Final Product: Double Page Spread

Final Product: Contents

Final Product: Cover

Forms and Conventions

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

 

Cover Page

Magazines in general, including music based products, often follow a set list of conventions in order to make the magazine look its best. Although there are no other products focused on the same subject as mine, I chose to follow these conventions in order to make my magazine look like a real publication.

 

BBC Music Magazine

To help me, I looked at this magazine cover to see what conventions were used that I can apply onto my cover. The most important convention is the masthead. The masthead is the name of the magazine that is usually at the top of the cover, in a bold, large font so that it is instantly recognisable. Most magazines keep their masthead in the same place, regardless of what is on the front of the magazine. This means that sometimes the main cover image is partially obstructing our view of the masthead. However because the magazine is instantly recognisable by its masthead, we can easily see what the masthead says; meaning we know what magazine it is. This is especially true in well developed magazines. My magazine has the same use of the masthead. It is placed near the top, covering the whole width of the page in an easily recognisable font. Although this is only my 'third issue', I chose to have the model partially obscuring my masthead as I believe my magazine will be recognisable by its readers by then as the masthead's font is the same font used by the Eurovision Song Contest, a programme my readers will be very familiar with.

Cover lines are also used on almost every magazine. The cover line tends to show the reader what the main article in the magazine is going to be so it has to stand out from the strap lines which are generally smaller, less important pieces of information that give an idea of what will be contained in the magazine. In this particular BBC Music magazine, the cover line is an exclusive interview with Sarah Chang. To make it stand out, it is in the same colour as the masthead which subconciously draws your eye from the masthead, straight to the coverline. In my magazine, the cover line is a different font, colour and has a different background to the straplines. Although its the same size, it stands out as it uses bright colours which match the logo above it, and its the only one on that side of the cover. In Europe, we tend to read left to right so having the cover line on the left means that it will be the first thing the viewer will read after the masthead.

 



EuroPhoria (named after the winning
song from the previous competition)



Other conventions used in both my magazine and other magazines include the main photo, and the use of smaller photos to compliment the strap lines, colour scheme and selling line. I used one main photograph on my cover which is directly linked to my main cover line 'Lauren!' I only chose one main image so people can't be distracted from the main story by other smaller images. Althought there are smaller images on my cover, they are miniscule in comparison. My colour scheme fits in with the subject of the magazine: Eurovision. This year, the contest will be held in Malmö, Sweden. The Swedish flag consists of yellow and blue, hence the heavy presence of these colours throughout my magazine. The selling line of my magazine is above the masthead, which is less common in general but some magazines still do it. It gives a little statement which is trying to persuade people to chose my magazine over others. In my case, if they want a Eurovision Song Contest magazine, they will have to pick mine as mine is the only one out there at the moment.

 

Ways in which my cover differ from most include the subject of the magazine (as mentioned earlier) and the Masthead and selling line. The selling line features the actual name of the magazine. ESCNow! EuroPhoria is the name of the 'series' as it were for that year. After the next contest, the magazine masthead will feature a name to do with the winning song, artist or country, which will also mean all the colour schemes will change aswell. This is a different approact and this could be a disadvantage as readers may like to recognise the magazine from its colour, however the only way they'll be able to tell would be the ESCNow! logo in the top corner, which to aid readers, will always be situated there.

 

Contents Page

Contents pages always follow similar conventions to cover pages. Font, colour and similar designs are used throughout the magazine. I have used similar fonts however my colour scheme is very different. I went for black and red colours to make the contents page stand out. I want my readers to turn the front page expecting to see more blue and yellow and when they see black and red they take another look to see why the colours change and in doing so, read more of the contents page and take in more information.

 

Many contents pages feature another image, often relating to the most important article in the magazine. Mine however follows an idea that I first noticed being used by the Radio Times

 

 

 

 



How did you attract/address your audience?

 attracted my audience by including things in the magazine that a typical family would be interested in.

Who would be the audience for you media product?

It was very important to think about the audience for my media product whilst making it. I had to think what kind of people would buy a magazine based on the Eurovision Song Contest and how do I make my magazine appeal to them, visually aswell as with content.

The Eurovision Song Contest itself has a wide range of audiences. I chose to represent this and focus on a wide range of people too. This meant that demograhically, I focused on all ages, classes and gender. However Pshycographically I focused on families mainly. Those who enjoy having family nights in watching the tv with a takeaway. So really they could be any gender, any age, and any class! Which increases the chance of my magazine being sold as its really aimed at anyone.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Each magazine has a publisher. Some publish their own magazines and some publish a lot of magazines. Some of the main publishers include IPC, Bauer, Dennis and Future, each publishing a wide variety of magazines for a wide variety of people and their interests. 

