Evaluation Draft: Question 1

Draft question 1

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

Research and Planning

·         Looked at magazines which are of a similar genre to my indie and folk genre (such as The Fly and 1883 magazine) to see how they have been laid out to get inspiration of how my magazine should look

·         Looked at real examples of magazines and past students work to see the conventions of proper magazines (make mine look as professional as possible). Most successful student work follow conventions of magazines and look as though they fit in on the shelves of shops

·         THE CONVENTIONS:
-Cover star fitting the genre and how to represent them (costume, hair, makeup,
pose, facial expressions, etc) To do this, looking at some magazines which
feature a star of the genre which I have chosen to see how they are presented
through the style of clothing, hair, makeup, etc.
-Where the eye is drawn to on the page/where to place the most important things
on the page
-Mastheads in certain areas of the page- across the top on the left side of the
page in large fonts to gain attention from the reader. Fonts all need to link
throughout the magazine to give continuity and make it look as a whole product

·         Found out that some magazines do not follow common conventions of magazines (list examples) and how it is effective. How the different look of the magazine will represent/reflect the genre of music and attract the target audience of the magazine.

Designing and Making

·         Took some magazine conventions into consideration when designing the magazine. For example, taking inspiration from the magazines which I looked at and put the masthead at the top of the page on the left

·         The cover star I chose fit the genre of music which my magazine represented. Why?? ‘Free’ looking style, natural hair and makeup, clothing very floral which relates to the vintage/folk style that I wanted to show

·         Placement of important things on the page in good sizes and eye catching (or not) fonts to show the most important things on the page

·         How does the name of the magazine reflect the genre and relate to the target audience? IF (indie folk- the two genres which I chose). The colour of the title in a light colour to reflect the ‘soft’ sound of folk music. Large to catch attention- make a statement in the shop

·         The layout of my cover, contents and double page spreads try to be simple so that the reader can clearly read all of the information on the page. The cover uses a large title in a bright colour which makes sure it is seen easily and the rest of the writing on the page has been put in a large font which is easy to read and also in bold colours making it stand out. The contents uses the title ‘contents’ at the top of the page with two images displayed down the left side. On the right hand side there is a column with page numbers and what the pages include along with a short description of what the page is about. I tried to make it short and snappy like many magazines because the reader may lose attention if they have to read full sentences. The double page spread follows the conventions of many magazines as it has an image of my artist on one page and on the opposite page the artist name at the top. Then a short snappy sentence explaining what the article will be about and three columns of writing

·         Photographs: important part of the magazine. The model needed to look realistic and as though they fitted the genre. This is why the costume my model was wearing represented the folk genre and the hair and makeup styling looked natural. I wanted to take photographs in an outdoor area as images of indie/folk artists often show them being in a less strict setting such outdoors rather than in a studio, however doing it outside in February wouldn’t necessarily guarantee the good weather and so taking them in a studio was a safer bet. After doing this, I thought that doing this made the magazine look more professional overall. I took a lot of photos so that I could choose the best ones to use in my magazine. I followed magazine conventions by making sure my model Chloe was looking directly at the camera as this meant that she would have more of a connection to the reader when they looked at the magazine

·         I didn’t choose a conventional colour scheme such as black, white and red because I didn’t think that the colour scheme would work well with the images which I chose and wouldn’t reflect my music genre very well. I chose

My Product

·         Some parts of my magazine follow magazine conventions

·         On the cover, the image I used followed the golden spiral rule as the place where the eye is immediately drawn to is Chloes face. I deliberately chose this image of Chloe because the close up of her face and her pose is quite striking. The eye is then drawn to the magazine title which is really large in the top left corner and then down towards the bottom where the reader can see the feature artists name and the rest of the band/artists names  

·         Listing the magazine features on the contents page follows the conventions of magazines such as Q and Esquire. I decided to do it this was because I think that it makes it clear to read and looks simple yet effective to the reader. I also wanted to use images of the cover star on the contents to show them to be an important part of the issue of the magazine and an image of another artist to show that more than one musician is used in the magazine. In all music magazines they do not just have one artist in the magazine; they have a variety and have just one as the star. I wanted to follow this convention which is why I have used two images of different musicians

·         I have given my artist an identity shown through the font used within her name which is important as it has to link with the conventions of real music magazines, all of which use real artists who have a personality. This personality is also shown through the article on the double page spread when I mention her characteristics

·         Following conventions of more recent issues of magazines I have added a twitter address for readers to follow so that they can get latest updates and information about the magazine. This links well to my target reader as they would be teenagers and young adults who are all social networkers meaning this aspect of the magazine will appeal to them

·         Using an image on one of the pages on my double page spread follows the conventions of many magazines as this is how they display photographs on double page spreads. In ‘The Fly’ magazine, an interview with Flying Lotus, the image of the artist has been placed on the left hand side of the page which is how I displayed my image. I also had the masthead, which was the artists name, at the top of the page and a stand first ‘bursting onto the scene’ to set the tone of the article and let the reader know what the article is about. I have chosen to do the article in paragraphs rather than Q&A as I was following the conventions of high end magazine Elle which presents interviews in this way

·         I have displayed the article in three columns which makes it easy for the reader as well as making the page look neat and tidy. The use of black text on a white background adds to the professional look that I was going for. I have used fonts which are easy to read which adds to the neatness of the page and the continuity of fonts throughout the magazine make the product seem more professional