In what ways does your media product use; develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine is a Christmas edition and is full of seasonal messages to make readers feel Christmassy. I didn’t want to overpower it with Christmas gimmicks because I thought this could make it look cheap and tacky. With the strap I wanted it to have a seasonal message but also relate to the band. I decided to use words similar to a well known Christmas carol. I did this to the headline on my double page spread as well. I think this is very effective as it’s catchy and with a twist on words which helps to catch the reader’s attention. It is clever play on words which contains a double meaning. One relates to Christmas and one to the band. I wanted my masthead to have a rock feel to it also making sure it maintains the house style. I think I have achieved this by having the masthead in a special shattered font. I decided to put red around the outside to make it stand out and catch the audience’s eye. I wanted to leave the main image clear because I believe it’s an eye catching selling point. If I had covered it up it would have detracted from what I was trying to achieve. This meant I didn’t have much room for main sells and so I decided to just have the one. With this main sell my audience can get an idea of what kind of bands to expect to see and read about inside. I chose to have my lead as the band’s name because after analysis of many of the existing products I realised that this is what they all do. I made sure I put all the important features on the left third as this is what people see when magazines are stacked on the shelves. In the double page spread I decided to put my two pull quotes on the right hand page to even out the two pages. I thought if I put it on the left hand page it would look too crowded alongside the headline. I had two pull quotes because I wanted one quote from each member. This will target all the fans. When I researched other magazines I thought there were too many pictures compared to the amount of text. Therefore I chose to have my insert images together along the middle making it look like the film strip from the photo shoot this tricks the readers into believing there are fewer pictures than there actually are. For the contents page I decided to keep it simple and easy to use. By having the subheading it makes it user friendly and makes it easier for readers to find certain articles. By adding the editor’s letter it gives the readers the feeling that everyone involved in the magazine really cares. It’s a personalized letter from the editor and so the reader has the feeling that it is specially aimed at them giving a personal touch. I have also decided to add a lure so readers feel they are getting something back.
How does your media product represent particular social groups? Representation is the way groups are presented in the media and popular culture, often through stereotypical images that affect our views of gender, race, class, age, and ability. I wanted my artists to be ‘rock chicks’ but who are also very down to earth. This would make the readers feel they can connect and relate with them. My artists are very young and I wanted them to act like any young person would rather than be shaped into a ‘fake’ role model. I wanted them to act their age and not pretend to be perfect for the media. I have shown this in their article by making