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

2. My GenreI knew from the beginning of my course that I wanted to do a rock magazine because |it is one of my favourite genres, as so I knew a lot about it already. And because I knew about it, I could then relate to my target audience which I the same age as me (16-17). I mainly tried to stick with the typical conventions and tropes of magazines and rock as I thought that it would be difficult trying to challenge them, however there are actually details that suggest I have gone against the tropes, which I did not actually plan. 3. Rock ConventionsThroughout my research I discovered many rock conventions, these helped me as I was able to see what appealed to the audience and what did not.Bold MastheadLarge Band nameRed is a very popular colourDirect mode of address from the modelsOther sell linesButtonThumbnailsDark clothingBoost Edit 4. Magazine conventions 2. 5. DominanceWhen doing my market research I noticed that a lot of rock artists were all male bands, apart from the odd one or two such as Paramore. Even so rock is usually associated with male bands. And so when taking my magazine pictures I decided to challenge this trope and use a mixed gender band (two girls and two boys) This way I thought that I can then appeal to both the female and male audience therefore increasing the target audience. But also when doing this I made sure I gave them all a rock look e.g. Leather or denim jackets, skinny jeans and dark clothes. This way I am sticking to the fashion conventions and people are able to recognise what sort of magazine it is. 6. Challenging ConventionsIn a previous post I mentioned a magazine called Raygun this magazine challenged most conventions of magazines sue to its strange imagery and presentation. In the end Raygun did not sell very well and and eventually went bust and stopped being produced. For this reason I decided that if I were to challenge conventions I would make any major changes that may jeopardise the magazine, such as the images used as I still want it to feel and look like a rock magazine. Some conventions that I did challenge the fact that I used a picture with a background many magazines use plain backgrounds I also filled in the boxes of test to make them stand out, however saying this the colours I used sit with the rock style scheme as read black and white are usually used. 7. The Front CoverOne big convention I had stuck to is theimage and it being that I have used aband and that they are groupedtogether. I also used the edit boost toenhance the colours. The models arenot smiling and instead are makingeye contact with a moody expressionto show that this is a rock magazineand not a light hearted magazine suchas pop. I also made sure that therewere not posing and just lookedquite casual as that is anotherconvention of rock. So I just toldthem to stand normally and natural torepresent my genre. On the frontcover I think generally stuck to mostof the conventions. 8. How can you tell it is about your genre As you can see I have used a large title atthe top and my bands name is alsolarge. I have also used a title that issomething to do with music. Qmagazine actually means cue as incueing a record ready to play. Also Ihave followed a convention of rollingstones magazine, that being their title iscompletely different font of the rest ofthe magazine. Another trope I havestuck to is the use of a button theseseem to be common on rockmagazines. One big convention I hadstuck to is the image and it being that Ihave used a band and that they aregrouped together. 9. Contents PageWhen doing research on magazine contents pages I found that bis pictures were used however the writing was usually on a white background so decided to challenge this convention and spread the big picture and make it the background and I think that it worked really well. I also highlighted the contents in black which is a typical convention of the contents page as you can see in the pictures. I also stuck with the convention of using thumbnail pictures to show what would be inside the magazine. I also stuck with putting in an editorial message because I did not only see it in rock magazines but most music magazines and with the subtitle I made sure that they were a different colour to the rest of the text to make them stand out you see this in most magazine. I think overall I did not really stick the the typical look of a music magazine and there conventions but I kept to the conventions when it came to smaller details. 10. Contents Page 2 11. Double Page SpreadWhen making my double page spread I stuck to the colour scheme I had usedwith my contents and front cover which is black white red and blue and alsothe fonts, fluidity is key and is one major convention of any magazine. I alsodid a little introduction paragraph before the actual interview which is atypical thing to do on Q&A spreads I also think it gives it a more up to datelook. When it came to the image most rock magazine DPSs had the pictureon one side and the writing on another so I kept to this conventions and I alsochoose a picture that was at a different angle to the front cover as this again isusually seen in rock magazines. There was one double page spread interviewthat I inspired mine on and that was on Teen Spirit in Kerrang magazinewhich you can see on the nest slide, I loved the band names font and theunusual angle of the picture. More conventions I stuck to was the 3 columns,most Q&A interviews in rock magazines use three columns probably to giveit a more full and maybe busy look. Some some conventions I did not stick towas the fact that I added in some extra pictures behind the writing, you donot really see this on double page spreads. 12. Double Page Spread 2 13. ConclusionOverall I feel that my magazine has stuck to the rock conventions as I have used fluidity (same font and colour scheme) and have definitely shown that it is a rock magazine, however in some ways I have challenged some conventions because I wanted my magazine to be a little different which I love because even though these conventions that make it different, to make it stand out is actually a convention of rock music. To be different. I am really happy with my final piece as I think that it meets the criteria and would appeal to my target audience.