Magazine Conventions

Masthead - The masthead is the title of the magazine, which is typically in block writing. It is like this so that it is recognisable and distinctive to the audience when they first see it. It should be one of the first things they notice. The masthead can sometimes be designed in a particular in order to match the genre of the magazine. It is conventionally at the top of the magazine, either at the very top or just below the strap line.

Main Image - The main image of the magazine is distinctive to the audience and stands out when they first look at it. It should be big and cover lots of the front cover. It should be one of the first things they notice. The main image on the front cover of a magazine is conventionally in the centre of the page, although it can sometimes be placed on the right or left of the page.

Main Cover Line - The main cover line is what story the magazine is focusing on. It is related to the main image seen on the front cover. It is sometimes what attracts the audience to the magazine, due to the use of bold, colourful or distinctive writing.

Strap Line / Selling Line - This is a line of text, usually found at the top of a magazine, but is sometimes in other places on the front cover as well, such as directly below the main cover line. The selling line advertises the magazine and attempts to make the audience pick it up and buy it.

Cover Lines - The cover lines on the magazine front cover show the other things that are inside the magazine. They are not the main focus of the magazine, which is the main cover line, but they tell the audience about the other articles that can be found in it. These can sometimes be the reason why people are attracted to the magazine because they typically feature names that people may like. they are usually on the side of the page. They are also typically at the very bottom of the magazine page.

Barcode and QR code - The barcode allows the reader to know how much they are paying for the magazine. The QR code allows people to scan it on their phone in order to pay for it or to find out more, such as other magazines that are available for purchase, similar to the one they just bought. They are always in one of the bottom corners of the front cover.

Website - This gives the audience information about where they can find the magazine online. They can visit the website page if they want to know more about the magazine. For example, to find out about past and future issues of the magazine, and how the magazines are created. This is seen near the top somewhere.

Date / Issue - The date tells the audience when the magazine was published. The issue number tells them which edition of the magazine it is, and how many editions have been produced before. They are found near the top of the page somewhere, alongside the website usually.

Our horror film trailer illustrates creativity in the construction and application of conventions, specifically a combination of audio and visuals. It has some key visual strengths, particularly in the use of mise-en-scene and lighting. For example, our priest was appropriately dressed for the church setting. Our trailer starts off slow, but builds with pace, with use of montage. To create mystery, we used low key lighting to keep our antagonist hidden in our conventional horror stock scene. The use of sound edited is effective mostly throughout and mixes and sequences the drones, distortion sounds and title slate booms. There is a strong variety of shot types with some controlled use of camera and framing. For example, creativity in the use of a dolly shot and editing creates a build up in tension. This shot also shows the power of the priest as it is a low angle shot, and it demonstrates his dominance. The use of make up and props for the antagonist in particular added to , and colour grading. Title slates are suitably used and are in the correct places. Furthermore, a boom sound effect was put over the title slates. Overall, this trailer follows typical conventions seen in real horror trailers, with good creativity.

Post Production essay

For my AS preliminary task, I used Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop. This is because these two programs would be extremely important throughout the media course, not only in AS, but for A2 as well. We would be using these programs all the time in media. For this task, I only created a magazine by following conventions of exiting magazines almost too much. It was too similar, and didn't have any creativity. During this time, I learned the basic things on both Indesign and Photoshop, such as how to crop on both programs, and how to place a background behind an image on Photoshop.

For my A2 horror trailer, I was introduced to a new program which I had not used for AS, and which I had no prior knowledge of, Final Cut Pro. I learned how to use it and how to edit clips together in order for everything to run smoothly. However, some of my knowledge learned from AS was brought along with me for A2 as well. Things such as the colour scheme being important was further understood in A2 as I now knew that it was vital because it gives the product or company an image, and by using the same colours for all of their products, people would instantly recognise that it is them because they would be well-known by their colours. Also, there was more post production work required for A2. This included editing different scenes together, putting sounds behind footage, and adding titles to scenes.

