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

2. Research on existing
magazines.
Here I have done some research on well known magazine
companies and I looked at some products these companies have
produced. These companies are Empire, Entertainment Weekly
and Film. I did this because I wanted my own products to look as
professional as they could. I then decide to place pictures of
existing magazines in Microsoft publisher and analysis each of
the pictures. This system will help me to decide which
techniques to use on my own magazine.

3. Empire magazine.

4. It’s good that they added reviews such as ultimate review and the
I chose this magazine cover Oscars special, this helps to promote the magazines. It is also under
because it stands out from their the masthead which tells people that this is a good magazine and it
usual designs. The masthead is worth reading.
not on full display, this might be
because it’s a well-known title. It
also ties in with the theme of the The bar code is placed
film i.e. the film is the iron man neatly in the corner. It
and the masthead is featured as also ties in with the
electric. colour scheme as the
background of the bar
code is white and so is
some of the text on the
I also like how they have played magazine.
on the word Clooney. Clooney is
an actor and obviously features
in this magazine. I think this is I like how they have
cleverly done as it fits up the top added other shows at
of the magazine but still gives the bottom of the
the information. magazine and how they
have emphasised them
stating they are ‘THREE
AMAZING EXCLUSIVES’.
They also comment on when the I feel this makes the
film is debuted however I feel this magazine complete as if
could be done in a more clear way they didn’t have the
as it just says ‘ALL HAIL THE KING extra picture at the
OF 2010’. bottom then the bottom
of the magazine would
look empty.

6. Entertainment Weekly
magazine.

7. I like how the masthead has a separate piece of text at the end. It informs the
reader that the magazine does a weekly edition. It also stands out because it is
a different colour and different font from the main masthead.
There is a clear colour On this magazine
scheme that is used on this cover the main image
magazine cover. The colour is Johnny Depp’s
scheme also ties in with the character. This image
film. We can tell what genre sets the whole scene
the film might be because of up for the magazine.
the colours for example I feel This image also
that this film will be quite suggests that the
dark because they have used genre is a horror. This
a dark red. They have also is because the
used white and light blue photograph is a
which are cold colours. This stereotypical one of a
ties in with the image as the horror genre.
character looks cold and
dark. We can clearly see a
known actors name in
I like the different font big bold letters. This
styles because it makes catches our eye
the magazine look more because of the font
professional and colour. There are also
interesting. I also how the other actor’s names in
number is in big bold bold to help advertise
writing. the film.
The layout of the magazine is neat and condense. The text layout of the text
is in the bottom and top corners opposite one another.

8. Total Film magazine.

9. Here we have the usual total
Here is a magazine film mast head. Again the
which is covering the mast head is behind the
TOTAL FILM people. The mast head
MAGAZINE. As we can takes up quarter of the
see it is an unusual magazine cover. The title
magazine cover but the above also reflects the
theme fit in well with magazine theme as it says
the theme of the film. THE MODERN GUIDE TO
The whole of the cover MOVIES. This reflects the
is made up of people’s magazine cover because it
faces. Again this fits in is a new style. THE
well with the theme of MODERN GUIDE TO
the film. This magazine MOVIES title is in front of
would also stand out on the people. It also stands
the shelf because it’s out more because it’s in
so different to others. front of the people.
Here we can see the The text at the bottom also
main character that is in is in front of the people. The
the film. He is behind all text also plays on word as it
of the individual people. states Get Connected. This
The picture looks quite is a play on words as The
washed out however Social Network is on the
that doesn’t matter internet. People might find
because of strange this quite amusing. It also
theme throughout the gives us an idea the social
magazine. network is specified on
facebook.

10. Masthead.
When looking at all of the magazine
mastheads I noticed that the majority of the
mastheads were placed in front of main
picture. I have also decided to use this
convention and have done the same on my
own magazine. I also used a similar colour of
Entertainment Weekly for my masthead
because it was the most appealing colour out
of all the magazine mastheads. The colour
also went well with the theme of the
magazine because the blue could be seen as
a cold colour. The colour also goes really well
with the mood of the picture.

11. Background.
When looking at the backgrounds of magazines I noticed that
the covers that has a lot of information on had plain
backgrounds i.e a picture whereas magazine covers with a lot of
detail on the picture such as Total Film Social network edition
had less information on than others. I didn’t want any
distraction on my magazine so I decide that the whole of my
magazine background would be the main picture. I decided this
because the picture was black and white which means that any
colour scheme would go with it. This also meant that I could add
on more information on my own cover.

12. Colours match the font on
previous slide. For
example pink arrows = bar
code.

13. Conventions.
I looked at the cover stories on Empire's Harry Potter edition and used the layout on my own magazine. I chose
this edition because I felt that the cover looked organised and neat. The individual stories are easy to read and
the magazine looks interesting. Each of these points below are featured on Empire’s Harry Potter edition and
my on magazine product.
•Empire have put an award on their magazine cover I have decided to use this on my own magazine so I have
added the an award from the previous year so my target audience would know that this is a good magazine to
read. I also put it under the masthead so the award would be associated with this magazine.
•Empire has put in a MASSIVE PREVIEW SPECIAL on their cover. I have decided to use this and have also used
the MASSIVE PREVIEW SPECIAL because I thought it was a great item for people to spot when its on the shelf.
•Empire has put in cover other stories such as 45 films you need to know about. I have developed this and
have included the extra information about 35 new films that you need to know about. I added this in because I
thought that this would encourage more people to pick up the magazine and buy it.
•Empire has also included films down the side of the magazine. I have decided to use this and have included a
list of other films that viewers might be interested in. This could also help sell my magazine.
•Empire has more films at the bottom of the cover. I have used this and added some more film names at the
bottom of the magazine. This helps make the cover look more packed which is what I was going for. I also
added the lines that helped me separate the films up, the lines also helped the colour scheme carry on
throughout my magazine.
•Empire has placed their mast head in front of their image. I have used this and have placed my masthead in
front of my picture. I did this because I wanted my masthead to be in the fore ground so nothing obstructed the
view.
•Empire have placed a website on their magazine. I have used this and I have added my own website. I have
placed the website for my magazine under the mast head on the right. This is because there was enough room
under the masthead and it can also be seen easily .
•Empire have added the characters name and a quote from the film. I have developed this and I have added a
quote under the title. The quote says ‘ The best horror film in years’. I have done this again to help advertise my
film. I have also placed the title above it just to remind people what my film is called and the title will be
associated with the character.
•Empire have place the bar code in the bottom right. I have used this and I have also placed the bar code in the
bottom right of the magazine. I did this because the bar code is place neatly out the way but when taken to the
till it can easily be scanned. Empire did the same with there edition of Harry Potter.