Evaluation - Question 1

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

When I was set the task of designing and creating a music magazine, I knew what type of music I wanted to base mine on. I have chosen to look at magazines that were based on R&B and I knew from the start that I wanted to have a solo female singer on the front. This encouraged me to research magazines that are already in the industry so that I could use or adapt any of the conventions. These magazines inspired me when taking my photographs as it encouraged me to produce mine in a particular way. I have looked at the positioning of the model, the title, and the headlines involved within the front cover.

My music magazine represents its genre with the headlines and images. I have used headlines that relate to RnB and Pop music with well known artists. The image also suggests the genre with the simplistic yet fashionable clothing, hair, and make-up. The magazines below were inspirations towards my media products.

I have compared my conventions with the ones used in these magazines.

Looking at these two different headings, I have used photoshop to enable me to place the image in front of the text. I used real media products to give me the idea of placing the photograph in front of the title as this seems to what many magazines are like. I found it easy cutting around the head in order to make it another layer, however, comparing mine to a real magazine, I have lots of the title still showing. Looking above at the other different magazines, they all cover a lot of the title and even hide whole letters. By placing the image in front of the title, I think it gives it a more realistic sense as it is not blocking out any of the model and covering over the picture. It also makes the image stand out and seem almost 3D like.

I have modeled my photograph against this photo of the new solo artist Taylor Swift. The mise-en-scene of the image shows similar to my own photography. The background is plan and there are no props involved. This focuses the audiences attention on simply the model in the image and I also feel that the image is one of the main aspects of attracting the correct audience.

Looking at other magazines helped me with the layout of mine. I have used the idea of the magazine "Clash" to get the style of some of my headlines. Many magazines have a "Top charts" section or something similar. I chose to include the top 40 UK Charts within mine. The number is made bigger and a different colour/font so that it stands out as much as possible. I think this aspect will be a main part of attracting people to the magazine.

Written Content:

To decide what to write within my double page spread, I research magazine interviews on the Internet. My main inspiration for this was the MTV website where I found an interview from Pixie Lott. It gave me a few ideas on where to begin and what to include within my article. http://www.mtv.co.uk/artists/pixie-lott/news/122558-pixie-lott-interview

It took me a few times to be able have my final article ready as I wanted to make it as realistic as possible and have enough to fill my double page spread.

Contents Page Layout:

I wanted my contents page to be different from any other music magazine like NME and Kerrang. I liked how unique this contents page is from Vibe and I wanted to ensure that the layout of mine was one of a kind. I have put the image as the top half of the page, and all the pages and number in the bottom section. Many magazines have a standard layout with small images and lists of pages all the way down the page.