1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (The Front Cover)

I think my front cover helps develop the and use the conventions of a real media product in a variety of different ways. For example the layout of the magazine helps produce a central role for the main article where the main image is placed. Using realistic headlines and pull quotes to support my single subsidory image helped provide my cover with the sort of information a reader would expect to see on a typical music magazine front cover. As you can see my magazine front cover follows a typical music magazine layout. Such as (below). My layout didn't change a great deal throughout the production process, I stuck to the conventional layout of a music magazine as you can clearly see.

However the only difference to the layout in my opinion would be that of the main image doesn't obscure the main masthead and therefore could be considered to be not seen as an established product, therefore breaking the stereotype of a normal convention of a music magazine, however i believe that with out the obstruction of the masthead it provides a clear name which is easily seen and the front page then avoids clutter. The layout remains important on the front cover using a sell line as a main feature of the page helps sustain the symbiotic relationship between the magazine and the music industry through the power of the sell lines advertisement.  Also as you can see in the above image there is a banner which advertises a competition. This could be said for most magazines and this general idea in the magazine industry i have tried to mirror in my own magazine front cover as you can see.  Once again, you can see the break in typical conventions on my own front cover, there is only the one subsidory image whereas on the majority of music magazine front covers there are a number of subsidory images as seen below. 

Colour scheme also provides an insight to the codes and conventions of music magazines as the majority of magazines tend to stick to a basic colour scheme of perhaps three colours therefore i decided to use green, red and white as my colour scheme. I think the audience will be familiar to this sort of colour scheme and therefore can relate too it.  My barcode is also situated in the bottom right hand corner of the front cover, this seems to be the preferred place of all magazines. Most prices and dates are situated with the barcode however my front  cover breaks this convention as my price and date are situated in the top right corner of my magazine.

MY SUBSIDORY IMAGE

My subsidory image for the front cover was placed in the conventional area on the front page, which was to the left of the main image on the front page, this technique is widely used across the magazine industry. You'll notice the majority of artists in both the main image and the subsidory image on a music magazine will be male, this is because predominately the music industry is dominated by male artists, although you will find female artists on covers of music magazines, for the most of the time there will be male artists this where my subsidory image conforms to the typical conventions of the music magazine.  My subsidory image on the right displays the typical convention of an artist/artists portrayed on the front of a music magazine.