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

Conventions of Pop Music MagazinesI felt it was necessary to carry out research to discover the typical conventions of pop music magazines. This enabled me to construct a realistic and popular magazine. These were my main findings;

• Mid shot of artist on the front cover• Female artist on the front cover • Bright colour Scheme • Ordered layout • Sans Serif Font • Use of highlighting, banners, splash/bursts, sell lines, puffs on the front cover• Big, Bold Masthead on the front cover• Male artists/bands included within the magazine• Coherent house style • Positive attitude throughout• Double page spread features artist from the front cover • Plain (usually white) background behind the main image on the front cover• Page numbers in the corner of the page• Bordered pull quotes

Using Conventions

I began by using a mid shot of my model on the front cover. She also has direct eye contact with the camera, which makes the magazine appeal to the audience. The background is plain white as research told me this was the favored background for images on the front cover of magazines, it allows the reader to focus in on the artist. All of the pop music magazines I looked at used a female artist or band on there front cover, which are then featured in the double page spread. Different genres of music magazines eg, Rock tend to use male artists/bands. Therefore I have decided to use a female on my front cover as it’s more typical of a pop music magazine. Throughout my magazine I have stuck to a bright colour scheme, using three main colours. Sticking to the colour scheme rule of three is conventional of all magazines, which is why I have done this too. I used yellow, pink and white as they are bright and contrast well with each other. Most pop music magazines use bright, clashing colours as they appeal to the target audience. Although the colour scheme is fairly contrasting I have tried to stick to an ordered layout, so it’s clear for the audience to read. A coherent house style is carried in the magazine that enables it to flow better.More over I have used sans serif font on the front cover, contents and double page spread. This is because it’s conventional and less formal, allowing the reader to connect. I have used a range of typical magazine techniques on the front cover. These include banners, splash/bursts, sell lines and puffs. They attract the readers attention, making them want to pick up and buy the magazine. All magazines seem to use these techniques, not just pop music magazines. A big, bold masthead is presented on the front cover, to display the name of the magazine. This stands out to the reader, so they don’t forget the name. Once again this is a typical feature that is used on magazines, as the name of the magazine is important.Images of Male artists/bands are displayed inside the magazine as they are a topic that is popular to the target audience.Finally I felt it was necessary to include page numbers in the corners of my pages, as it keeps the magazine ordered. In addition to this it is conventional as most magazines use page numbers.

Developing/Challenging Conventions

I tried to develop the typical conventions of pop music magazines through numerous ways. Firstly I took different popular features from existing music magazines and used them in my own magazine. For example my research tells me that my target audience like an A4 image on the double page spread, moreover they also like smaller images in the written article of the spread. Therefore I decided to use smaller images in my double page spread, as well as an A4 image that takes up the whole of the page. The colour scheme of pink, yellow and white are not a typical. However I feel it is successful as the colours contrast against each other well and make the magazine stand out. Sticking to the colour scheme rule of three was crucial as the majority of magazines do this, I did include black font and highlighting. This was simply to break the text up more and it appeared more ordered due to this. I think the conventions I have developed have been successful, due to the positive feedback I have received.