Retake: Q1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

There are certain rules and designs that have been used in order to create a magazine. These have turn into conventions of a magazine. In order to produce a successful magazine, I had to research these conventions in order to help me create successful media products.

The first convention which I followed in order to create my front page, was the most common convention used in creating a magazine. I placed my masthead and my puff line at the top of my magazine. This convention has formed because in order for the audience of a magazine to be able to see the magazine on a shelf, with other magazines in front of it, the masthead and puff line needs to be at the top. The puff line is at the very top of the magazine in order to entice the audience to buy the magazine.

Although I followed the convention of placing my masthead at the top of my magazine, I also challenged this convention, as I did not position my masthead the conventional way. Most mastheads are places horizontally across the magazine, whereas I have placed my masthead at an angle at the top of the page.

The reason I chose to do this was because I wanted my magazine to be seen as different and not just the same as every one else. The audience will also distinguish my magazine quicker. Another convention in my magazine was the type of shot I used for my front page. Most magazines have a close up or medium close up with the artist looking directly into the audience, this is done so the audience can feel as if the artist on the cover of the magazine has a connection with them.

For my magazine, my photo has neither one of these conventions. Instead I used a medium shot and my artist is looking to the left of her, she is also wearing sunglasses. I wanted to challenge this as I thought the image used on my front cover gave not only my artist but also my magazine a look of class.

As my magazine would be new on the market, I would have wanted to ensure that the genre of my music magazine can be easily portrayed by looking at my front cover straight away. Along with challenging conventions of a magazine, I also followed them. Another convention in which I followed was having a running colour scheme throughout my magazine.

For my contents page I followed the conventions of the layout style. I had 3 main images and then the content of my magazine was put on the right hand side.

It also had a continuous colour scheme that was found on my front cover. Although I followed the conventions, I also adapted it, as I did not include as many pictures that magazines include. I also followed the convention of adding an editors note at the bottom, I included a picture of the editor, although this is not common in music magazines, it is a convention in fashion magazines, I done this as I wanted to incorporate fashion and music together, as the design and layout of my magazine shows this.

For my double page spread, I followed the conventions of having my image on one side and on the other side I have the questionnaire. It is also spilt half way through the page, which is also another convention magazines often follow.