FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF TV GUIDE FEATURES

I have chosen to base my study of the forms and conventions of TV guide features on a feature from a Radio Times article.The Radio Times is a highly regarded TV listings magazine. It aims to appeal to more adult readers, both male and female with it's intellectually high narrative style of writing. It writes in a way that can easily be understood, but at the same time, it is clear when reading it that a more mature audience is the target.

In terms of the images used, there is usually one main picture that takes up a lot of room on the double page spread. It is specific to the subject of the article. Other smaller pictures are included as little inserts. These are often related to the interviewee in a different way from the main article, they may relate to answers given by the interviewee. What they mainly help to do is break up the text, because Radio Times articles are always quite word driven. The Radio Times also include small portraits of the people who wrote the article next to the key information about the related show. This makes readers feel more in tune with the magazine and what they are reading. Another clever detail I have noticed is the way they include an image of the DVD case if the article is about a TV show being released. This adds to the extra visuals and could be a promotional technique of the people releasing the DVD in conjunction with The Radio Times.

The text layout sticks to the standard magazine format of text in rows. At the beginning and end of the article are little blocks of information. At the beginning is the name of the programme that the article is the subject of, alongside the date, channel and time of broadcast. The main article follows then at the end there is sometimes a competition offer. This is something that I could consider for my feature. The biggest piece of text is a line that entices people to the feature. It can sometimes be a quote from the interview. Below this line is a synopsis of the article, who/what it's about and who has written it.

In interviews, the writer often refers to how the interviewee behaved and how they said what they said. It helps readers to visual the interview, makes it feel more like they were there. Sometimes memorable quotes are re-printed larger in the middle of the article to make the article stand out more or to attract reader's eyes. A description accompanying each image is another key element. This makes sure that readers have information on everything.

The main way that the articles promote the radio drama or TV drama is through the interview with the person related to it. This allows readers to get a behind the scenes view of the drama and get a positive view of it from someone was directly involved. It also helps to create a buzz if the person is a celebrity or a famous actor. What the articles do best is to make people feel as though they are getting a direct incite into how the drama was made. And they can get exclusive comments from the stars, this all adds up to a good impression being made. Because of the way technology has progressed, people feel like they need to be more involved with media to truly enjoy it.