Media Studies Portfolio: November 2018

A. Genre: Cooking & Food

B. Genre conventions- Content
Cooking/food magazines normally consist of recipes, current food trends, seasonal foods, interviews with experienced chefs, and nutritional articles from experts.The front cover of any cooking/ food magazine usually contains the main food genre that will be the prime focus of the magazine. This main food course will look appealing in order to attract customers. In addition, the front cover is filled with vibrant colors, large fonts for the titles and subheadings in order to attract viewers and also to make the magazine look aesthetically pleasing.

C. Genre conventions- Production Techniques
Production techniques are essential to any magazine, especially for the cooking/food genre. For food photography, there is no specific set used to take pictures. It can be done anywhere, but lighting, color, and compositions must be considered. Professional food photographers use light and color in order to captivate the attention of anyone that passes by that magazine. Light emphasizes the texture and richness of the meals featured. Angle compositions are also important in production technique since it is the factor that allows the viewer to see the whole subject of food. If these techniques are not use it would not entice people to buy any food magazine.

D. Institutional Conventions- Marketing
Cooking/food magazines are promoted mostly in supermarkets. These kinds of magazines are featured everywhere in all places that have food to encourage customers to buy and try out new recipes. Moreover, they are mostly featured in the checkout lines when a customer is ready to purchase their products. Another way these magazines are marketed is by themselves. For example, several magazines within have promotions to subscribe to their magazine. They feature all of the kinds of things they’re magazine has to offer, to convince the audience. All of these promotions have helped influence the demographic of consumers of each magazine. For food magazines, it is mostly used by women in their thirties.

E. Sample #1
Cooking Light July 2014 issue

This sample of Cooking Light embodies the cooking/food genre in several ways. It contains several eccentric colors like red, orange, yellow, and green to give the magazine a pop of color. Based on the subheadings, the magazine features recipes on different types of meals, interviews with a chef, and contains seasonal recipes; which is all part of the content of a cooking/food magazine. Like always, it features a meal in the front cover, which uses all of the production techniques like angle composition and lighting. All of these factors contribute it to be part of the cooking/food magazine genre.

F. Sample #2
Food & Wine November 2017 issue

This issue of Food and Wine embodies the cooking/food genre because just like all food/cooking magazines it features a professional photo of a dish, in this case a thanksgiving meal. The magazine’s front cover has large sized font for the titles, in order to attract viewers and to show the name. In addition, it features several new recipes for people to try, an interview with a chef, and article of a seasonal feature. Obviously, the magazine’s name itself reveals it to be part of the cooking/food genre. In order to feature the whole meal, the person who took the photo follows the technique of angle composition to show one of the main focuses in the magazine. It also uses the marketing technique of promoting a Thanksgiving issue to get several people to buy the magazine during the season and try all of their recipes.