Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When creating my media product I aimed to use similar conventions as magazines such as Kerrang! and NME. At the same time however, I wanted to make sure my magzine was original and unique by challenging certain conventions. My magzine contains a promenant masthead and a MCU of a band, similar to that of both Kerrang! and NME. By doing this, my magazine contains elements of Indie magazines that pretty much convey the image of the cover. Also, the design used for the "Free CD giveaway" is something often seen on Kerrang! magazine that I decided to adapt and develop for my own. I used the same colours for this feature as the rest of my cover so that it would seem fitting rather then Unnecessary. One of the ways in which my magazine cover is different then others is the use of a Splash effect in the upper right hand corner. I have not seen either Kerrang! or NME use this idea to sum up what is included within the magazine and thought it would be an interesting addition to my cover.
My Contents page contains several features that are common in Indie magazines. One of which is the use of a previous cover in the upper left hand corner with a caption. However, this being the first magazine of the series, I had to adapt this and use the current cover and use a more relevant caption to describe the magazine and what readers have to look forward to. One of the Features that is similar is the layout. The 3 column layout i used is common in Kerrang! magazine and is used to create an easy to understand format for the contents page that still looks professional. It is different in the way the photography has been done. The Photography contained on the contents pages in Kerrang! or NME, are often band photos on stage performing, however, my hotography is almost all done with the models being infront of a white background. This was done to make my contents page minimalistic and simple.

For my Double page spread I continued to keep things fairly simple. I kept the white colour scheme and used some of the colours from the cover/contents page for the larger fonts. By doing this, my magazine can remain consistant throughout. I feel this seperates it from many other indie magazines as they are often full of colours and pictures and can often be too busy. Alot of the colour within the photos themselves are also pale rather then bright and vivid. My double page spread is similar because of the information actually contained. The pages are about a new band and has an interview that contains input from each band member. This is quite commonly included within indie magazines and is therefore a good conversation topic. I believe that the layout I have used adapted the ideas used by other magazines. Often they have band photgraphs whilst performing, unlike mine. Also, the placement of the pictures and text is unusual in indie magazines.

The colours I have used for my magazine have been quite subdued. Often using dark red, yellow, Black + White. By doing this, I feel that I am stopping myself from bombarding my audience with loud and unnecessary colouring. By keeping it simple, I feel that the magazine will be more appealing to my C1/C2 audience (Jicnar Scale). I think this challenges dominant ideology as many people believe teenagers are becoming less intelligent, especially those who listen to indie/rock music, however, by including a simplistic and pale colour scheme and a lot of information on the double page spread it shows that this magazine is not appealing to a stereotypical audience, but an alternative audience.
I feel that the layout and design of my double page spread is the best example of my production giving an alternative representation of its target audience. Using a white background and pale colourings in the photos, continues my idea with the colour scheme, along with the dark red quote. Also, by filling the page with more artistic photography rather then performance shots gives the magazine more sophistication. Whilst keeping with an indie fashion sense, I feel the models have managed to keep the double page spread within its specified genre.