What to do for D. Main Task: planning

Post 1.

Original ideas statement for a new music magazine.

This is your chance to describe and explain your intentions for your new music magazine. Relate to your target audience, potential publisher (independent or mainstream), genre as well as indications towards colour, fonts and design traits and potential ideas for your double page spread.

Presentation:

This should be produced as a basic Prezi presentation. Include images and links where relevant - specifically remember to include examples of existing media products as your inspiration for design ideas or conventions that you intend to use in your own work.
An example Prezi is embedded below to give you a starting point of what to do.

What to do for D. Main Task: planning

Post 2 - Product Designs and Rough Drafts

The initial draft ideas for your magazine should be done by hand. Sketch ideas showing framing, image mode of address, layout and colour scheme and include as much detail in the sketches as possible.

Do not just write in 'image here' when it comes to the images on your magazine - be descriptive as to the type of shot that you intend to use. Shot type and distance, composition and framing, angle etc. are all elements you can discuss and consider.

Don't worry if this changes slightly during the design process as this is normal in the developmental process of the work.

Look at some previous blogs for exemplar work - this is an important part of the planning process so make sure you complete this in some detail.

What to do for D. Main Task: planning

Post 3 - Pre-production Documentation

Prop and costume list
Equipment list
Location recce and description
Location release
Talent releases
Risk assessment
Production schedule

There are proformas available on the college system should you need to use them - your tutor can direct to you them if needed. These are quick and easy forms to complete so make sure you include them - they are industry standard processes!

Location / Props / Costumes
This post will obviously differ depending on your plan. You need to detail where you will be taking your images and any props or costumes you will be using in order to create the right image for your readers. If you are using a studio then say why you feel that this is the better option, if you are using a location explain why you think this is a good location. Do the same for any props and costume you use, why have you used them and how does this reflect and connect with your target audience?

Production Schedule

This post simply explains when you plan to make your products and how long you will spend on each one. It also needs to include all your photo shoots. (remember to save all your images as they need to be uploaded onto your blog as a separate post. You can make a contact sheet in photo shop and upload your images to this)

A construction schedule may look something like this or could be in the form of a monthly calendar:

Week 1 (date) Work on drafts for three products 

Week 2 (date) Photo shoot for front cover image/s

Week 3 & 4 (date) Construct front cover

Week 5 (date) Photo shoot for contents page and feature article

Week 6 & 7 (date) Construct contents page

Week 8 & 9 (date) Construct feature article

Week 10 (date) Final changes to finished products

Include as much detail as necessary and you have 10 weeks in which to plan out and organise your construction schedule.

What to do for D. Main Task: planning

Post 4 - Contact Sheet and Unedited Images

This is simply an A4 sheet with thumbnail images of all the photos you have taken for your coursework.

DO NOT DELETE any photos you do not intend to use as they will go on your blog. A contact sheet is very easy to create in Photoshop and is basically an automated process.

Select FILE – AUTOMATE – CONTACT SHEET – navigate to the folder where the photos are stored and hey presto!

You should also keep unedited, full resolution versions of your photos that you intend to use on your coursework to add on to your blog.

Discuss why you like the images you will be using and how you think these images will attract the target audience.

What to do for D. Main Task: planning

Post 5 - Layout Design and Further Draft Work

Block out pages using Word or Photoshop as an initial extension from your paper draft work. Utilise the guides in Photoshop to aid the layout process - you can screenshot this using the snipping tool and add that as an image to your blog if needed.

This should be a starting point and during the construction process, you will inevitably make changes to the work that you create. This evaluative process is vital for the planning process and should be recorded on your blog. You will receive continual feedback from your tutor on your work, so the best process to introduce into your work is to make sure you save multiple copies of your work as you progress.

For example, if you think you have completed your front cover, and your tutor gives you some feedback on how to improve what you have, save the file as it is at that stage and then re-save the file under a different file name (front cover ver.2?) and then make changes to the new file to keep the original file intact. When the work is complete, you will be able to upload the old version onto your blog and make some evaluative comments on why you changed it. This process is an important part of the construction process. THESE SHOULD BE POSTED UNDER LABEL B!

What to do for D. Main Task: planning

Post 6: Moodboards

For the planning of your magazine, you will need to create an additional 2 mood boards to show what fonts and colours you intend to use or are considering using on your magazine. These should relate to the genre and target audience of the magazine as well as including a range of design ideas.

Don’t forget to look outside Photoshop for examples of fonts. DaFont or any other online font websites can be much more effective in creating an individual look for your magazine.

For the colour mood boards, look at various shades of the colours, and include these as well as the mood is merely an indication of intention. It may well be that during the design and construction process you will experiment with colours extensively so by including various shades, you cover this with your mood board.

Each mood board needs to be accompanied with a written analysis of approximately 200 words explaining the choices you have made and giving more information about your intended product and the target audience for the product.

Some further examples:

This was a font idea for a cover line and can also be included within your font mood board ideas:

Another example aimed towards a guitar orientated magazine: