Preliminary TaskOlivia Mason

We were asked to make a school magazine cover and contents page as our preliminary task to get used to the software we will use for our music magazine. We get to understand the program we will use and trial different effects that work. Also we got to understand the layout of a magazine so we can use this for our own knowledge to make a magazine.

Brief

The school logo: this symbolises the school as a whole and what it represents and it appeals to people wo are interested in the school which means it is directed to people at the school and if they see the logo they know it is to do wit the school without reading it.

Date line: this lets the people know who are buying what issue it is so they can buy the most recent one and what year it was. It is so small as it is the least important but its still there as extra information so ty know what time it was released to buy the newest one or from the date they wanted.Master head: this lets the reader know what the article is mainly about to give a brief overview before they read it so they can find the article they want to read about but its short and snappy and to the point so it gets the point of the article out.

Mini contents: shows roughly what is in the article so people can see what’s inside and can choose whether to look at it or not if there’s something that interests them.

Title of the magazine telling you which school it is to do with and who it is aimed at in this case it’s the parents so it will be all the information about the school and will be word heavy since children wont take much interest in it.

Main picture is a far shot of a group of children. This is saying to the parents that they all join together as a school and they are academic with all years meeting together to read the book showing the skills they have at their age.

Competition: this is to get people involved with the magazine and draws them to it if they are getting something out of it, so by seeing the word “win” you want to find out more about the competition.

Little bit of information about what else you can see what else is included in the magazine

Items that should be included in a magazine

Amount of people who said thisTotal=20 people

Photos of the school 6

Speeches from teachers 2

Achievements of students 4

Pictures of the students 1

Information about the school 3

Results of the school 2

Information about departments

2

Audience Research

AS Media Studies Preliminary Task – School Magazine Front Page Proposal Form

Target audience: (age range, interests)Although it is a school newsletter you still have to think about your audience and how to appeal to them. 

The target audience of the school magazine will be students of the school aged 11-18 but parents of the children will also read It just to get the information about the school for them to know. They will keep the writing simple and not word heavy for the kids.

Possible title ideas: (masthead / title block)What is your magazine going to be called? 

Priory NewsPriory Daily

Main image:What will be the focal point of your front page, remember, your work “must include a photograph of a student in a medium close-up” 

Close up of a student working on an exams to link to main story.

Main cover line:What will be the main story? 

GCSE’s hit a home run

Additional key images:What other images will be on your front cover?Remember, it is a school magazine. 

Pictures of the school, pictures of the head teachers etc.

Additional cover lines:Other features, stories or selling points which will be inside the magazine, these need to be audience appropriate.  

Getting involvedAchievements Sports

Typography: (style, size, colour of copy)Think about the writing and the style of the writing on your front page. 

it will be a clear font that shows style like This style is quite good because its clear and big enough so it will be Franklin Gothic and either size 11 or bigger. And the colour will be black with red titles.

Background colour/image:What will be in the background, remember you don’t want to take the focus away from the main image.  

the background would be a pale colour that doesn’t take away from the main image or a picture of the front of the school.

Technical considerations:(equipment, setting, props, costume, lighting)Be realistic and creative, think about what you have access to and how you could use it. 

Props will include a table in the hall, piece of paper of the students celebrating and equipment as they work.

Preliminary exercise: produce a front page and contents page of a school magazine.

Front covers must include a photograph of a student in a medium close-up with

appropriately laid out text and use of an image manipulation programme (Photoshop).

Below start to sketch what the front cover of your newsletter will look like.

Preliminary exercise: produce a front page and contents page of a school magazine.

Front covers must include a photograph of a student in a medium close-up with

appropriately laid out text and use of an image manipulation programme (Photoshop).

Below start to sketch what the contents page of your newsletter will look like.

Extreme Close-Up (ECU)

Big Close-Up (BCU)

Close-Up (CU)

Medium Shot (MS)

Medium Close-Up (MCU)

Medium Long Shot (MLS)

Long Shot (LS)

Very Long Shot (VLS)

‘Over the Shoulder Shot’

Two Shot (any shot with two characters or objects equally framed)

Interviewee looks into space in the frame

Moving Subject Walks into Space

High Angle Shot (looking down)

Tilted Frame (Canted/Dutch Angle)

Low Angle Shot (looking up)

Front cover

Out of these 3 medium shots I chose the first one because the other two are very boring and aren’t as good quality as the first. Also the first shows them being close friends and having a bit of a laugh so it makes it more of an interesting shot for the front of the magazine.

Notes on the Process

I changed this image by removing the background so that it was just the two people instead of the white background behind and I made the opacity lower so it could blend in to the background of the logo to make it less prominent but blend it in to make it better.

Changes of the images

From this task I have learnt how to use different skills of how to make a magazine look worthy enough to buy. I learnt to use Photoshop to make the magazine as good as possible and the tools that I needed to make the school magazine will help me to make the music magazine later on. Also by studying and researching about school magazines, their layouts and what people expect to be included in them I can use this to determined how a music magazine can be laid out similarly but with different information inside.

What have I learnt?