Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

Using conventions from real media texts

In my college magazine for our first task, I created it without much research and knowledge so I just put together what I thought was a conventional magazine. I thought it looked ok but I knew something was missing as it looked too empty. Looking back at it now I can see how I improved to my final product because I knew a lot more about what conventions were and what I needed on my magazine, like: skyline, sell line, barcode, images and headers. This proved that I definitely did need a lot more on the college magazine. After researching conventions of a magazine on the internet and existing products from a shop and analysing them, I knew exactly what was needed to create a conventional magazine which led to me creating my final product, which proved successful and much better than my college magazine. I used conventions like: main image, barcode, header, skyline, sell line, feature stories, plugs and social media links as these are all part of the magazine which appeal to an audience and draw them into buying it. If a magazine did not have a catchy masthead, a good main image and a plug, the chances of people buying it is rare. I named my magazine ‘Riot!’ as it fit in with my genre of rock music and all my feature stories included bands of the rock genre making it appeal to a target audience who like rock music. Furthermore, I included a plug to win an iPod touch because I know that they are popular and it would encourage people into buying my magazine. Lastly, my target audience I aimed at were a young age so I knew including social media links would fit well because a lot of young people have social media so this would promote my magazine even more. Comparing both my college magazine and music magazine, I can see how I developed my knowledge and also skills by realising what a conventional magazine is.