Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real media products?
Throughout the production of my coursework, I have attained many skills,

particularly from my preliminary task. I have been able to develop and plan my
production carefully whilst considering my audience, purpose and the
conventions of both indie/pop magazine. I chose Acoustic magazine to analyse
in depth in order to help me with my coursework because although a large
element of the magazine is playing music itself, they often feature indie-artists
which assisted my development in language choices for the magazine, as well as
the elements incorporating graphology such as choice in fonts, images, style of
photos/taking them and creation of the masthead. Particularly in development of
the masthead, I was evidently inspired by the masthead of Acoustic magazine,
this was because the masthead of Acoustic is particularly effective at being
simplistic yet extremely prominent and clear on the magazine cover without
over-dominating the cover.
I also chose Q magazine to analyse because it consists of the more quirky and
creative side of the genre which is what I wanted to incorporate in order to
ensure that I was able to successfully create the indie-pop genre in a way that
was appealing to my target demographic, who are primarily students and young
adults. Q can easily be recognised with its staple masthead as it is very
distinctive and uses layering in order to re-signify the single-letter choice. I
decided to use a similar method by incorporating the use of a plectrum with the
letter S with a drop shadow (Photoshop) as I felt that it would give the S
some dominance. I also felt that this would tie-in well with the genre as the word
Strung relates well to the term String or the idea of playing music. I felt
that this would conform well to the genre as indie-pop culture, although slightly
more subtle than the pop-genre alone is still very bold and clear in terms of the
style of all the elements which make it up such as; being individual but in a way
that is classy and subtle but still prominent. Likewise with the contents page I
included the style of the header of Q magazine but with the font for contents
page following a similar italic-style to Acoustic. The colours used in the
masthead are quite classy and stand out extremely from the background, which
conforms the genre conventions. The colour white connotes a sense of class and
style which is significant in appealing to the demographic.
The image of my primary model Emily Ilett used for the front cover and centre
spread both use direct mode of address. This is because it automatically acts as
a bait as you feel allured by her gaze. There is a sense of feminist ideology in the
way that image is taken as Emily is quite dominating the way her gaze appears
very much in control of the audiences gaze as it automatically forces them to
look directly at her. This challenges Laura Mulveys idea of female gaze as both
males and females are allured to her, the male gaze is not dominant, particularly
as the images is not sexualised. Likewise, on the front cover, there is a lack of
conformity as both Q and Acoustic place their artists in front of their
masthead, whereas I have placed Emily behind as she appears dominant enough
that the attention is already deterred from the masthead. I feel that this is
effective because my demographic will automatically be attracted to the subtle
difference as it makes Emily seem unique, which is a key convention of the genre
as a whole and is clearly shown in both of my in-depth studied magazines. In the
way of conformity, stereotypically the model is represented as having an image
of perfection, which my magazine does conform to. This is because according to
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs there is a need for self-esteem which is being
targeted as she looks perfect and the ideology that if you buy this magazine
you too can look like her would appeal to their need for self-esteem. The need
for belonging is also being targeted as everyone wants to be associated with
attractive people, particularly my demographic as they are youthful. From the
male perspective, as a small fraction of my demographic is male, the image
partially conforms to Laura Mulveys idea of male gaze as the model appears
attractive with quite a neutral and slightly sexualised facial expression as it is
extremely alluring. However, the model is not excessively sexual and
promiscuous. I decided to do this following Levi Strauss idea of the preferred
syntagm, as I wanted my magazine to appeal to the male minority yet still make
a clear obvious point that women do not need to be promiscuous in order to be
desirable. This conforms to the conventions of the genre in the respect that there
is that continuation of the class and individuality.
Also, with the real media products, I have conformed to the conventions of a
music magazine with the use of the pug, cover lines, page numbers, headers and
media links. I have ensured that I followed these typical conventions as these are
essential in ensuring that the magazine is professional and realistic, as in order
for the magazine to be sold to the demographic it must fit the expectations of
what a music magazine should contain.
Another common feature of the real media products is the use of synthetic
personalisation in order to target my demographic personally. For example the
use of I love you in my star interview, this makes it appear personal to each
reader which I found a common, effective feature. This is because making the
magazine more personal make sit appeal to a wider audience.
In conclusion, my target demographic is pleased with the outcome of my
magazine as they feel that it looks professional and I personally, I feel that this is
because I have been able to develop what I have learnt from my preliminary
task. I feel that the elements which are the most successful are the masthead
and the cover image in particular because they help to provide the magazine
with a strong, bold and unique feel which is essential when producing a new
magazine with a specific demographic in mind. Upon doing a verbal survey, I
have been able to conclude that the magazine does appeal to my target
demographic and that they appreciate the various elements of it. SHowever, I
perhaps could have considered in greater detail the article of the double page
spread and some other smaller features for the contents page such as thumbnail
images. Nevertheless, I am extremely proud of the work in which I have
produced and feel that the outcome was overall quite successful.

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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the production of my coursework, I have attained many skills,

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