AS Media Coursework Evaluation: Question 1

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


The example I will use for this question will be the written annotation of two front covers: my own (Press PLAY) and, as you can see here, an edition of the popular and widely recognised NME magazine cover. I think the front page conventions are linked somewhat through the features they simultaneously carry, and the overall layout. Similarities that are evident are firstly the largest text for the masthead, which is an obvious convention in almost all magazine covers, along with the tagline accompanying it tucked underneath on the left-hand side. There are box-out features running along the bottom of the page which completes the cover and keeps readers intrigued from top to bottom, and another notable convention present in both covers is the overlapping of the cover photo by its text. It could be argued that this is done for different reasons with the two - the NME cover will simply be further promoting the highlighted title, whereas Press PLAY will simply be for first notice. The colour schemes are different but still maintain synergy through their use of no more than three or four colours and fonts. The cover line and its strap-line are situated in the same region on the page, as the eyes of the reader will typically be attracted to the middle of the page after seeing the masthead, and reading from left to right. This is further helped by the large and brazen text with which it bellows its appeal. The major development that the Press PLAY cover makes from its counterpart are that there is a brief abandonment on the strict font maintenance to signify both the feature content of mods, US top 40 and a teen music survey (with corresponding fonts relative to its nature) and the notification that the edition is a discounted Easter issue. The latter also moves away from the colour scheme in a stereotypically seasonal-themed yellow. The colour works as an eye-catching notice that the magazine is a cheaper bumper issue which works to advertise as well as appeal with the inside features. The two differ with their forms and conventions simply by some of the positioning, the nature of the cover image and the larger abundance of text on the NME front page. Whilst the text positioning on both covers is dominant on the left-hand side, it appears this is for different reasons. With the Press PLAY cover, the text is black on a white background given to the cover by the background cover image; on the NME cover, the text on the left is simply to clear space for the cover photo displayed entirely down the right-hand side. My cover photo is through the middle of the page, enveloping the text beneath the stars' faces and overlapping the rest of the image content.