Purposes and conventions of magazine adverts

The purpose of magazine adverts are to attract as many people from different backgrounds and societies to watch the documentary. Certain documentaries are more likely to appear in certain magazines. However magazines such as New! magazine often present adverts for all kinds of documentaries as they re a tv guide for all types of people and target all. As my documentary is a music one, it is  like to appear in a more music orientated magazine such as Clash or Rolling Stones.




One common convention of adverts in magazines is the logo of the channel. This is key to adverts in magazines as it helps signify where the documentary will be seen on and helps the viewers to acknowledge whether they can watch it or not. Not only does it help audiences understand what channel its on but it also helps them understand what type of documentary is it. For example, if you were to see the Channel 4 logo on an advert, you'd make a rough assumption that the documentary will present matter to do with citizen who are of the lower/ working class. By seeing this, it allows the audience to gage whether it would be the type of documentary they will enjoy.





The title of the documentary is common in magazine adverts. More times than not, the title of the advert reflects exactly what the documentary is about and is often catchy or intriguing.These titles are normally accompanied with a brief slogan or tag line, which briefly describes what it is about. These two feature are used to once again help the audience come to the conclusion as to whether they be interested in something like not or not. It also give the audience an idea of what they are going to watch if they decide to watch it.

Time and dates are often shown in adverts too somewhere on the advert. These are shown to illustrate  to the public when they can tune if they decide they want to see it. Furthermore, showing the date warns people weeks in advance so they can figure if whether they can watch it, and if they cant, it gives them time to figure out a way they can, whether it be recording, or watching online via on demand e.g BBC iPlayer. Depending on the release day of the magazine, the magazine may say "tonight" or "this Tuesday"  so it allows the audience to understand when it is in relation to the day it is the day they've read it.

Although this isn't a specific feature of adverts, magazine documentary adverts are conventionally presented landscape. The cover pictures for the documentaries are taken specifically in landscape and are printed on A4/A3 paper for magazines. This may be because it is easier to put into a magazine format in terms of the double page spreads. Additionally, they may be portrait  as they allow much more space to show detail and fit more subjects/items into the shot.