Media evaluation 1

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP, OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS

2. MASTHEAD
I decided to name my magazine ‘Rave’. This is because the genre that I am doing is clubbing and my target audience are a young age group and that the word that they use for ‘partying’. I decided to use their
language and not make it too formal as I wanted to keep it appropriate for them. Not only that, but also the masthead will be the only big and bold written element on the magazine cover and so the audience
will judge the magazine looking at the masthead. As you can see, the clubbing genre of the mastheads shown above and immediately the similarities that I can pick up is that they either have 2 syllables, or 2
words. However, if you compare that to my masthead it wont fit in as mine is only one word with one syllable. I have chosen it to be this way because I wanted the masthead to be short and snappy. I wanted
to display as least letters as possible on the cover so that the masthead could sound catchy. I have seen multiple music magazine use this trick so I have decided to follow the convention of music magazine
mastheads, but not clubbing mastheads.
As I haven’t followed that convention, I still followed another clubbing convention which is that they always match their mastheads to the rest of the magazine cover. As you can see, I have clearly done that as
my central image as well as my cover lines had the colour blue a lot and that is what I have done. I followed this convention as a lot of clubbing magazines did it especially the ones that I have chosen to
analyze throughout this project. Its worth mentioning that I have also tried more than one masthead and I have analyzed them all. This helped me to pick up the most suitable and appropriate design that fits
my genre as well as target audience. I have posted this task on my blog also.
Moving onto the design of this masthead, I have chosen to use a bold font. This is because as you can see mixmag and the bible all have have bold mastheads and I wanted to follow that convention. Not only
that but other music magazine covers also follow this convention. It is important for the masthead to be clearly shown as it is one of the main elements of a magazine cover. Not only that, but the font of of
mixmag is bubbly and curvy while the font for the bible magazine is straight and serious looking. I have added a combination of both fonts as I have used a straight bold font like the bible masthead and I have
also added effects so that the masthead looks bubbly and fun just like my target audience. I have decided to outline the masthead. As you can see the clubbing magazine masthead that I have shown above
don’t have any outline, even with the other mastheads below of music magazines. I have decided to challenge this convention as the font colour of my masthead is black as well as my background and if I left it
without an outline then it would blend with the background and will not be visible and that is the last thing we want as the main convention for it is to stand out. As I wanted to follow the convention originally,
I decided to change the colour of the masthead to blue. This then made the magazine cover look childish as the colour was so bright. This is how I came up with this idea of only applying the outline of the
blue to my masthead as I wanted to match my masthead to the rest of my magazine colour. I have seen mixmag already do this as well as the clubbing bible and so I have decided to follow that.
In terms of similarities of mixmag masthead and my own masthead is that they are both bold and noticeable. More, importantly they are both positioned at the top of the magazine cover. The clubbing bible
as well as other music magazine mastheads also display it at the top of the magazine cover as it ensures that it is easily visible and clear to read. I have also noticed that even though mixmag magazine is very
successful and known, they still do not display their mastheads behind the model on the central image. I wanted to show professionalism and so followed the convention. Overall, I feel that I have conformed
to the conventions of magazines and developed some, particularly with the style.
Metal RockR&B/HIP HOP

3. MISE-EN-SCENE OF MAGAZINE COVER
Images are a very important part of the magazine as they attract the audience, especially for the magazine cover because
it’s the only visual element as the rest are all writing and text. As you can see on my blog I have planned my photoshoots
well so that the outcome could be impressive and attractive for my target audience.
Starting with the shot, I have used a medium close up as I wanted the main focus of the image to be the models face. This
is because all the props went on her face. Also, I chose for my model to be a female, this is because most of my target
audience are males and so they would be interested in the opposite sex. Not only that but a medium close up is a very
good shot to use if you want to show the models facial expressions and that is exactly what I tried to do. This is because
through the medium close up you could see that her mouth is wide open. This could tell us a lot about her personality.
My target audience are young and interested in clubbing a lot which would indicate that they are very energetic.
Energetic people would usually pull these kind of facial expressions as that could relate to the music also. It could relate
to the music because clubbing music is very loud and usually when someone widens their mouth that would mean they
are shouting. This could refer to my audience as they are young and the typical stereotype of young people is that they
ae loud. This may relate to Jacques Lacan theory ‘Ideal I or ideal-ego’. This is because they might spire to be like the girl
on the front cover as she might look fun and energetic. They might aspire to this model also because they are into
clubbing and they would want to perhaps have a sense of style like her, with the make up and the glasses.
Next, moving onto the props that I have used for this photoshoot, as you can see from the image opposite, I have used
neon make up. This prop was the main element of this image as it represented the clubbing atmosphere. I have
challenged my convention here as in all of the mixmag central images, they show the persons features. However, here I
made the main focus the neon make up and presenting the club more instead of focusing on who the model is. I have
done this to enable the central image to look interesting as my target audience are young adults and so they get
attracted by elements such as the image. As well as the neon make up, I have also added the clubbing glasses. This is a
clubbing element and so it ensures that my magazine represents my genre. This follows the key convention as mixmag
uses props that young adults would most likely wear, such as caps and jumpers as shown in the examples I have
provided.
In terms of lighting. I haven’t used any studio lighting here as I needed to be in a very dark room. Within this room I have
used special lighting called a UV black light. This type of light allows you to exaggerate the colors on the models face.
This is to represent the vibrant lights that you would find at the club. ‘

