Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the production process of my front cover, contents page and double page spread in relation to my colour scheme I have used orange, black and white. I have continued these colours one ach of my products to maintain continuity and to bring my products together. I chose to use these three colours as after looking at other products this was conventional, I also used these specific colours as I felt they fitted in best with my model’s outfit and the whole theme or my RnB/Hip-Hop magazine. I also chose to place/reference on all three of my products to reinforce her importance across the magazine and to maintain the genre to the reader. This also reflects the continuity of the magazine as if she was only presented/referenced on the front cover then wasn't referenced on the contents page or the double page spread the magazine wouldn't’t look professional or consistent, her importance also wouldn't’t be reinforced. In terms of fonts I have used I have maintained a bold, powerful font to reinforce the dominance of my magazine, also to maintain the identity of the ‘STEEZE’ brand. My conventions analysis on the following slides outlines more continuity features..

I have placed the masthead right across the top of thePage to emphasize the importance of the brand and make the reader well aware of the brand- as it stands out dominantly. I have also chosen to put the text in black as it stands out in contrast to the white background, this again was done to increase the importance. The font is also a very large bold text so it stands out to the audience. I have also chosen to put my model in front of the text as it follows the conventions of a music magazine.

This was my chosen main image, I chose this as I felt is was very conventional. Firstly in relation to mise-en-scene the costume I chose was a prom style dress with lots of diamanté's on the front, therefore this connotes that she is very wealthy, and a fierce role model. Also the fact the dress is pink/cream and jewels shows her feminine side, which emphasizes the fact she is very powerful star. Her hair in this is also pinned back in an afro due to the fact I found that this was very conventional within the RnB/Hip-Hop sector of music magazines. Additionally she is making direct eye contact to the reader which makes the reader feel included as the magazine look more approachable and appealing to read. I also went for a smoky, natural looking make-up style with slightly red lips as during my research I found that this was very common. In terms of positioning on the page I placed her very largely, overlapping the masthead at the tip as I think this emphasizes her dominance.

In relation to my sell lines I used a lot of inspiration from Vibe and XXL magazines, in terms of font as I used impact to make the text look dominant. I specifically used these artists to make the reader want to read on and I also make use of effective adjectives when describing the article for example ‘Eye Candy’ make the articles look un-missable which emphasizes STEEZE’s dominance within the market. These also draw my target audience in as this makes them feel privileged to be reading the magazine. I placed them here as these are the most conventional places to feature sell lines on the front cover of a magazine.

I have placed a plug here to advertise another article within the magazine. I decided to do it in the style of a plug because this is very conventional on music magazines, especially in the style of a circle. The reason I have used a plug is to make this article stand out from the rest of the selling lines, as it appeals to the audience as they can feel part of the magazine. I think the plug works with my magazine as it separates the sell lines up.

In terms of my anchorage text I place my main models name to the left hand side of her, as I did not want to decrease the Dominance of her by placing the text over her. The font that I used is big and bold which is also very similar to the masthead which reflects that she is a main part of the magazine. I purposely used both text colours to increase her dominance further.

Here I have used a skyline which I have placed at the top of the magazine, as it follows the conventions of music magazines. My skyline consists or a article which will be featured in the magazine, it also relates to the genre as RnB/Hip-hop stars like to spend a lot of money on clothes- it also relates to my model ‘30k dress’ as I have tried to style my model in an expensive way.

I have used this images in terms of mise-en-scene because the models outfit follows all typical conventions of an RnB dress code, this therefore reflects the genre of my magazine and makes my magazine look professional and reliable as if she was wearing a really outdated outfit no audience would be attracted to my magazine. In terms of colours she is wearing, they go with the colours scheme of my magazine, as they are simple colours, and they also demonstrate the RnB genre.

Firstly I have shown continuity by the use of colours as I have used the continuous colours of orange, white and black on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. On here although I have used each colour I have tried to separate them so my page doesn't’t look to dominated by one colour and so my contents page looks conventional.

I have placed the contents title large at the top of the page as its very conventional to do this and is therefore what the audience expect. I also took inspiration from Vibe magazine when making this style of masthead.

When categorizing my features I needed to look closely into where to put my features, after researching into many other brands in relation to their contents pages I decided to make one column with 5 main features that will be featured in the magazine. I decided to this as not only does this look conventional and professional of the magazine but it also makes the reader feel included.

I decided to place the STEEZE logo at the bottom of the page to maintain the identity of the magazine and to reinforce the importance of the brand.

I placed the website here as it gives the reader other alternatives in terms of STEEZE’s products. I also placed the edition number of the magazine which demonstrates the conventions of existing magazines. I also added a scan code which demonstrates other media products given the audience a choice of whether the want to access the magazine on their phone/tablet.

The secondary image I used was a picture of a group ‘odd future’ in which the magazine gives a chance to enter a competition to see them. I used this specific image as it shows the artist performing on stage in concert which relates to what the winner would be going to see. When placing a secondary image I doubled it up and placed an image on top of on image I did this as its very conventional.

