Q1. in what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of real media products?

When first starting my music magazine to get to depths with what i had to do i first analysed a ‘Rolling stone’ music magazine front cover with rap star Jay Z as the main image. I carefully evaluated the denotations and connotations of the cover in detail based on the props and costumes that was warn and used and how the conventions of music magazines were presented on the cover. In my music magazine, as i have viewed professional companies magazines i was able to use many conventions of real magazines and challenged some parts to be able to attract audiences by the typical recognisable magazine style. For example:

Masthead

Masthead

I have used a large masthead, but i paced it at the top right of my magazine front cover which is challenging the convention as it usually on the left side. This is a very common convention I challenged among British music magazines such as Q and NME magazines. My masthead is covered by an red background which connotes danger or a type of an alert creating my masthead in that way, it is able to attract audiences by being the dominating point on the magazine’s front page which displays the magazine brand name and is also visible when stacked on the shelves of the magazine’s retailers as the real magazines do to attract readers. Its boldness reflects the powerful nature of my magazine and genre.

Left Third

I followed the convention of the left third as everything is in the left third is lined up well.

Main Image

I followed the convention and included a main image of two people staring at each other on my front cover. This was taken as a close up to show the intensity of both rappers staring at each other this is to show the passion they both have for the industry. This is a common convention of music magazines, most popular music magazines main image would only be of one person rather than a group of people for various reasons, and they may think it reaches the audience better. So you can argue that I’m going against the convention of the main image.

Cover lines
I have used cover-lines and a barcode on my front page. Cover-lines are usually used on all magazine front pages as seen in big magazine labels. This is to attract the audience by displaying the magazine’s content in short eye-catching, colourful titles. I slightly challenged this convention on my front cover  as coverlines are usually on both right and left of the page but my magazine only has it on the left side. My cover-lines are also in different colours, sizes and fonts, just as they are in real magazines to connote a sense of variety. My barcode is on the front page, but I have developed the convention by putting it on the left side on my front page, as opposed to the right where some of the real magazines put it

Selling Line

I have included a selling line that states ‘Music on a higher level’ this is just there to make sure the audience no it’s mainly about music. This is a popular convention used in music magazines to create a very visible status which promotes them and convinces the readers into purchasing the magazine.

Main Cover line

With My main cover line i followed the convention and placed it in the centre but slightly lower, ‘young & Ready’ is what it states, i named it this because of my target audience and the overall concept of the magazine.


Date line

Dateline at the bottom of the magazine.