In what ways does your media product use, develop conventions of real media products?

Q1

By Laura Corkery

The idea for my title actually came from an actual music term that means the climactic moment in a piece of music. I got the idea for such a dramatic font from Kerrang. I thought that there title was very clever in how it displayed the genre of the magazine in the title. I decided that because my audience wouldn’t have seen a musical theatre magazine before, perhaps the title should hint what my magazine was about. Therefore I decided to use Broadway as my inspiration. Also the advert on Chanel was very helpful in showing me exactly what a title in lights looked like. I think that my name is very catchy and because it is an actual musical term it is memorable, however because I have changed the spelling of it, it is also unique.

Title

Mis-en Scene I decided to do my photo shoot in an actual studio as I thought it

would give me the perfect lighting. Also I knew I would be inserting my background later on and I knew it would be easier to cut my models out when they were against a white, blank backdrop. I chose my models because I thought they were very striking and they had the sexy sinister look I wanted to create in my images. However I wanted my images to have a dramatic contrast which is why I have chosen models who compliment one another in every way. I wanted the girls to show the characters they portray in the Broadway musical Sin City on the cover of my magazine. It is for this reason I have Jess looking very sweet and innocent and Emily who oozes sex appeal in ever way.

Costumes/Props: JESSICA

My main inspiration for Jess’s costume is Avril Lavigne. The first thing I thought when I saw this poster of her was how innocent yet rocky she looked. It was exactly the image I wanted Jess to have for my music magazine. So I decided to have Jess wearing a pink dress as I thought it made her look very girly and innocent. However as Avril has in this picture I wanted Jess to wear army rock boots as they would make her more edgy. I also asked her to style her hair in a simple way as I didn't want it to look to styled. Finally I asked her to make her eyes very dark but make sure her lips were glossy but not brightly coloured as I thought this would add to her innocent image on my front cover and would contrast hugely with Emily's sexy image.

Costumes/Props: EMILY

My main inspiration for Emily's costume is Cheryl Cole. The first thing I thought when I saw this picture of her was how sinister and sexy she looked. It was exactly the image I wanted Emily to have for my music magazine. So I decided to have Em wearing a lace see through leotard that showed her black bra and shiny black leggings that looked like leather. I thought it made her look very edgy and sexy. However as unlike the rock boots that I know Cheryl Cole wore for this shoot. I wanted Em to wear black heels as it made her look more girl and sexy. As with Jess I asked Em to leave her hair straight and to put in her full fringe as it made her more edgy. Finally I asked Em to also make her eye makeup dark, however unlike Jess I asked her to have really dark lipstick.

Costumes/Props The only Props I used for my photo shoot was a microphone a Microphone stand and

an amplifier. To be perfectly honest I used these props because I thought the girls looked more like a band. However there are only two images I have used in my magazine that actually use the props. This is because in these pictures both of the girls are not posing as their characters in Sin City. Therefore I wanted them to look like a believable girl band. However for many of my images I haven’t used my props in my Sin City pictures because I didn't want to detract from the girls and their characters. The whole reason I dressed the girls the way I did was because I wanted the audience to have an idea of what my music magazine was about before they even opened the magazine.

Fonts

I used four different fonts on my front cover. The reason for this is that they are all signature fonts that would be recognisable to my readers. However inside my magazine in order to stick to magazine conventions I stuck to the same font, Times New Roman, right the way through my magazine. At times I did make the font bigger and I did use effects on the font in order to emphasis certain things. For example I used bold and at times I used red to make certain things more clear. I used times new roman because I think it is the easiest font to read.

T

Written Content For my written Content I decided to use a similar

structure to Q. For my magazine I wanted there to actual be a decent amount of contents in the interview, rather than a huge image that dominated a whole page. Therefore I thought this layout was perfect and very effective.

I still allow my page to look visually attractive however in using this structure I have allowed myself more room to talk about not only the Broadway show; Sin City the girls are in. But also their personal lives and their inspirations and up and coming plans. I honestly think that in using this particular structure I have made my article more interesting.

Magazine Genre

My magazine Genre was mixture between normal indie music and musical theatre. Therefore I used a close up of New York for the background because I thought it my magazine a comic books kind of look. Also I think the fact the girls have very pale skin makes them look like comic book characters and makes them fit in with my Sin City theme, this automatically made my magazine appear very theatrical. Also the fact I have covered a number of different shows such as Wicked, Legally Blonde etc makes my magazine into a musical theatre magazine. I also have used a number of fonts that are very dramatic. However because I want the girls to also appear as a girl band I have a number of images that don't have New York in the background.

Front Cover: Layout For my Front cover I used a similar layout to Q. I wanted to create a very striking dramatic front cover. However unlike Q I didn’t want a plain background because I wanted my magazine to show it’s musical theatre genre. However I did follow a few of the techniques Q used for there layout. For example I have placed my contents down one side. I have also put my main article feature at the bottom. Of the page and I have made it stand out by using different bright colours just as Q have for the Cheryl Cole feature. I have also placed a banner across the top of my front page as I wanted to tell my readers straight away what my magazine was about and I thought it was the most effective way to do this. I also decided to use Q’s idea of putting information into a shape. I decided to do this because I thought was a very clever not to mention artistic way of displaying text.

Contents Page: Layout For my contents page I took inspiration from Q. I made sure all of my conventions were featured on my page. However my layout is completely different to Q. For example I have used two images and rather than one image dominating an entire side I have put my main image at the bottom so I have more width. I have also placed my title on the page, however I have placed it on the right. I have done this because I think it stand out a lot more. Instead of using a red hour to add colour to the page I have used a red box with information in it. I have also used large numbers so that my readers know exactly where to go to find the page they want to read.

Double Page: Layout

For my double page I decided to use a similar layout to Q as I liked the fact the interview was a lot longer because their was more space to fit the text. However I thought their use and placing of images was very effective. Possibly even more so than just having one image dominating a whole page. However unlike Q I added a huge Y in my background mainly to add colour to my page. Also I have put my main title in a place that is more prominent than the bottom of the page next to the page numbers .