Evaluation Question 1

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

The research for my magazine was focused mainly on R&B magazines such as The Source or Vibe magazine because that was obviously the genre of my magazine. However after analysing music magazines with other genres such as Rock and Indie (Q, Kerrang, NME,) it became apparent that nearly all music magazines have the same features about them which all add up to display the perfectly published magazine. All "ingredients" to the music magazines are the same regardless of the genre; it is how they are used to display the content that makes the magazine individual and specific to the genre. I also knew that there were many considerations I had to take when planning my magazine to try and make it look like a real media product. The considerations that I had to think about were:

• the title of the magazine
• mise-en-scène of image, costumes and props, people
• title font and style
• written content
• music genre and how your magazine suggests it
• front page layout
• contents page
• double page spread

But there was also many aspects within the main features mentioned above which also had to be thought about. For example the 'pull quotes' on double page spreads. This evaluation is going to be based upon comparing my final product with existing music magazine products.

Title

The title of my magazine is 'DO OR DIE'.

In able to find a suitable title for my R&B magazine, I listened to many R&B songs from singers such as Drake, Frank Ocean and Nicki Minaj because i thought that this was the only way I would be able to find a suitable word of phrase to use as my title. After many names and many questionnaires were delivered to my target audience, DO OR DIE became the apparent favourite. I originally found the phrase from Drake's song 'We'll Be Fine' where the lyrics are as follows:

 "but I still treat it like its do or die"

and after further research it was evident that there were many other songs, lyrics and even groups in the R&B industry that were named DO OR DIE. For example, a rap trio for Chicago, Illinois with the name. And other songs contain the lyric such as Flux Pavilions song (which is actually called DO OR DIE) which says "and what I'm saying's DO OR DIE"

My research then led me to look at the definition for the phrase;

"Requiring supreme effort to avoid the dire consequences of failure: a DO OR DIE situation."

Or in relation to music,  R&B artists are all about being in dependant and fierce. The majority of R&B artists are soloists and therefore they have to work on their own as hard as they can in order to succeed. They are constantly in a 'do or die situtuation' having to work the hardest they can to be the best that they can be. I felt that this name really suited the genre of my magazine and it was fierce, reflecting on the artists who would be mentioned in my magazine. 

Mise-en-scène of images

Above, there is a video clip producing a sample of the photoshoots that were taken place for my magazine. Images are so important in magazines because from the picture you should be able to identify what genre that magazine is, weather it is a fashion mag, health mag or a music mag and then within that industry it should be clear as to what genre it is for example, the picture on a rock magazine should be completely different to the picture on a Jazz magazine or a Pop magazine. However although all pictures are different, the aspects are still the same. The front page usually features one main, big statement picture and then depending on the magazine, there are other smaller pictures too. The main picture dominates the page. It is highly photoshop edited so that the model looks flawless. The models' direction of gaze is usually focused directly at the camera and they usually have a natural yet posed facial expression.

The image on the top left is my final front cover compared to examples of real media products.
COMPLETE ONCE FRONT PAGE IS COMPLETED

Font and style

The screen shots on the left are examples of the main cover line on the front of real media products. These cover lines are from Vibe, Q, Kerrang and NME. It shows how the main cover line is always in a similar, large, bold and very common font that it easily readible. The main cover line of the magazine is usually used as the unique selling point because if people are fans of particular artists, they are likely to pick up the magazine to read the article that is written about them inside. This is why capturing the audiences attention with the main cover line is so important and making sure the artists name stands out captures the readers. They are usually in block colour too, as i incorportated with mine which is situated bellow:

How my magazine suggests genre

All music magazines are different in terms of the audience they are aiming to capture. The magazines that i focussed my research on mainly are Vibe and The Source. This is because they were the most similar in genre as to what I wanted mine to be like.

Firstly, I looked at the colour schemes of Vibe and The Source magazines. The front cover usually features a white or off white background with a big red title and the other colours often used were black and gold. I decided this would be an effective colour scheme because the colours are fairly discrete, unlike indie magazines which usually featured bright, electric colours such a green, blues and yellows. The next feature to consider was the picture. If its an RnB magazine, its unlikely that the artist would be coated in tattoos and heavy eyeliner with black hair. I looked at pictures of femals that featured on mainly Vibe and found that they were tanned, had "fashionable" clothes on, natural however carefully positioned hair, usually looking at the camera and often were making a sligh hand gesture. I knew that the picture would say a lot about the genre as its the first thing the reader would notice. Lastly, the most important aspect that was to be considered when trying to suggest genre were the cover lines themselves. The promoted cover lines had to feature artists that would specifically attract the niche market that my magazine would target. There had to be interesting story lines about the artists inside and most importantly, there had to be as many cover lines on there as possible without the page looking over crampt. To do this efficiently, I used a design element that was incorporated into most magazines:

This feature allows the audience to quickly identify and associate genre. Its also eyecatching for readers who are fans of a particular artist as the promotion of a certain artist will act as a unique selling point. This feature also appears on many other mags such as Q, Kerrang, NME, The Source, Vibe showing that this is a clear convention.

