Evaluation Task 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Here is a montage of the features used on my music magazine that I have decided to be conventional to a music magazine:

The title resembles the KERRANG logo, having a shattered effect like it. It also shares music connotations with KERRANG, as Kerrang is the supposed sound of an electric guitar and Struck is the sound of a drum being hit. This was my inspiration for my music magazine name, and I think that it is appropriate and conveys music successfully, sharing conventions with already existing music magazines.

The “Subscribe to STRUCK” box that I used is a typical feature of music magazines, promoting the product and persuading the audience to save money by buying the magazine in bulk. This is effective as it commits people to buying the magazine, and I have noticed this in other magazines.

The band index is a common feature of music magazines, which sets them apart from lifestyle or fitness magazine. My band index features a diversity of acts, such as JLS but also the red hot chilli peppers. This conveys the mix of artists could draw in the wide array of artists in my magazine and people, as something appeals to everybody. This is stereotypical of a music magazine and determines that my magazine is definitely a music magazine.

I used a quote from the interview on my front cover line for my interview with Sophia Martinez, and then used the alliterative line “Latino Loco”. The quote gives the audience a preview for the interview, so they can gain insight to the singer’s personality and immediately give the picture of her a personality.

The live gig photo that I have used in my contents conveys the separatism of genres in my music magazine, as the genre, which Sophia is, is quite specific and needs some broadening. I have seen this technique employed in various magazines, such as Q, which has quite a varied genre base; it has interviewed acts such as Cheryl Cole and also rock bands such as My Chemical Romance. This in turn attracts more readers as people with varied tastes will want to read the music magazine.

The quote “I’ll Make the O2 arena sell Fajitas” is set out apart from the text, in pink and black. This is a common feature of music magazines, as it draws emphasis to words in the text. The font also compliments the house style as it is the same and uses the same effect. This represents continuity throughout my music magazine.

The picture of Cheryl Cole's eyes bears some resemblance to the picture I used of Sophie. Both are making enigmatic eye contact with the reader, enhanced through a lot of eye makeup and a mysterious gaze.

The part of writing, "oh, it's amazing, isn't it? everything is so cute!" is very informal and this is typical of a music magazine. It is as if the artist is actually having a conversation with the reader, taking the form of a friend. The casual conversation present in the magazine is suggestive of a music magazine.

The polaroid-look photo adds a "personal" feel to the magazine ; as it looks as if they have just been placed there rather than an artificial computer feel. There are three photos, each showing Sophia in the same outfit but in a different pose, which conveys the different sides and complexity of her character.

I also used text wrap in indesign, which is frequently a feature of double page spreads.

I have also chose to compare my entire contents page with one of NME, which I feel bears some similarities:

As i have previously identified in my planning, I had to use these features of music magazines, as they were ones which featured in both Kerrang! and NME

Therefore I :

• Made my title start from the left and go to the right
• I used a strapline, although it didn't suit my magazine photo and layout to have it at the top, so I put it at the bottom instead.
• I used a circle with an 'extra' : "2010 calander"
• I added my artist names at the top
• I put Sophia Martinez, my main act, in a bigger font, I included a quote and a summary of the article to convey her importance.

Here is my front page compared to other front pages. As you can see, it uses conventions of a front cover well.