1. EVALUATION 1.
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?

2. I feel that my indie rock/ singer songwriter music magazine
Encore! For the most part challenges and develops the forms
and conventions of real media products, instead of fully
conforming to the conventions of music magazines. During the
stage of research I analysed various different music magazines
including 'Top Of The Pops', 'NME', 'Q', 'Kerrang!' and 'Billboard'.
I felt that by analysing various different music magazines which
are all different genres and have different target markets, I was
able to get a better understanding and knowledge on what the
main conventions were of a music magazine and therefore I was
able to apply these conventions to my own magazine, to ensure
my magazine appealed to my target market as much as
possible, therefore hopefully making my magazine successful.

3. House style
Firstly when doing research into the different conventions of music magazines I found out that the
more successful magazines like 'NME' that have been around for a long time and are still going, have
certain house style colours which are carried out throughout their front cover, double page spread
and contents page. I planned on having the same house style colours throughout my magazine too,
as it makes the magazine easier for the audience to navigate and find in a shop and if they like what
they see the first time round when they buy it, they will go back and they will be able to easily
navigate it when they go back to purchase it, thus making the magazine successful. When doing a
case study on ‘NME’ I found out that there genre of music the magazine focuses on is ‘indie’ music
just like mine, yet their house style colours were predominantly red, white and black i felt that
although i wanted my music magazine to stand out, I wanted it to stand out because it was different
not because it was eye-catching. My music magazine doesn’t have the typical conventional house
style colours like ‘Q’, ‘NME’ and ‘Kerrang!’ as theirs are all very similar featuring the colour red and
red is a very eye-catching colour making them stand out. My music magazine features the colours
purple, indigo, lilac and blue tones therefore standing out because they’re different and
unconventional therefore this will interest the readers and they will hopefully want to buy it as it looks
different to other music magazines which will intrigue them. I also had my house style colours
featuring the colour indigo to play on the fact that the genre of my music magazine is indie and the
colour ‘indigo’ sounds like ‘indie’. In addition the fact my house style colours are different and new
reflect that the artists featured inside my music magazine are different and new as my magazine
features new and up and coming artists. Another unconventional feature to my music magazine in
regards to house style is that i have put a border on every page unlike any music magazines I’ve
researched into. I think this gives the music magazine a more professional and coherent look which
was important as I wanted to suggest that even though the magazine doesn’t featured very famous
artists and it only features up and coming/ indie singers the magazine is still a professional magazine
and it is just as worthy as ones with very famous pop singer on it which have is a more popular genre.
All of this makes my music magazine stand out from the crowd.

4. Layout
The layout is a typical layout like most music magazines as the
masthead is at the top of the page, I have used different headlines
and I have one main image in the middle. I also placed the image
slightly over the masthead, many music magazine which I have
researched do this as it means that the magazine already has a big
enough following to be easily recognized without having to see the
whole masthead, meaning that when the magazine is on the shelf
the target audience will already notice the magazine and also the
effect of having it at the top of the page means that the audience
can see it as soon as they look at the shelf, as it is eyelevel to the
reader. I have put information all around the music artist on the
front cover creating interest for the reader and they’re more likely
going to read the headlines and want to buy the magazine to see
what they’re on about inside. For my contents page i have used a
typical layout with columns with what’s on each page and page
numbers, I have also used many different images in order to hint
the content inside. I would say that the layout to my contents page
is similar to the magazine ‘Kerrang!’ as I included more than four
images, a review, and a subscription box and also a list of what is
included in the music magazine. I did this as I wanted to get as
much on the contents page as possible as I believe it gives the
contents page a more organised and aesthetically pleasing look
and having more images than writing gives the magazine a more
visual appeal. Also having a lot on the contents page makes the
readers feel like they’re getting a good value for their money.

5. The masthead
The masthead usually has a background colour just like ‘Q’ and
‘NME’ making it stand out, however i felt that that was not needed
on my music magazine because when creating my masthead in
Photoshop on the inside of each letter i put an inner shadow which
makes it stand out to the reader without having a bold background
colour. Another unconventional feature of my masthead is the
shape, this is purposely done because most music magazines from
the indie genre like ‘Q’ and ‘NME’ are in a rectangular shape due to
the background colour, however because of the name Encore!
Actually being a sound that an audience says I did it in the shape of
a sound wave to reflect that the word is something it is shouted at
the end of a gig. ‘Encore’ is what a crowd says at the end of a gig if
they want to hear more, which is a code to the audience that artists
featured inside are that good that the readers are going to like them
that much that they’re going to want to read and hear about them
more and more as they’re that good. Just like on the ‘Kerrang!’ their
masthead has an exclamation mark at the end of the word because
‘Kerrang!’ is a sound and the exclamation mark makes it appear if
the sound ‘Kerrang’ is louder. I have also put an exclamation mark
at the end of ‘Encore!’ as I felt that it reflects that people were
shouting the word ‘Encore’. Having the one main image on the
front cover is a conventional feature of a music magazine front
cover.

6. Mise en scene
I got the person modelling on the front to
look directly at the camera therefore it
gives the impression that they’re on the
same level as the reader and therefore the
reader will feel that they can relate to the
artist. The image I have on my front cover I
would say is unconventional in regards to
mise en scene because on ‘NME’ their
front covers usually have a plain
background and the artist's face covering
most of the magazine or a plain coloured
backdrop and a medium shot of the artist,
however this was intentionally done as I
wanted my magazine to conform to the
genre of indie, therefore I felt my magazine
had to be different to others and having a
brick wall as the main backdrop for my
front cover gave my music magazine a
more 'grunge' like feel giving connotations
of mystery and leaves the reader interested
as it’s something unconventional.

7. Mise en scene
I wanted the settings in all my photos to
reflect the genre of the magazine and the
target market, just like on one of ‘NMEs’
contents pages that I did a textual analysis
on during my research, the image of the
band ‘The Courteeners’ was set in a rural
setting which has connotations of festivals
and indie music is what usually gets played
at festivals suggesting the genre of music
magazine is ‘indie’, suggesting that the
image of ‘The Courteeners’ set in a rural
setting will attract their target market as
their target market goes to festivals and
listens to indie music. So on my magazine
the image of the artist ‘Haley summers’ is
set in a rural setting having connotations of
festivals and indie singer songwriter music
is what gets played at festivals suggesting
that the genre is indie and because my
target market like that kind of music and
attend festivals it will attract them.

8. Mise en scene
I also got all of the models to pose in a different way
to suggest that each one are individuals and
different from another, for example one has a sulky
yet content look, another is smiling and another is
smoking reflecting that even though they are all in
the same genre of music their looks are all different
and posing different represents them and their
music to all be different, creating interest for the
reader as each one is interesting. I dressed my
models in 'indie' clothes, for example bowler hats,
denim jackets, leather jackets etc. I felt that this was
an important conventional feature for my music
magazine was that the models are dressed in an
appropriate way to suggest the genre of music
magazine as in my research i found out that people
who like indie music also get style inspiration from
indie music artists. Another conventional feature of
an indie music magazine was that makeup was done
quite dark so I’ve done dark eye makeup etc. to keep
up with the conventions of the indie style. When
referring to dyers star theory i have done this
because the artist is not just a singer has been
constructed to appeal to a particular indie genre.