1. Question 1
In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
When looking back and deciding whether my magazine uses, develops or challenges
conventions of a real product it was very important to relate this back to my research.
The reason being that much of my research was done upon existing magazines in
which were real media products and used the forms and conventions I am looking for.

2. Media product use of main sell
•
Within and upon many Hip-Hop magazines the main sell is normally a big hip-hop artists or
somebody extremely famous and well recognised, for example in my research “Hip-Hop
connections has a picture of snoop dogg and 2pac on. For my magazine I have tried to use
the normal form of using an artist upon the Front cover, in my case I have a mid-close up of
an artist posing with sun shades on. Conventionally hip-Hop artists dominantly represented
as “Gangster” people with mischievous lifestyles. The main picture upon many of the Hip-
Hop magazines already being produced in the real world, they are portrayed to be and fit in
with this lifestyle and are why they tend to look serious, intrusive and very much in the face
of the reader. Within the case of my magazine I have tried to develop this look of being a
gangster t the extreme. To do this I have made the artist on the front wear 2 watches and a
chin to give the “Bling” effect, a hat slightly titled connoting a bad nature and rebellion.

3. Positioning of wording and pictures
• It is obvious from first glance at my magazine front cover and double page spread that
the positioning of the text and pictures are very conventional for a normal magazine
already produced by the media industry. For example the masthead, puff and strap lines
are all in places in which you would conventionally find them on real products.
• However in some circumstances within the magazine for example on the contents
page, bottom right it has text reversed out in a white box, very unusual to have such a
bold text input so close to the bottom of the page. You may say that this positioning
challenges the normal form of a media contents page.
Although in some magazines this type of text layout may be
present, so it may be the fact that my interpretation on contents pages
may be developing ideas taken from other magazines with a similar style.
The positioning of the price, email address an bar code are
also all very conventional of a media magazine product.

4. Colour - content
• Throughout my research it was apparent that on many Hip-Hop magazines kept to a very plain and limited colour
scheme, with my chosen research magazine (Hip-Hop connections) using mainly black and red on the front cover.
However upon my magazine, although on the double page spread a colour scheme of greys and black is in place, upon the front
cover my chosen colours challenge that of the conventional form of a bland colour scheme, as I have used a variety of
different colours, ranging from white to green to orange.
This therefore challenges that of the normal form of colour scheme, but once again relating to my research I believe that by
using the many colours it keeps the very light hearted approach, allowing connotations f enjoyment to also be gained from
the front cover.
Content :
The front cover that I have produced uses conventional and normal forms of content upon it, This meaning that upon the
cover there is little text however what is upon there is mainly dedicated towards bonuses within the magazine and the
features also within.
However the contents page in some respects uses normal forms and conventions but yet doesn't. The contents age does
contain relevant information on what the magazine contains, however it only concentrates on certain pages, whereas may
media products try and compile a contents page with all page descriptions within. This can be looked upon that this may be
challenging the normal forms and conventions of contents pages.