Question 1

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

For my contents page, I also included the traditional conventions of this media product. I included distinct columns with features of the magazine, striking images, a colour scheme, texts boxes with mini thumbnails and logos for bands in the magazine. I included captions under my thumbnail images as I found this was a frequent convention used by magazines available of a similar genre, Kerrang, Terrorizer and Metal Hammer.

I also followed the conventions by using columns of information contents page, as it correlated with my primary research that shown audiences like to see a magazine with clear and concise presentation of information. I also examined at other work of my peers around me and asked for their feedback, whilst they all agreed it would look unprofessional to disregard the traditional column format, so I stuck to the convention.

From this, for my final draft I added more traditional conventions that would attract readers and make it more enticing. I found that analysing a range of magazines on the market enabled me to study what works and what doesn’t, giving me more knowledge of what techniques would benefit my own magazine.

For my Double Page Spread, I included a variety of typical conventions however I also wanted to create more of an alternative look for this area to suit my target audience and music genre. To do this, I included traditional conventions such as a main image and page numbers, but I added 3 smaller images to the bottom and experimented with fonts and also with font size to produce a more creative unique look. In addition to this, I continued the colour scheme I have used throughout for continuity in order to make my media product to appear more professional and sophisticated. I also made sure the design was not too childish and fitted my audience of people aged 16-28.

Double page spread

I made sure my image for my double page spread was similar to the one on the front page, showing they were connected. I chose to go with a different model for my double page spread as my new model suited a different version of my target audience.