Evaluation Questions

Evaluation for UMD magazine project

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

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

Title• The title of the magazine uses conventions of many magazines, as the masthead itself is an

acronym of the full name – Unique Music Development, and like New Musical Express, it has been shortened to three, easy to remember and identifiable letters – UMD (like NME). The name itself, ‘Unique Music Development’ implies the genre of indie-rock/alternative music, as that genre and style of music is known to be an alternative to the mainstream, and although the genre of indie has started to become more mainstream – this genre allows artists to freely create music with no constraints like other genres (eg- pop, rap etc) and create all sorts of unique-sounding music, unlike rap and R&B – as many believe that artists in these genres sound quite similar to other artists. The title challenges conventions of other music magazines, as the ‘Unique’ and ‘Development’ part of the title imply that UMD helps out the smaller bands and artists, to help their music to develop and their fanbases to develop; whilst most music magazines tend to write most articles about already big and popular bands. This does not mean that UMD doesn’t write articles about already-popular bands however, as a magazine about bands people have never heard of is unlikely to sell many copies, and it would also mean that UMD would be less appealing to its target audience.

Mise-en-scene of images• The mise-en-scene of most of my images used is quite hard to distinguish, since most of the

backgrounds are plain white walls. This suggests the setting of a studio, which realistically is where most photographs are taken for music magazines, so these photographs conform to conventions of real music magazines and the mise-en-scene of their photographs.

• One of my images was taken against a brick wall, which from the mise-en-scene suggests the subject is outside a building, and this mise-en-scene of an artist standing in front of a brick building is very common amongst music magazines; especially in black and white – as the contrast of the dark grey brick and white hooded-jacket is very significant, which draws the reader’s eyes to the image.

• Another set of photographs I took were against a white wall with a Los Angeles sign hanging up on it. From this mise-en-scene, you can gather that it’s implying the band is in the USA, in Los Angeles; and this is quite a common convention of media products and music magazines, as they will often take photographs of a band on location of their tour, or a photograph implying they are on location. From this photograph with the blank white wall, there is no way to prove whether or not they are indeed in Los Angeles, however the reader will see the mise-en-scene of the Los Angeles sign and assume that is where the photograph was taken. It is also common for media products to place a sign or some writing beside the subject of the photograph, knowing the audience will read the writing and most likely believe/assume what the writing says is correct – especially when it is beside a popular and famous person.

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

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

Costumes and Props• I chose the costumes and props very carefully for each photograph, looking at typical

conventions of the indie-rock/alternative music genre. This genre typically seems to wear patterned shirts (normally stripy), hooded-jackets, suit-jackets, and then just t-shirts etc. Almost always, they seem to be wearing jeans too. As for the Americanised clothing, I decided to subvert from the typical conventions of media products (as they normally wear quite ordinary clothes in music magazines), and connote that the band are going on an American tour, which is all suggested by the cowboy hat, stars and stripes cap, the LA Dodgers baseball cap, the ‘Ketchup’ t-shirt and the American flag.

• For the props, I decided to conform to the conventions of images on typical magazine double page spreads, where each band member is beside their instrument, normally playing it to give the impression of a jam session. However, I slightly subverted from conventions of other music magazines, as rather than having the band members playing the instruments, I had them pose beside them to connote their personality through their poses. I also decided to subvert from the typical appearance of band members as normal-looking by giving them fake moustaches to help establish the meaning behind their band name, ‘Oddball’ – they’re all a bit mad and a bit odd. This means the reader finds the humour in the odd images, and as a result, they feel as if they know the band members personally and have some sort of connection, establishing a familiarity between the reader and the band members.

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

People• I decided to use quite young artists and bands for the magazine, as this appeals

more to the core target audience of young males (mainly students) 16-34 years of age. This conforms to conventions of real media products, as they tend to use people of similar age to its audience – as this allows them to feel they can relate to the artist/band member, giving them the idea that they know that person somewhat, even possibly feeling as if they know the subject of the image personally.

• I also decided to use mainly male artists, due to my target audience consisting of mostly males. This is also a common convention of real media products; as if they intend on selling a product to an audience of a certain gender, the buyer (if male, for example) is more likely to purchase the magazine if it has male band members/artists, than if it has female bands/artists.

