Conventions

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Conventions are elements which you always find in a particular media text. For instance, magazines have their own conventions, as do soap episodes, films etc.

HOW HAVE I USED CONVENTIONS IN MY MAGAZINE?

VIBE magazine tend to use a maximum of two to three words across the bottom of the page.

My double page spread uses conventions which VIBE also use; such as the black background behind the text on the page. Also the Drop Cap is commonly used in all magazines not only music magazines.

Another convention I have used is the heading on the page which is big and bold, in a very bright colour yellow which I have continued to use in all pages of the magazine.

I have decided to put some words in a larger font size in order connate similarly to VIBE magazine.

On the contents page I have placed the typeface ‘contents’ in a similar convention to VIBE magazine. The letters ‘NTENT’ are slanted in the same

FRONT COVER• The mast head I decide to use was my logo as it is noticed that

VIBE place their name behind the artist’s image; but that’s because their magazine is well established. Whereas mine is new and needs establishing, so I broke the convention (used by VIBE) of placing it behind the artist, however, by placing the logo on the page I still kept the convention but displayed it in my own style.

• There’s always a dominant artist on the front cover of a music magazine. I decided to take on this concept however, I developed this and didn’t follow the traditionally convention of Hip-Hop magazine, as Hip-Hop magazines tends to use either a very aggressive man with a lot of jewelry also they commonly have gold/silver teeth. In contrast the women are generally objectified and show a lot of their skin and wear very little; their posses are usually very sexual and provocative. I broke this convention by having dressed my model fully and not showing any skin.

• However, although I broke a convention I applied many conventions too, such as placing the date, barcode/QR code and website on to the page on the left hand side of the ‘EXCLUSIVE NOW’ convention.

FRONT COVER• The conventions remain the same as my previous

music magazine. However, by having the opportunity to resubmit coursework I acknowledged that my Front Cover didn’t carry the convention of professionalism and realism. Therefore, by using Adobe Photoshop I was able to make the lighting dimmer, but have a spotlight on the model to create a sense of importance, but also but keeping the colours bold and simple it emphasises the writing one the page but also creates a better approach when attracting the audience towards buying it.

• Looking back on my research the cover of hip-hop and RnB magazines are very sharp and clean so I tried to make my music magazine cover more like that. I also changed the name to ‘Live Wire’ because I felt that ‘air’ didn't/t really speak to my audience. I felt ‘Live Wire’ suited the genre and the audience better due to the different associations that the word wire has; for instance, wires, and leads are used to create music but also wire is used for the police to tab down gangsters in the ghetto.

CONTENTS PAGE• The text on the contents page related to the

hip-hop and RnB genre. I made sure that the conventions from VIBE and other music magazines were carried on. Such as the way I placed ‘CONTENTS’ I however chose to develop this convention by making the ‘NTEN’ parallel to my models back.

• It’s a convention of all magazines to have the date, page numbers, main picture (this can sometimes be the same model as the front cover), and in terms of writing I used very minimalists.

CONTENTS PAGE• As part of my resubmission I didn’t feel

the need to make any significant changes to my contents page. However, I did notice that there wasn’t a recognised continuity from my front cover to my contents page this was due to the different typefaces. For that reason, I made changes to the typefaces keeping them as ‘Helvetica’ and ‘Orator Std’.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

• Costumes in the image are usually very provocative, showing a bit of skin, I have decided to break this convention by using clothes to cover her skin. Fonts and style- very much follow the style/convention

• RnB/Hip-Hop music magazines often display their music artists as seductive or promiscuous. Mine has kept it simple, and a sharp design.

• The only thing different in the picture is her pose however I have decide to keep the Mise en scene the same with all three pictures in my music magazine.

• I have followed the convention of using a large image, and minimal text.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD• In regards to my double page

spread I realised that I didn’t like it too much in comparison to how I liked the look and attraction of the front cover and contents page.

• In order to change the appearance of the double page spread I needed to do a lot with the help of ‘QuarkXpress’. I moved around some of the features on the page, making changes to the colours being used against the image, and changing the typefaces. This was all in hope of achieving a realistic and professional double page spread.