CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF TV MAGAZINE DOUBLE

PAGE SPREAD

EXAMPLES OF ‘RADIO TIMES’ LAYOUTS:

The footer of a double page spread

is a necessary convention to tell

the reader the date of when the TV

magazine issue has been published and

the name of the magazine which for

us will be ‘Radio Times’.

The headline is used to advertise and inform the reader what the double page spread is about. The headline is always in a larger and possibly bolder font compared to the other text in the article. In addition, it usually takes up the top line of the rule of thirds and occasionally spreads over onto the right hand side page, so therefore it stands out as a key feature and catches the readers eye.

RULE OF THIRDS:Within a double page spread of a TV magazine, it is compulsory to have the layout set into the rule of thirds. The reason for this is so that the double page spread looks neat, professional and sets a serious tone to the reader. The rule of thirds is efficient so therefore it allows blocking to work with so that there are no blanks spaces.

Conventions:

DROP CAPS:Drop caps are used to show the beginning of the text so the reader knows where to begin reading from. We will use this at the start of the text in the first column as an introduction and additionally use it as Radio Times have used it several times which we are using as our research.

IMAGES:Images are a main focus for the double page spread as it makes it look more appealing and helps give the reader a further understanding as they will relate to the text on the page and generally what the article is about. We will be using screenshots of clips from our documentary making the article more personal which is also a convention of the Radio Times magazine. As images are the main focus they should be appropriate and relevant to the article itself.

THE COPY:The copy for the article will include the statistics and facts which we have used within the documentary itself so therefore it will link. The copy is one of the most important parts of a magazine double spread as that’s the information the reader will take in and process so we need to make it professional, accurate and appropriate.

THE ADVERTISEMENT:This is where somewhere on the double page spread, there is text informing the reader when the program/documentary is on such as: the date, the time, the channel and if there’s any further products such as a DVD of it or where you can download the episode.

SUB HEADING:The sub-heading is a necessary convention for a magazine article so that straight away it gives the reader an idea of what the article is based on. Our sub-heading will say “As the outcome of cyber-bullying increases, BBC Three explores the extent of social networking today”. This is basically outline of our documentary in one sentence to inform the reader directly.

THE TEXT:The text within the article has to be an appropriate size which would be size 10 so that there can be enough information being given to the reader about the documentary and furthermore, to persuade them to watch it. The copy throughout the article will be in the font ‘times’. The headline saying ‘social networking’ will size 90 in Helvetica Neue in bold, whereas the part of the headline saying ‘Behind the screen’ will be in the same font but the ultra light version to show the impact and emphasis on ‘social networking’. In addition, all of the headline will be in white upon a black background. The font with all be in white apart from the quotes which will be in purple.