EvaluationQuestion 1: In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
Like popular music magazine ‘Rolling Stone’, I have used a large,
bold masthead that is positioned conventionally across top of my
magazine.
I have also included a selling line to
inform the audience of my genre (indie-
rock).
I also took inspiration from ‘Rolling Stone’ by adding a drop-shadow to my masthead. This
creates a 3D effect, as though the masthead is raised off the page, catching the audience’s
attention.
I again took inspiration from ‘Rolling
Stone’ creating a similar splash. I was
looking for different way to present
additional information on my cover and
thought this would be a more creative
means of doing so, as opposed to
adding extra cover lines.
I used the form of cover lines to present
information on the different artists that will be
included in the contents of my magazine.
These
were conventionally positioned on the sides
of the magazine, not overlapping the faces of
the cover stars.
I have also included the convention
of eye contact between the cover star
and
the audience. I directed my artists to
look
straight into the camera, catching the
reader’s eye and creating a personal
connection.
I have used a bold, central headline. Like ‘NME’, I have used white and capital letters,
making the headline stand out and contrast with the background/cover image. In
addition, my graphics are inspired by the headline, although I have used a thinner line
and have made the graphic blue in order to fit with my colour scheme.
In addition, I have also used a
strapline to present an overview
of the article and entice the reader
to read the full feature.
Unlike ‘NME’, I decided to
use
a drop shadow to make my
headline stand out from my
strap line.
I included a date, price and barcode in order to
leave the magazine with a professional, realistic
finish.
My headline is conventionally positioned at the top of the contents
page, where an audience would expect to see it. I took inspiration
from the contents page of popular indie-rock magazine ‘NME’, as
I liked the clear and organised, yet cool, layout.
I used a similar font to the font
used in ‘NME’. It is simple and
clear, but at the same time bold
and slightly quirkier than a
traditional font such as ‘Times
New Roman’.
I decided to include the magazine’s title
within the headline, in order to achieve
a consistency with my magazine cover.
My main feature,
presented
on my cover page,
conventionally remains
prominent in my contents
page. The large image
catches the readers’
attention, encouraging
them to buy read the
article and, in turn, buy the
magazine.
I have been slightly
unconventional by making
this photograph
black & white to contrast
with
the larger coloured image
above, making both
images stand out more. I
have also
overlapped this smaller
image onto the one above,
producing
a layered affect, making
I have used captions to label the
photo with its corresponding
article and provide a short
description.Large numbers clearly
direct the reader to the
photograph’s corresponding
article, the white
contrasting with the black
background, standing out
further.
The white text contrasts
with
background blue graphic,
retaining the magazine’s
colour scheme and
providing additional
information for the reader
– an idea inspired by NME.
I have used a feature column to list the
contents of my magazine (arguably the main
form of the contents page). This is chronological
and accompanied by corresponding numbers
to direct the audience through the magazine.
I also used the convention of a small size 12 font,
making page appear professional, as would be found
many publications, such as ‘NME’, ‘Mojo’ and ‘Q’.
I used a splash to
include
additional information
about subscription
information. My market
research helped me to
identify I suitable price
and time-frame for a
possible subscription.
I have used a pull-quote to entice the audience into reading
the article and to present an overview of the band’s attitude/the
tone of the article. The quote shows the artists to be musicians that
care about their art and whom are very passionate, setting a slightly
serious angle to the article. This means that despite the humorous
content within much of the article, the audience still note that the
band can be serious, presenting the band as very real, “down-to-earth”
individuals.
My headline is slightly unconventional as it is not
positioned directly at the top of the page. It is bold,
brightly coloured in electric-Pink. Whilst retaining
the same font, this contrasts with the white writing
of the above pull-quote, as well as the green
background and
photograph of the band.
I was inspired by
‘NME’ to
unconventionally
position the page
numbers to the side of
the page as opposed
to the top or bottom
corners. I feel this
way the reader can
read the numbers
faster, with the white
text contrasting on top
of the black graphic,
thus, catching the
readers’ eye.
I have used the convention of a caption for
the image of my band to allow the reader to
identify the band members within ‘Usual
Suspects’ and to give a professional finish by
including this small detail.
I used a large image
positioned in the
middle of the page. I
used props to
represent the genre
of music – indie-rock
–
that the band and my
magazine represent.
Originally, I derived many of
my ideas for my magazine
from the inspiration of
‘NME’. I decided to also use
a red, white and black
colour scheme and placed
my masthead in the top-left
corner of the cover.
I took inspiration from
U2’s song ‘Vertigo’ for
the magazine’s title. I
thought this would add
to the rock genre of the
magazine.
My original idea was to create a Brit-pop themed magazine. Thus,
I took inspiration from the famous ‘NME’ Blur VS Oasis cover, creating
a splash of the same title. Fans of the two bands would be intrigued to
read the article revealing the ‘truth’ from Blur bassist Alex James,
encouraging them to buy the magazine.
I also liked the additional strapline at
the
bottom of the magazine, highlighting
further bands within the contents. To
retain
My original Brit-pop theme, I included
My main development was my change from a
‘Brit-pop special’ themed magazine to a solely
indie-rock magazine. Forms and conventions
helped me to develop this, for example, through
a change of title from ‘Vertigo’ to ‘Indigo’, with the
later being a play-on the ‘indie’ genre.
This new title also helped me to develop a new
colour scheme, changing from red, white and
black to blue, white and black, with the title also
meaning indigo the shade of blue.
I did retain some of my original
ideas, such as specific
straplines and the cover image.
I decided to change the images within my contents page.
For example, I changed my image for my main feature as
it was too similar to the image on my cover, in that the
duo are stood in very similar positions with similar facial
expressions. The new image presents a more fun, playful
side to the band, corresponding with the tone of my article.
I also decided to change the image on the left to the image
on the right, as I felt that the prior image was unclear and too
dark, whereas the later image is brighter, the black-and-white tone
used to contrast with the coloured image of my main feature.
I also feel that the later image presents a stronger tone
and clearness of genre, the guitar and sunglasses that
Claire Robbin of ‘The Milk’ is wearing presenting a clear
theme of ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’.
Further developments include changing my colour-scheme
from black-on-blue to white-on-blue, plus the addition of captions
to the images.
The main development of my article was
changing the image. The prior image was too
similar to the original contents image and
the cover photo, with the same costume as
the contents and similar stance/facial
expression to the contents and cover images.
The new image is completely different in
colour, with a lot of black used, contrasting
with the brick-wall background. I also decided
to add props (a guitar and bomber jacket) to
represent the cool indie-rock tone of the band
and the magazine as a whole.
I also changed how I presented the article’s headline. In the original article,
I unconventionally did not include the title of the artist after being inspired by
a ‘Superfood’ article from NME. However, I decided to change this as I felt
that ascetically there was something missing. I also removed the opaque
graphics behind the pull quote as I felt that their covering of the image
detracted from the image itself .
I also decided to change the text from my additional ‘Our Take’ section to
white instead of black. I also decided to add more text instead of just an
album track-list to correspond with the title ‘Our Take’ which connotes more
of a review of the album as opposed to just relaying information about it.