Media Evaluation Question 1

‘In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?’

Ella Harding

Conventions of a Magazine Cover

Mast Head Selling/Slug Line (I didn’t use one but this is where it would go)

Main Cover Line Cover Lines Barcode Main Image

Conventions of a Magazine’s Contents Page

Columns Main Picture relating to the feature article The word ‘Contents’ Issue Date (I didn’t include this)

Subscription information Editors Letter (sometimes) Divided into categories with headings Image of Front Cover (I didn’t use this convention either)

Page Numbers Some words in bigger/bolder font Variety of Images used

Conventions of a Magazine’s Double Page Spread

There is usually one image that takes up one page or sometimes both pages and text is placed on top. Quotes from the text are used to catch the readers eye Byline where the journalist and photographer are credited (not included in my double page spread)

Columns are used Written informally and the personality of the journalist comes through Strapline on top which tells you the subject matter

Usually the first letter of the first paragraph is extended down and made a lot bigger than the text in the rest of the interview/biography/autobiography. (This again was not used in my double page spread)

How my music magazine uses conventions of ‘Top of the Pops’

magazine… Both my magazine and the ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine are very bold and colourful. My magazine also uses components that attract a young female audience such as the cover lines used because they involve both fashion and boys; common interests of young teenage girls. My model and the group used on the existing magazine both look happy rather than serious. This is also in order to attract the target audience. I also made sure that all of my cover lines were to the left(as you look at it), to enable consumers to be able to see what’s inside the magazine before even picking it up. This is a common convention found with existing magazines.

My contents page and the existing magazine’s contents page both use very girly colours again to attract the target audience. They both also use a few pictures other than the artist/s on the front cover, this is good to show variety to the consumer. My music magazine and the existing music magazine both use different sizes of numbering to highlight the main pages of the magazine. I have also put my pages under particular headings, which I was inspired to do by researching other ‘Top of the Pops’ magazines.

My music magazine double-page spread continues to follow the colour scheme of the rest of my magazine which is a component of the existing music magazine ‘Top of the Pops’. Both my magazine and the existing one uses an interview in the double-page spread. Apart from those points, my music magazine is pretty different to the existing music magazine, I haven’t used the same components of this particular ‘Top of the Pops’. My double-page spread also uses quotes from the interview in and around the actual text. This is a convention that’s used in most informal articles. I also used a strapline on my double page spread to explain to the reader what the interview is going to be about before they actually read it.

How my music magazine develops conventions of ‘Top of the Pops’

magazine… I have made my music magazine less busy because I wanted the focus of the front cover to be on the artist and the name of the magazine. Unlike the ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine, I have left the background white and used splashes of colour to prevent the cover from looking boring. The colours I have used on my front page clash with each other whereas the existing music magazine’s front cover uses colours that are complimentary to each other. I hoped that using clashing colours would make the front cover more eye-catching and unique.

The development I realised I had made when I analysed my music magazine against this issue of ‘Top of the Pops’ was that my contents page includes a column by the editor. I think this is an improvement to the magazine because it shows that the editor cares about how the audience consumes the product.

What I have developed in my double-page spread from the usual forms of music magazines is the colour of the images I have taken. When I researched ‘Top of the Pops’ magazines I realised that a lot of them only used colour images on the double-page spreads. I wanted to make mine unique and therefore decided to use one black and white image and three smaller colour images. Compared to this particular double-page spread, taken from ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine, I have made the layout of mine slightly different too. The existing music magazine has placed the images at the top of the pages and text underneath. I placed the images to the sides and wrote across the middle of the double-page.

How my music magazine changes conventions of ‘Top of the Pops’

magazine… My music magazine has changed a few conventions of a typical existing music magazine. For example, my magazine doesn’t have the artist on the front cover taking up the whole background. I wanted the background to be plain so that the cover lines would catch the attention of the consumer. I also changed the usual convention found in existing magazine that is to make the main cover line stand out the most. I did make sure that my main cover line used the largest font size but, I didn’t want it to take over the front cover because I already used a picture of the main star of the magazine on the front. I thought this made it obvious who this music magazine was going to be focused around so, there was little need to make my main cover line anymore bold. Another convention of a magazine front cover is to have a selling/slug line. The ‘TOTP’ magazine uses a cover line as their selling line which is quite effective as it grabs the audiences eye. However, I decided not to use one because I wanted the main focus to be on my ‘artist’ but didn’t want to make the cover only about Aisha.

My music magazine changed a very commonly used component found in all types of magazines. My contents page doesn’t include an annotated picture of the front cover. I decided not to use this because I wanted to add in a box from the editor. If I had used both that an the annotated front cover, I would have had very limited space for the rest of my contents. I also thought that this annotation made the magazine look a little less sophisticated and to attract the higher end of my target audience, I needed to add in components of sophistication. I thought that by adding the box from the editor, it made my contents page look less child-like. A convention of a contents page of a magazine is to have the issue date on there however I didn’t put this on mine. If I was to change my contents page now then I would add the issue date because it is important for the consumer to know when their magazine is available.

My music magazine’s double-page also changes conventions used in existing music magazines. I tried to tone down the bold colours for these pages because I didn’t want my magazine to look too over-whelming. However, this ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine has bright, colourful pages throughout which maybe lowers the target audience. I think that this change made to my double-page spread makes it more appealing to an older audience. The use of monochrome colours against the hot pink looks informal but sophisticated which is quite unique to other music magazines as well as my front cover and contents page. I think this change still entices the same target audience because it still includes the ‘Pop’ genre within it.. Another convention of a magazine’s double page spread is the use of capitalising and stretching the first letter of the beginning paragraph. This is found in many articles used and I didn’t think that it was necessary on my double page spread. As you can see, the ‘TOTP’ magazine’s double page spread doesn’t use this convention. I think that the use of this particular convention makes the article/interview appear more formal and I wanted my double page spread to look relaxed in order to attract my target audience.