Question 1A Conventions from real world textsThroughout he stages of planning and research of both the foundation and advanced portfolio I followed the conventions of real world texts, meaning that the products I have created are created to a high successful standard. In addition to this, it has allowed me to expand on my capacities as a media student in both the AS and A2 production. In terms of the foundation portfolio before creating my magazine, I conducted a range of product research. I looked at existing magazine that were of the same genre to the magazine I was wanting to create. From the start of the course I was wanting to create a pop genre music magazine and therefore looked at well-known pop magazines such as top of the pops. Looking at this magazine not only inspired me to what I was going to create, it also allowed me to see how pop magazines were produced to target to a specific mass audience and the conventions for doing this. Firstly when looking at the magazine I focused on the front cover and the contents page. I noticed that the main front cover image was either a close up or mid shot image. I also noticed that on the front cover the sell lines were very catchy and often features competitions to draw the reader in. I followed what I learnt from looking at the existing magazines and used a close up shot of my artist giving direct eye contact to the readers. This allows the readers to be drawn in and make them believe that the artist is looking directly at the reader. Not only this the typical house style to the magazines was often very girly looking, therefore I kept the colour scheme mainly to pinks. This instantly highlights who the target readers of the magazine would be, most likely teenage girls interested in pop music. I called my magazine simply pop allowing it to be short and catchy, instantly telling the readers the genre of the magazine. Likewise with this, when researching I found the often the names of the magazines were short and catchy to instantly catch the readers attention. Finally I noticed that the majority of the contents page was made up of more images rather than text, therefore I incorporated this into my work, using a range of images which highlight what would be found in the magazine. When starting the advanced portfolio I also completed a range of similar product research which I done in a very similar way to the AS course. Whereas in the foundation course I was only required to complete similar product research for the magazine, in the A2 course I was required to complete this for 3 tasks; music video, digipak and album advert. When completely the research for the music videos I was able to gain ideas and knowledge from both watching existing music videos and watching existing students music videos. When watching similar pop videos to what I was wanting to create, I noticed that they often displayed a typical pop artist which was represented as very girly and happy. I also noticed the use of locations rather than just studio location. I managed to incorporate what I had found into my own work. In the video I not only filmed in the studio, but I also filmed in a range of locations including London and Camden giving the video an overall professional look to it. I also used lip syncing where I had my artist looking directly into the camera and perfuming. In terms of the mise-en-scene the artist was wearing a dress for the majority of the video with her hair styled and make up looking very feminine clearly highlighting a pop artist. With the auxiliary tasks I also complete research, although as I already had an idea of what I wanted to complete I did not have to complete as much research. I again looked at existing products to enable me to see what worked well but also what didnt work as well. I noticed how the three products were clearly linked together often done through the mise-en-scene. I therefore used what I had learned and used clothing that was featured in the video on the digipak and album advert, and use locations which were also highlighted in the video. I also ensured that there was a consistent house style and that the colour schemes were consistent throughout. I kept both the digipak and advert to the same font type and colours allowing the audience to instantly recognise the products.