Question 1

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

Conventions Followed

FRONT COVER

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

The main images in Q and Worship Musician are
long shots (LS), while NME and Christian Musician
have Medium Close-Ups (MCU). I have used an
MCU on my front cover, as this is the more general
convention of music magazines overall, even
though Q and Worship Musician have not followed
this convention.

The model is looking straight at the
camera, which follows the conventions
of Q and NME. This also catches the
reader’s attention and appeals to the
audience.
However, this goes against the convention of Christian magazines, as
the cover stars are not looking at the camera in these images.
However, the reason for the artist on Worship Musician seems to be
that it is an action shot from a concert; yet Christian Musician was taken
in a studio, and the artist is not looking at the camera. I have chosen not
to follow this convention as having the model looking directly at the
camera would appeal to my audience more.

The model is not wearing a lot of make-up, which follows the
conventions of Christian magazines as we can see on Christian
Musician and Worship Musician that the cover artists are not
wearing make-up at all, while my model is wearing limited make-
up. I justified my model not wearing a lot of make-up as I did not
want her to be over-sexualised, which would go against Christian
values; however, it would also have gone against Christian music
magazine conventions.


The masthead of my magazine is in the top-left hand corner, which follows the conventions of
Q and NME. The mastheads of Christian Musician and Worship Musician are not in the top-left
hand corner, however this is because they are larger than the mastheads of Q and NME, and
would not have fitted in the top left-hand corner.


The way that I have used my colour scheme is similar to the
way that the colour scheme is used in Q, especially with the
masthead. In Q, the masthead is the name of the magazine
in a coloured box, with the writing in a contrasting
colour, while the colour scheme flows from this masthead
throughout the magazine. This is similar to how I have used
my colour scheme, though my colour scheme is blue and
green rather than red and white. However, when I designed
my masthead as part of my House Styles, one of the colour
schemes that I picked out for my masthead was red and
white. However, I decided against the red and white colour
scheme in favour of the blue and green because I felt that
this suited my religious genre better and carried on the
inside joke of the title.


The main coverline is the biggest coverline on the front
cover, which is the same for all of the magazines that I have
studied. This makes the reader sure which coverline is
related to the cover star and is therefore the most important
coverline.
However, I have followed the conventions of the secular
magazines more, as the coverlines on Q and NME are simply
larger, and do not differ in colour and font from the other
coverlines. However, in Worship Musician (above), the name
of the artist is a different colour from the other coverlines;
and in Christian Musician (left), the main coverline is in a
different font from the other coverlines.

The coverlines in my magazine are in
a list. This is following the
conventions of Q and NME, which are
also in lists. However, the convention
of religious magazines seems to be
that the coverlines are in a more ‘random’ layout, which I think
would not appeal to my target audience as much. Indeed, my
Preliminary Task had a layout like this, but when I moved on to
my Main Task, I decided against using a similar layout because I
didn’t think that it would suit my genre or my audience.


My magazine follows the conventions of all the magazines that I have studied, in
that the barcode is small and tucked away. However, my barcode is tucked away in
the bottom left-hand corner, which is going against NME. However, all of the other
magazines that I have studied have the barcode in this corner.


Conventions Challenged

FRONT COVER


I have gone against the convention of both secular
and religious magazines by having my main image
taken on location; Q, NME and Christian Musician
all have main images that are taken in the studio.
However, Worship Musician has a main image on
the front cover that was taken on
location, therefore a location main image is not
completely against convention. I also think that the
location main image fits with my genre better.

My model is not standing in a particularly
‘dynamic’ pose, while in the other magazines they
all have poses that suggest some form of power or
musical prowess. However, I have chosen not to
follow this convention as I wanted one of the main
themes in my magazine to be simplicity, and not
having a ‘dynamic’ pose shows this. Also, the main
coverline is “I didn’t know about my voice at
first”, therefore my model looking slightly shy
follows on from the message that is given in this
pull-quote.


CONTENTS PAGE


I have followed the convention of
having a separate section of the
contents page reserved for the cover
story. I did this so that it was clear
where the cover story was, and so
that the reader could go straight to
the cover story without having to
look through the features column for
it.


I have also followed the
convention of separating
the different types of
article
(features, regulars, etc.)
in my magazine. This is
so that the reader can
quickly go to the type of
article they
want, whether it’s a
regular that they want to
continue following, or a
feature article that they
have a particular interest
in.


I have followed the conventions of both Christian
Musician and Worship Musician by having an
Editor’s Letter on the contents page; Q and NME do
not have Editors Letters on the contents page.
However, the Editor’s Letters in the Christian
magazines are quite long, and the writing is quite
small, as they are aimed at an older audience than
my magazine. When I did my Preliminary Task, I
was warned against having a long Editor’s Letter as
the audience would get bored reading it.
Therefore, when I did my Main Task, I made the
Editor’s letter shorter and with a bigger font.


I have followed the
conventions of Q and
NME by having a lot of
images on the contents
page to complement
various articles. This
appeals to my younger
audience, and makes the
contents page brighter.
However, the Christian
magazines only had two
pictures on their
contents pages, which
would not suit my
younger audience.


The pictures that I have used also have
captions, which follows the conventions of
Q. I think that this suits my audience better
as they can see which articles the pictures
complement.
NME did not have captions on its
pictures, but as the issue that I analysed
was an anniversary edition and the pictures
on the contents pages were of the various
collector’s covers, captions were not really
necessary.
The Christian magazines also lacked
captions on their pictures, but those
magazines are aimed at an older
audience, therefore I think that having
captions would better suited to my younger
audience.

