EVALUATION| QUESTION 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When I was creating my music magazine, I knew that certain aspects of it would have to of been to quite similar to other music magazines in order for it to do well with my target audience. To help me get an idea of all the different conventions used in a typical music magazine, I took a look at teen magazines such as Top of the Pops and Teen Now as they both have the same audience that I was aiming for.

For example, this is a screenshot of my masthead taken from the front cover of my magazine. The masthead is a key convention and helps to show the genre of my magazine. I looked at a range of different fonts on 'dafont' but decided to go with using this font in the end as it was big and bold which meant it would stand out on the rest of the page. Even though that it is placed behind the model, you can still make out what it says and doesn't get lost in the image. Similarly to 'Teen Now', the title includes the word 'Teen' which again helps to represent the genre of my magazine and show who it is aimed at.

This is the main sell line on the front cover of my magazine. I decided to place it in the lower rule of thirds but in the centre, this meant it stood out and you knew that the quote went with the main image. I wrote the main sell line in a much larger and bolder font so that the target audience will be able to identify that it was the main story that would be featured in the magazine. This is an example of a convention from a real magazine as this is what gives the TA an idea of what the magazine is going to be about.

This is the main image that is on the front cover of my magazine. It is important that the main image is large and clear as that is what they are like on any other music magazine or any magazines in general. I placed my image in the middle so it took up the full page which helped to make it look more professional and dominant. I took this image in my own house with the help of my friend Ellie to model. I made sure that I asked my model to style in clothes that would fit with the 'pop' genre so my audience would be able to relate to her and it contrasted well with the rest of the magazine.



This is a screenshot of the most necessary information that had to be included on the front cover of my magazine. It was key that I included the issue number, price, date and a barcode as these are conventions that are used for real products. I made the text pink so that it stood out and you were able to find them easily on the page and they weren't lost within the rest of the text that is there.







This is the banner that I included on the front cover of my magazine. This convention is very common in magazines that are of the pop genre, so I thought I would incorporate it into my own work so that it would interest my target audience. I wrote this as my banner as it was related to the genre of my magazine and would help to attract people into buying the magazine.

Contents page 

I think that I have developed the forms and conventions that are used on the contents page of a music magazine. This is because although the layout is quite similar to Top of the Pops magazine, I decided to try putting my own spin on it. For example, in TOTP they section off different features into small boxes, whereas I have created one larger box and wrote inside of it. This also helped to make you focus on it more as I used two different shades of pink to make it stand out. The different headlines allow the target audience to identify what is the magazine and can find certain articles faster and clearer.

Top of the Pops contents page

Top of the Pops also only use a small range of images, so I only used two pictures. I think I would have liked to put a few more in to make it look more appealing but I didn't have enough space. My contents page also challenges the forms and conventions of any other real product because I have only used one page for my contents page whereas the majority of other music magazines use two. I also placed two more banners on the contents page, one of them relating back to the one that is used on the front cover of my magazine. The other banner is a reference to the magazines twitter page which makes it more appealing to the TA as it is giving them more options to interact with the magazine and feel apart of it.

Double Page Spread

I used this sentence at the end of the interview in my double page spread, I put the text into colour which helped to make it stand out on the page and would allow the audience to realise that it wasn't part of the interview. This uses the conventions of a real media product as I have seen a lot of other music magazines do this at the end of interviews.

This is a screenshot of part of the interview in my magazine. I would say that I have developed the forms and conventions of a real media product as I have mentioned the audience in the interview. This will make the audience feel like they have been apart of the process of the interview and will feel happy that their questions are actually being answered.

This is one of the sell lines I have used on my double page spread to help attract the audience into reading the interview. As my target audience are young girls, they will be interested in reading some beauty tips and may aspire to be like the artist mentioned in the interview.

 Another aspect that I have developed from another magazine is the music genre and how my own suggests it. I believe that my own magazine suggests my genre through the use of colour and fonts.  As you can see the main colour scheme I have focused my magazine on is different shades of pink. Pink has connotations of feminism which helps to show that my magazine is aimed at young girls.

Here is a link to the prezi I have created:
http://prezi.com/jzhmub30b17s/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Feedback on my front cover and contents page

Draft of DPS article

As part of my planning for this task, I had to create a draft of my double page spread article so that I could receive some feedback on what was good about it and how I could improve it. At this point, I hadnt finished creating the image for my double page spread so I only handed in the article itself with the interview included. I followed the basic layout of a double page spread by putting the interview into 3 separate columns but I did notice that they didn't fit together. As part of my feedback, I had to make sure that all the columns were aligned in order for everything to look a lot more professional and organised. To make the article a lot more easier and clear to understand, I wrote the questions in bold and kept the answers in a normal font. This way, the reader would be able to follow the interview and know who was talking or asking the questions. Another comment on my feedback was to create a sub heading with some of the text I had already written. This would introduce the reader to the article and helps to give them an idea of what they are going to be reading about.

Front Cover and Contents Page Progress

These are screenshots of my Front Cover and Contents page almost finished. 

As you can see in my contents page, I have altered some of the features to make fit with the magazine and have it more concentrated on music rather than fashion. I still need to change the pictures for the contents page so again they relate more to music and look more professional.

I am pleased with the outcome of my front cover, I think it matches well with the genre of my magazine and you can clearly tell who the target audience is aimed at. I downloaded a range of different fonts from dafont which helps to give it more variety so everything doesn't look the same. I had a few problems trying to crop the image as I wanted it to get as precise as I could but in the end I managed to get it cropped out the way I liked.

Photo shoot Preparation

Before I took the images for my magazine, I decided to take some quick photographs of where the model was getting ready and when she was putting her makeup on in preparation for the shoot. My model done the makeup herself, but I did tell her what I wanted the makeup to look like so she could create the final look that I wanted. I told the model to bring her own clothes but that fitted with the genre of my magazine. She knew that my magazine was aimed at young teens so brought a selection of clothes that she thought would be suitable to wear for the photographs.

Review of preliminary task

As part of my research and planning, I had to create a magazine for a college. This included creating a front cover and a contents page.

This was the first time I had ever created a front cover and contents page so although I had researched about a FC and CP, I didn't fully follow how to design them property. I did do the basic features of including a masthead, main image, sell lines etc but I did miss out quite a few other important features that needed to be there. For example, I didn't include a the issue number of the magazine on which is key feature that needs to be on the front cover.

Looking back at my work, I do believe I done a acceptable job of creating a front cover and contents page as this was the first time I had ever done a task like that before. However, now I know all the important features and techniques that need to be used I wish I done a lot more things differently on my magazine.

The most important thing that I would change in my work is the main image on the front cover. I chose to use a image where the model wasn't looking directly at the camera and was looking at a book instead. At the time I thought this was a good image to use as it related to the genre and audience of my magazine, but after more research and plannin, I understand that it is key for the model to be looking at the camera so it feels like you are making eye contact with them. 

I was also pleased with the text on the contents page as I made it as relatable a as I could to the target audience. For example, I included articles about tips for revision which is important to a student and would be something that they would be interested reading about. 

Work up to date| Progress so far

This is a screenshot of my almost complete contents page. When you see the difference between this and my last post, you can see that I have made a lot of progress. I have added more pictures to the design, in order to make it look more creative and fun. I haven't fully completed my contents page as I am yet to receive feedback to find out how I can improve it and make it look the best it actually can.  I also plan on changing some of the text to make it seem like it is more focused on the music (as this is what the coursework is based around) instead of having the content focused on every day things you would find in an ordinary magazine.