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

1. Foundation Portfolio – In what ways
does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Done by Eman Shah

2. I think that my media product (music magazine) uses, develops and challenges
forms and conventions of real media products. This is because firstly it
challenges one of the conventions of most of the photographs that I have
taken for the music magazine which is of the rock genre and photos of Asian
girls. I did this because I wanted to make my magazine to look different to
other rock magazines because I am targeting a different audience. Whereas
when you look at a rock magazine front cover you would mainly see a man
with dark hair which will make you automatically think that it is a rock
magazine. So this challenges one of the conventions of real media products.
However I have kept the rest of the conventions the same which is the large
bold masthead to capture attention, dark colours used to connote violence
and aggression, serious facial expressions to define their overall behaviour.
These conventions are always in a rock magazine. I made sure that I used the
main components such as the date, price and the barcode which I personally
think that it follows all magazine conventions.
You can easily tell that this
is a rock magazine
because the male featured
has dark hair and also he
has a electric guitar in this
hand which again indicates
that this is a rock
magazine.
This is my rock magazine that I
created on Photoshop. The
female featured has long hair
which is also dark. This breaks
the rock convention because
as you can see an Asian girl is
featured whereas normally
when you look at a rock
magazine you would always
see a male featured.

3. I think that my media product (music magazine) uses develops and challenges forms and
conventions of real media products. The masthead on my magazine is placed at the top of
my page where it is in clear view for the reader to look at. The name is ‘FIERCE’ which
relates to the rock genre of music. I wanted my masthead to look similar to Kerrnangs
masthead. This is because their masthead looks as if it has got cracks in it, and by me editing
in crack into my masthead it will make my media product look hardcore.
(My Masthead) (Kerrang’s Masthead)
Above you can see my masthead which is called ‘FIERCE’ and also ‘KERRANG’S masthead. In
my opinion I think that my masthead is similar to the Kerrang's masthead. This is because
they both seem as if they have got cracks in. This challenges real media products as my
masthead and Kerrang's masthead are similar. But however my masthead is dark purple. I
chose a dark colour because it emphasises a dark atmosphere which relates to the rock
genre of music.
I also created a tagline at the top of the front cover, which says ‘THE WORLD’S LOUDEST
ROCK MAGAZINE’.
I created this because it will make my magazine seem independent and unique which can
also challenge some of the real media products, as some music magazines do not have a
tagline. This will create a selling line for my media product.

4. On the front cover there are also cover lines, some which are bold, to show the
importance of them. On one of the cover lines, I have made is an
advertisement which is about rock bands. I did this because it would then look
more appealing and professional. This uses conventions of real media products.
This is another cover line, which again
is an advertisment. It says ‘WHO IS
BACK? THE BEST ROCK GOD OF ALL
TIME’. The readers will find this
intriguing because they may want to
find out about the rock god.
I made sure that I included the barcode because its is a important convention,
that is in all types of magazines. On my magazine I have placed the barcode on the
bottom right corner so that it is out of the way and not noticeable like
professional magazines. I also included the date, price and the website. I made
sure that the price was small. This is because if the price was big, it would put off
the reader. This shows that I have used a form of a convention of real media
products. I included a website because if the reader does not want to buy the
magazine, then they can read it online. This develops forms of real media
conventions.

5. My contents page uses forms of real media conventions. This is because the
masthead is still the same as to the front cover, but this time is in a different colour.
The continuous style shows the brands identity which will help stick into the readers
mind and make it more recognisable.
Here you can see the masthead which is
‘FIERCE’, I have also creates the word ‘contents’
there, I did this because so then the reader will
know that they are reading the contents page.
Real magazines are always organised into categories. This allows the reader to find
what they are looking for and makes it easy. I have stuck with this convention and set
my contents page in categories going down.
Here you can see the headings of the categories. They are all in the
same size, colour and style. This makes it look more professional. This
uses real media conventions. I have made the headings orange
because it is then in the same style of the masthead on the page. I
made sure that I included headings because they are a very vital part
in a contents page because the reader will want to be ale to look
quickly and easily to want they are wanting to view, and therefore
they are bold, which will get to the point.

6. On my double page spread the title is really catchy which says ‘WILD CHILD’.
This is a good title, as it makes you wonder who is the wild child. Real media
products (magazines) use attractive titles, in order to address their target
audience.
For the main image on my double page spread, I used the same model who was on the
contents page. I used her because she is one of the main stories in the magazine. I saw
a pose that Taylor Momsen was doing in a photograph, I really liked it so I made my
model do it, as it would stand out on the dark background. Her facial expression shows
the audience that she is into rock. Her facial expression also shows that she has
attitude because she is looking very serious. I made sure that she had dark makeup on.
This is because when women are featured in rock magazines they are always wearing
dark makeup which connotes rock. This uses and develops real media products.
The first picture shows Taylor Momsen’s
pose, which I have made my model do to
make the rock look.

7. The use if columns are essential, as it makes
the article on the double page spread a lot
easy to read and also makes it look tidy. A lot
of media products use this convention. In the
text, I have included my model’s life story and
also interviews. I have used interviews on my
double page spread as it is a common
convention of a magazine article. A lot of
audience crave for interviews as they love to
read about what there famous person has
been up to and their interests. In the middle of
the text I have creates a pull quote from what
my artist has said. This will attract the reader
and draw their eye to the middle of the page,
making them want to read the article.