IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA

PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS & CONVENTIONS OF

REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

FRONT COVER MASTHEAD

The mast head is a front called ‘Rock’s Death’ that I downloaded off the website dafont.com. I made a thick black outline around my masthead to make it stand out and become a individual convention of my front cover. It’s one of the biggest fonts that I used on my front cover which is also a convention of a front cover as it represents to the audience what the magazine is called. My cover star covers part of my masthead which is sometimes common to see on some magazines. My masthead is the colour red to go with my chosen colour scheme and the colour red is known to be on of the colours to represent the rock genre.

FRONT COVER COVER STAR

The cover star is using direct mode of address which is a common convention mostly used on many magazine front covers. My cover star is the largest thing used on my front cover as I wanted my cover star to be noticed as she is one of the most important conventions I used and I wanted her to grab my audiences attention. The clothes and the make up that my cover star is wearing is purposely used to represent the rock genre as my magazine is a rock genre based magazine.

FRONT COVER COVER LINES

Using cover lines for my magazine front cover is known as a typically main convention of all magazine front covers. I challenged this by making the text of my cover lines different sizes to appear more interesting and attractive to the audience. I also did it because certain words that are a certain size could represent a certain article that describes or hints of what articles there are in my magazine and grab the audiences attention.

FRONT COVER MAIN COVER LINE

My main cover line could possibly deviate as again I have used a different front. The font I used was called ‘Phorssa’. I used it because I thought it represented and reminded me of cut outs/clippings from magazines or newspapers which appeared interesting to me and related in the product I was producing. I used a font size which was second largest to the font size I used for the mast head as this is another important convention and also represents the busyness of a rock genre based magazine front cover.

FRONT COVER SKYLINE & BANNER

Having a skyline to add a tagline and also using a banner is a common convention to use on a music magazine front cover. I used the tagline to represent and inform the audience what genre of music the magazine is based on. The tagline would be important as the same tagline would be used throughout issues of my magazine representing my magazine as a product and always representing to the audience what genre it is based on.

FRONT COVER PUFF

Added a puff to my front cover was also a convention and was a different and interesting way to advertise to the audience what else is inside my magazine and grabs the audiences attention as it looks like it jumps out from my front cover to catch the audiences eye. I made it appear edgy and aggressive to also represent the rock genre of my magazine. I did this by the font I used and the colours.

FRONT COVER INFORMATION & BARCODE

The front cover information included the magazines issue date, issue number followed by the barcode. This made it look professional as I wanted it to appear more official and it is a crucial convention of all magazine covers. I also included the magazine’s price. With this I used a colour scheme. The colour scheme consisted of the 3 colours red, black and white. I used these colours because while doing my audience research/feedback I came to the conclusion that these colours were most popular when representing the rock genre and promotes an aggressive style.

CONTENT PAGE

Using the word ‘contents’ on the actual content page is a convention because it informs the reader what page they are on and what the page consists of as this page is known to be one of the pages that represents everything consisted in the entire magazine and allows the audience information too. This is a convention commonly known to be used on every magazine content page.

CONTENT PAGE COLUMNS

I have columns on my content page which is also a convention as it give the content page organisation and structure giving it a more professional look. It does deviate as I only used two columns where as some content pages of magazines use more but I found it easier to just use two and divide them into four sections. A convention that I followed first was having articles with a small piece of information underneath informing what that article is about and what it contains as this is important and useful for the reader also.

CONTENT PAGE ARTICLE PAGE NUMBERS

The columns that I used for my content page was supported by the page numbers for each article which is a convention as again it gives a organised structure to my content page for my magazine. Each page number was different and had a few numbers more than the next because in-between them articles would be advertisements for the audience such as clothing, CD, gigs etc. These advertisements would all be purposely for the rock genre theme of the magazine and be rock based.

CONTENT PAGE PICTURES RELATING TO THE ARTICLES

The pictures that I used for my content page were edited in Photoshop and took by digital SLR cameras. Each picture related back to a article on my content page with a caption and it’s page number which is displayed with each picture. The picture were quite large and I used a black background behind each picture to make it stand out to the reader and look more tidy. Each picture consisted of colours that represent back with my chosen colour scheme that I chose to use throughout my production work. These colours were red, black and white.

CONTENT PAGE INFORMATION

The content information consisted of the magazines issue number, issue date, magazines web address and the official magazines Facebook page. I put this information on my content page to make it appear more professional. This would be important and catch the audiences attention as it is ways in which the audience can get involved with the magazine and keep updated.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ARTICLE

An essential convention of a DPS is that it’s split into two pages which is what I did. I created my DPS on Quark.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD HEADING

The masthead on my double page spread had the biggest font. The colour of the text is red which is also the colour of the questions that I asked I used this to make it stand out to the audience.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD STAND FIRST

I used a subheading to inform the reader what the article will be about and who the article will be with. This gave the reader a insight of the article which is also a convention.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD DROP CAP

The drop cap that I used is a common convention and informs the reader where the article starts as the letter is bigger and a different colour than the rest.

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD BAND

The image that I used for my DPS was edited in Photoshop and I used direct mode of address which is a convention and I made the picture relate to the masthead by making copies of him making it appear unique and interesting.

OVERALL..

My magazine follows and deviates professional rock music magazines because I wanted to make my magazine appear professional to the audience. I used the expected codes and conventions known on a front cover, content page and double page spread and also made sure each convention related and represented the rock genre. I followed real media products by using codes and conventions such as mastheads, colour schemes and pictures that I edited in Photoshop.