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

FRONT COVER:

My magazine both conforms to and challenges the forms and conventions of a real magazine. It conforms as it has a masthead in a clear and prominent position, the masthead is also bigger than the other font on the page, which attracts attention to the magazine and becomes a recognisable point. This then enables the magazine to use the same masthead throughout the different issues.

My main image conforms as it is a mid-shot of a single artist. It is the only image on the front cover so this attracts attention to the magazine.

 I display the date and price together, this also conforms to the forms and conventions of a magazine. The date tells the reader when it is time to by the next issue, and the price tells the reader how much the magazine costs. These are important to display on a magazine as they help to keep a regular turn over as well as providing the reader with information that makes them able to buy the magazine. I also conform as I have a barcode. My barcode is discreet and out of the way, this is because it does nothing to attract people to the product. However, it is still needed to be able to sell the magazine.

My magazine has a colour pallet that only features four colours. This is very typical of a magazine; however, most magazines don’t class black and white as part of their colour pallet. With my magazine featuring black and white images and text along with the colours red and blue, I challenge the conventions that say that magazines should have colourful images and text. I do this because my target market is challenging conventional stereotypes that are seen in today’s society, these stereotypes include the way the national media portrays teenagers and the way that their peers see ‘Nerds’.

I also challenge the forms and conventions of the media as my magazine doesn’t have a tag line. I have done this purposely, I think that the magazine should be able to speak for itself and I think that if a catch line like Vogue magazines oxymoron “for the overwhelming minority” is needed to get readers then clearly the magazine isn’t worth buying and isn’t for you. However, taglines can serve the purpose of making a product recognizable for example EA GAMES “Challenge Everything”, this is a recognizable and catchy tagline that is used on their products to suggest the ideologies of the product. If I were to include a tagline for my magazine it would probably be the same as DFTBA records “Don’t Forget To Be Awesome” as this is an inspiring message that can be universally projected and can be internalized; it would also be a slogan that is familiar to my target audience.

CONTENTS PAGE AND FEATURE ARTICLE:

My contents page conforms to the social conventions of magazines as it clearly features page numbers that correspond to the articles mentioned. It also features images to entice the reader.

My feature article follows the forms and conventions of media products as there are gutters to help the reader see where the article starts and ends. My article also features a bold and large heading that is the title of the article. At the sides of the pages are the page numbers these correlate to the page numbers that are on my contents page.

I have a side bar on my feature article which features tour dates for the artist that I interviewed. This will tell the reader when the artist is touring; this should attract interest in the artist and, in turn, in the magazine. My feature article starts with a drop cap this conforms to the forms and conventions of the media and attracts attention to the start of the article.

Another way that my feature article conforms to the forms and conventions of the media is that it features pull quotes. These pull quotes are designed to interest the reader in the article, which they would then read, in the hope of finding out the story behind the quotes.