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

When I started to create my magazine, I firstly had to think about how I was going to make it appeal to the audience of the genre as no magazine can continue to go into production without sales. I used similar product research and carried out interviews on the people who were from the target audience of the indie genre, and therefore most likely to buy my magazine. Furthermore, I carried out similar product research on magazines like NME, Kerrang and Q and analysed in depth what codes and conventions they use in order to meet their audiences needs and wants. Once I felt that I had gathered enough knowledge, I began to create my own magazine with a target audience of people between the ages of 16-25 and of both genders.

      The most important characteristic of any magazine is to establish the differences from others competing against it and highlight the USP’s of it so that it can increase the sales of the magazine and make it stand out on the shelf. I created the masthead of my magazine to look high class and sleek in order to reflect the common connotations of the masthead but also to establish a brand image and font that would be commonly recognised with my magazine. Next, the model for my magazine had no facial expression and looked straight down the lens of the camera. This is used in most indie magazines and I therefore kept to this common convention so my target audience would understand what genre my magazine falls into. The emotion also reflects the characteristics of the artist and implies that they are rebellious and daring and this is appealing to the audience and therefore lures them into reading it as they want to discover the story behind them. I then selected to use the colours red and black as these have common connotations of being challenging, dangerous but also sophisticated and this is what is going to attract the reader’s attention and make them want to read the magazine. The house colours will also start to build a relationship with the reader so that when they see these colours, they instantly know that it is my magazine.

      My contents page also conforms to the typical conventions of indie rock magazines like NME as I have created a ‘BAND INDEX’ on the left hand side of the page, mentioning multiple different indie rock bands/artists and the pages they can be found on. This will appeal to my target audience as it will allow them to skim through which bands and artists are inside this week’s issue and contemplate whether this magazine appeals to them or not. It makes my magazine seem more worthy of its money as the audience feel it is full of different articles and reviews on bands they enjoy. I have also placed the ‘Facebook’, ‘YouTube’ and ‘Twitter’ icons on this page; appealing to my younger readers who will be interested in social networking and allowing them to form even more of a personal relationship with the magazine. This helps to portray my magazine as more aware of the zeitgeist (spirit of the age).

     Finally, the double page spreads which I have used conform to the house colours which I have earlier discussed in order to create a brand image and reinforce the relationship with the audience. Furthermore, I used a fact-file on the artist on the first double page spread so that the audience feel as though they know the artist on a personal level. The responses from the artist are very personal and common; this both appeals to the indie genre where artists are seen to be down-to-earth, but also helps the reader to get into the interview.