4. MISE-EN-SCENE FOR CONTENTS PAGE
For this photoshoot, I have used mise-en-scene to represent my genre. I haven't manipulated this picture as much because I wanted to
preserve the natural raw colors. Not only that, but because the picture was already vibrant, I didn't’t want to develop it furthermore and
make it look unprofessional. Many of the contents pages that I have seen use pictures that look very natural and so I will follow that
convention.
Starting with costume, I decided to make the model wear a white t shirt. This is because t shirts are usually worn when clubbing (men),
especially to neon clubbing as they need to wear a bright colour so that the colors of paint could show up when it is splashed on them.
T shirts are very simple and so I believe that this is suitable for my target audience as they are young. Looking at existing mixmag
contents pages, I see that they are all images of people raving and that was my purpose for this photoshoot. Linking this back to
costume, the models in the picture (if men) are either shirtless or with a T shirt on. I have shown some examples opposite.
In terms of props, I have decided to stick to my ‘neon’ clubbing theme and use neon make up on this photoshoot. This is because I
wanted to make it seem that this picture has been taken live and not planned in a studio. I did this as I wanted to follow this
convention that mixmag does. I feel as though this makes the contents page look very realistic and professional. I have put this neon
paint on this model carelessly as again I wanted to make it look live and not planned. I have decided to use a male for the contents
page as I was planning to use a women for double page spread and I didn't’t want to use women throughout the whole magazine as
this magazine is aimed at both men and women. This is how I see it done on clubbing magazines and so I choose not to challenge this
convention as it is repeated throughout all music magazines and that shows that it is a very important convention. For props, I have
also used a bracelet on my models wrist. This is because young adults are usually interested in jewelry like watches, bracelets etc.…
Moving onto lighting, I have used the UV black light again here just like the cover image. This is because I wanted to show consistency
and stick to a theme as I have seen clubbing magazine do that and I wanted to follow that to ensure that my contents make looks
believable and professional. The UV back light enabled the colors to appear vibrant just like the colors that you would find in a club for
lighting.
The shot that I have used in this photoshoot is a medium shot. This iis because I wanted to focus on the shirt as well as the models
face. I wanted to show the paint as that was the main focus on this picture. Not only that, but when looking at existing contents pages,
I have noticed that most of them are medium shots just like the ones I have shown opposite. Also, through the medium shot you are
still able to see the models facial expressions and so you could see his tongue out. This could represent my target audience as they like
to pull these kind of silly facial expressions. In clubbing contents images, you always see young people having fun and to show that,
they usually pull silly facial expressions like sticking their tongue out.

5. MISE-EN-SCENE OF DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD
Finally, moving onto the photoshoot for double page spread I have decided to do something different and not like the front
cover and contents page as I don’t want it to become repetitive. However, I still want it to link to my genre and theme.
Starting with props, I have decided to make my own raving bra. This is because I wanted to relate this to my genre so much and
so I knew that females sometimes wear light up raving bras. I have explained the steps on how I have made it on my blog.
Looking at clubbing magazines, I noticed that females show a lot of skin and that could be because they are young and young
people often enjoy to show off their body and that is exactly what I am betraying in this photoshoot. As you can see the bra has
lights on it (same colour scheme as cover picture).
On this photoshoot, I decided to use a different set of lighting. The lighting that I went for here was colored lighting. I felt as
though it would show a realistic depiction of her actually being at a club. Not only that, but it shows the atmosphere of the club
as the background is black and the colour of her skin is red which you will immediately indicate that it is the clubbing lighting or
artificial lighting. I have decided to do this as when looking through double page spreads for clubbing genre, I have realized that
they always do it at a studio and so I thought I need to show that it was planned instead of showing that it was live. This then
brings us to how the model is standing. To show that this photoshoot is planned, I have made the model stand straight and not
make her look as though she is dancing. I have provided some example below that supports my idea. I have decided to follow this
convention to ensure that the magazine looks as realistic as possible.
Finally, I have decided to use a medium shot for this photoshoot. This is because I wanted the main focus of this image to be the
bra as that is the only colored thing shown on the model. You could see that I have made the model all one colour and made sure
that there are no distractions. I made sure that the bra was the first thing they saw when flicking to this page. Clubbing magazines
have use a wide variety of
shots as I have shown below. They use close up, medium close
up, medium shot, and also long shot. It depends on what the
picture is and what the purpose behind it is. So, for this part
of magazine, I was forced to use my knowledge and
understanding as to which shot I should use and which is
suitable for the type of picture I am taking.

