Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

CHANGE ALOT

My media product uses forms and conventions of real media products. I have researched in depth current music magazines and used many aspects from the research to create my own music magazine.

The nine elements shown (to the left) are all examples of aspects of my magazine that relate to the real magazines.

The title 'UnderGround' is in bold font and covers the entire width of the page. The style of the font is quite 'rough' and unsophisticated. This is similar to the title design for Kerrang Magazine. The top of the main image, the models head, also covers part of the text. This is a commonly used design convention. It suggests that as the magazine is popular and well known, the full title does not need to be shown, as the reader will instantly recognise it.

The advertorial feature is another convention that I have used to make my magazine seem very realistic. The feature has a small copy of two UnderGround magazine covers and boldly states the promotional deal in bright colours. This is similar to most magazine subscription deals and works affectively, I interpreted my design with the design of of the subscription feature in the nme magazine (as shown underneath), I then slighly adjusted the size and colours to compliment my own magazine.

The use of the small image is another convention that I have interpreted into my magazine. I have an action shot photo, of a model playing the guitar. This is similar to magazines that have a small insert image of singers and bands in action, for example at a concert. This attracts attention and is an appealing feature to look at.

The words 'first interview' attract the potential reader more so than having the interview as one of many. As it is the first interview it seems more appealing and excluisve to the reader, making it more appealing to buy the magazine. Other content used in my magazine is similar to other magazines such as the 'plus' feature that I have used at the bottem of my front page, this shows that there is so much inside the magazine, that it can not all be portrayed on the cover lines, so it has to be written at the bottem, in this instance, plus: top ten hits etc. Also the contents page lists all information with the page number beside them, this is exactly the same design to the NME magazine. This is a quirky feature that is different to the way most contents is shown.

There is also the use of the object on the cover that is created to look like a sticker. This draws attention to the magazine, as it is bright and attractive. The sticker on my magazine states, "Free! La Roux poster p18". This is appealing to the reader. The sticker is a common convention of any magazine. It is an intriguing way of showing a piece of information, instead of just using cover lines.

The double page spread uses conventions of real media products. I was inspired by the double page article of Lily Allen in NME magazine, I liked the positioning of the image and the text used.


Here you can see that I have interputted the style of the text in my own way:

have also used text wrapping which is a common feature of real magazines. The text wrap, simply wraps around the image, instead of being placed on top of the image, this was quite difficult to do on In Design, but affectively is worth it as it goves a better finishing look.

Overall, I feel that my magazine represents music magazines affectively as it contains many funtions of a real media product.