As media Olivia Dexter Pop Music

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

2. Mast head

The masthead needs to stand out against the background to ensure that it engages the eye of the customer
when the magazine is on sale. „Top of the pops‟ magazine uses a masthead, which is clear and has a bold title,
which instantly attracts the reader‟s attention. The title and fonts used are also indicative of the genre, whilst
looking at pop magazines I noticed a trend in having the word pop within the magazine masthead. As a result I
wanted to conform to popular pop magazine conventions and include the word „pop‟ within my magazine. This
also further illustrates to the buyer what genre the magazine is about. I choose to conform to this convention, by
calling my magazine „Teen pop‟ as it clearly illustrates to readers what the genre the magazine is.

The cover lines should have a link, to featured artists in the magazine. I feel like my magazine successfully
correlates between the cover lines and content on the contents page, as I made sure that there was a link
between all.

The artist or band chosen for the cover must be relevant and attract the target audience. This is why choosing
the model who will appear as an artist on the cover was so important, as they will be representing the genre.
My choice of model had to be specific because of this I wanted to make sure that all of all 6 models I choice
have the potential to work in pop culture, because they are all stereotypically attractive.

3. Cover

The main background image should feature a band or artist who is
relevant to the target audience and music genre. The featured
artist must also be of interest to the target audience, supported by
a cover line.

Using the left third of the page for plugs to attract the reader, the
mast head is commonly placed on the left of the front page. I have
conformed to this convention by placing my masthead in the left
hand corner .Pop magazines generally use the bottom third to
present a range of topics you will find inside, such as Gossip
columns and interviews. My magazine also conforms to this
convention as I have shown a selection of different pop music
related topics along the left hand side of the magazine. Pull quotes
are used and scattered around the page, with the intention that
readers will see the quote and want to read further. I haven‟t used
this on my cover because it‟s not a convention of Pop.

The cover consists of various different images, which are placed
strategically to catch the audience member‟s attention. The
images often contain a pop „star‟ in a studio shoot, in which they
make eye contact with the audience. I conformed to this
convention in my magazine by showing my Pop star in a clear
studio shoot.

4. Text

My use of a bright colour scheme is an intentional way of attracting the reader‟s eye at the
point of sale news stands. The colours used are also conation of the target audience I have
used „Girly colours' to show I want to attract a younger female audience, because of this I used
a primarily pink and female associated color scheme. The text must engage the audience and
entice them to further look at the magazine in a buying environment, tag lines must be enticing.
I have attempted to achieve this throughout the cover and contents however it could have been
done more successfully. Using visually appealing fonts will appeal to a younger pop audience
who will get bored if the page is consumed by lots of text. Diversity is really important to the
younger fox thinker.

Bold fonts used in sub headings or cover lines to indicate what the story is about. I have used
bold fonts to highlight particular parts of the text which are important and show readers what the
rest of the text is about.

The use of fonts within music magazines is representative of the genre.

5. 
Contents page- They use on average 6 images however one the main image
must stand out against the other images on the page.

The title of the magazine is often repeated on this page and the date is evident
to show as this is important institutional information. Sub headings next to the
page numbers. This is to give a clear idea of what is inside the magazine and
makes it easy to navigate.

They use page numbers which are highlighted in another colour to show their
significance, followed by a few words to say what is on the page.

Images will have a caption box which will draw the reader to the story, the
caption will make them want to read the feature. Colloquial language found in
pop magazines to suit the younger audience. I have used colloquial language
throughout the production of my magazine as it appeals to the younger
audience as they require a less sophisticated vocabulary.

As a convention of pop magazine the contents page is typically full of images
and text. As it provides a tasters as to what is in the magazine It also allows for
easy nagaviation around the magazine.

6. 
Conventions of Pop music
Artist are clothed fashionably in mainstream culture
outfits. Artists are portrayed happy, enjoying
themselves and content with life. Pop stars are
almost always stereotypically attractive. With female
stars this works as women aspire to be more like
their favorite celebrities.

Lyrics within pop songs are based on love and
relationships.

Bands often express through lyrics unity associated
with other teens, which is the main target audience.

Pop songs usually last between 3-5 minutes with a
set structure and a consistent beat.

The pop music industry, follows current trends rather
than being independent in making something new
and unique. The form of pop songs usually follows a
verse-chorus-verse structure, using hook line which
are catchy for the audience.

Pop music promotion is done via radio stations and
magazines.

7. Imagery

Songs usually include a beat which is dance orientated. These
songs are stereotypically associated with people in their teens.

A lot of the imagery created is based on sex or partying as this
is stereotypically what teens enjoy.