Another convention that I have followed is including the date and name of the magazine on
the contents page. In all of the magazines that I have studied, the date and name of the
magazine has been included in the corner of the magazine. However, in those magazines they
were at the bottom of the page, and in my magazine they are at the top of the page.
I have also chosen to follow the example of Q and have not just the name of the magazine
repeated, but the masthead. This increases the branding opportunities of the magazine, and –
because the masthead itself is in a block – was relatively easy to achieve, as the masthead can
be discreetly placed at the top of the page without it becoming too small to be read.


Another convention that I have
followed on my contents page is
to keep the colour scheme from
the front cover flowing
throughout. The colour scheme
on my front cover – blue, green
and white – has flowed through
to my contents page. This can
also be seen in Q (black, red and
white) and NME (black, gold and
white). It is less so in the
Christian magazines, however
the shades of blue used on the
mastheads certainly flows to the contents page in Worship Musician, and in Christian Musician
the gold colour of the writing seems to flow from the cover artist’s guitar.



CONTENTS PAGE


I have gone against the conventions
of having something on my contents
page that tells the reader that it is
the contents page. I have done this
as I felt that it is kind of obvious
which page is the contents page.
Also, Worship Musician does not say
‘contents’ on the contents page,
even though Christian Musician does, therefore it is not completely unconventional in a
religious magazine to not include this title.


Another convention that I have challenged is having a studio photo of the cover star on my
contents page. Q and NME both have studio photos of their cover stars on the contents
page, however the studio photo on my contents page is of an artist in the Christmas playlist. I
have done this for two reasons:
1. Logistical reasons; my model simply couldn’t get in to the studio
2. The photo to complement the Christmas playlist article is better shot in the studio than
on location, as the photo would get more of a wintery feel with the benefit of the white
colourama in the studio than it could get on location
Also, neither Christian magazine has a studio photo of its cover star on the contents page.
Worship Musician has a photo from the same concert location as on its front cover, and
Christian Musician does not have a photo of its cover star on the contents page at
all, therefore it does not necessarily go against convention to not have a studio photo of the
cover star on the contents page in a religious magazine.


DPS


The columns follow the
conventions of Q and
NME, in that they are not
justified. In the Christian
magazines, they are
justified, however they
are aimed at an older
audience then Q, NME
and my magazine
are, therefore having
unjustified columns that
promote informality
would appeal to my
audience more.


Another convention that I have followed is
to have an introduction to the journalism
to explain who the artist is and what the
interview is about, in my case, an
upcoming EP.
However, I have followed the conventions
of Q less than the conventions of the other
magazines that I studied. Q has a long
introduction to its journalism before the
Q&A style interview. However, as my
target audience is younger, I think that
having such a long introduction would
make them bored.


The questions in my journalism is to make them bold, which makes them clearer
and stand out from the answers. However, this seems to be more the convention
in the secular magazines, as the Christian magazines have the interviewer’s
initials before the question, and then the artist’s initials before the answer.
However, this is confusing as makes it seem as though there are no
questions, and that it is in fact just a conversation between two artists.
Therefore, having the questions in bold is less confusing and clearer.


I have used a pull-quote on the DPS, which has been used in both Q and NME. It was
not, however, used in the Christian magazines. Also, my pull-quote was used over the big
image on my DPS rather than in the middle of the journalism like in Q and NME, because of
practical reasons; if I were to have the pull-quote in the middle of the journalism, I would not
have had room to fit all of the journalism in.


Another convention that I followed was to add extra bits of journalism in square brackets so
that the reader can distinguish between what was actually said and what was added.


Another convention that I followed was having informal language. This is particularly seen in
the Christian magazines, though can also be seen in Q and NME. This appeals to my younger
audience.


One convention that I followed was having the image on one side of the DPS and the
journalism on the other. I followed this as it was the most conventional thing to do, and
therefore would probably suit my audience more.


The main image on my DPS is also a mid-shot (MS) which follows convention. This image is
suitable as it shows the artist in closer detail than a long-shot and not in as much detail as a
close-up. This is ideal as it allows the artist to hold certain poses, like the singing pose that my
model holds on my DPS.


The colour scheme is
continued from the front cover
to the contents page to the
DPS. However, the white has
gone from my colour scheme
which goes against
convention, but this was so
that the background of my DPS
did not look too harsh in white.


Another convention that I have followed is to have the name and
date of the magazine continued on the DPS. This works to make sure
that the reader remembers which magazine they are reading and to
increase the branding of the name.



DPS


One of the conventions that I
challenged was to have the big
image on my DPS flowing from
my front cover. This is especially
followed in Worship
Musician, which had the artist
performing on stage on the front
cover and the same concert on
the DPS. in my magazine, the picture on my DPS flowed
However,
from the contents page. This makes the front cover
image stand out, but also makes the images of my model
inside the magazine more personal as they are
simplified.


Having smaller images on my DPS also did not follow
conventions, but were added because of a piece of
audience feedback that I received on my House Styles.
However, Worship Musician does have an extra image on
its DPS, therefore it does not really defy the conventions
of Christian magazines.


CONCLUSION


Therefore, I have followed conventions of both secular and Christian magazines, as the
Christian magazines that I studied are aimed at an older audience, while my magazine is
aimed at a younger audience, which means that some of the conventions used in the secular
magazines are more relevant to my audience than the ones used in the Christian magazines.


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