Evaluation Question 1

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

I looked at very successful magazines that are currently popular and well known. My main focus was on Kerrang, as they focus on rock and metal artists which is what my magazine is about. Therefore I deconstructed Kerrang, giving me ideas about conventions which were very important that I include in my magazine, and how to present them to make it appealing to the target audience. 

The main image that I used was very important because everything else that I did would be based around it. For example, depending on the colour and how bright it is, text and other pictures would have to be placed in the appropriate area to make it stand out and become more visible. From looking at magazines with the same genre, the main image often promotes the genre of music, so I used this idea and did the same.

The mise-en-scene was crucial. The costume is particularly important, so I made sure the artist’s costume was very prominent. His dark outfit clearly suggests that his music is rock/metal based, and the stage lights in the background tie in with the masthead ‘To The Stage!’.

I’ve tried to keep the overall theme of colours reasonably dark, but also I’ve included bright colours to make particular parts stand out, and thus catching the reader’s eye. My colours that I have used mainly appeal to a male audience, as males will generally read a magazine like this rather than females. This is because females tend to go for the lighter side of rock instead of the heavier side, so I kept my colour scheme overall quite dark.

When I deconstructed Kerrang, I realised that I like the way they use the exclamation mark at the end of their masthead, as it makes Kerrang stand out and look more loud. Therefore I used this idea to make my own masthead (To The Stage) stand out, and hopefully this would stick in the reader’s head just like Kerrang does.
In order to properly evaluate my pages I placed them in a powerpoint presentation, so I could clearly assess my work.