03 Codes and Conventions Production

Research

Codes and Conventions:

• Most have a colour scheme, but this depends of the media that the magazine is featuring. It's representative of the artist/film etc.
• They all have a masthead.
• Use of eye catching colours (yellow in Entertainment, red in Rolling Stone etc)
• Each has a distinct sense of style - Rolling Stone seems more sophisticated whereas entertainment is eye catching, bright and fun. Billboard seems more modern and 'trendy'.
• They each have a masthead that usually retains the same font, with some minor alterations depending on what the magazine is featuring in each issue.
• Music magazines tend to focus mainly on the artist/artists, whereas film magazines often feature an ensemble cast, as well as use some background/setting to get a feel of the film.
• All use direct mode of address
• Many have a strapline, advertising something as a preview or something exclusive
• Most have featured stories to gain attention - these are often accompanied with sell lines
• Some have a barcode and issue number/name
• The main cover line is almost always the artist/film featured on the cover
• Some have puffs
• In some the head of the main image may cover the masthead - in others it is behind (face is never covered) 
• The main image is always the main focus of the magazine. It sometimes covers the masthead.

Front Covers:

Entertainment:

Variety:

SFX:

Empire:

Rolling Stone:

Film:

Billboard:

Classical:

Contents Pages:

The cover which I like the most are the more 'sophisticated' ones like Variety. If I combine this with the colourful elements from Billboard then I will adhere to my target audience.
The contents pages I like the most are Billboard - I feel like these are ideal for my target audience due to the interesting layout, bright colours and use of images.