Evaluation: Question 1

1
Evaluation

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

2
Masthead
My Masthead challenges the forms and conventions
of magazine production due to the way that the
large graphic feature overlays the actual box
where the Masthead is. Although this is seen in
many magazines, its only used in ones that are
famous and the viewers can identify easily and
thats what has enabled me to use this convention
as typically it would cover text. For my Masthead
I have used a very large, capitalised font to
demonstrate a loud, direct message to my
readership that my magazine is one that pushes
boundaries and has controversial subjects inside.
This goes with my house style as a lot of my text
is bold, large, capitalised and very shaped and
not very round. In addition, I have added white
lines next to the Masthead to represent waves
within a song and the way that the sound waves
bounce up and down.
3
Main Image
My main image stares directly at the audience to
draw them in and seem as though theyre directly
addressing them. I chose this image as my main
image because the clothes fit into the style of
magazine that Im creating, indie rock. Theyre
very plain clothes that fit in with a number of
different categories of music. The band members
are lined up to represent who are the most
important members in the band at the front, which
is a common convention in music photography. In
order to keep the rule of thirds grid in check I
positioned my main image to the right of the page
and kept all of my other theatres out of its
way. I also positioned the main image behind the
Anchorage and the Headline because it is the
central area that the eye will be drawn to,
although I positioned them so that they didnt
take up any of the important parts of the main
image.
4
Headline

• The Headline that I used was Chelsea Daggers
  this was a quote of a song name from the
  Fratellis. I used a font from Dafonts to create
  it and I slightly twisted it to give my Headline
  a unique twist compared to most straight forward
  Headlines. I also reversed my house style when
  creating it by use black text with a white
  outline, which is different to how I usually use
  it, I have done this because the Headline is
  supposed to stand out, the fact I twisted it and
  changed the house style in order to do that and
  go against conventions. I have also used the
  artists name in the headline. I did this because
  it gives the audience insight into the article.
  The text slightly overlaps the headline because
  the artists are more important because thats
  what the articles about, the Headline just states
  a quote of a song.

5
Anchorage

• My anchorage is where it is typically supposed to
  be, below the Headline. My anchorage introduces
  what the article is about to the reader, it gives
  them an insight and persuades them to buy the
  magazine because they now know what the exclusive
  article is about and they now know that its
  interesting and anchorages are designed to hook
  the reader in and make them want to read on.

6
Kickers and Cover lines

• In my magazine I didnt use much text in my
  kickers and cover lines. I spread out the words
  so that they all fit into a neat line that went
  down the left of my magazine. I also chose bold
  font and bold colours which stand out within my
  magazine and fit nicely into it. Furthermore they
  continue to improve my house style as they use
  the typical Black, White and Blue theme that I
  have selected to use. In addition, I have broke
  up each kicker from the one next to it by using a
  blue line to section them. This fits in nicely as
  it gives the reader an idea of space within the
  magazine and after using a lot of white space it
  goes well. Overall, I have used a lot of white
  space to represent the uniqueness of my magazine
  and how its different from every other. My
  magazine is an indie magazine so this fits in
  well and ties it altogether.

7
Menu Strip
In my menu strip I am attracting more readers to
the magazine through presenting a number of
different artists that are going to be in my
magazine. My menu strip is at the bottom of my
front cover, which is what is common within
magazines and I have listed artists that reach
into another category of music, even if just
slightly, to attract customers from different
categories of music. For example, Imagine Dragons
have featured in the Rap song Stronger By
Eminem. I added these artists because although
they fit into my category of music of indie rock,
they also feature in others and hopefully that
can attract a larger range of customers. The menu
strip fits in with my house style because it has
a black background and large capitalised blue or
white font to stand out.
8
Flash and Plug
I used two flashes and plugs within my magazine,
one at the bottom that shows the different
posters that the audience can get, and one that
says exclusive on it. I did this because not
only does it attract the reader, but the
exclusivity of it draws them in and makes my
magazine seem more unique then the rival ones.
The flash fits in with the house style because it
has numerous black lines that look like the
volume lines and its font is in White, its
capitalised and against a black back ground,
which is like many of my other images in my
magazine. I have based the plug on one similar to
Kerrangs style as they usually have a large box
at the bottom of the magazine where the flashes
are kept.
9
Contents cover
This is the top of my contents page, it has all
of the information that customers need to contact
the magazine or sign up for anything online. It
also has the issue number, another convention
that is seen in magazines that produce monthly.
Its seen in magazines like Q. I also added the
word CONTENTS into it so that people know that
its the contents page, next to that is the
volume sound waves that relate back to the name
of my magazine and the waves used on the
masthead. Theres also a large V inside the waves
to reference the first letter of the magazines
name Volume Furthermore, I have put the month
and year number on it so that when customers are
looking back through it they can see which month
that issue was.
10
Main Image
This is the main image that I have used on the
contents page for my music magazine. I thought
that this was a good choice of image because it
demonstrates how deep the artist is. This is
because hes staring off into the distance, away
from the camera and he looks like hes caught in
a thought. This fits in well with my music
magazine because my magazines aimed towards the
indie rock market, which is a small market and
most indie artists attempt to portray themselves
as deep and sophisticated character, Not giving
the audience direct attention makes them think
that the artist is mysterious and different from
an everyday guy. Which is what Ive aimed for in
this magazine.
11
Extra images

