Evaluation Question 1

In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products? 

I chose my masthead to be a decayed font in order to convey the iconography of my product. This is alternative music but with an edge, so the font style used connotes erosion and imperfection. I did not include a selling line for my magazine as I felt it would go against my genres conventions or minimalism. My main cover line relates to the cover artist, this is conventional to magazines. I chose a controversial pull quote because the audience would be positioned to but the product to find out why such a statement was made. All of my cover lines are conventional and intertextual to that of real magazines because I feel it is one of the strongest characteristics of a magazine and was needed. My cover line at the bottom, which advertises a competition, gives my magazine a USP (unique selling point) because the exclusive opportunity will make consumers feel like they’re missing out if they don’t take part.

I wanted my magazine to have a modernized punk concept; therefore the face of my cover model is intertextual to that one might see on the cover of an old punk zine, such as ‘Sniffin Glue’ as is the outfit, whereas the layout is much more similar to new music magazines like NME and The Fly. For this reason I feel my product develops the genre by having alternative music in a punk context.

I used the usual convention of 3 main colors for my front cover; this was intentional, as I wanted it to look professional to I kept the key conventions the same. This is also why my cover model is positioned in the middle 3^rd with a medium shot. Their arms are open to invite the audience; direct mode of address is used to create objectification. My cover model wants to be looked at and heard. The use of the pose also avoids any dead space on my cover.

With the cover lines I used alternate coloring to separate the bands and make it easier on the eye. The ‘R’ of my masthead is my magazines logo so I made it drain a red colour. This is word play as the title is ‘Rinsed’ and it looks washed out, also the colour red connotes anger and danger which is linear to my magazines iconography so I wanted to include that.

My font varies on the cover; this is more conventional to women’s magazines than music ones so here I developed the convention into my genre. My use of alternating italics also makes the middle 3^rd flow better when the audience reads downwards.

I have used the modern convention of putting a QR code next to my bar code, this tells the consumer that we have a website and are convergent across media platforms.

My contents page is intertextual to NME’s older ones, with a hint of Kerrangs conventions. This is because I wanted to fuse these two opposing types together.

I have used the same Rinsed font as on my masthead, this is sign repetition and makes it more memorable to the consumer, using a different font for contents to signify that they are not related. I have used the same techniques with my colours.

I did not include an editor’s letter, this could be seen to challenge conventions, and this was because the ideology of my magazine is it is by the people for the people so I didn’t want to include a figure of authority.

I put most of my text on the right because the reader will see it easier whilst flicking through and I wanted to use this convention to my advantage.

My subheadings and page numbers are also conventional as they help the audience find what they want faster.  I included arrows to fill dead space, make my layout more exciting and point out the highlights of my magazine; I used different colours as a key for the audience. Red connotes stop and will grab their attention whereas the black ones are more ignorable as its monochromatic but the arrow shape will still ensure the reader notice’s them.

I didn’t want my contents page to be heavily image based so I only used 2, they both relate to my main feature to give the consumer a preview of what to expect. I used a different pull quote than I did on the cover and included a summary to position my audience to be more eager to read it.

I mentioned my competition again in an offer star to further prompt my readers to enter. The dotted line I use to separate the page also acts as a margin to my pull quote and preview, this is conventional within magazines such as NME and makes the layout seem more professional.

My feature article has met most conventions of music magazines. I chose to use a question and answer interview – very popular as they allow the performer direct access to the audience. This links to uses and gratification theory where the reader uses the magazine as a device to feel closer to someone they idolize. It also links to Zeitgeist as it is a sign of our generation to want to be in demand and direct contact with fame.

I used a controversial pull quote to tell my audience to read the full article and discover why that was said.

My background image does not use direct mode of address, this was the first time the band have been officially interviewed so the avoiding of the camera connotes their shyness and perhaps reluctance towards it.

I used the same colours as cover and also yellow as it is the bands signature colour, therefore I repeated the sign of yellow throughout my article.

I met conventions by using a drop cap, strapline, artist image, tour dates and a magazine exclusive extra.

I included the artist’s opinion on other bands to position my audience to agree, this again relates to uses and gratification theory. I think my feature article uses more conventions that it does challenge or oppose them.