The document discusses the conventions used in the magazine "Classic Rock" and how the media product follows and challenges some of these conventions. Some of the conventions that are followed include placing the masthead in the center top, having a central colorful image, a single main cover line in the center, and including a barcode and logo in the center bottom. Some conventions that are challenged include making the masthead less bold, not including the date/issue below the masthead, and making the cover line slightly diagonal. The contents page and articles also follow conventions like the header, numbering, and images while challenging things like image color. Overall, the document examines how the media product borrows from but also develops upon the forms and conventions of an

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
The conventions
of “Classic Rock”
magazine…
The ‘Classic rock’
convention for the
masthead is that the
masthead is bold and has
two stars on either side
of the ‘Classic’. Also the
‘Rock’ is bigger than the
‘classic’. Underneath the
masthead is the magazine
slogan.
There is also an
eyebrow, which acts
like a cover line,
showing a article
inside the magazine.
This makes the
magazine look more
tidier.
The central image is very strong and colourful
so it stands out, also the image is under the
masthead. The person in the image is looking
directly at the camera, so that the audience
has eye contact with the magazine and they
are more likely to spot it as they feel as
thought hey have a connection with the person
in the image.
This is the main cover line,
the convention of this
particular magazine is that
there is only one cover line
on the front cover. Also the
main cover line is in the
bottom centre of the page
and the line of the shirt collar
is directing the audience to
the cover line. Also there is a
design above and below the
cover line which is a
convention that I will follow.
The barcode and the Future logo
is the convention of Classic rock
magazine. Also that the barcode
and logo is in the centre of this
particular version of Classic rock.
This may also be due to the
central image and the main
cover line all based in the centre
of the front cover.

3. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?The front cover…
All magazines have a masthead, however the
whereabouts of the position of the masthead is
not determined. Using the conventions of the
magazine “Classic Rock”, I have placed the
masthead in the centre top of the page. Also I
have made the word “Rock” bigger than the
“top of the” again following the conventions of
“classic rock” where the “Rock” is bigger than
“classic”
However I have challenged the convention as
the masthead is not as bold, and as large and is
a different colour to “classic rock” as its more
colourful.
Another way that I have challenged the
convention is the date and the issue number in
classic rock are not shown below that
masthead, instead they show their slogan,
which my magazine does not have.
This the central image. It follows the
convention of Classic rock magazine by
having the models face the camera directly
so that the audience will more attracted to
the magazine. However it also challenges the
conventions as the image is ¾ of the model
whereas Classic Rock magazines only has the
top half of the model. Also the scarf brings
the audiences eye down to the cover line
which follows the conventions of Classic rock
as they use the shirt line to direct the eye
down to the cover line.
There are no other cover lines apart
from the main cover line. This also
follows the conventions of this
particular Classic Rock magazine.
This is the main cover line of the
magazine. The convention of Classic
magazine that I have followed is that
there is only one main cover line, and
no other. Also the cover line is in the
centre of the page and there are
designs above and below that cover
line. However I have challenged the
convention as I have made the cover
line slightly diagonal so it would look
more attractive a it is different from
other magazines.
This is the barcode and the logo. This
follows the conventions of Classic
rock as it is in the centre bottom of
the page as the main image and the
cover line are based in the centre.
However, unlike Classic rock, my
magazine has the price on the side of
the Future logo.

4. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
This is the main image. It is
to do with the main
article/ double page
spread. Also the model is
not looking at the camera.
It is also black and white
and takes up ¾ of the page
on the right hand side.
These are the conventions
of Classic Rock magazine.
The conventions
of “Classic Rock”
magazine…
The image also has a
caption with the page
number on it. This is also
another convention.
The header of the contents
page is “CONTENTS” and
underneath it has the edition
number and the date. Also
there is a border on the page.
These are also the conventions
of Classic Rock magazine.
The content has a red
number on the left of
the title. The title is next
to the number and is
black. Also There is a
little description of the
page below every
content.

5. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?The contents
page…
This is the main image of the
contents page. It also is to do
with the double page spread
and the main cover line,
again following the
conventions of Classic Rock
magazine. Also the model is
not looking at the camera.
However the image is not
black and white therefore
challenging the conventions.
The main image also has a
caption with the page
number and the person in
the image. However it is in a
box so that the caption
stands out from the image.
Which doesn’t follow the
conventions slightly of
Classic Rock as they use red
and white, whereas I only
used white.
This is the header of the contents
page. It follows the conventions of
Classic Rock magazine as it also
has a border and below the
header is the issue number and
the date of the magazine when it
was published.
The contents of the
magazine is following the
conventions of Classic Rock
magazine also. The
numbers are also red and
the actual content is black.
There is also a summery
and description of the
page below the content.
I have added this design
to the page as in Classic
Rocks contents page
they have a shape with
extra content, however I
am challenging the
conventions by adding
the images.

6. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?The conventions
of “Classic Rock”
magazine…
This is the heading of the
article, it is in the same
format as the cover line.
Also it is at the top middle
of the page. These are the
conventions of the Classic
Rock magazine.
The standfirst is right
below the heading of the
article and it also has a
border below it with the
writers name underneath
the border. (The by-line)
These are the conventions.
The start of the
article there is a drop
cap which goes down
8 lines in the article.
This is a pull quote and it is in the
centre bottom of the article. The
writing is white and the background is
red. Also there is a white line to
separate the two columns of the
article.
The main image takes
up an A4 page. It is in
black and white and
the model is not
looking at the camera.
Which is another
convention of Classic
Rock magazine.

7. In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
This is the heading of the double page
feature,. It challenges the convention
of Classic rock because it’s not the
exact replica of the main cover line on
the front cover. The reason for this is
that the heading would not look as
professional if it was tilted to the side.
Also it would take up too much room
and there wouldn’t be that much space
for the text. However I have kept the
same design from the cover line on the
front cover and also put the heading of
the article in the same place as Classic
Rock magazine did.
The double page
feature…
The standfirst and by-line are in
the exact same place as the
Classic Rock magazine double
page spread. There is also a drop
cap, however the drop cap does
not go down 8 lines but it goes
down two lines, which challenges
the conventions of Classic Rock. I
have done this so that there
would be more space of the
editorial.
The pull quote in my magazine has
challenged the conventions of Classic Rock
as it is not in the same place and that the
colours have been changed. Also there Is
a box outlining the pull quote. The line
separating the two columns is following
the convention, it also goes down after
the pull quote too.
I have added another page continuing
the double page spread article. The
image is ¾ of the A3 page in, which
follows the convention of Classic rock
because in the contents page they
also have the image covering ¾ of the
page. Also I have added a caption of
the image stating the name of the
model and a little description which
challenges the convention. Also
behind the text there is a box which
aluminates the text and makes it more
inviting to the audience and makes
them want to read it, this also
challenges the convention.
The main image takes over one A4 page, which is
the same as Classic Rock however the model in
this image and the next image on the next page
are both looking at the audience which defies the
conventions of Classic Rock because they have the
artist looking away from the camera
As the header and footer of every
page I have added the Top Of The
Rocks website and the page number
which also follows the convention of
Classic Rock.

8. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
Images and
representation
Pose
Dressing
Location
The Pose that I have chosen for the front cover is
the model looking head on at the audience with
an aggressive look. My target audience are white
males who are aged 35-40, that are interested in
classic and new rock. Most rock artists rebel
against the norm and they tend to act more
aggressive and therefore I think that the front
cover image represents the rock lovers as the
model has his head down but he’s looking at the
camera.
The dressing that I chose for my model was a
sweater vest and a scarf. However the scarf
doesn’t go well with the ret of the outfit, rock
listeners rebel and they wear things that are
outstanding. Therefore when the audience see’s
the unco-ordinated scarf and the outfit, they will
identify with it.
The location that I had the photograph
taken was in a TV studio in the college, I
asked to have a black background as black
is a colour that would represent rock
artists and listeners.
Outstanding
rock artists.
Social groups that I
am targeting
The target audience for my media project and magazine are
white middle aged (35-40), class B men, who listen to either
or both classic and new rock.
My media work represents this particular age range due to
the fact that I have used a model that is middle-aged and also
that the cover-line is about David Bowie who has been a
major figure in rock music for the last 40 years (1960-1990)
therefore people at this particular age would have listened to
David Bowies music.
Also the language that is used through out my magazine is
formal as the men that would be reading this magazine would
be middle classed and therefore they would not understand
‘slang’ or informal language. Classic rock is the magazine that
I am basing my magazine on and classic rock uses formal
language too as they want to address middle social class men.
Also because the formal language used in my magazine, it
would not look cheap and therefore would be able to sell it at
a higher price, as the men in their 35-45 can afford to buy the
magazine.
For my media project, I decided that it
would be best that the images will be a
mixture of negative and positive. This is
due to the fact that rock magazines tend
to have a gloomy effect, For example,
NME have dark images to for their front
covers to attract their target audience.

9. How does your media product
represent particular social groups?
Design
construct…
The colours that I have
used for my double page
spread are dark ones. I
have used a lot of black
because I believe that rock
artists also believe inn the
colour black. I have also
used the colours red and
orange because it
represents fury and anger,
which represents rock
artists. The fonts that I
have chosen for the
heading is ‘Edwardian
script’ because it looks
spooky and elegant and
the same time.
The colours that I have used for
my contents page is white black
and red. The black is used a lot in
my magazine because rock
artists tend to use that and red a
lot. Red represents fury and
that’s why I chose it because
rock artists tend to have a lot of
fury in them.
Also I have placed a design on
the bottom of the contents page
to make it look more elegant
because the middle ages men
that will read this magazine are
not exactly going to still be in to
rock and roll as much as when
they were younger and
therefore they have a little more
class.

10. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?
By also joining with a big media institution, the theme of the magazine will have to
match, that is why I have used the same house colours and some conventions of
‘Classic Rock’ magazine as they also advertise them. I feel that it would be better if
my magazine doesn’t compete with ‘Classic Rock’ but they should join forces so that
they wouldn't have to compete, whereas I will be competing against other rock
magazines such as NME and KERRANG. However NME and KERRANG’s genre are
general rock music while ‘Top Of The Rocks’ magazine has a specific target audience.
Using big publications for distributing my magazine will cost cheaper and eventually
bring in more profit instead of independently distributing it.
Distributing my magazine/media product is one of the most
important factors in the media institution. Therefore in order
to have a chance at selling my magazine I would have to go
to the company that sells more magazines than any other
publication. Also I would need a company that would publish
the online ‘Top Of The Rocks’ magazine. The publishing
company that would be able to achieve this would be Future
PLC.

11. What kind of media institution might
distribute your media product and
why?
However it will also be available to buy from the
internet on the official site and get a subscription
delivered to the audiences house every month.
Because my magazine is a music
magazine, it can be sold at any
place. Such as a news agents or
HMV or post offices.
However the magazine’s target audience are middle
class white men, so it will be unlikely that they just
stop by a post office as they are normally located
around schools, therefore I will think I would be
best if my magazine will be sold at a news agent so
that when men come back from work they can pop
in to a news agents and read the magazine on a
train journey.

12. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
Demographic The target audience for ‘TOP OF THE ROCKS’
• white men
• In between the ages of
35-45
• Earn around £30,000 -
£60,000 Therefore they
can afford to buy the
magazine at the price of
£3.99.
• Social class B
• Wear normal clothes,
such a suits, to work
however for casual, they
wear jeans and t-shirts
and not the outrageous
style that most rock
icons wear
• For men who miss their
childhood rock

13. Who would be the audience for your
media product?
The cover is a picture of a male therefore males would
relate to them so it would not identify with females as
much as it would attract males. Also the masthead and
the cover line is bold and manly however, it does have
a few wavy lines above the cover line, but that suggests
that it is for sophisticated men who earn a sufficient
amount of money.

14. How did you attract/address your
audience?
The front cover is the most important when
attracting your audience. So I had to think really
carefully at how I would do that. Firstly I made
sure that the Masthead was visible and could be
seen from a fair distance and the colour red on a
black background showed the colour more so
that the masthead would standout. Also in the
eyebrow I have put a band that is new and will
have a tour soon and that would also attract the
audience as they would want to buy tickets.
Then I took the image of the model. I had to
make sure that the model was looking directly at
the camera. This gave the effect that the
audience would think that the person on the
cover would be looking at them and that’s how
they would subconsciously communicate with
the magazine. Also I made sure that there was
something significant that connected the image
to the main cover line so that the audience
wouldn’t miss it. I decided that a scarf would
suffice. When the audience is caught by the eye
of the model, their eye directly goes to the scarf
as it stands out and you follow the scarf down
and it takes you to the main cover line.

15. How did you attract/address your
audience?
Through out my magazine I have been
using the colours red and black. The
reason that I used these colours was
because red stands out on black the
most. Also I have used white for the
text because it also stands on black and
would attract an audience to it.
Also on the double page spread for the
title I have used the colour white as it
also stands out, I have made the text
bold and also put some designs around
it. This would attract my audience
because it stands out with the different
font and the bolder look.
Also for my contents page I did the
numbers in red because it would
standout more and so that the
audience, if they flick through the
magazine, will see the numbers first
and glance across and see the editorial.

16. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
I have used a variety of technologies.
I have mainly be using Adobe InDesign
and Word Processor for my magazine.
Also I have used paint to print screen all
the images I want to place up on to my
blog due to the fact that I am very
familiar with it. However InDesign
proved to be rather frustrating to work
with, as some of the tools were very
complicated. Then I resorted to word
processor for my research and my page
layouts.
Also for my research I need some
extra information for my article
which I got from the internet
using different websites. I found
that it was really easy to just type
in the exact thing you wanted in
to a search engine, such as
Google, however it sometimes
gave you sites that were not
relevant so that I learnt to type in
specifically want I need to find
out.

17. What have you learnt about
technologies from the process of
constructing this product?
To take my images, I had to use a TV
studio in the college. For the image I
had to have a black backdrop, and
white lighting which would place a
spotlight on my model. Also I used a
Nikon D300 digital camera to take
my pictures. As the photographer I
had to make sure that the camera
was perfect for the shot that I was
going to take, therefore I had to
check if the exposure, ISO and
aperture were correct. At first I was
a little nervous about using the
camera as it would have been my
first time, but then it became really
easy once I knew the basics.
A thing that I found that was really frustrating was
that I could upload word files on to my blog. So I had
to use ‘SlideShare’ to upload it.
Using InDesign I think I created a unique and good
magazine.

18. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full
product?
Here are the preliminary task and the final piece of my
magazine.
Looking back I can see that my preliminary front cover,
although it had the same colour scheme throughout the
front cover and the contents page, compared to my final
magazine cover that has been perfected, seems very messy
and really busy with cover lines that are all over the place.
However my final magazine has been completed to a high
standard as it looks neat. The image also looks better than
the preliminary task as the model is looking directly at the
camera which attracts the audience to the cover. Also I have
learnt that it is important to have a very eye catching
masthead.
I have learnt that simple also looks good and that I shouldn’t
bunch up all my work in one place.

19. Looking back at your preliminary task,
what do you feel you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full
product?
Another thing that I have learnt is that representation
is very important and if the audience can not relate to
the magazine then they wont buy it.
Overall I think that I have created a rock magazine that
will change the way people look at rock artists as
people normally associate them as outrageous
however the model in the front cover does not look
too outrageous and he looks like a normal person. Not
everyone would like the magazine, every individual is
different. But I have created a magazine that targets a
specific audience.