Evaluation question 1

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

When making any media text it is important to follow some conventions because you need to have a structure for your product to work. You want your target audience to be able to identify the genre product as well as the genre. You want the magazine to stand out and for them to instantly know what sort of magazine it is, instead of having to work it out.
However challenging some conventions makes your magazine different to other magazines that are of the same genre, you want your magazine to bring something new and fresh but at the same time it still being similar to other magazine of the same genre so your target audience knows what genre it is.

The technical conventions of an RnB music magazine would be to have the Masthead  normally at the top left, it is in bold font that is really visible and straight away you know it is the Masthead. The Masthead is also short and snappy and relates to the RnB genre, my Masthead is ‘UJ’ which I think works really well because it sounds like an RnB magazine name, it is also what a name my target audience preferred.
A key convention is having strong sell lines that are appealing and relate to the RnB industry, on my front cover of my magazine I think I have strong sell lines that are appealing and interesting to read. I have used current RnB artists that are dominant in the industry that I believe will appeal to RnB fans as they will associate my magazine as being current and up to date.
The dominant image is another key convention it is also the main focus on the front cover of a magazine. Normally the dominant image is central and the model is looking into the camera. Looking at RnB/Hip Hop magazine covers I have noticed that Red, Black and White are used quite frequently on the front of RnB/Hip Hop magazines and other music magazines like NME.

The technical conventions for an RnB contents page would be to have features and regulars, normally the features and regulars are in a column on opposite sides of the page. Also on the contents page the main story on the front cover is normally in bigger font or made a little more eye catching so as soon as you open up the contents you know what page the main story is on. I really like the layout of the RnB magazine ‘Vibe’ I think it’s really interesting to look at. Also ‘Vibe’ uses Red, black and white as their colour scheme which I also think works really well. The technical conventions of an RnB feature page would be to have a big image of your celebrity on one page with a pull quote that makes the target audience want to read your article. Also it would have an introductory paragraph and another pull quote on the same side as the writing of the article. The symbolic conventions of an RnB music magazine would be the bling/jewellery that the artists wear, which links back to what I wrote in my Genre and Iconography. The poses that the artists are photographed in are normally showing off the female artists flesh and male artists it’s showing that they are dominant and in control and have a good physique which is appealing to women because they find that exciting and sexy. Also the artists whether they are male or female are normally wearing tight fitted clothes or hardly any clothes at all to make them stand out and live up to the ‘sex icon’ name.

Red, black and white are used a lot as the 3 colour scheme, they work well and the red and white links in with the connotations of the artists because the connotation of Red is sexy and dangerous which links in with the reason the artists are known as ‘sex symbols’. Also the connotation of white is virginity and purity that is linked to most RnB artists, as they are very humble and thankful for where they are and the red shows their playful side. The dominant image on a RnB magazine is very obvious and the first thing you would look at on the magazine, normally the female artists are posed in sexual poses and revealing clothes and jewellery which would attract men to read the magazine and also women because they might idolise them. Men are also shown as sexy, normally they have tattoos and muscles and are wearing jewellery and clothing to show off their muscles, which is appealing to women because they find them really attractive and sexy. However men are interested because they idolise them also.Overall I think that my magazine follows most of the technical conventions for an RnB magazine, however I have also subverted some technical conventions.

 For my front cover I have followed the key conventions, I have a sharp Masthead that works really well and I also have used strong sell lines that fit in well with my RnB genre. My dominant image is centered in the middle of my magazine cover which is following the technical conventions and I also have a reasonable price and a bar code as well. My magazine challenges the symbolic conventions for an RnB/Hip Hop music magazine. Normally majority of female RnB/Hip-hop artists are showing flesh because they are known as ‘sexy’ or as a ‘sex symbol’. My media products challenges the stereotypes of an RnB magazine front cover, as it is normally with a female wearing hardly any clothes and her body is posed in a seductive way however I decided to challenge the convention because I still think it works really well. The model still looks appealing because of how I have dressed him and the image I have used on my front cover makes him look fierce and fresh. Even though I have challenged some of the symbolic conventions I think that my magazine still works really well and I am really proud of what I have created. I have still created the RnB style and the genre is clearly visible due to the colour scheme used and the featuring artists I just decided to take a different approach to the main image and expressing the males rather than the females, the females are used to gain males attention whereas I believe that using a male would address both male and female as the females would be psychically attracted due to his looks and them thinking he’s good looking an the males would be more attracted to him being something for them to look u to if they see a male being able to gain females attention and being successful then they would want to be like him to get the same.

The layout of my magazine is very similar to the RnB magazine 'XXL' as it is a successful and current magazine and I think that my layout works well. My sell lines look and sound professional and they fit around my dominant image brilliantly. My contents page looks professional but again next to a magazine like Vibe you can tell that the images aren't a photo shoot created by professional photographers. If I was to do this again then I would possibly use a different location, I did take the photos again however even after doing this I would still change them, My features and regulars look like a real magazine, I loved the contents page layout that XXL used and mine is very similar. My contents page is of a similar layout because I really liked the way they have set out their features and regulars, it looked professional and even though fairly simple it still drew your eye to it and the certain parts that needed to be stood out were bold and drew your eye to them.