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

Title Font and Style• The ‘UMD’ had to be a clear, bold font, as it needed to be prominent on the page, and it had to be eye-

catching to the reader. Due to the audience being predominantly male, the bold, clear masthead would appeal to males as men stereotypically like things to be bold, clear and simple; and the use of an acronym – ‘UMD’ (For ‘Unique Music Development’) means the name of the magazine becomes very concise, and easy to remember; and this stereotypically also appeals the large male audience. This conforms to conventions of other magazines, as the title has to be large and is often quite bold, so that it is the most prominent thing on the cover, and the first thing you see if you pick it up off the magazine shelf in a shop.

• I also made sure the colours in the masthead matched the colour scheme of the magazine, as it was important to keep the whole magazine consistent, so that if a reader saw the three colours together, they would instantly associate them with UMD magazine. I chose red, white and black; as these colours are stereotypically associated with the indie/indie-rock/alternative genre and are also stereotypically male colours, which appeals to the mainly male audience of UMD. This is quite common amongst real media products, as the title will often use colours from the colour scheme to help establish the colour scheme and the association with the product.

• The coloured stripe through the letters was designed to make the masthead unique and identifiable, and real magazines will often give their title a particular style, unique to their magazine.

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

Written Content• I decided to write in an informal style of language, as I wanted the double page spread to seem more

friendly, after all – it was an interview, and this conforms to the style of language used in most double page spreads. I also wanted the quotations to seem friendly too, so that the reader feels like they are part of the conversation, like in the rhetorical question, “I hope America’s ready for us; we’re gonna party hard, so crack open the champers, will ya?” Using quotes which contain a rhetorical question is also a convention many magazines use, to make the reader feel as if the interviewee is asking the reader a question.

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

Music Genre• There are many conventions which tell the reader what genre of

magazine this is, and I have used many conventions that other magazines use to suggest the genre they are written for. Firstly, the colour scheme is very important in establishing the genre of the magazine, for instance – the reds, whites, blacks and greys used in my colour scheme are typically colours associated with the indie/indie-rock/alternative genre. Other magazines, like in the pop genre, often use a colour scheme to connote their genre to the reader – like using lots of pinks and purples. My colour scheme also consists of colours stereotypically favoured by males, and as my target audience consists of a majority of males, this was appropriate.

• The masthead and title of the magazine itself also suggests the genre of music, as ‘Unique Music Development’ suggests less mainstream music, and artists developing their popularity in the music world. Other magazines will often use a title which suggests the genre of music the magazine is meant for, eg – ‘Vibe’ magazine sounds very much like a word meant for the rap and hip-hop genre.

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

Layout• The layout of the double page spread in particular

conforms to conventions of other magazines’ double page spreads. The slanted title of the article is a convention used by many other magazines, as it’s much more eye-catching to the reader than a straight title. The band’s logo being featured in the article is also a convention used by many other magazines, and is usually placed above the title, as this tells the reader who’s being interviewed if it isn’t obvious already. The column-layout of the text is a convention very much associated with the indie/indie-rock genre, so I thought it was important to conform to that convention. The quotes dividing up the columns is also a feature most magazines use, as it not only makes the article easier to read and more appealing to the reader than just a block of text, but also intrigues them, wondering what is meant by the quote. The placement of images is also a convention used by other magazines, as it not only puts names-to-faces for the reader, but the body language shown in the images also gives the reader the impression that they know their personalities from the images. It is also important for magazines to feature their masthead/logo of the magazine, in this case, the ‘UMD’ in the bottom right, to keep the magazine consistent and to make the reader memorise the name of the magazine sub-consciously, so that they will know what they want to buy if they want to purchase the magazine again.

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

Contents Pages• My contents page conforms to conventions of other

magazines’ contents pages quite clearly. The collage/montage of images in the centre is often used by magazines, and there’s usually one or two photographs which are slightly wonky, like in my contents page. There tends to be a column just for the cover content, so readers can search for what interested them on the cover, as well a several other columns to interest different readers – in music magazines, there are normally review columns, like in my contents page. There is also a picture of the magazine cover in the top left, and this is a convention used by many magazines, if not all magazines, to mark which issue this magazine is. The issue number and date usually accompany this too, like how I have done in the top left. It is also very important for magazines to put their masthead/title across most pages, if not every page, so that the reader sub-consciously memorises the title of the magazine, so I have placed the masthead from the cover onto the contents page quite clearly, to conform to conventions of other magazines.