Here is a written evaluation response to the question: In what ways does my product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
I have answered this question in the form of a written essay, with annotated images and other graphics to illustrate my response.
Placing My Product in the Media Marketplace:
Conventions of Real Media Products
In order for any new media product to be successful, there are some existing conventions that tend to followed or alternatively challenged and I will explain my thought processes in the creation of each of the components of my own magazine. I have incorporated some typical conventions into the creation of the magazine pages, and I have also tried to challenge some of these stereotypical features of existing music magazines. I am aware that my magazine is primarily aimed at a typical teenage demographic audience, however I have used the aesthetics and content of the magazine to widen the spectrum of audiences it could potentially attract.
THE AESTHETICS
“The visuals; the face value each page has.”
Colour Scheme:
In order to conform to a particularly common magazine convention, I have used a fairly strict colour scheme of red, white and black. I chose this colour combination as I know it to be successful and also appeal to both genders and the teenage demographic. For example, real media products such as NME and Q magazine use it in their title logo and mastheads:
The red is a particularly effective colour, as it is dynamic and grabs your attention. I have used it to highlight the main typography of my front cover, for example, it highlights the central ‘N’ in the magazine name logo and also emphasises the main central cover line and issue date. Black is a typical colour used in any media product, as it is professional in terms of aesthetics and also can relate to the more ‘rocky’ side of popular culture music. This conventional side to the aesthetics has been used to appeal to the target age range of readers and also reflect the new culture aspect of the pop music genre.
I have continued the use of a conventional colour scheme into the creation of the contents page. I have used a black gradient background, which suits the colour scheme and also goes against some typical background conventions, as from research, I have found that most existing magazines’ contents pages tend to have plain white backgrounds. I went against this convention in order to make the aesthetics of my contents page unique and interesting.
Typography:
I have used primarily sans serif, bold and dramatic fonts to form the cover lines and masthead of my magazine products. This is a code and convention of modern magazines, as they tend to use a range of about 3-4 different fonts to maintain a professional image throughout. I used a bold, capitalised font for the title image, incorporating the colour scheme into it. This is a common convention that I have utilized. From previous use in my Preliminary task, I chose to use the same font for the front coverlines and contents page writing, as it is quirky, aesthetically interesting and would appeal to the target audience. Some of it’s characters are edited to also make it more quirky and up to date. This is a convention of modern magazines as they tend to create a typographic image that keeps readers interested.
Images:
The front cover – I have used a black and white gradient image to form the background and fill the entire front page, minus the masthead. This is a common feature of modern magazines, as it places sole focus on the one person. I have used an image of one singer with a guitar, as this is the current music-scene craze, with singers such as Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne in the spotlight. The main image is placed in the central ‘third’, which is also a common convention of current magazine covers. The model is posed in a conventional way; performing and looking passionate about her music. I have used the staple prop of a guitar to imply her musical talent and also appeal to the target audience, as the guitar is a hugely popular instrument in the music industry today. By adding special visual effects to the picture, such as the lens flare element, I have been able to bring the picture up to date and challenge a convention in that normally, media product images do not tend to be edited visually for the front covers, so I decided to set my magazine apart from this and add some visual effects to it. For the other images I have used, I included a two-piece band photograph on the Contents page. This is also a conventional use of imagery, as live acoustic bands are also in the current music lime-light. Differently, some conventions have been broken, as the images today tend to be of well-established bands in the chart. However, I have used images of younger, more novice music artists to appeal to the audience and create a gap in the market for my product.
In terms of costume, Connie on the front cover, is dressed casually, however also fashionably, to suit the genre of the magazine. She is wearing a waistcoat style jacket with dark jeans and worker boots, which were a fashion item during the early months of 2011. In order to appeal to the target audience, I have dressed her casually so they can relate to her. Also, her dark clothing was useful, as I switched the gradient of the picture to black a white, which challenges a big convention of using colour images on real magazine covers.
For the double-page spread, I wanted to use images that bring the article to life, and to do this, I used live gig photographs I had taken myself. The current zeitgeist of the music industry includes concerts, with many big-name artists taking part in their own world-tours. After editing the 3 photos I chose to use for the article, I decided that these were conventional of modern music magazines; however, I have also broken a convention by using a camera angle from the point of view of the audience, rather than focusing on the artists on stage. I think that this gives the article a sense of inclusion for the reader and is effective as a result.
The Name/Logo
After previous research of existing magazine names and the reasons behind them, I decided to brainstorm some conventional magazine names that could be possibly suited to the nature of my product. In order to choose one, I decided to not follow the conventions of magazine names such as ‘NME’ and ‘Q’, which use letter denotations in order to give their magazine a name. Instead, I chose a word that has music industry-related connotations and is dynamic and memorable, which are two particularly important aspects of any media product’s name.
Written Content
The written content of my magazine follows the codes and conventions of a real music magazine by covering similar topics in the coverlines of the articles. For example, I have included ‘exclusive’ interviews with artists, information about the music charts, details about up and coming music festivals and exclusive lyrics from mainstream albums (Lady Gaga). All of these types of content tend to be found in real music magazines aimed at teenagers and young adults. Also, the floating quotes and standfirst of the my double-page article are a common convention, as they bring attention to the written content and also make the reader feel as if they can hear the artist being interviewed talking.
Music Genre and How my Magazine Suggests It
The main genre of my magazine is mainstream and new talent music, which is shown throughout my product due to the visual effects and images on display. For example, I have used gig photos and staged images of individual artists and bands. In addition to this, the bands included in the contents page are suggestive of the genre. The mis-en-scene and visual effects of the images throughout emphasise the magazine’s love for brand new musical talent and mainstream music of today. Real music magazines tend to suggest their genre by the arrangement of their images and the band included, therefore my product follows the codes and conventions of genre suggestion.
Layout
The layout of my product is mainly conventional. This is shown on the double page spread in particular, which displays an exclusive interview, written in columns beneath an article headline and a standfirst. Also, the photo is arranged as the main focus of the page and the text is scattered with emboldened blue fonts, which link to the overall minimalist colour scheme, for professional effects. The front cover layout is also mostly conventional, however, I have challenged a convention of the masthead, as I have used off-set and edgy angles to create an interesting aesthetic effect. I have used these diagonal angles throughout my product to appeal to the audience and create a fresh new look for the magazine.
