Throughout my AS and A2 media productions looked at various conventions of real media texts in order to inform my own creative practice. In my foundation portfolio I looked a lot at the conventions of magazines, including the front cover, contents page and double page spread. I did this through looking at factors including colour palettes, fonts and images, in order to develop the work I was creating. In my advanced portfolio I looked at theatrical trailers, posters and magazine covers, in order to create a skilled and professional production. Through analysing the conventions of real media texts when looking at the various production pieces, I was able to appeal to my target audience, giving them what they expect from the pieces of media that they are looking at. Through looking at conventions, the audience are going to be more likely to be enticed by the product as it gives them a sense of understanding.
Before the creation of my foundation portfolio, I had no proper understanding of conventions and the purpose that they served in appealing to audiences and their preferences. I soon began to understand the importance of analysing conventions and including them in my own work. In the beginning of my foundation portfolio creation, I had to create a music magazine, where I focused on the idea of festival music, consisting of a front cover, contents page and double page spread. In order to do this I had to analyse the conventions of real media texts, such as NME and Q so that I could create a media product that partially resembled an existing music magazine, despite targeting a highly niche audience of festival goers. Through looking at these conventions, I was able to understand and interpret their use of coverlines, colour palettes and fonts, so that the conventions I would interpret into my own niche genre of magazine, would highly appeal to existing audiences. One of the conventions that I noticed was apparent throughout my analysis, was the use of inserts, especially on the front cover of the magazine. These were the use of 'freebies' and 'BOGOFF's', that audiences like to see. This convention, to me was a highly important part of the creation of my media practice so that the audience was completely attracted to my magazine as a whole.
Looking at conventions in my foundation portfolio was highly limited as we only had one media text to analyse. As I progressed into my advanced portfolio, I began to further understand the importance of analysing the conventions of genre's to inform my own media practice, as there was a broader range of products that we needed to create. As I began to look at theatrical trailers and posters alongside magazine covers, I noticed a consistency in the conventions that I was seeing. As I was specifically analysing drama trailers, looking at the theatrical side in particular, I analysed the conventions, such as the continuity, storyline and character profiles, to help me understand what to include in my own production. This analysis of conventions throughout the drama genre, also proved important when I was looking at magazine covers, as I was able to develop the analysis skills that I had picked up in my AS year.
