P610 Digital Camera, and the article photo was taken indoors by a Nikon D5200 with a 18-55mm VR Lens to make the papers more clear.I have used a clear color scheme of red, white and black with hints of brown. The red and black usually shows the rock aspect of a magazine therefore I used those two as the main colors however I didn’t want to stick to two colors therefore I chose white and brown to add the contrast because white is a calm color therefore it gives the magazine a sophisticated side as well as a clean finish and the brown shows the different aspects of the magazine.I have considered different fonts however I wanted to stick to a plain bold font to make the magazine seem sophisticated and not too busy. However I did decide to add a different font to the article page to make it look independent and different to show the difference and the independence of Claudia and her story.

Developing my ideasI got the idea for the cover photo from Taylor Momsen’s photo-shoot for the faze magazine in 2011. I liked the position because it looks mysterious and very serious which is the theme I was going for. The model is looking right into the camera which creates eye contact with the reader which makes the reader feel involved.I liked the idea of the headline being in a red box with bold writing on top as I thought that it looked very effective and stood out very well, especially the black writing on the red background.

Challenging conventions

I tried to follow all the conventions to make the magazine look as realistic as I possibly could, I also feel like a lot of rock music magazines try to be hipster and uncommon however because a lot of rock magazines try to challenge the conventions it makes them look mainstream, so for mine to stand out I left all the conventions in to make it look and seem like a normal magazine.

Also I feel like the conventions make a magazine look and feel like a magazine which will make it stand out from the ones that are trying to be uncommon however being mainstream.