In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Here are some existing Reggae Music Magazines with conventions labelled:
Here is my cover:
My mast head follows the conventions of mastheads on other Reggae Music magazines. It is placed at the center top of the page, as this then allows the magazine to be displayed easily. This placement also means it is naturally the first place people will look, due to the direction we read which is then helping make the masthead noticeable. Like the other mastheads mine uses bright colours, Jamaican colours and cold fonts to help stand out and to also attract the right audience. Red, yellow,green and orange are the most conventional colours for a reggae magazine as they represent the colours of Jamaica which mainly where reggae music originates from and i made the masthead orange as it is quite a bright colour and is quite attention grabbing.
My main image is conventional as it uses a direct mode of address. The direct mode of address is uses to help create a bond between the artists and readers, making the reader feel more involved in the cover. It ca also be used to entice an audience. My main image follows the convention of being a centre image and the largest image on the page. This helps to make the main image stand out and noticeable for the reader which Is very important as it is usually the image which will attract the most readers as it is often a very well known artist. All three off the reggae artists look very relaxed and peaceful.
Main Feature Story:
My main feature story follows the convention of being large, meaning it helps stand out and it most like the first thing readers will read and notice. It also conforms to the convention of having smaller texts explaining in a little bit more detail. I developed this convention by making the 'EXCLUSIVE' in capitals and bold with a bright colour to help stand out and mean something to the magazine.
Plugs:
I followed the convention of using plugs for my magazine. I think that plugs are very effective to advertise key features of the magazine. I followed the convention of having it quite bright in order to make then attention-grabbing. In my plug I advertised winning tickets to see a reggae band and I wanted to include these in the plug as it would grab the reggae readers attention as they are a successful and big reggae band.
Bar Code:
My magazine cover uses the convention of a bar code. This is important as it allows the magazine to be scanned in a shop, allowing the magazine to be purchased.
Price:
My magazine follows the convention of displaying the price on the cover. This is important as it allows buyers to know how much they are paying for the magazine.
Issue:
A convention of magazine covers is to include which issue the magazine is. I used this convention as it is important to allow the reader to know when the issue was published.
Colour Scheme:
The conventional colour scheme for reggae music magazines is normally the Jamaica colours of yellow, green, red and orange which are bright colours.
Overall the cover and magazines are very eye catching. The use of the bright colours give a feel of peace and happiness as that is what reggae music is said to be about. All the cover features seem bright and exciting due to the large, bold, bright colours used which will entice the reader.
Range of Different Fonts:
The conventional idea of fonts for reggae seems to be seen as handwritten, quite rock look alike and sometimes the fonts look like more of a stamp. This can give many effects to the reader as some give a peaceful effect and other give more of a snappy effect.
Reggae Artists/Bands:
Well known Reggae artists are most popular amongst the reggae/peace/Jamaican lovers. On a magazine the artists/bands name are normally capitalised to show their importance. Also they are normally referred by their first name only as they are very well known. This also adds to the friendly tone of the cover, allowing the audience to relate with the artists/bands. I followed these conventions. I used well known artists in the reggae world conforming to the genre. i also made the names of the artists larger than other texts and capitalised them to help emphasise their popularity and importance. Names of artists/bands written in a large font also makes the name more noticeable, which would attract people who are interested in the artists themselves. I developed this convention by writing the names of the artists in attention grabbing colours such as yellow, red, orange and green.
Contents Page:
I used the convention of re-using my masthead on my contents page. I did this for continuity and to create a 'brand'. The design of my masthead sat on top of the title for 'contents'.
The Feature list is a necessity: I used this convention as not all of the features can be advertised with a secondary image on just one page. I developed the convention by having a bright orange background as an orange is a attention grabbing.
Cover Stories Featured: I used the convention of featuring cover stories. This helps add continuity to the magazine, making it more professional. It also helps to avoid confusion for the reader.
Main Feature story near the start of the magazine: I also used this convention as it is important that the ost exciting feature for the readers is near the front of the magazine as it will then be easier to get too. If readers lots interest at the start of the magazine they might not then continue to read on. They then wouldn't buy the next issue and so on.
Realistic amount of pages for the price: As my magazine is only at a price of £2.99, it is in the cheap range of magazines. Because of this i couldn't include lots of pages. in my magazine i include aboput 46.
Page numbers: possibly the most important convention of a contents page as they allow the reader to navigate the magazine. I displayed page numbers throughout the contents page.