• As well as my main image I used another two
  images. One of the images I used was a headshot
  that was just above the editorial so that the
  audience can see whos writing it. This is a
  common convention in magazines with editorials.
  It helps my audience relate to the writer and see
  their view point, as most editorials are based
  and have viewpoints that they try to push onto
  the audience. I also used a small headshot on the
  main feature. I just gave it a page number and no
  more detail. This is because my readership will
  recognise the artist and they dont need detail
  to know who he is. This correlates to my idea
  that the genre of magazine that Im aiming
  towards (indie rock) is a small niche market and
  they will recognise the artists that I use.

12
Page Numbers

• In an attempt to make my magazine seem more
  realistic and like an actual magazine, I gave it
  page numbers at the bottom centre of the page.
  This is a conventional place for page numbers. I
  have also included page numbers by the side of
  the kickers and cover lines. This explains to the
  audience where the stories are. Due to there
  being a lot of stories on the contents page Ive
  had to include a lot of page numbers. My page
  numbers are bold and in the same colour as the
  text next to them. This helps the audience
  navigate the magazine and it fits in with my
  magazines house style.

13
Kickers and Cover Lines

• I have used a lot of kickers and cover lines
  along the left column of my page. These kickers
  and cover lines are split into three sections
  Exclusive, Contents and Monthly. The Exclusive
  section has a different colour of text on the
  page numbers to demonstrate that its different
  and that its the special part of the of the
  contents. This will help sell my magazine because
  the audience will buy into this and if they look
  on the contents page, this is what theyll see.
  The next section is contents which holds most of
  the information about whats on the magazines.
  The next section is Monthly which is the part
  about whats exclusive that month and whats
  unique that month. All of my kickers are smaller
  than the Cover lines so they dont draw the
  attention away from the Cover lines.

14
Editorial

• In the bottom right of my page I have an
  editorial. This includes a headshot of the writer
  of the editorial. I have included this as a
  monthly feature for the audience to get to know
  the writers. I have also decorated the box of the
  editorial with volume lines to take up some white
  space of it. In addition, I have added some
  quotes into it with tag lines of who said them or
  what said (another magazine might have) Above the
  editorial is a large black banner that says
  editorial and who its by.

15
Double Page Spread
16
Background Image

• The image that I selected for my background image
  is one of Jacob standing against a brick wall
  with graffiti all over it. He is sighing while he
  is stood there. This suggests that the graffiti
  is wrong of disrespectful. I asked him to stand
  like this because the graffiti says NIRVANA IS
  SHIT! Which goes against what a lot of Indie and
  Rock magazines would think. Nirvana is a popular
  band among indie rock which is what my magazines
  aiming towards. Jacobs hand is also covering his
  face, this connotes to the audience that hes
  embarrassed of what hes been quoted saying.

17
Text

• I have implemented text other than the text in
  the article. This text is very basic but fits in
  well with the magazine. I used a font from
  InDesign to make the text quoting The White Mice
  Says look as though it is graffiti in the wall.
  This fits in well with the background image. I
  have also used text at the top right of the page
  to illustrate briefly what the article is about.

18
Article

• My article describes an event and introduces the
  artist and the scenario that was happening when
  the interview took place. I then moved onto the
  interview and began listing the questions in bold
  text before answering below the question. I also
  used a white box around the text to separate it
  from the background image and to make it easier
  for the audience to read. I also added in a quote
  in between some of the text to draw the audience
  in and give them a brief idea of what that
  segmentation of the article is about.

19
Columns

• I have used five columns in my magazine which
  goes against convention of the usual three
  columns but in an indie magazine you have to
  break a few conventions. I also began my article
  with a drop capital which gave it a professional
  feel and as though its an actual magazine. All
  of the columns are at the bottom of the double
  pages and two are on a different page. This is
  because I positioned it so that it didnt take up
  to much room and didnt ruin the good areas of
  the image.