In conclusion my understanding of post production skills have helped me create better products as I now have knowledge of filmmaking, and I have started to film scenes for A2 instead of just taking still images for my magazines in AS. I can use Final Cut Pro for this, as well as Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop, which were the only programs that I used for AS.

Digital Technology essay

I have learned to become much more familiar with digital technology over the last two years in terms of how to use it to my benefit when creating the tasks for AS and A2.

We are nowadays using digital technology all the time. Sometimes we don't even realise that we are using digital technology because it just naturally happens, without us being aware of it. Somebody could put different filters on a picture of themselves to experiment with the way it looks on Snapchat, and they are using digital technology to make use of something old and create something new. Another way someone could use digital technology is by creating a clip of their video game on their console, and then sharing it with their friends or with the world by putting it on YouTube. Therefore, they would have contributed to creating digital media.

When making my magazine for my AS preliminary task, the only way that difital technology was used was when we researched existing magazines, to see the sort of conventions that they follow, so that we could create something similar which followed some of these typical conventions as well. We saw that magazines follow a basic colour scheme usually, so I followed a strict colour scheme. The picture that I used for the front cover of my AS preliminary task was a very basic shot. It was a medium close-up with no movement and no interesting element. It was just still. Also, the only programs that was used for the creation of this task was Adobe Indesign and Adobe Photoshop.

When it came to doing the different tasks for the A2 horror work,digital technology was used in a much more proficient way. Firstly, a questionnaire was created sent to people who were within the target audience. Furthermore, these people completed the questionnaire in various ways, all of which used different forms of digital technology. Some people used iMessages, others used Whatsapp, and some completed it using an actual survey engine. This allowed us to actually gain an insight into what our target audience would want and what they expect from the product. In AS, we believed that we were creating the product for ourselves, so we didn't know what our target audience thought of it. 

In conclusion, my use of digital technology when creating media has advanced greatly over the last two years as I am now able to use more programs, such as Final Cut Pro, which I did not know anything about in AS. Also, in A2, I now understand that we are making our products for our target audience, and I know how to get input from them.

Regulation summary

Regulation is a rule or directive made and maintained by an authority.
The government regulates video games in and attempt to stop children and teenagers under the age rating to play the game. An example would be Grand Theft Auto 5, which is rated 18, so the government want those below the age not to play the game, because they could be influenced by certain aspects of the game, or they could potentially be mentally harmed by the content they see within the game.
The press is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
The British Board of Film Classification regulates film and TV. Their purpose is to rate films and TV shows based on the adult themes, nudity, sexual content and violence shown in the film or TV show. If it had all of these things in it, it would be rated at 18, to stop people under the age of 18 watching it as it would not be suitable for them.
Regulation should exist due to a number of reasons. To protect the vulnerable, to uphold the law, to prevent the immoral being shown positively, to take into account the message of the work in its entirety, to protect against harmful messages, and to avoid penetrating real-life criminal acts.

Conventions essay

Conventions are a set of rules that can be followed or broken. They are followed so that the audience is able to identify what they are and why the are getting used in this particular way. They are sometimes broken, however, and can be turned into a bricolage in order to create something new from the old. They are broken because audiences sometimes become tired of watching the same sort of thing over again. Also, they come to expect certain things in the film or trailer, therefore there is no longer the element of surprise for the audience.

In AS, my brief was to create a music magazine, of the genre of my choosing. For the research part of it, I had to look at conventions commonly found in real music magazines, such as the main image, the masthead and the general colour scheme of the magazine. I analysed real magazines, focusing on rock magazines as the layout and structure of these should be quite similar to the product that I would make for my AS task. This is because the audience would be looking for something like existing rock music magazines as these are what they are interested in. I noticed that in rock magazines, the colour black is always used, whether it is for the text, the background, or for the actual image. I wanted to follow this convention in my magazine, so the main colour used within my magazine was black, which meant that the audience that this magazine is targeted at would recognise it as a rock magazine, because the colour black is iconic within the rock genre. This, however, did not show my understanding of conventions as the only reason I used them was because they were in similar places as the ones I looked at in the real music magazines.

