EVALUATION- MUSIC MAGAZINE

AFRA MALIK

QUESTION 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

The media product that I have made is a music magazine. The genre of music I have chosen to focus on is pop. This is because I like the use of the bright, bold colours and how young girls can use these magazines as a way to escape reality and really indulge in information of the favourite artists and music. The use of bold images and colours really reflect how easily attracted the audience can be, and the artists that appear all relate with the target audience in some way. For example, if a young female artist is on the front cover, she can act as a role model for the young audience, whereas if a young male appears on the cover, he may be a ‘crush’ of the young girl. This intensifies the need to buy the magazine.

Young female singer (role model)

Young male artists. Baby faced (crushes)

The media product I created included three practical pieces, a front cover, contents page, and a double page spread. Whilst researching information for my genre of music, I had to look at existing pop magazines which were ‘we love POP’ and ‘Top of the pops’. Looking at these magazines, I noticed the extremely large audience that they obtain, this inspired me to create a magazine with the same codes and conventions of existing pop magazines.

My Front CoverA masthead is a convention that you would find on any magazine, portraying the name of the magazine. I chose this certain font for the masthead because I think it suited the type of magazine in which I wanted to produce. The masthead is a dominating masthead being spread right over the top of the page. The style of this masthead was influenced by ‘We love pop’ magazine. On any front cover you would need a strong main image, showing what the magazine mainly features and it also shows what type of genre the magazine is. I chose to use this image because it represents the type of audience that may read it (young, girly, happy). This image also matches with the house style with her pink dress and long hair giving the magazine a better look with co- coordinating colours.. This draws the potential buyer in. by also placing my main image over my masthead, creates the overall presentation of my magazine a lot better. A barcode on the front cover is a typical convention of a magazine. However, I challenged it by rotating the barcode, but I kept it on the conventional side by placing it on the right. His insures that the reader is still interested in the magazine and distracted from the content.

The cover lines are all in black but are in colourful boxes to help it stand out and catch attention of the reader so that they can be encouraged to read on. The articles are of interest to the audience, for example the first article is “Cheryl on THAT feud with Rita” this attracts the reader as it is about gossip and drama, which relates to playground drama. The name of the artist illustrates the main image and is displayed right across her. I chose the font “Cooper black” because I believe that ur illustrated the artist that want to portray, having bold yet girly handwriting. However, the second line of the main article is in a dark blue so that it stands out and is in bold.The puff I have used is an unconventional shape of a heart so that the magazine is unique and slightly different to actually make an impact in the market of pop magazines. Free posters are typical in pop magazines to lure in customers into buying magazines. With preview of the poster at the bottom, it follows the natural conventions of this type of genre.

My Contents pageThe title of the contents is large and at the top of the page so that it is the first thing that is read by the audience. I have also placed the words ‘what’s inside underneath the title so that people can be intrigued with what is inside the magazine. The colour of the font is in a simple white so that it matches with genre of being delicate and girly. The numbers are displayed on the left hand side of the magazine which conforms to conventions of already existing pop magazines. It was influenced by ‘we love pop’ and ‘top of the pops.’ with this design, articles can easily be found, the numbers are in a larger font to stand out and so that they can be read easily. The colours are all co- ordinated and keeps up with brand identity.The editors note has been placed right above the numbers so that readers can feel welcomed and this makes the magazine have more of a personal touch. This also follows typical conventions.

The pictures I have used on my contents are large and unique and give the magazine an authentic look. The pictures at the bottom relate to a story in the contents column, this challenges typical magazine conventions as this is unlikely to appear, however, by these images appearing at the bottom, it allows the reader to feel captivated by the story. The pictures at the bottom are also in colourful backgrounds match the genre of pop. The articles underneath the pictures give a small amount of information about the story which accommodates the pictures nicely.

My Double Page SpreadThe title of my double page spread is the same title which was shown on the front cover, but with a different font, just so that the audience wont be bored at looking at the same thing and therefore makes the magazine more aesthetically pleasing. The font I chose is very simple and easy to read and is not too fancy for the young audience. The questions are in two different colours so that the whole page is co- ordinated so that it keeps up with the brand identity. This also differentiates the questions from the answers so that the reader isn’t overpowered with big blocks of black writing. In the answers, I have included specific information about the artist, like new songs, and tour dates. The main image I chose is of the main artist sitting down on a stool with her head in her hands. This is so it looks like she is thinking about her answers. The smaller pictures complement the text very nicely and also fill up the page and so that it doesn’t look

boring, but also doesn’t look packed. This page is quite relaxing compared to the rest of the pages, this is so it provides the reader with escapism, as well as entertainment (which is essential for magazines according to Bloomer and Katz). The quote is featured at the top of the page and is very important as it features in the Q&A itself. I chose this quote because it relates to a rumour that has been going on for a long time, and s audience will be excited of what the artist has to say from her side of the story instead of just gossip outlets of social media.