EvaluationQuestion 1: In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

My use of forms and conventions: Cover

Like popular music magazine ‘Rolling Stone’, I have used a large,

bold masthead that is positioned conventionally across top of my

magazine.

I have also included a selling line to

inform the audience of my genre (indie-

rock).

I also took inspiration from ‘Rolling Stone’ by adding a drop-shadow to my masthead. This

creates a 3D effect, as though the masthead is raised off the page, catching the audience’s

attention.

I again took inspiration from ‘Rolling

Stone’ creating a similar splash. I was

looking for different way to present

additional information on my cover and

thought this would be a more creative

means of doing so, as opposed to

adding extra cover lines.

I used the form of cover lines to present

information on the different artists that will be

included in the contents of my magazine.

These

were conventionally positioned on the sides

of the magazine, not overlapping the faces of

the cover stars.

I have also included the convention

of eye contact between the cover star

and

the audience. I directed my artists to

look

straight into the camera, catching the

reader’s eye and creating a personal

connection.

I have used a bold, central headline. Like ‘NME’, I have used white and capital letters,

making the headline stand out and contrast with the background/cover image. In

addition, my graphics are inspired by the headline, although I have used a thinner line

and have made the graphic blue in order to fit with my colour scheme.

In addition, I have also used a

strapline to present an overview

of the article and entice the reader

to read the full feature.

Unlike ‘NME’, I decided to

use

a drop shadow to make my

headline stand out from my

strap line.

I included a date, price and barcode in order to

leave the magazine with a professional, realistic

finish.

My use of forms and conventions:

Contents

My headline is conventionally positioned at the top of the contents

page, where an audience would expect to see it. I took inspiration

from the contents page of popular indie-rock magazine ‘NME’, as

I liked the clear and organised, yet cool, layout.

I used a similar font to the font

used in ‘NME’. It is simple and

clear, but at the same time bold

and slightly quirkier than a

traditional font such as ‘Times

New Roman’.

I decided to include the magazine’s title

within the headline, in order to achieve

a consistency with my magazine cover.

My main feature,

presented

on my cover page,

conventionally remains

prominent in my contents

page. The large image

catches the readers’

attention, encouraging

them to buy read the

article and, in turn, buy the

magazine.

I have been slightly

unconventional by making

this photograph

black & white to contrast

with

the larger coloured image

above, making both

images stand out more. I

have also

overlapped this smaller

image onto the one above,

producing

a layered affect, making

I have used captions to label the

photo with its corresponding

article and provide a short

description.Large numbers clearly

direct the reader to the

photograph’s corresponding

article, the white

contrasting with the black

background, standing out

further.

The white text contrasts

with

background blue graphic,

retaining the magazine’s

colour scheme and

providing additional

information for the reader

– an idea inspired by NME.

I have used a feature column to list the

contents of my magazine (arguably the main

form of the contents page). This is chronological

and accompanied by corresponding numbers

to direct the audience through the magazine.

I also used the convention of a small size 12 font,

making page appear professional, as would be found

many publications, such as ‘NME’, ‘Mojo’ and ‘Q’.

I used a splash to

include

additional information

about subscription

information. My market

research helped me to

identify I suitable price

and time-frame for a

possible subscription.

My use of forms and conventions: Article

I have used a pull-quote to entice the audience into reading

the article and to present an overview of the band’s attitude/the

tone of the article. The quote shows the artists to be musicians that

care about their art and whom are very passionate, setting a slightly

serious angle to the article. This means that despite the humorous

content within much of the article, the audience still note that the

band can be serious, presenting the band as very real, “down-to-earth”

individuals.

My headline is slightly unconventional as it is not

positioned directly at the top of the page. It is bold,

brightly coloured in electric-Pink. Whilst retaining

the same font, this contrasts with the white writing

of the above pull-quote, as well as the green

background and

photograph of the band.

I was inspired by

‘NME’ to

unconventionally

position the page

numbers to the side of

the page as opposed

to the top or bottom

corners. I feel this

way the reader can

read the numbers

faster, with the white

text contrasting on top

of the black graphic,

thus, catching the

readers’ eye.

I have used the convention of a caption for

the image of my band to allow the reader to

identify the band members within ‘Usual

Suspects’ and to give a professional finish by

including this small detail.

I used a large image

positioned in the

middle of the page. I

used props to

represent the genre

of music – indie-rock

–

that the band and my

magazine represent.

Development: Cover

Originally, I derived many of

my ideas for my magazine

from the inspiration of

‘NME’. I decided to also use

a red, white and black

colour scheme and placed

my masthead in the top-left

corner of the cover.

I took inspiration from

U2’s song ‘Vertigo’ for

the magazine’s title. I

thought this would add

to the rock genre of the

magazine.

My original idea was to create a Brit-pop themed magazine. Thus,

I took inspiration from the famous ‘NME’ Blur VS Oasis cover, creating

a splash of the same title. Fans of the two bands would be intrigued to

read the article revealing the ‘truth’ from Blur bassist Alex James,

encouraging them to buy the magazine.

I also liked the additional strapline at

the

bottom of the magazine, highlighting

further bands within the contents. To

retain

My original Brit-pop theme, I included

My main development was my change from a

‘Brit-pop special’ themed magazine to a solely

indie-rock magazine. Forms and conventions

helped me to develop this, for example, through

a change of title from ‘Vertigo’ to ‘Indigo’, with the

later being a play-on the ‘indie’ genre.

This new title also helped me to develop a new

colour scheme, changing from red, white and

black to blue, white and black, with the title also

meaning indigo the shade of blue.

I did retain some of my original

ideas, such as specific

straplines and the cover image.

Development: Contents

I decided to change the images within my contents page.

For example, I changed my image for my main feature as

it was too similar to the image on my cover, in that the

duo are stood in very similar positions with similar facial

expressions. The new image presents a more fun, playful

side to the band, corresponding with the tone of my article.

I also decided to change the image on the left to the image

on the right, as I felt that the prior image was unclear and too

dark, whereas the later image is brighter, the black-and-white tone

used to contrast with the coloured image of my main feature.

I also feel that the later image presents a stronger tone

and clearness of genre, the guitar and sunglasses that

Claire Robbin of ‘The Milk’ is wearing presenting a clear

theme of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’.

Further developments include changing my colour-scheme

from black-on-blue to white-on-blue, plus the addition of captions

to the images.

Development: Article

The main development of my article was

changing the image. The prior image was too

similar to the original contents image and

the cover photo, with the same costume as

the contents and similar stance/facial

expression to the contents and cover images.

The new image is completely different in

colour, with a lot of black used, contrasting

with the brick-wall background. I also decided

to add props (a guitar and bomber jacket) to

represent the cool indie-rock tone of the band

and the magazine as a whole.

I also changed how I presented the article’s headline. In the original article,

I unconventionally did not include the title of the artist after being inspired by

a ‘Superfood’ article from NME. However, I decided to change this as I felt

that ascetically there was something missing. I also removed the opaque

graphics behind the pull quote as I felt that their covering of the image

detracted from the image itself .

I also decided to change the text from my additional ‘Our Take’ section to

white instead of black. I also decided to add more text instead of just an

album track-list to correspond with the title ‘Our Take’ which connotes more

of a review of the album as opposed to just relaying information about it.