6. When choosing my font, I knew that it was a very important step as typography needs to be considered very well before its done. This is why I have done a good amount of
research on typography and on which font suits my genre best.
Within my research I have found out that ALL magazines tend to use simple fonts that could be close to
Times New Romans as they only want it to be easily readable. This is why I have decided to use fonts such
as ‘Futura’ on the cover picture so that it is bold and easy to read. The font that I have used on my magazine
cover is very similar to the font that mixmag use on their front covers. I have showed this opposite. Throughout looking
at current magazine covers, I have realized that most of them use the same font throughout the whole magazine
cover. However, I decided to develop this convention and use more than one font. I have used 3 fonts on my
cover, this is because I wanted to use font to show importance for example, for the main cover line, it must
stand out the most and so it should be the most bold text in the whole cover. This way, it will stand out more
and people will know that it is the main cover line.
For contents page, within my research I found out that same with front cover you should not use more than 2
fonts. I have decided to follow that as I have already developed this convention and so I felt as though I
didn't’t want the magazine cover too be crowded with so many different typography. This makes it look very
unprofessional and that is of course that last thing we want! So, I have decided to only use two fonts for contents page
which is Arial Black for the headings and Calibri for the description. I thought these were perfect as they didn't’t have a serious look to them as we don’t want that because
my target audience are young adults and serious fonts do not represent them in any way.
Finally for the double page spread, I decided to use bold heading with curvy edges as again, I didn’t want the
typography to be too serious for my target audience. However, on mixmag, they show their double page spread
headings as being very thing and small. I have decided to challenge this convention as I know that if I use the type
of typography that a mixmag uses on their double page spreads then the headings will not stand out against the black
background and it would be hard to read.
In terms of house style, as I have mentioned I have changed my colors from pink, black and green to blue, white, and orange. I did this because my survey results stated
that the blue/orange colour schemed magazine products have attracted my target audience and suited them best.
FONT AND HOUSE STYLE
Mixmag
magazine
My magazine

7. LANGUAGE
The written element of my magazine cover definitely follows the key conventions of magazines similar to my genre. I used specific language to grab my audiences
attention as they are attracted to a certain type of language. Not only that, but I also used a specific kind of language to ensure that it is suitable for my target audience.
For example, I decided to use informal language instead of formal. This is because young adults tend to prefer to use informal language.
Before I started to create my double page spread, I have analyzed several double page spreads of the genre that I am doing so that I could get an idea of how to write the
article and the heading. For example, one of the double pages that I have analyzed had ‘BIG IN THE GAME’ as their title. This is when I decided that my heading for my
double page spread was going to be ‘DJ WAS MY STAGE NAME’. From that, you could immediately pick up some similarities. For example a key convention of a title
should be that it is very short, and as you could see I only used 5 words. This ensures that the title is short and catchy so that the audience would feel that they want to
read the article.
In terms of the actual article. I have used other language devices such as alliteration, assonance, grammatical techniques
such as teasers and also finally punctuation marks to exaggerate some phrases on the article. I have seen these devices
used in within the double page spreads that I have analysed and so I know that this is a key convention. I decided to follow
this convention as I wanted my article to look very professional. I have also included an interview to ensure that my target
audiences are entertained. This is also something magazines do and so I have followed it.
For my contents page, I have also used specific language and words such as ‘ where you at?’ and ‘tick’em off’ etc.… I
have used words that are not only informal but also words that relate to the genre itself. This is because I have seen
mixmag clubbing magazine do this and so I wanted to make my magazine suit my target audience as much as
possible.
Finally, for my magazine cover, I have also used a specific language. I aimed to stay consistent with using the same
language throughout the whole of the magazine products. This is because all of the magazines that I have seen do
this. So, for my magazine cover, I have used words such as ‘madness’ and ‘vibes’. These are words that my target
audience would most likely use a lot and would also understand very well. For example, other people would say
‘music’ instead of ‘vibes’ however my target audience prefer to use vibes. I am doing this because I want to make the
audience feel as though they can relate to the magazine and so they could build a relationship with the magazine
itself.

