EVALUATION 1 – In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

This is the masthead of my magazine. As you can see it is very bold in bold font and colour, and with the use of Photoshop I have also given it a 3D effect. This will enable it to stand out to the audience, and this is also why I have chosen to position it in the top left-hand corner of the page. By doing this, it immediately draws the eye here, and then all of the cover lines which stand out less will lead the eye down the rest of the page. The font is in capitals, also allowing it to stand out, and the name of the magazine has a clear relevance to the genre of music I have chosen. When naming my magazine, I considered a few possibilities, however came to the conclusion that I was over thinking. When looking at other magazines, they all have very simple names, and I then I thought it couldn’t get any more simple than using the name of the genre. However, other magazines use methods to edit the font in order to avoid this looking basic, which I have done so also.

Here is my masthead in comparison with another existing pop magazine, Top of the Pops. Although the name is probably more simple, I have stuck to the same concepts as far as font colour and style are concerned, and this masthead also has a clear relation to the genre of teen pop.

When looking at the images I have used on my cover page, I see that they are all of young, attractive teens. This is a feature I found in many existing teen pop magazines, as they appeal highly and capture the attention of my target audience. In the photographs, the girls are wearing trendy, up to date fashion with bright, summer colours. They are both wearing make-up to appear more attractive, and the male in the photo is dressed in a suit, in order to make him appear sophisticated. This idea was modelled after the likes of Justin Timberlake, who is very popular with young teen girls. I used an image of the model in my main image on my contents page also, as I felt she fit the brief well.

I feel the images reflect those used in current pop magazines, as when comparing, they all feature young, attractive, female and male stars, all wearing trendy clothing, which isn’t too flashy or expensive. The female models are all also wearing attractive make-up.

Another feature I was highly inspired by was the plain white back drop of the images found in these magazines. I found it very clever, as it contrasts well with the bright, bold colours in the photos, and also feels it appears very professional. Not having a crowded back drop prevents the eye from being drawn to anywhere else in the image other than the model, and allows more detail to be added using other elements to the page, such as puffs and pugs.

I have included a large number of puffs for this reason. I felt it was necessary in order to create the bubbly, stand-out feel a pop magazines require, as I noticed most pop magazines do possess this quality. I used a combination of bright, summery colours, once again to stick within my genre, theme, audience and colour scheme, and also ensured that the fonts used contrasted with the puff itself, as the overall purpose of a puff is to stand out.

Here is a comparison between my contents page, and that of an existing magazine of the same genre. I feel my contents page appears far simpler, as it only really feature one large image, rather than several ones of a smaller scale. However, they both use a similar colour scheme, to represent the time of issue (summer), as well as laying out the text in columns, to create a sense of order and organisation, in order to make reading the magazine as simpler experience for the reader as possible, as the purpose of reading this magazine is intended to be entertainment and enjoyment. Both pages also state what features are found specifically in this issue, and separate these from features that can be found in every issue.

Here is my double page spread. When looking at other existing teen pop magazines, I found that there were several common features in which I would like to model my pages on. These consisting of one page devoted to a masthead and main image, a puff highlighting the opening paragraph, the text separated into paragraphs yet still

structured in columns, and one particular quote taken from the interview, and emphasised using a larger font style in a different colour. All of these are features that I wanted to include in my own double page spread, as I felt it would help my own work appear as professional as the ones I admired and modelled my work after.

Another feature I have also seen in pop magazines is a signature at the and of an interview article. I felt this would also add a touch of professionalism to my magazine. In order to do this, I photographed a signature of the model herself, photographed it, and then edited the colour balance in order to make the background appear a white as possible. I feel this has worked extremely well.

Here is a good example of a double page spread from an existing magazine, displaying all of the features I have just listed. The spread also displays another, smaller image of the star as well as the main image. This is another feature I chose to use in my own work, as I felt just using one photograph of the star on a page in which she is the focus, may appear slightly plain and basic.