Front page layout

The layout of my front page itself, is very similar to many front covers. The background is usually a white or an "off white" with a very posed, flawless, studio shot photo dominating the page. The artist is usually always looking at the camera so this was something to consider. The picture often covers a little bit of the title because its the main feature on the page. The title itself is usually very big, in a bold font that is easily read and the  colour of the title often chances with every issue. For example in the issue of Vibe in the top right corner, the colour is red however its sometimes green, black, red, yellow etc. However, the title always stands out. I decided to use a gradient with the title of my magazine because i thought it fitted in well with the colour scheme which features mainly red and black. After researching and finding that many magazines do occasionally have a gradient on their title, I knew that it was okay to do. Through my research into cover lines, i knew that they go down the left hand side and the right hand side of the picture, justified to the side they are on, they often covered a bit of the picture however the majority of the picture was still on show.  The name of the artist was also always very big and stood out. So i incorporated these features into my magazine. Another convention of front page was that they nearly all had black in their colour scheme, weather the title is black or the coverlines are. I knew that this would therefore be an important element.

Contents page layout

Above is my contents page, compared with a real media product. The contents' from ROCK SOUND were my main inspiration as I loved the idea of having two pages. My magazine was a monthly magazine much like ROCK SOUND is so it inevitably features more articles than a standard weekly magazine does. Therefore having a page for the main features and then another page for all other artiles was more beneficial to my magazine. There are many conventions apearing on both DO OR DIE and ROCK SOUND. The first noticible one is the dominating picture on the first page, which does not feature eye contact (because the model in ROCK SOUND is wearing sunglasses. The next feature is the quote with the box behind it that i incorporated into my first contents page. The next is the title and the way the date and issue number are featured in both. The title is not to large on either however it shows brand identity because it is also features on the next contents page. The next feature is the design feature of the box behind the main feature text. This is obviously different in mine but it still features the same convention. And as usual through out all pages in a magazine, the page number is placed in the bottom corner and there is also a website. The second page of my contents, very much like the ROCK SOUND one, features mainly text. The title is bigger and the strapline is also on this particular page. The layout is very similar, with all articles grouped together with a subheading making it easier for the reader to find the article they wish to see.

In terms of layout, format and colour schemes. Vibe magazine was my inspiration.

I very much liked the way the picture dominated the left hand side of the page in Vibe magazine and the way it blended in with the background. It is highly unusual to see a contents page with a dark background however in this case, the dark background on the vibe contents emphasised and highlighted the picture and the way is blends in just acts as a design feature. The gradient works well as the dark text on the vibe is on a cream background so it can be read extremily easily. The background on my contents page also features a gradient however the black acts as a background for the picture and the picture has been edited to look like dim lighting which makes it stand out even more. and then the gradient fades to grey so that the text can be easily read and i added the striped design feature to act as a gradient too.

Double page spread layout

There are so many aspects involved with making a double page spread look like a real media product however first of all I'm going to look directly at the layout of my spread. I used Vibe as the inspiration for my double page spread because as soon as I saw the vibe article above I knew that was exactly the look I was going for. I was in love with the border of black and white pictures at the top with the main image then in bright colour, dominating the page. I knew I would incorporate this but to make mine different I only used three black and white pictures. Instead of using an actual title, I loved the idea of a little sentence that it bigger than all the rest of the text and that the name of the artist stood out so i thought i would use this too. I also loved the way only one pull quote was used and it majorly stood out.

The language used throughout is highly informal which is a definite convention of all music magazine articles. You certainly wouldn't find swearing in a school magazine for example. The informal language on all double page spread articles make the writers seem as if they are having a friendly conversation with the audience, which engages the readers more. The writing style of my double page spread, much like many other spreads that feature a 'question and answer' interview style article, all have the same type of style in the way that the interviewee/magazine act as if they have known the particular interviewee/artist forever even though its possible they have only just met. They talk in more of a friendly manner to the artist so that the artist will reveal more as they feel they are in a safe environment. This is certainly noticeable on all interview spreads. The colloquial language used is also very specific to the genre of music, it is unlikely you would find swearing in a ballet or a jazz magazine. However it is undoubtable that it would appear in an Indie, Rock, Pop or R&B magazine. However the informal language approach is common to all music genres. 

 Drops caps is a definite conention to ANY article weather it be magazine, books or newspaper, most spreads feature drops caps. It is a way of allowing the reader to know when a new topic is about to be talked about.

Another convention to my double page spread is the way the questions of the interview style are highlighted. I realised this was an aspect to interview spreads after doing my research and planning. The questions are larger than the rest of the text and they are also bolder so they can be easily identified against the rest of the text. The answer to the question then starts on a new line, creating the whole 'interview' style effect.







Another very common feature is text wrap. The text acts a border round the picture, I included this in my final product: