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

The Front Cover
First of all, the main way in which my media product uses conventions of a real music magazine is by the style model I chose, 'We Love Pop'. I thought that sticking to similar conventions and using the same kind of features as they do for my magazine would be key in helping the magazine to look professional yet unique at the same time. 

The bright colours and bold fonts are very conventional in pop magazines, they help to make certain aspects of the cover stand out more than others, usually these will be sell-lines and mastheads as these are the features which draw the reader in immediately. I made the title of my cover very similar to that of 'We Love Pop' as I felt that this was a very effective feature and would make my magazine look more realistic. I also felt that keeping a consistent colourscheme throughout my cover, contents and double page spread would allow the audience to associate the colours with the magazine as we already do so, e.g 'Top of the Pops' is very girly and uses pinks and purples often.
As the style model 'We Love Pop' was quite cluttered but not too over the top I decided to try to re-create a similar feel for my magazine. I did this by scattering my sell-lines all over the page and slating them slightly to give the magazine a more interesting look, I also made all the sell-lines the same size as I didn't want them to stand out more than the title or banner. 
I used a banner for my magazine as I felt like this would help my article to stand out from all the other features on the front cover, I felt that making my double page spread clear would allow the reader to easily see what the main feature is in the magazine which is generally a very important convention in pop magazines. 
I added a prize giveaway in my magazine which I tried to make slightly more noticeable by placing it at the top of the page, I did feel like this needed to stand out as it gives the magazine a bigger attraction. 
I placed the 'BBC' logo in the top left-hand corner of my cover as I felt like this would be a good way of making my magazine look more authentic and real, having a logo on the front cover is a very common convention of pop magazines, in fact I haven't seen any without it. 
The main image is typical of that of a pop music magazine, it is a mid-shot of a young female pop singer, she is using direct mode of address by smiling into the camera lens therefore making the magazine seem real.
I don't think I have challenged anything on my front cover which is what I didn't want to do, pop magazines are all similar and presented in a certain way for a reason, which is that their audience like it that way and any drastic changes/challenges could affect the sales of the magazine itself. 


The Contents Page
My contents page is probably the most conventional part of my project. I decided that it would make no sense at all to stray away from typical forms and conventions of a contents page as it could make the page useless in the magazine. 
The first thing I did was to stick with the exact same colourscheme as I had on my front cover as I felt like this would make the magazine look more consistent and professional. This is used in all other pop music magazines so this is why I chose to follow the same route. 
The title of the contents page is 'What's Inside...' which is conventional as no pop music magazines just use the words 'contents page' purely because it seems boring and therefore would not give them the urge to read the page. Whereas, I have used an ellipsis at the end of my masthead as do some real pop magazines, this makes the reader carry onto the next part of the page therefore meaning they will read the whole contents page. 
I took a screenshot of my magazine cover and stuck it onto my contents page and after adding arrows to the page number each feature on the cover is located. This is a very eye-catching and conventional feature as it is one of the first things the reader sees on the page. 
Pop magazines also have some other things located on their contents, for example, on mine I chose to add a 'Hot Right Now' section in the bottom right-hand corner of the page as I felt like a section just of pictures of girls favourite male artists would most definitely draw them in.
I added in a letter from the editor which I felt was very conventional and told the reader exactly what to expect from my magazine. 
Having the page number located at the bottom of the page also helps to make the magazine look more real/authentic.


The Double Page Spread
I chose to do my double page spread of a new male pop artist who has just entered the pop industry. The double page spread used in 'Top of the Pops' featuring Justin Bieber was my main guide when making my spread. There are several images used on it as I felt this is a good way to keep the reader interested in an article.
I have used a different colourscheme for this part of my work as I felt like this needed to be quite separate from the cover and contents. The title is in direct quotations which I feel makes the reader feel as if they are already getting a 'sneak peak' of what's to come in the actual article. 

Eventhough I have used slightly different colours for my double page spread they are still bright, bold and quite girly, this stills keeps a sense of consistency throughout the magazine, therefore giving the magazine a nicer physical appearance. I used a bright red colour occasionally which did actually help to make certain aspects of the spread stand out much more than others do.