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

This question focuses on the codes and conventions of media products. I spend much of this response discussing the conventions featured on each of the pages in my magazine. I began by describing my front cover, discussing the required conventions for a magazine, including a bar code and a masthead. I then went on to evaluate both my double page spread and contents page in the same level of detail, and this was followed by a conclusion, summing up the level on conformity I feel I achieved throughout each of my magazine pages. 

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

The front page of my magazine is fairly conventional. The top of the page includes a masthead, which is what will be repeatedly seen in each issue of the magazine, allowing for people to relate this masthead to this magazine, much like NME for example having a very well recognised masthead. The page also includes a main image, which covers the entirety of the page. This was taken in front of a green screen, and as such the background colour has been placed in using Photoshop. The page includes sell lines throughout. These are very important in trying to sell a magazine. The sell lines give a clue for the reader to know what to expect in the magazine. They in many cases can be the difference between someone buying the magazine and not buying it. Due to this, I paid huge attention to these. They cover a fairly large area, and are varied in what they are advertising, allowing for the widest audience possible to find interest in this magazine. In addition, my front cover includes several pieces that are seen and required for every single magazine cover. These include the barcode, allowing for the magazine to be sold, a price, allowing for the buyer to decide whether the magazine is in their price range, and a website, which allows for the buyer to visit the website prior or after buying the magazine in order to get an update on the magazine, as well as in some cases, serving as a page dedicated to music news (NME.com.)

My contents page is also fairly conventional.  At the top of it contains a masthead saying ‘Inside Unplugged this week’. This is used as a way of drawing the attention of the reader, and it highlights what this page will include. As seen in most forms of written media, the contents page is used as a way of determining what page to go to, to find the designated article that you wish to read. This is significant, because if a person buys a magazine simply for the reason of reading a specific article, they can easily go over to that page without too much trouble. In addition, the more highly rated articles are featured in bold. This is done to draw attention to these articles, as they are much more likely to be wanted to read, rather than more weekly features.  Images are also used, these are again regularly seen in music magazines. They further allow for the reader to get an idea of what they can expect to see in the coming pages. The images are usually focused on the more important articles, as can be seen on my page.

The final page I created was a double page spread. This page again is fairly consistent with the codes and conventions of a music magazine. I have created a first spread that gives a large quite with an image that introduced the article. This is commonly seen in music magazines, as it allows for an introduction to what is likely to feature in the article.  On my main double page spread, most things are conventional. There is a 3 blocks of writing, written in columns. Generally, articles are written in columns as this is just a common convention of most writing forms of media, including magazines and newspapers. I have also included a picture on this page. This also is common on most double page spreads, as it helps to split up the writing, as opposed to the whole page just being words and not having an visual aids. A masthead is also included with a fairly catch title. In this case, my masthead is a play on the words of the phrase ‘New Kid on the Block’, as my magazine focuses on fairly retro themes.

Overall, I consider my magazine to be fairly conventional. The majority – if not all of its contents have a purpose that can be recognised when looking at any form of music magazine. Generally, It is difficult to challenge conventions of a music magazine, as most of the conventions are required in order to achieve the aim of a successful music magazine.