I believe that Bauer may want to publish my magazine. As mentioned earlier, Bauer are one of, if not the most successful publishing business in the industry. I seem to have come up with a product that hasn't been done yet so Bauer do not publish any magazine that is focused on the Eurovision Song Contest. This may be because they feel that there is not enough demand or interest in the program however I disagree. I think that once my magazine is out there, it will attract a lot of people, not only current fans of the contest, but critics and other members of the general public will pick it up and have a look, they may even find that they want to purchase it due to its light nature and the other features that are included in the magazine. Bauer is a large company and some may argue that they will never think to publish a completely new magazine. And they might be right. It will be a risk to publish a brand new magazine aimed at a brand new target audience. But I think if the magazine proves popular, revenue will come pouring in and Bauer will make their money back in no time. It is a quarterly publication so there is plenty of time to sell each issue but if the magazine proves popular the amount of issues per year may be increased. Bauers may agree to publish my magazine because their current range of magazines doesn't yet include one on Eurovision. Their aim is to be able to publish as many magazines based on as many things as possible in order to reach as many people as possible to bring in the most cash.

Other publishing companies have gaps in the market when it comes to target audience of their magazines. Bauer can reduce their gap by publishing my magazine and I feel that is something they would want to do.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The media represent people in different ways. It influences us to think about someone or a certain group of people in a certain way. For example we are encouraged to think that all youth are troublemakers who smoke and drink all the time. My media product is no different; it has represented a certain group of people's interests and focused on these interests to create a magazine that appeals to my target audience.

My magazine was centered around a subject that arguably crosses all ages and genders. A know quite a few people who watch the Eurovision Song Contest. Some because they actually tend to enjoy the music, others because they like to laugh at the various acts that perform just for fun each year, but even then, they are still watching the programme and therefore have an interest in it meaning they may like to read my magazine. To represent the people who watch the Song Contest, I have picked a colour theme that is relevant to the next contest, blue and yellow: The national colours of Sweden (host country in 2013). Blue and yellow stand out from one another and I haven't seen another magazine with this colour scheme so it will stand out to everyone who looks at the stand so soon a lot of people would have heard about my magazine. It is it's only competitor; there are no other centrally Eurovision magazines on the market at the moment as the UK fan base isn't said to be very large, but rather than focus my magazine contents and die hardy fans, I have included lots of different aspects like competitions, food, parties and other musical interests and cultural activities in the magazine to attract a wider audience the world of Eurovision and of course my magazine. 

The main viewing audience of the Eurovision Song Contest tends to be families. Class is  a tricky one as I feel that it's aimed at all classes. Some of the entrants are rather high class and some are not. But I have represented families in my magazine by choosing some light bubbly fonts and the bright colours that stand out but are still easy to read. Some features in my magazine also focus on families. I included a competition to win a family holiday to the location at the time of the contest for example with second prize being a caravan holiday in Kent; something a lot of families would be more than interested in. Another aspect of the family orientation of the show is the contests 'little brother'; the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. As my magazine is in early development, I wanted to appeal to the families as a priority so I have featured Britain's JESC entrant from the previous contest on the front cover of the product, looking all happy and excited with her arms in the air; representing a normal 12 year old girl. I wanted to show the children that see the magazine that there are people just like them who are going on to big things. They should know that if they try hard and do their best they can be anything that they want to be and they themselves could end up on the front of my magazine one day.

I think that my final products have represented my rather wide target audience quite well as I have included things that many people are interested in and that they can relate to thus creating a friendly, easy read.

Advertisers Mood Board

Colour Mood Board

Font Mood Board

Target Audience Mood Board

College Magazine Contents Page

College Magazine Cover

Questionnaire Results

The results of the college magazine questionnaire are as follows. 65% of the population are female and only 15% currently read a college magazine. This shows that at the moment there is definitely something not quite right about the magazine and it proves and opportunity to fill the gap with a new one. The content that people would like to see in the magazine are fashion, trips and events, music, sport, photography and art and a dating column. The best places to distribute them would be in tutor time or in the canteen and coffee shop as almost the entire population will visit these places at some time. 60% say they would benefit from a new college magazine where only 5% were unsure. Results show that the new magazine would be published monthly and would be priced at around 50p. If we were going to start a new magazine, we would have lots of support as nearly half of the asked population said they would like to contribute towards the magazine in some way whether it be emailing content or being on the producing or editing team. To attract our target audience we would need bright colours, modern, funny, photos and articles written by students and an overall snazzy feel.

