AS Media Studies

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

2. Front cover
My media product uses various codes and conventions of a magazine
throughout to make my music magazine successful and make it seem more
professional. On my front cover, my masthead is the biggest font on the
page and is the most noticeable. Nearly every magazine uses this
convention as it makes it clear to the audience what their product is and
what it is called- it’s showing their brand; making it established.
My strapline is situated underneath my masthead, this is a common
convention which many magazines use, but not all.
Other codes and conventions which I used on my front cover included that
my main image took up the most space on the page, with cover-lines and
sell-lines surrounding it. Direct mode of address is also used in my main
image. All of these are heavily used in real media products. Also, on my
front cover I have included a barcode, which makes my media product seem
more realistic. In addition, on my front cover there is a pug. This is a
convention used my many media products in order to attract potential
readers with a freebie or competition.
My magazine front cover challenged conventions though as the date of my
magazine and its issue number is on a rotation; this is something not
normally seen on a magazine front cover. However, this works well for my
magazine as it makes it more edgy and sharp.

3. Contents page
My contents page uses various codes and contents such as
carrying on with house style as my front cover. My house
style obviously uses the colours red, black and white. This
is also continued onto my double page spread. Other codes
which are followed on this page are how the articles are
listed out. This style is featured on many magazine
contents pages as it easy and clear for the audience to
read. The images on this page feature a triangle and their
page number; indicating to the audience that these articles
are the top stories, therefore attracting the audience to
read them. Again, this is another convention used by many
products of large institutions. My contents page again, uses
codes and conventions as I have included an editorial on
the bottom of the page. This creates a relationship
between the readers and the editor (me) of my magazine,
making them feeling involved and allowing them to go on
and become prosumers.

4. Double page spread
My double page spread uses codes and conventions of
real media products by having the main image as the
person whom is being interviewed, this shows that this
article is focused primarily on them. I have included an
information bar on my double page spread, this is a
feature that only a few media products use, but its give
the reader more information on the person being
interviewed. The readers are more than likely going to
be interested in this information as they are bound to
be fans of the artist as he is of the hip-hop music genre.
Another convention which I was used, was having a
quote in large font, from the interview. This is used by
many real life media products.
The only thing which I challenged here was that I didn't
use the same style of font throughout. For the word
‘EXCLUSIVE’, I used a completely different font to that,
that I have used else where in my media product. This
works well as it stands out more, showing that this
article is truly ‘exclusive’.