Evaluation - Question 1

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

In many respects, I believe that my magazine follows the typical conventions of a music magazine in forms of layout. I tried to lay things out similarly to the pages I had analysed previously, however I did still attempt to make some deviations that may challenge the conventions.

Front Page

On my front page, for example, several of the basic and common conventions of a magazine are being shown, a masthead centered towards the top of the page in eye catching, contrasting, colours to attract more attention. The puff located below it is similar to that of a conventional puff, a small piece of text - often for a competition or giveaway - that stands out from the rest of the page. Similarly, the splash does follow conventions being a heading, followed by a smaller sub-heading. Alternatively, I believe I may of challenged the conventions with my cover lines which are located in different areas of the page, the top left and the bottom right. This does not, perhaps, have a huge impact on the overall appearance of the magazine, but it does allow more information to be displayed without obstructing the central image.

Contents

Similarly with my contents page, I did stick to many of the conventions I saw in my contents page analysis. I listed each notable page in the magazine, followed by page number, a title, and a small description, similar to that of the Rolling Stone contents page I had analysed earlier - as well as most magazines in general. Perhaps not so common in magazines of the genre I aimed for was to have more than one strip for contents, Instead I chose to have two columns on each side - this allowed more information to be displayed and give readers a bit more insight into the contents of each page.

Double Page Spread

Finally, my double page spread also stays true to many of the conventions, a central image taking up all of the first page, with the second page being comprised entirely of text. A couple of pull quotes were also added in, a convention common for interviews and discussions. However, I also added a larger masthead and subheading to the double page spread, which may of made the piece look more informative - similar to a newspaper article. This may fit in better with the artist and the genre of music.