In A2, my brief is to create a horror teaser trailer. My genre is supernatural, and in order to create a trailer of this subgenre, I had to research the conventions found in the supernatural genre, such as priests, low key lighting, religion, and child possession. Horror movies such as The Exorcist and Carrie showed me what is typically in supernatural horror trailers. This then allowed me to know what the audience should expect in my teaser trailer, and what it should look like. These conventions should in someway be incorporated into my trailer to make the product actually seem like a supernatural horror teaser trailer, with all the proper conventions seen in existing trailers.

In conclusion, I believe that my skills in the use of conventions has improved as I am able to not only identify key conventions, but actually understand why they are used, and use them as part of my own work.

Research & Planning essay response

My understanding of why we must do research and planning has developed from the tasks I completed in AS to what I am currently doing in A2. I also now understand how research and planning is a very important part of doing a task as you have to know about it, to know what the audience is looking for, and to know what you are actually going to do when it comes the proper task. Also, my understanding of making a product to meet the expectations of a target audience has improved from AS to A2 because I now know that I am actually making it for the audience, and by doing research, I have found out what they want out of it and what they are looking for.

I did not do much research and planning for the AS preliminary task. Instead of carrying out the research and planning stages the correct way, I just researched some magazine front covers to see the typical layout of one, and then went ahead to put in my own images relating to the task, and my own text. Therefore, there was no planning involved, as I just put in the conventions in their places without planning out each one before. This task involved basic skills. I copied the positioning of conventions seen in real magazines, such as the masthead, the cover lines and the main image. This means that I did follow conventions of a magazine, however, I did not understand why these conventions were used and what impact they have on the audience. As I was not very skilled at this time, it limited my creativity because I just copied the conventions and didn't use my own imagination.

My AS music magazine was an improvement from my AS preliminary task. Furthermore, my skills had developed. I did more research and planning for this task than I did for the preliminary task. I researched the genre of music my magazine was about. I looked at lots of different rock music magazines, to see the sort of colour schemes they use and the general layout of them. Also, there was a lot of planning involved in this task. I completed rough cuts and dummies for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread. I then did my proper versions on Adobe Indesign. I put conventions in my magazine again. I understood how they are used in magazines, but I was not aware of why the are used in the way they are. My lack of skills once again limited my creativity as I just copied the positioning of conventions in actual music magazines again, although it was more developed than the preliminary task.

By the time I did my A2 Horror trailer, I understood the reasoning behind why certain conventions are used and how to use them in certain genres of horror. Before filming the trailer, I researched many different existing horror trailers of various sub genres, such as slasher, supernatural and zombie. This allowed me to see how they are played out and what are the typical conventions that are seen in those. I found that most horror film trailers of the same sub genre have many similarities in them. For example, in slasher films, we always see a knife held by the killer in the film. This knife is a phallic object, and it represents the dominance that the killer has over the victim, and it demonstrates he power difference between them. Therefore, I now understand why conventions are used in horror film trailers, and what these conventions are trying to get across to the audience. Also, this has shown development across the two years as I have an understand of why conventions are used, which I previously did not have in AS.

There was some planning involved when creating my AS music magazine. I did rough cuts and dummies for my front cover, contents page, and double page spread. I then did my proper versions on Adobe Indesign. These rough cuts and dummies allowed me to see how things would look when it came to the proper one, therefore giving me a rough idea of what it will look like, and whether or not anything needs to be changed before going on to Adobe Indesign. There was more planning involved in the making of the A2 Horror trailer. This is because I now understood that we were making these trailers for others, not ourselves, which is what we thought when making our AS music magazine. Also, the fact that I did much more research for this task meant that this could be incorporated into the planning stage of it.

In conclusion, I feel that I have developed as a Creative Media Producer in the Post Modern Age through research and planning. In AS, it was more to do with copying the conventions given, rather than using our own imagination and creativity. However, in A2, there is more creativity involved. Also, there was significantly more research and planning that went into the tasks for A2 than for AS. I not only understand how research and planning is carried out, and how conventions are used, but also why it is important to carry out research and planning, and also why conventions are used, and their effect on the audience.