8. CONTENTS PAGE LAYOUT
I had to research a lot before starting my lay out and as you can see I have done what I originally planned. I decided to
only place one big main picture on the side of the page. This is because I wanted to follow mixmags style as I really
enjoyed it. Not only that but also I am using mixmag for inspiration to make sure that my contents page looks as
professional and realistic as possible. I didn’t want the contents page to look overly crowded and so I decided to present
the contents in a list design so that they could fit the whole page. I have also displayed a CD section on the contents page.
This was inspired by the magazine mixmag as they did this on most of their contents page. I have displayed an example
below.
On this contents page I have also displayed a header and footer. The header was a key convention as all music contents
page and other magazine genres must display the word ‘contents’ as their title. This is so that the audience are clear that
this page is the contents. As you can see I have decided to follow this convention as it is not only done to clubbing music
magazine, but all magazines and so this tells me that this is an important convention. I have also decided to display the
name of the magazine as I know that this is a key convention. Between these two elements, I have added a date. This
element is not compulsory however some magazine do it. I wanted to do this as the genre of my magazine do it and so I
wanted to show professionalism.
For the footer, I have displayed the date again as well as the website of the magazine. This was also inspired by mixmag.
Usually, the pages of magazines contain number at the bottom. However, I have noticed that mixmag did this to all pages
on the magazine except for the contents page. This is why I did not insert numbers on the contents page.

9. DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD LAYOUT
In terms of the double page spread, I have followed a number of conventions when constructing it.
The first convention was the page numbers. As I mentioned on the previous slide mixmag the clubbing magazine
added page numbers to all pages within the magazine, except for the contents page. This meant that I had to add
numbers to the double page spread pages. I based my magazine on mixmag which is a monthly magazine with 30
pages and so this is why I wrote the number 20 and 21 at the bottom of the page.
The next convention that I have followed is the layout of the image. This is because mixmag presents the image on
one whole page and they use the other page for the article. As you can see, I have used this convention to show
realism and professionalism as well. Moving onto the layout of text, I have presented it in columns as that is how all
magazine double page spreads do it. It is not only music magazines that do this, but also other genres of
magazines. Also part of the article, I have seen double page spreads make the beginning letter of the article larger
than the rest of the article. This is so that the audience could clearly identify that this is when the article begins. I
have done this on my own double page spread as I wanted to use this convention.
As I have analysed various double page spreads that belong to clubbing genre, I have noticed that they rarely use
sub titles. However, in other music magazines they tend to use subtitles a lot. As I have shown the planning on my
blog, I have decided to use this element. This means that I have developed this convention. It is better to place sub
titles underneath the heading. This is because it gives the audience more of an idea about what the article is going
to be about. However, I had to ensure that the language that I used would attract the audiences.
Finally, I have included a pull out quote. I have seen many magazines in the clubbing genre as well as other genres
include pull out quotes. Pull out quotes catch the audiences attention as it is something that a celebrity might have
said, and it is also often dramatic so that it shocks the reader wanting them to read more. I have followed the
convention as clubbing magazines place the pull out quote around the article and not in the middle of the article
as some genres would do.

10. OTHER FEATURES
Barcode
I have placed this element at the bottom right
of this magazine cover. This is because I have
seen many other magazine do this, not only
clubbing magazines but also other types of
genres. This tells me that this is an important
convention and so I had to follow it to make
sure that my magazine cover looks as realistic
as possible.
Free gift
Music magazines would also
display that there is a free cd
included if offered. Because
clubbing magazines do this, I
have decided to add a free cd
and I displayed its promotion
on the top left corner. I have
done this because I see many
music magazines do this. Not
only that but this is the place
where it doesn't’t make the
magazine cover look
unorganized. I have also
placed the picture of the CD
that I have made on the
contents page as I wanted to
promote it furthermore. The
clubbing magazine mixmag
did it and so I was inspired to
do it as well.
Issue number
I have decided to add this in a very small font
next to my masthead. This is because that place
was the only place where it didn't’t have cover
lines. I added an issue number because I have
seen many magazines do this and I wanted to
make my magazine look very professional. Also
as you can see, I have used a very simple font.
This is because that is how they always present
it.