This document identifies conventions across different media types, including film trailers, magazine covers, and film posters. For film trailers, common conventions include beginning with a production logo, showing the title at the end, and including social media links. For magazine covers, main images that make eye contact, mastheads, coverlines, and sidebars with additional information are typical. Film posters usually have the title and release date at the bottom, include main character names, and provide limited details about the plot through images or facial expressions. Romantic comedy works in particular genres tend to follow conventions like portraying the main characters' relationship or using feminine colors to appeal to female audiences.

1. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS ON
RESEARCH INTO SIMILAR
MEDIA PRODUCTS
By Charlie Barwick

2. IDENTIFYING CONVENTIONS FOR
ALL FILM TRAILERS
• From research I have found that every film trailer begins with a production logo and company.
They show these because if the audience have seen a film they enjoyed before that was made
by the same company, they may decide to watch the trailer and the film because they liked the
other film.
• You will see the title of the film either throughout the trailer or at the end of the trailer, but it
will most likely be at the end of the trailer. They show it at the end because if you see it
after you are interested in the trailer it is possible you would remember it more.
• Another convention of film trailers is the concept of social media. They usually include either a
website URL, a Facebook link to like a page or even a Twitter hashtag. This encourages the
audience to find out more relating to the actual film or it may even help the company because
the audience will use the word-of-mouth on social networks, meaning that millions of people can
spread the word to others around the word and gain the interest of lots of other people towards
the film.
• The film trailer is not only used to attract the audience to the film before its release but it is
also used for those who want to see the film, to get vision of the characters and the roles
they play. They do this by having brief character introductions which may even lead a part of

3. IDENTIFYING CONVENTIONS OF FORM
AND GENRE IN ROM-COM FILM
TRAILERS
• From my research into Romantic Comedy film trailers I eventually identified some key conventions needed to
make them successful with my target audience. For example all the film trailers I have researched do not
include all the same conventions but overall they contain averagely the same type of conventions.
• Conventions of form;
- The film title at the end of the film is conventional for a film trailer but the font and colour of the title of
Romantic Comedies usually suggests a clue into the genre and the type of film that has been produced. For
example in Bridesmaids the film title and release date screen are shown in pink font, presenting the film for a
female audience.
- There is usually a screen displaying a link to somewhere else where the audience can find out more about
the film or the characters. This is conventional in Romantic Comedies because the actors playing the main
female and male characters are normally quite close and the audience may want to see pictures of them
together or film releases that they are going to together.
• Conventions of genre;
- The female audience will most likely make up the majority of our target audience because they are the
stereotypical audience for a romantic film. The companies that make these genre films know that their audience
is mostly consisting of females meaning that they decided to base their plotline around the types of stories
women like to see or those that are relative to them.
- A convention for a Romantic Comedy film is a typical boy meets girl scenario. We have included this
convention in our storyline for our film trailer because it is the most common plotline for these films, which

4. IDENTIFYING CONVENTIONS IN ALL
MAGAZINE COVERS
• One convention for a magazine cover is the main image. This usually dominates the cover and it is
normally different to the cover of the film itself and the film poster; by it dominating the cover it
automatically stands out meaning that the audience may be persuaded to buy the magazine due to the
actor they see on the cover. On the research I have done into magazine covers, all of the images on
the cover have the model making full eye-contact; this is also another feature that could lead to the
product being bought.
• Another convention of a magazine cover is the masthead. This displays the title of the magazine cover
and is usually set back behind the main image. The masthead is typically written in a unique typeface
so it is recognisable to the audience because the magazine may be the thing swaying them to buy
the product.
• All magazine covers include a coverline. This is what (apart from the actor) attracts the main focus of
the audience as to what the magazine is going to be about, it should also relate to the model in the
main image.
‘Channing
Tatum’ is
the
coverline
and this
relates to
the main
image of
that actor.
• Sell lines are a convention of magazine
covers. They show text about the other
articles the audience will find within the
product, and they are regularly written in
a block at the side of the magazine,
mainly on the right-hand side of the main
image.
The sell
lines
along
the right-
hand
side of
the
magazine
cover.

5. IDENTIFYING CONVENTIONS OF FORM
AND GENRE IN ROM-COM MAGAZINE
COVERS
• One convention for a Romantic Comedy magazine cover is the two main characters being shown in the
main image. The characters would either be looking deeply in love and the picture looks quite intimate
or it will show them looking in different directions and not so in love maybe conveying that in some
point of the film, they may not get on or may not eventually get together. This convention is helpful
to the audience because it can suggest a possible clue to how these characters are going to be like
with each other in the film, the image of how the characters are positioned may be the mechanism
persuading the audience to want to watch the film.

6. IDENTIFYING CONVENTIONS FOR
ALL FILM POSTERS
• Film posters have the conventional film title in a large, bold font typically are the bottom of the poster
and positioned in the middle. It also has the release date commonly below it in a not so bold font
but bolder than the rest of the text on the trailer.
• Film posters show the main characters names either along the top or with the title at the bottom. They
normally only mention the characters that are being shown in the main image or they might mention
one or two more. They do this because if the characters being shown in the image do not appeal to
the audience there is a chance that the other main actors may appeal instead.
• The image on the poster does not usually give away too much information into the film. They generally
only seem to show the main character with either a background image suggesting some information or
the facial expression on the models face may give a little bit of information. For example; the Johnny
EnglishReborn film poster has a background image of fire signifying
this could be an action film, which it is.
• Another convention of a film poster that occurs on the
majority is a quote from a newspaper or magazine along
with a star rating. Posters include these because the
audience may like to get an overview of what others
think about the film and a review from newspaper are
quite reliable.

7. IDENTIFYING CONVENTIONS OF FORM
AND GENRE IN ROM-COM FILM
POSTERS
• A convention for film posters is the main image not giving away too much information but either the
background or the facial expression of the character may be the only clue as to how they are acting
in the film. For example; the Kiss & Kill magazine cover displays the characters facing opposite ways
suggesting they may not work together in this film, the title and the props also add to this idea
because she is holding lipstick showing she may want to be the one kissing in the film and the male
character who is holding the gun is conveyed as being the one who wants to kill in the title of the
film.• Another convention for film posters is feminine colours such as
light blue, pink and white which are colours that appeal to a
female target audience.These colours are
conventional for the genre
because the main audience
for this genre are female so
they have used womanlike
colours so the film posters
will attract the females
attention.