Evaluation, In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Contents page)

In my music magazine I have incorporated many conventions of a typical music magazine that targets the r&b audience. My contents page features a few typical conventions of a music magazine. There is a note from the editor in the top right corner, and after doing research I found that music magazines have this to welcome their readers to the magazine, and it interests the reader because it tells them who edits the magazine. The image of the editor is a mid shot, and she is looking at the camera with her arm reached out which appeals to the audience and make it look as though she is speaking directly to them. The subheadings are bold, and are easy to locate so that the readers can look at their preffered page quicker and easier. The contents page also has the magazine's name on it so that it looks more professional, and also has the date and magazine issue underneath so that it informs the reader. The background image is a medium long shot and he is looking directly at the camera so that the audience feel like he is looking directly at them. After doing some research on the r&b magazine 'Vibe' i found that an image that portrayed attitude was best to use because it interested the reader and ties in with the r&b theme. The colour theme is fairly simple so that it isnt too distracting, and makes the image and text stand out, after doing research i found thatit is typical of music magazines to keep with a simple colour scheme. The structure of my contents page is also typical of a music magazine because it is all under headings, and easy to find pages.

Evaluation, In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Front page)

In my music magazine I have incorporated many conventions of a typical music magazine that targets the r&b audience. I had to do some research on r&b magazines because there aren’t that many around and I needed to know what to include in my magazine to make it suit the genre and appeal to a specific audience. On the front page I have created my own name for the magazine which appears as the masthead “Crank”. At the top of the front page there is a strap line which persuades people to buy the magazine because they could win things, and it generally looks more interesting and worth the money. The image in the background is a mid shot, and it is bright and stands out to catch attention and persuade people to buy the magazine. There is blank space around it so that the cover lines looked bolder and stood out, also they are clear to read and it makes sure that the picture is one of the main viewpoints. I have used words such as “exclusive” to draw people in, and making them think that they can’t get it in any other magazine. This is a typical convention of a music magazine, because lots of music magazines have interviews with bands/artists, and label it as “exclusive” because it isn’t happening in any other magazine at that moment in time. I have added the website underneath the masthead which makes people more likely to go onto the website, and also after doing my research I found that a lot of music magazines promote their website on their front page.

Final double page...

I think that this may be the final product as i prefer this layout out of all the drafts that i have done. I have put the quote "the drummer drives me crazy" at the top instead of at the bottom to make it look more interesting and get people to read the interview. It stands out, and i think that this page therefore looks bolder and looks as though it has more attitude. I have added more questions and more text at the side to make the page look fuller are more worth the money.

Draft 3, Double Page, adding a film strip, changing around text/banners

I decided to put some of the images in a film strip to make it look more interesting, and more like a photoshoot. It also ties in with the genre of r&b because it adds attitude to the images because it makes them stand out more. I have decided to take away the first banner "Exclusive photoshoot" because i felt that it was too much and was overcrowding and over complicating the page.

Draft2, double page spread

This is my first draft of my double page spread, i decided to put the photo's on the left hand side, and label it as an exclusive photo shoot. The banners at the top of each page are in r&b font and are bold and stand out. I have included concert dates in the right hand corner of the left page, so that the page isnt completely dominated by pictures. The images consist of midshots, medium close ups and also one medium long shot. I have included a quote from the interview at the bottom of the right hand page, which makes the page look more interesting and highlights the important parts of the interview and makes the reader want to read the interview to find out what question the quote was from and what it was all about. On the right hand side of the right page i have included a vertical strip that sponsers the website and persuades readers to go on it to find out more information about "Lady H".

Final contents page...

I decided to make "contents" blend in with the word "crank"and i like the effect it gave to the page, and made it look unusual.

Draft4, Contents, changing the position of "contents" and the date

I decided to play around with "contents" and see if it looked better horizontally than vertically. I quite like the fact that "crank" is vertical and "contents" is horizontal.