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

2. Front Cover
Analysing my front cover I can see that conventions have been developed throughout the cover with use of a clear masthead as
shown by this screen shot;
Looking at this I can see that the masthead is in bold font, which is a normal convention of what magazines would present this as.
I have developed this within my own masthead by adding a colour layer over the font adding a more rustic look and different
input of colour which wouldn’t normally be seen on other magazines for example this NME masthead shows to be red and bold in
a similar font to mine but the colour is much bolder and not as individual in its colour and noise addition as mine.
To individualise my magazine I used a colour scheme that would not
normally be seen in other magazines, I used a different shade of each
colour to fit with the colours seen in my main and sub images. The font
I chose is ‘A Love Of Thunder’ found on Dafont.com; using the font
allowed me to experiment with a variety of effects and I feel that the
font suits the theme and resembles an amplifier in the texture of the
coloured overlay I added using Photoshop effects which incorporates
mise-en- scene which is what magazines will do involving colour
scheme. Following the conventions of well-known media products I
incorporated sub headings and a plug at the bottom of my cover to
catch the readers eye. Using bright fonts over the background will
attract the reader to read the more noticeable things on the page and
therefore have a larger chance of purchasing magazines. This is seen
on all magazines that are successful in the music market.

3. Front Cover
I developed the conventions of photography used within my front page’s
main image as I wanted the magazine to connotate real music from the first
look and so it would make my genre more obvious to be able live indie rock
bands, gigs and festivals. As main images are normally shot in a studio I
challenged this convention as mine was shot at a live gig but in a what
seems posed position, I took the photo myself as the band was playing so
the photo was not specifically posed like most successful magazines would
be, I just feel that this would make the magazine more friendly and realistic
and different from others that have been seen which would appeal to other
audiences and reach a gap in the market.
I also used a barcode on the front of my magazine which I got off the internet, all
magazines will have barcodes on the cover and I also wanted to follow this
convention as it makes the magazine buyable and more official, I developed this by
placing the barcode on its side so that it wouldn’t interfere with what else I wanted
to place on the cover and so it would fit nicely in the right hand corner.

4. Contents Page
Producing my contents page I took the common forms of
most high end magazine contents pages listing various pages
that would interest the audience. Doing this allowed the
readers quick access to the stories that they are most
interested in and give an organized format to the magazine
which is used in more or less every magazine of this type and
of other genres too. Using the sub image on the contents
page is a good way of attracting the reader to the main
feature of the magazine, which is a common convention,
used within other magazines that I have looked at such as
NME and Kerrang!
I also incorporated page numbers into my magazine as on the contents
page the number next to each story would be found in the magazine
by using this. All magazines in the market have page numbers to make
them more organised and easy to navigate through so if I did not use
this I would feel that I am not following the conventions of successful
magazines in the market.
One way that I have developed a convention of a magazine in the mass market
is by using new technology codes within my contents page to give the audience
something new to use to communicate with the magazine. This is not featured
in many magazines if any right now, this will appeal to my audience as they will
think the magazine is new and full of fresh ideas that will interest him so will
increase my demand and could widen my audience to younger or older people
too. As my audience is of a technology mad age this is useful in making it
easier for them to access stories.

5. Double Page
In my double page spread I used a
pull quote which is indicates on the
image next to this text, I used this
so that the text was not too
intimidating to the reader and
therefore put them off the
magazine. Most magazines will do
this too so that the reader will be
pulled in by the quote that is shown
and then will want to read more if
they are just skimming through and
not initially interested in what it
says.
Using a main image in my double
page spread is useful in catching the
readers eye also. I did this as most
magazines that I have researched do
this also so I would want to follow
this convention as if not I would not
appeal to people who already read
music magazines. My audience
research also showed that people
would want to see pictures in the
magazine as well as writing in order
to make it more interesting.
I have developed a convention by providing two sub images as well as a main image as I
feel that this gives the audience more to entice them into reading the article as my main
image doesn’t take up a full page due to how much writing there is. I did this to not put off
the audience reading all the writing that there is. The sub images have a brown overlay on
them to make them appear more faded as I felt this wouldn’t make them stand out more
than my main image should.