Artists express a sexual and seductive image with their pop
music, trying to lure the audience, in a show like manner.
However more recently artists have chosen to dress in a
provocative way portraying a sexual atmosphere. Previously
women in pop were presented in a Mulley's male gaze,
however more recently they have been making a conscious
decision to dress provativley. This conforms to gauntlets theory
of empowered females.

8. 
Hair and makeup are more commonly being used as a way to commutate the artists feelings,
views and express a message; this plays a major role in pop music videos.

Technology recently has been used as a major part of music videos, animation is used to create
an exciting, loud and lively atmosphere

Pop music videos are known for their heavy lighting and vibrant colors. This makes the video
more attractive.

9. Gossip magazines

There is a large cross over between pop magazines and gossip magazines like More and heat,
because of this I had to ensure that my pop music magazine didn‟t cross over into this. Because of the
culture of pop is popular culture it was obvious in other pop magazines that I looked at for content
such as Top of the pops, that the majority of the content was gossip related to people in popular
culture including music artists.

I had to ensure that I met the brief, therefore I had to make sure that I didn‟t create a gossip magazine
which, I had to be careful of during the planning. Keeping the focus ultimately on the music element of
pop was essential to ensure that I kept to the brief of the magazine.

10. 
Throughout production of the contents page I
had to ensure that I had an equal balance of
gossip and music entertainment information. My
contents page is the largest page in the
production which shows that there was a slight
dominance of gossip, which could have been
approached in a better way. Having more
content on things regarding music is the most
achievable way of doing this.
•
During the planning of the DPS I wanted to encouperate
some narrative theory into the heading. To achieve this I
have used a new equilibrium within the heading. “This
album is about people who understand me” the
implication of this statement is that she is no confined by
the media and what it tells her she should be doing.
•
I have also used binary oppositions by using this
statement which may have connation's of he intelligence
.With an article which implies that she is merely just a
pop artist which lacks consistency. These two concepts
appose each other and will create a more interesting
interview.

11. Females in the media

Whilst planning my magazine I wanted to make sure that female
represented in the magazine were positive representations of females,
as the younger audience that I am looking to target are easily
influenced.

As my audience is primarily a young female audience, I needed to look
at the sexualisation of young people for a teen audience. As the
magazine has to appeal to the secondary audience of parents who will
be buying the magazine. In my magazine I decided not to sexualize
any of my models as I was keen to portray a positive message within
the magazine.

The main shot in the DPS may appear to be slightly sexualized
because my models facial expression. However I feel this is
appropriate for the magazine because young people seek out racy
programmes and magazines to satisfy pre-existing appetites, which
are determined in large part by how they are brought up.

While campaigners have long blamed the media for forcing sexualized
imagery on children and teens, the study found that those teenagers
with an interest actively seek it out.

12. Critism‟s of my production
In this I want to evaluate, elements within my production which I potentially could
have done better. The first of which being the DPS which I personally feel is the
weakest and would work in a conventional pop magazine.

13. The font used although very readable, isn't
conventional of the genre as it maybe needs to be
more exciting to attract the younger audience.
There is also potential for use of things like
plugs and tag lines to attract the younger
audience.
The colour used should be more of a
bolder pink to make the page more
appealing to female readers. It should also
show a correlation between the colour
used throughout the magazine on the
cover
The page is dominated by text which
may not appeal to the younger target
audience which I am aiming at. However
may appeal to a more sophisticated
audience who prefer content.
This page I believe is the page which least
conforms to conventions as it doesn‟t appear to
appeal to the typical target audience. As the
large quantity of text would imply that the
magazine is more suited to an older audience.

14. The image I feel is very effective in the
space which it is placed. However the
image type could have been more
adventurous often in pop magazines the
artists is saying something about them or
their record in the shot. This could have
been portrayed more effectively.

15. The teen pop masthead is a similar colour to
the one used in the background and the font
doesn‟t immediately attract the eye. As the
mast head it should be more
The images on the left side of the page of
„Jenn‟ and „Katy‟ don‟t correlate with the other
images. They appear to lack planning
because of he way in which hey are shot
shows that the camera and lighting may not
have been as good as that used in the other
studio shoots. If I were to do the planning
again I would, choose a different heading for
he images to relate to. As the „no makeup‟
shoots appear unprofessional.
The textbox beneath the images on the left
remains white and appears unfinished
because of the black and white used. I

16. The mast head doesn't have an attached connation
of pop. We love pop uses „we love it‟ there is also
evidence of the brand logo on the contents page
next to the logo. This shows clear correlation
between throughout the magazine.
The contents page I believe is the page
which most successfully conforms to the
conventions that you would expect to see
in pop magazine. As it conforms to the
conventions you would expect. Such as the
large variety of images and the content
which is displayed throughout the
magazine
The vibrancy of colours and the
contrasting images are
conventional of the younger
audience.