EvaluationQuestion 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Within my planning process I has to make decisions to make my final products suitable for the purpose and audience that it is intented for. Because of this I have to follow many of the normal media conventions, this included; Header, Splash Image and Plugs. Magazine have these conventions to make sure that the audience will buy their magazine

CONVENTION - the ‘rules’ that are generally understood and accepted when producing a media text in a particular genre

The conventions I have considered are:• Style of

photography• Writing style• Pull quotes• Cover lines

• Page numbers• Masthead• Fonts• Colour scheme

Page NumbersI have included page numbers on my double page spread only. I decided to only partially follow this convention to make sure that the look of the pages were correct. However I still needed to include some page numbers so that the readers know what page to go to when following the contents page. The way I have presented this is very clear and away from the main article. I have done this so that it is clear to see and won’t be confused with the other part of the article. This will be consistent across my magazine. However I have not put the page number on the contents page because people don’t need to know the page number for it. There is also no page number on the double page spread with the picture. This is because people might want to use the image as a poster. It would also not fit well with the black and white image which it holds. This is a normal convention though

The page numbers in different magazine can vary. Not only in the font of the numbers but also in the style which they are presented. Each different page number shown below has a different background which ranges from a circle to just a plain line. This helps present the font in the style of the magazine which then reflects the genre and audience.

MastheadThe masthead is key convention in every magazine. Which is why I have included it. As the usual convention is seen in practically every magazine, I have followed the usual of keeping the masthead to the top left hand corner. This normality is used to catch the eye of the reader straight away as they look to the top left first. I have made my mast head and my date has in the same space so that the space around the bar code wouldn’t look to crowded and eye catching because I wanted to make the splash image the main focus of the front cover. I have also done another masthead stereotype of overlapping the masthead and the splash Image, I have done thins to make it look more professional and also to save space on the cover for other things like the cover lines

Many magazines in different genres also have the colour red in their mastheads. So, I decided to go against the norm and make it much more monochrome. This will make it stand out in the mind of my audience and allows then to remember the classic black title that otherwise wouldn’t get used. The use of having too many red titles would make my audience get confused between different brands

FontsFor my fonts I have used Myriad Pro for practically the whole of my magazine. However I have also distorted the fonts and stretched them so that they will seem different but still similar. The font has also correlated with the colour scheme through out my magazine. The usual convention of text is so be made so that it stands out from the rest of the magazine. However my choice to make the font the same throughout the magazine was to make sure that there was a familiarity for the readers so that they would recognise and learn to love the magazine.

Magazine have a large range in font with many using different styles and also the use of italics and bolding. These allow the author of the article and the editor to give off different feels depending on if the article is serious or much more relaxed. However unlike most magazines I have used the same font throughout my magazine, only changing the height and the space between the letters. This managed to give off the effect that they were different fonts when in reality they were all the same.

Colour SchemeThe colour scheme is primarily made of three colours; White, Black and Red. I have chosen these colours because they make the magazine look professional. The red symbolises the passion that people have but it also adds the colour to the magazine. I have chosen the black and white as standard colours because they can stand out again the red easily an I can see that they look good together. These three colours are also good for colour blind people as they don’t clash and are of the format that people can understand. The red and white colour scheme is widely used and is a main theme of the magazine ‘Q’ which I have heavily based my magazine off.

With other rock magazines a main theme within them is either Red or Black, one of the colours having the main page consumption. In the case of the main colour being black (which is the case with KERRANG!) they have also added yellow as some colour and also to make the connection of being dangerous. I have not that much colour within my magazine, with the main being the red and also the main image on the contents being pink and purple.

Pull QuotesAs a magazine pull quotes are found everywhere. They are used to drag people into the magazine and interest them in the article. They are used also in the actual articles to make people read them more. I have also used a pull quote in my double page spread. I have made the quote different from the article by using the graphic which separates the quote from the rest of the article. It is also separated by the text being in a larger font and it being italicised. This has helped the quote being popping out against the rest of the article. The quote also has the use of alliteration with ‘AVICHI’ and ‘AMAZING’ this not only is a standard form in journalism but is helps the quote to stick in the readers head, making the article memorable.

In other magazines the main articles pull quote is above the article as a title or heading, but in other normal articles the pull quotes are in the middle of the article which is what I went with. This is because I had a different title I wanted to use for the article. So in some ways I have gone against the normal conventions which magazine normally have