My Media Course work

1. Preliminary Task
Jack Lawther

2. Brief
• For this task I was asked to create a contents
page and front cover for a school magazine
using Photoshop. Included with this I had to
complete research before hand on school
magazines and what people would like to see
in a school magazine.

3. By placing the word parent
beneath the title in a different
colour makes it stand out. This
makes it appeal to parents because
it implies the magazine is aimed at
parents. This is also backed up by
the line ‘helping you make the right
choices for your children’.
This photo of someone playing
cricket gives the implication that
this school is quite sporty. This
appeals to students who really like
sport, meaning they are more
inclined to read the magazine/join
the school. By using a picture of a
cricketer the magazine also
reinforces the school’s image of a
school for more well off people.
This is because cricket is usually
seen as an ‘upper class’, men’s
sport. This appeals to a small
audience which is something the
school wants as this is quite an
exclusive school.
The master-head shows the
school as independent straight
away to narrow down the target
audience into the type of people
the school wants to appeal to.
The competition will make more
people want to buy it because of
the offer of a family holiday to
Portugal. This is because parents
are going to want to take their
children away during school
holidays, so it appeals to them.
These two stories apply to
specific people (the first to
dyslexic people and the second to
16-18 year olds) meaning that it
will attract students to this
magazine just for these stories as
they appeal to them.

4. The logo
immediately
identifies the
school so people
are familiar with
the magazine’s
contents.
Very little text and a more
informal image makes this
magazine cover appeal a lot more
to the students rather than the
parents.
Appeals to one audience of
the school (people who
like PE/sports) so
therefore not going to be
picked up by everyone in
the school
This familiarises it with
the school meaning to
will appeal more to the
students and staff.
Very large picture shows straight off what the
magazine is going to be about

5. Audience Questionnaire
1. What would you generally like to see in a school magazine?
• Sporting Events □
• School Concerts □
• Calendar □
• Trips □
• Competitions □
• Other □
2. How much would you be willing to pay for it (this will effect its quality)?
• Nothing □
• 1p – 50p □
• 51p - £1 □
• £1.01 - £1.50 □
• £1.51 + □
3. How often would you like issue’s to come out (this will also effect its quality)?
• Once a week □
• Once every other week □
• Once a Month □
4. Finally, who should the magazine be aimed at?
• The students □
• The parents □
• The staff □

6. Audience Research: What would you
like to see in a school magazine?
• Sporting Events
• School Concerts
• Tips for starting GCSE/A-level
• Activities
• Photos of the school/staff
• Interviews with teachers
• Calendar
• Trips
• Competitions
• Top achievers of the week/best students etc.

7. 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.
I will aim my magazine at mainly the students. This is because of the helpful tips and school events (that they
will take part) that will be mentioned in the magazine. On the other hand this magazine will have some parts
to it that appeal to th3e parents, for example, the school calendar.
Possible title ideas:
(masthead / title block)
What is your magazine going to be called?
The Priory Scandal.
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”
Liam Brennan.
Main cover line:
What will be the main story?
Liam Brennan tells us the ins and outs of sixth form.
Additional key images:
What other images will be on your front cover?
Remember, it is a school magazine.
Zebra (zoo trip).
Guitar (school concert).
Additional cover lines:
Other features, stories or selling points which will be inside the
magazine, these need to be audience appropriate.
Learn how to Russian rap like Mr Cusson.
School concert.
Trip to the Zoo.
Typography:
(style, size, colour of copy)
Think about the writing and the style of the writing on your front page.
Large title in plain font.
Red text and black text.
Background colour/image:
What will be in the background, remember you don’t want to take the
focus away from the main image.
White background.
Technical considerations:
(equipment, setting, props, costume, lighting)
Be realistic and creative, think about what you have access to and how
you could use it.
Mid shot of Liam Brennen dressed as henry VIII with a book in his hand and a pen in the other.

8. 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.

9. 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.

11. How I made the front cover:
I firstly began by inserting my main story photograph and then I cut out the background
using the ‘Magnetic lasso tool’. Then I moved on the adding my background picture,
positioning it behind the other photo, before then softening the edges of the foreground
image with the ‘eraser tool’. After this I changed the overlay to ‘Luminosity’ which gave the
pictures a greyscale colouring, like so:
After this I then moved on to do the text and the Priory
Logo. I removed the white background of the logo by
using the ‘Magic wand tool’.
I then added the ‘stroke’ effect to most of the text to
give the text a bolder look to it:

13. How I made Contents page:
Firstly I began by drawing out a group of black rectangles using the ‘rectangle tool’ like so:
I then moved on to add white text to each of the boxes, however this time
I did not use the stroke effect as the white text stood out on the black
rectangle clearly enough anyway.
After this I then inserted another picture for my main story and placed
some more text over the top of the picture (I did use stroke effect on this
text to make it stand out from the picture):
Finally, I then added three small pictures
to three of the rectangles. I used the
‘magic wand tool’ to delete the background
off of these:

14. What I have learnt:
• During this task I have learnt how to effectively set out a
magazine to make it eye-catching.
• I have learnt also that taking a good quality picture is the real help
when it comes to using Photoshop.
• I have also learnt how to remove a picture’s background cleanly
and quickly by using Photoshop.
• I have also learnt that collecting audience research before hand is
a real help when I comes to designing a product.