Second evaluation question- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

For my magazine, I specifically targeted ages 15-21. Therefore, this was the audience i represented in my final products.

Although my magazine appeals to teenagers rather than adults, this can vary from younger teenagers, to young adults in their early twentys. I feel that the contrast of colour used in my front page and contents page is a device specifically effective in attracting people of the teenage audience. As a social group, teenagers tend to become more aware of their senses, therefore have an increased interest in things like loud music and clashing colours. However, i feel as though i have included a diverse range of features in order to attract both young and older teenagers. The language used in my double page spread would appeal to teenagers because of it's informal style. The colloquial, conversational language is more likely to sustain the attention of a teenage audience, than something written in a formal style.

In terms of ethnicity, i feel that to conform to rock/goth culture it would be best to use white models. Apart from the fact that rock music mainly appeals to the caucasian audience, being pale faced is also seen as a symbol of involvement in the rock culture. Dark skinned people usually have role models of the same ethnicity as them, and due to this usually aspire to be artists typically found in the RnB/Rap scene.

For my double page spread, i realised that a typical convention of music magazines was to use literary techniques to draw the readers attention. As seen above in both my images, these techniques often include rhyming words or alliteration- which i decided to use in my own double spread.

Another convention of music magazines that i used was to situate images around the text. This is to break up the amount of writing and sustain the readers attention, in particular drawing their focus to the images.

Often in music magazines, the article is written in a question and answer type style so that it is clear and interesting for the reader. I decided to write my own article in this style to increase the interest of the reader. The text is also usually written in columns to make it more clear for the reader to read.

In my contents page i also used several conventions of a music magazine.

Firstly, I used "This week" as a title. This clear, straight to the point title lets readers know what they can find in the magazine that week. I also wrote it in white writing on a black background to draw the readers attention.

A typical convention of music magazines is to divide the categories into sections. As seen above I divided my articles into four sections so it would be easier for my readers to find out what they are looking for. This is a typical convention of magazines such as "NME" as seen in the image.

Secondly, I used pictures from various articles, something typically used in the contents pages of music magazines. This sustains the readers interest in the magazine and shows them what they can find in that particular issue.

The magazine shown on the right is a lot busier than my own final product, I felt that although keeping to conventions is important in sustaining interest of target audience, it would also be more clear and easy to understand if I had a less "busy" contents page.

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

As seen in this image, several comparisons can be drawn between the features of my own front page, and the features typically used in music magazines.

Firstly, I used a short memorable title for my masthead. The word "Encore" is easily remembered, and is catchy so that the reader will be drawn in by it. The idea of having a one-word title is a convention of most music magazines, for example; Q, kerrang and NME.

Secondly, I used thumbnails down the side of my magazine to show what could be found inside it. This is a typical convention of most music magazines as shown in the image of "Q" magazine above. The slogans used for thumbnails are usually short and informally worded, and i decided to use this convention when constructing my front page.

I used a strapline to advertise the popularity of my magazine, a convention used in most music magazines. Typically the popularlity of the magazine is important, so the strapline is situated above or below the masthead. I decided to situate mine below my masthead.

A typical convention of music magazines is to have competitions or chances to win prizes. As part of my front page i included a small sub-story about winning v-festival tickets. These kind of stories usually attract readers, because they become immediatley drawn into the idea of winning. I felt that the chance to win tickets to a festival would be appropriate for a music magazine. This technique is frequently used in music magazines, as seen above in "Q" magazine.

I decided to use the convention of situating a large image in the middle of the page surrounded by smaller ones when constructing my magazine. Particularly in music magazines, the model is usually seen holding an instrument. As seen above, i decided to have my model holding his guitar- this is seen as a symbol of rock music, and a stereotypical rock pose.

Final product double page sread

Final product contents page

Final product front page