When creating my indie pop magazine cover i again researched into conventions of other media products similar to mine. When studying Q magazine cover i was able to see that on their cover and also on almost every other music magazine cover , a cover model was the most dominant feature on the cover. I was able to see the shot taken of the cover model was more often that not a medium close up or a long shot to able the cover model to be the prodominate feature. After studying my example of Q magazine which features a medium close up of Cheryl cole it was apparent that this made the cover model appear powerful and it also created a greater intimacy with the audience as direct contact and close proximaty was projected from the image on the cover. This was a convention i chose to use on my media product cover as i too used a medium close up of my female model and had her keep direct eye contact with the camera to channel a message of closeness and intimacy with the reader. When creating my contents page i chose to again use conventions of music magazine contents page that i had studied. A convention of contents page's that i had discovered is that there was either use of one model alone , or the use of a model was absent. This felt this convention was used on other media products because it allows the contents page to be informational rather than a promotion of an individual. However i challeneged this convention as when creating my contents page i chose to have a close up of my cover model situated alongside the contents information on the page. I chose to challenge this contention as i wanted to create a recurring theme of the cover model being the central feature of the music magazine. By using this shot on the contents page instead of a long shot or no image of model at all i am able to create a theme to the music magazine i have created , the magazine now speaks to the audience that it is centered around the model. When creating my double page spread i chose to use elements of conventions from other indie music magazine double page spreads. When researching into Other media products it was apparent that a common feature on a double page is an interiew with someone with relevant attributes towards the magazine. I chose to use this convention when creating my own double page spread and kept the focus on the cover model by inlcuding her as in interview participant , this is strong convention which can be seen on several magazines including Q magazine. When choosing the shot type that i would use for my model on this double page i challenged the typical conventions that are apparent in other media products. When studying other media products and their double page spreads i was able to see that the shot taken of the model featuered is more often that not a medium close up or a close up as the model is usually the main feature of the spread as the idea remains the spread revolves around them. When creating my media product i challenged this convention by using a long shot of my model to place on the double page spread , although i have challenged the convention of using a close up shot to project power and importance from the image i have used the interview to emphasise the importance of the double page spread model.

Evaluation

I feel my media product that I produced uses the conventions of a real media product to an excellent extent. The genre of my music magazine was ‘Indie Pop’ which I felt was a strong convention of music to follow when creating my own media product. I studied and researched into the genre of Indie Pop to understand be able to develop on the concept of this genre I have chosen. I was able to discover ample amounts of conventions I could use from the real product to my own production. Whilst studying other indie pop magazines i chose to focus on magazine in particular which was Q magazineThe reason being that this magazine i felt carried the conventions i wished to carry onto my media production. The conventions include a use of simple and dark colour palet's usually consisting of the colours black,silver,grey and white. I used this convention of an Indie pop magazine on my media product. When creating my magazine cover i chose to use the colours black , white and silver as i feel they embody the colour palet that are linked to an indie pop lifestyle. This was a convention i followed through to my contents page. I again chose to keep the colours to a limited palet of three , those colours being grey,white and black. When creating my double page spread i again to chose to the same colour palet except in this case i decided to use a midnight lilac colour on the font throughout the interview in the spread. I feel this is a convention many magazines and indeed indie pop magazines use as the double page spread is always more central and important and therefore different in its use of colour.

The images attatched are images of of the second shoot that i took to find an image i could use for my double page spread. I chose to use the same model that i used for my cover and contents page as i chose to feature an interview on the double page spread with my cover model. I also chose to keep the theme of dark with elements of relaxed indie and rock on the spread as this is the conventions i also featured on the cover and contents page. I used the same set and lighting of black and shady as i felt this was a recurring theme throughout my magazine pages and is a strong convention of indie pop music magazine i chose to follow. I was pleased with the shoot and was able to chose a double page spread image from ample ampounts of images. The image i chose was a long shot of my model.

Double page spread research

I feel these double page spread have the conventions i would wish to carry through onto my own double page spread. The simple yet dynamic layout with equal amount of text and image on the double page creates an even tone and an inviting layout. On both double page spreads the image placed on the pages is large however it does not shadow the text and both features are equally visible. The colours used on the double page spreads are similar to the contents page i researched. Again the colour palet remains an unvaried tone , with black,white and grey remaining the main colour features on the double page spread. However the main image of the double page spread features model introduces new bold colours to empahise the improtance of the artist that may be featured on the double page. On the two examples i have studied the models are staring directly at the camera to keep strong intimacy with the reader , this is a convention i used on both my cover and contents page and will continue to use on my double page spread.

contents pages

i have looked at the contents pages pictured left because i feel they have the conventions that would suit my genre of music magazine which is indie pop. The contents pages i have researched are simple and neat , with an equal amount of text and the use of one image. I will follow these conventions when creating my music magazine contents page by using only one image and a sufficent amount of text on the contents page. I also feel the colours grey,black and white which are used on the two contents page would fit the genre of my music magazine therefore it is a convention i will carry out on my own contents page inorder to create the whole ' relaxed indie' look.

cover shot.

This is the final image is chose to use on my music magazine cover. The reason i chose to use this shot instead of the others i shot is because i feel this image creates a strong intimacy between the cover model and viewer due to the strong eye contact shown on the model. I also feel that my model portrays the attitude and look i want to be constructed. She embodies the image of an indie pop chick with a relaxed attitude.

These images are mock's of what i intend for my music magazine cover,contents page and double page spread should look like. I will relate back to these mock sketches when creating my actualy peices inorder to see if i am following the ideas and former plan i created. If i make any changes i will state why i made these changes and decided not to use to layout created on the mockups. I have decided to stick with my genre of ' indie pop' and to create this on my cover i will produce. I intend to create these mockups in my final productions without making too many changes.