Preliminary Task

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

Masthead
Consistent
Colour scheme
Main image
(MCU)
Barcode
Cover lines
Sans Serif fonts
Dateline
Rule of thirds
Text anchors image
Areas of interest
Price
I have followed the convention of using a medium close up which is similar with GQ. Both GQ and
my preliminary task have the mast head in the top left corner. To add to this I have applied a
consistent colour scheme (purple and green) and similarly GQ (black and orange). On the other
hand I have applied a variation between Sans Serif and Serif fonts for the cover lines whereas GQ
has only applied Sans Serif this is because the Serif fonts follow the genre and theme of the
magazine which is a more technology based college magazine whereas GQ has the genre of
Mens Lifestyle thus needs to have a serious aesthetic. My magazine uses anchorage text to grab
the attention of readers similarly with GQ. The Rule of Thirds have been applied on both magazines
in the hot spot areas the magazine focuses on the face of person in the main image to give direct
address to the audience rather than the people in the main image looking away which would
detract readers. In my particular main image the face hits the upper hotspots whereas GQ focuses
on the face the reason why they are not similar is because my magazine is to fit the prop of iMac as
it is to follow the idea of mise-en-scene as the target audience would be appealed to the theme of
the magazine. Plus, in the other areas of hotspots I have my main cover line thus following the
codes and conventions of a magazine as the readers would focus on this area and thus be drawn
towards the topic mentioned and thus pick up the magazine the main cover line also follows
convention as it is bold and a bigger text thus people would know that this is a key article in the
magazine since it is purple in text whereas the rest of the cover lines are in green GQ also follows
this since their main cover line is in orange and is larger than the rest. GQ reasoning behind
focusing the main image on James Francos face is because he is a celebrity and well known male
figure thus their target audience of successful stylish men would be drawn to understanding his
lifestyle to better their own or become closer to James Francos way of living. GQ has also applied
an empty background as it is typical convetion for a lifestyle magazine whereas I have purposely
chosen a background so it follows the theme of my magazine and it is college magazine thus I
want to directly address the magazine by using a familiar location through mise-en-scene. I have
also applied the areas of interest to make it clear to the readers what the themes of the magazine
is which follows general codes and conventions of magazine whereas GQ has not applied the areas
of interest this may because of GQ being a well known global image thus people may already be
aware.
The contents page for my preliminary task follows areas of codes and conventions to magazine but
has some differences from GQ. The similarity includes using a consistent colour scheme I have used
purple and green and GQ has used blacks. Also, I have applied the masthead next to the title of
contents page which GQ has also applied this is to follow the convention as readers would know that
it is the contents page and the masthead makes the page look organised.