Questionnaire

College Magazine Analysis

The is a college magazine from the USA. The main background colour is a bold black shade which compliments the light shade of green that is used in the titles. The header is being half covered by man's head yet it is still readable which shows this magazine has recognisability. This magazine attracts college students as the man on the front is one of them. He is holding educational books and smiling at the viewer inticing them to come and read the magazine. There are only 3 base colours used in this magazine. Black for the background, white and green for text with an exciting splatter of pink in the top right. Pink and green compliment each other as do black and white.

 

In conlcusion I find this magazine affective as the colours compiment each other and it looks easy to read with friendly fonts and friendly face on the cover.

Double Page Spread Analysis Two

This double page spread is from NME. They have featured a large main photograph of The Teenagers on the left page to immediately inform the reader about who this article is about. This again helps the reader decide quickly whether or not to stop and read the article. Light blue stands out from the rest of the magazine as NME is mostly Red so this page really stands out and catches your eye. It’s saying I don’t happen often so read me for I am a feature! Most of the page is white so the block blue colours really stand out and draw your eyes to them. The colours of the heading are really bold and the font is capitalized which makes it stand out and shout to the reader that this is important. There is a smaller article on the right about what everyone else is talking about in the music industry recently. Its background colour is black which distinguishes it from the main article. It effectively separates itself from the article to show its different. In the picture, The Teenagers are looking straight at the viewer with a blank expression on their face. This probably fits in with the genre of their music and therefore attracts the reader who is interested in them to read it. I think this is a more effective double page than Kerrang!’s as initially the colour stands out so it attracts the eye. Not only this, the page just seems to fit. Nice picture, large article, and a separate little strip down the side to break up the page to make it easier to read.

Double Page Spread Analysis One

This double page spread fits in with the colour scheme of the rest of the magazine which provides continuity. The red and black also represent and attract the target audience to read the magazine. My Chemical Romance are a very popular band amongst the readers of NME so having a feature article on them is a good idea as it attracts the readers to read it. The headings are all in capital letters and bold type with colours that stand out against the dark background. This reiterates the importance of this article and makes you want to read it. The little sign in the top left tells you it is a World Exclusive. You can only read this article here in this particular issue in this particular magazine. This adds a bit of excitement amongst the readers and pride among the producers. It is a very strong invitation to the reader to buy the magazine. Down the right of the column is a mini article (still about the same band) about their latest tracks. This helps to break up the page and makes it more pleasing to the eye aswell. The main article looks relatively small compared to the high importance of the page. There is a huge main photo which makes the background to the page with a few smaller photos underneath. The text seems pretty inadequate which is reversing the connotation of the titles which say THIS IS IMPORTANT! MUST READ!  Also in the top left corner next to the world exclusive banner is a word “NEWS” This encourages the reader to read it as it is the latest updates on this band. All they have written is unseen and unknown about to the public and readers want to change that. All in all I think it is an effective feature article. It attracts the eye, it’s what the readers want to read, but the text could be a bit bigger.

Magazine Contents Page Analysis Two

The main heading on this contents page appeals to the target audience and it lets you know what it is. The title is in capital letters and a bold font which means it is very noticeable. The title is not a usual style for a magazine as it is broken up and this makes our eye go towards it to see what it is we’re reading.

The outline of V in the background represents what the magazine is. Vibe. It’s colour works well with the colour scheme of the remaining parts of the contents page which makes it all very pleasing to the eye.

As in most contents pages, it features headings of what the magazine contains so you can easily read what you might be interested in due to the header which is in a bold capitalised font. Extra detail is given underneath in a smaller font to inform the reader about what the article is about even more. The page number is in bold to the left of the heading so it’s easy to find out where to go if you would like to read that article.

The person on the contents page is in a very odd position which may invite the reader to wonder why she is doing what she is doing therefore creating more readers of the article she is modelling for. Her gaze is aimed directly at the viewer and her facial expressing seems inviting if what mysterious. Her clothing also matches with the colour scheme of the contents page (or is it the other way round?!) enabling an altogether visibly pleasing page.

The model’s legs are positioned in such away to invite readers as they have links to being seductive and sexy. Not only this but her left leg is pointing to the title of the page which is to reinforce that this page is a contents page. The shape of her legs also make a V shape, matching the title of the magazine and the letter V at the top of this page.

In conclusion, this page looks very inviting to the reader. One colour scheme, not too busy and easy to look around and easy to understand.