Evaluation Activity 1

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

My main aim was to develop the forms and conventions of a real music magazine, and develop these ideas and put them into my own magazine that i was going to create. Sticking to the basic conventions of a magazine was hugely important, however as i developed my ideas of my contents page and my double page spread i did indeed challenge some of these conventions. By doing research in good depth and by studying Q magazine and NME i really knew the conventions well, and i then had good ideas of how i wanted to create my magazine. Below i have broke down into sections how i challenged and developed the conventions of a music magazine.

Title Of the magazine
The title or masthead of my magazine is very conventional to a music magazine. One Music is what i decided to name my magazine. Its displayed at the top left hand corner of the page, covering about one third of the front cover, which develops the conventions because this is coming across most of magazine in any genre. I had the word 'ONE' in capitals and then had music inside of the 'O'. This then worked as a logo also. The Name One Music, also gives the impression that this is the ONE Music Magazine, giving it status and a label for being one of the top music magazines. The emphasis on the word one is shown by the drop shadow around the word 'ONE'making it stand out on the page with the contrast of colours from the picture of the model and the background. The word One is short and sweet, allowing the audience and potential readers to remember it, and 'One Music' is directly conventional to a music magazine.

Mise-en-scene- of image
The Mise-en-scene of all my images across my pages from my magazine was very important. This is because the image is extremely important to the overall look of the magazine, the structure of the pages and to attract and draw the target audience in. For my front cover, the image i choose and the layout of it was extremely important. I had to choose a image that was eye catching and would draw people in to buy the magazine if it was on a shelf in a shop. My image was large, and located to the right hand side of the page and took up around 3/4 of the front cover. Here i challenged the normal conventions of a music magazine, because after studying Q magazine and NME, there front cover photo is normally a long shot and located directly in the middle of the page with text either side. I deiced to place my photo to the right hand side so that i then had enough space to the left to place all my text. I choose a image that had a good contrast of colours, and also the facial expression of the model would draw people in.

For my contents page i used a image from the main feature to be the main image to the left hand side of the page which also referred back to genre constantly reminding the audience of the sophisticate music genre, aimed at a indie/ causal music genre.

My Images for my double page spread were again all very ascetically appealing, and would draw people and attract them to read the article. All the images i choose were layed out with good structure and fitted the genre and audiences for the magazine.

Costumes and Props
The clothes that i used for my pictures were very important, my main article was on a new young girl who was a upcoming artist, but then i also had to fit the genre of the magazine that was aimed at a sophisticated and mature audience with a target age of 16+. For my front cover, i wanted to choose colours then would make a good contrast on the page, so i featured my model wearing a plain black top with a grey waistcoat. This fitted the image of the artist i was going to be featuring, however also fitted in with the genre of the magazine overall. For my contents page and double page spread, i featured my artist wearing a checkered shirt, which is sometimes known as i icon or bands or laid back styles. By dressing my artist like this is already gives some ideas to what shes like before even reading the article, relating directly back to the target audience. For my front cover, but keeping the colours and style simple i could relate back to my sophisticated genre of music magazine.

Fonts and style
For my fonts and text in my magazine, i wanted to keep it simple to keep the theme of simple and sophisticated throughout the magazine. For my front cover i used the font Heautic Neuve to create my headings and bold texts. However for the writing on my contents page and double page spread i used Times New Roman font in size 9, which is similar to watch magazines in the publishing industry would already use so here i was just developing that convention. The times new roman worked extremely well on the contents page and double page spread as against the blank background it stood out clearly on the page and could clearly be read. It also kept the style of the simple yet effect genre and style of the magazine. Throughout the magazine there are words in bold or underlined to create a empathise on important words and to create a imagery.

Written content
I've used the conventions of real magazines for my pages. All of my text is easy to read and is placed and spread evenly across the pages. All of the text on my pages is all related to music, sticking closely to the basic conventions. My article is similar to what would be found in a normal interview, with question and answers about the music industry. The questions fir the conventions of a music magazine because they are about tours, music, inspirations and ideas for the future. The written content on the front cover shows the name of the magazine clearly displayed, then the heading is used as a pull to attract potential readers in. The rest of the text on the front cover is used to give information to what else is in the mag zine.

Music Genre and how your magazine suggests it
The music genre my magazine is suggesting is Indie/alternative. This is shown through the sophistication of photos, the layout of the texts and the fonts and colour schemes used.The black, grey and shadows around the colours show the sophistaction and the text that is used is simple again aimed at at more mature audience. No funky colours or writing is used showing again the sophistication and genre of the magazine. The use of basic fonts that are not to heavy or dominating on the page show that the music featured inside the magazine will be mellow and not like heavy metal music.

Layout
The layout of the front cover is good and lay ed out well. Although its not conventional of other music magazines its still very effetcive too. The use of the large medium close up photo gives empathise that this is a exclusive feature with this artist. The writing down the left hand side of the page also is structured and layed out well, with good spaces between the text. The masthead at the top of the page is shown and displayed very well showing the name and logo of the magazine extremely well, and is very eye catching.