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

This is my answer to question 1 of the evaluation questions for my magazine coursework.

Mastheads

Above is two images of mastheads, the top one is from my magazine INTRO and the other is from a popular niche magazine published by bauer media called KERRANG!

My masthead for INTRO has been kept very simple and smart looking, with a sell line neatly placed underneath and slightly of centre to the right of the masthead. Above I have decided to place the issue number and date of the issue. The fonts I have used are modern and smart, With the font for the masthead being used to represent the cover on an amplifier, this therefore helps it fit in neatly with the genre of the magazine and connotes the idea of music and sound.

The masthead on Kerrang! magazine is a similar font to mine, with a bold and large black font being used. There are white lines slashed across the font, which connotes the impression that it is like glass, and the sound and volume of the music is smashing it. This helps represent the genre of the magazine and the demeanour of people who listen to it. Above there has been numerous tag and sell lines along the top of the masthead in the form of a banner. This helps sell the magazine but can also give the impression that it is cheap and tacky.

cover comparing

Above is an extract of my magazines front cover and Kerrang! magazines front cover. Both covers use the usual codes and conventions of magazines, however they are both laid out and presented differently. My magazine follows its genre and themes of indie and being smart and modern, however the kerrang cover is crammed and is very loud and bold. They both however feature cover lines and have a main image in the centre of the page. The coverline are laid out in the same format, and the image fills the whole of the page. Therefore even though they are two very different types of magazines and genres, they still both fit in with the usual codes and conventions of magazine and would both be able to stand out for different reasons on a news stand.

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