In terms of my features, I have used relatively small text however with the main selling line in the feature I have printed the header slightly larger, in bold. I have done This as It stands out more and make’s people want to read the magazine, additionally i have also placed the page number in a different colour to make the number easily recognisable so the reader knows exactly where to find different articles. In terms of conventions this is very conventional as many other magazines have their lay-out similar to this one which is why i used this inspiration to create a realistic looking contents page for my magazine brand.

In relation to my main image, I chose this specific image as they are very conventional with music magazine which I have learned from my research. The fact my model is taking up a lot of the page increases her dominance. In terms of mise-en-scene I have chose the same costume to show continuity, the dress demonstrates wealth and power. Also in this image the model has a different hairstyle indicating that superstars like to change their hair a lot.

Here I used a drop capital as this very conventional and its seen on nearly all magazines which makes my magazine look very professional.

When making a banner across the top of the page I decided to use the STEEZE logo font that is presented on the masthead of my front cover to show continuity and too reinforce the brad of my magazine- establishing importance. This also gives the audience recognition of my magazine, additionally this font looks very bold and dominant in comparison to the rest of the text which increases importance.

On my headline I took inspiration from other magazines. I tried to keep my masthead tidy as I wanted my magazine to be represented in a sophisticated way. In terms of my colour scheme I used 2 of my main colours to shown continuity.

Here I chose to use the official Apple iTunes logo to demonstrate that my model is professional as she is big enough to be on iTunes, the logo is also very recognisable with a large audience which draws people in. Additionally these types of logos are very conventional and therefore make my magazine look very up to date and conventional.

In relation to the layout of my text I have chosen to place my text in columns as this is a key conventional feature in regards to double page spreads. At first on my first draft I had a different layout, but after looking at magazines and peer feedback I realised I needed to change it to columns. I chose specifically to have two dominant columns as this very conventional and I thought it looked more effective, I also did the replies in orange so the text is easy to identify. I also don’t have much text so this was another reason I opted for two columns. In relation to the colours I kept the same two main colours of orange and black to maintain the reinforce the colour scheme and to present continuity.

I have placed a pull quote to draw the reader into the text and to give a subtle hint of the topic in the article. I placed this text in a larger, bolder, font to make it stand out to the audience.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

I really like the style of this barcode as I thought it was unique to other barcodes as this was personalized the the actual VIBE brand. I decided to take this inspiration and recreate my own using my own brand. I think this was successful as it make my final front cover look a lot more conventional. However in the process of making mine I wanted to make it individual to my own brand so I slightly changed the positioning and added my own colour scheme, brand name and my own detail in relation to date and price.

My Barcode: Vibe Barcode:

Date

Price

Barcode

Website

Text

Price

Barcode

Website

Text

This shows my features taken from my front cover in comparison to other music magazines which are taken from the RnB genre. I chose to use the font ‘Century gothic’ as this looks very conventional as it is used on many other magazines in relation to features. Narrow columns are also used, which is why I have don’t my features in this format. I also placed them in the blank spaces which is also very common and conventional when contrasting with other existing products such as these. The features also usually have at least one/two colours within the set colour scheme like I have used.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

My Magazine: VIBE Magazine: XXL Magazine:

I created a plug to put on my front cover as I found that they were very conventional on front covers when looking at other products. I took inspiration mainly from XXL magazine which is within the RnB genre. When creating mine I also used 2 of my main colours, I also used the STEEZE logo reinforce the magazine brand.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

My Magazine: XXL Magazine:

Here are a list of skylines taken from other music magazines in comparison to the one I created. These are very conventional when advertising the artists/ features featured within the magazine. In my first drafts I had the text in red however I decided to change it to orange to fit to my colour scheme.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

My Magazine:

VIBE Magazine:

Flavor Magazine:

In terms of the masthead on my contents page I really liked the style of the Vibe contents page, this one specifically. Whilst creating my contents page masthead I changed the font to the font similar to the one used on my front cover to show continuity, plus it looked a lot more conventional in relation to my RnB genre. Additionally I placed the issue number to show continuity and also because this is a very conventional feature.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

My Magazine: VIBE Magazine:

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

Feature lists are vital when crafting a contents page. It is very conventional to present them in a column style which is why I followed conventions. I really liked this style of XXL and VIBE magazine. I decided to include the header ‘COVER STORY’ in which I took influence from XXL, I did this because it is very conventional and it directs the audience to the page.

My Magazine: VIBE Magazine: XXL Magazine:

In terms of a footer for my contents page, after researching I found that it is very conventional to include not only page numbers, but some form of recognition of the brand, and the date. I took inspiration from this and used the steeze logo that I had already used previously used on my front cover to reinforce the brand. I also added a black box at the bottom of my contents page which is very conventional as it separate the features from the small print at the bottom of the page.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

My Magazine:

XXL Magazine:

Drop caps are an essential when making a magazine look conventional which is why I used one. They are one of the most conventional elements in relation to all magazine, not just music magazine so I had to include one to maintain that professional look. I chose to have my drop capital as a large, bold, orange Arial font to draw the reader into the text and to keep the theme of bold dominate text as seen previous in my magazine.

Challenging conventions with inspiration from existing products…

My Magazine: XXL Magazine: Rolling Stones Magazine: