Music Magazine - Production Plan

1. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
Week beginning: 3rd November 2014
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Research the
production
process for
‘REVAMP’.
Research how
long it will take to
release ‘REVAMP’.
Research the
editor and the job
roles at the
magazine.
Research what the
production
company does in
order to publish
the magazine and
the costs of
publishing.
Research key
people involved
in the production
process.
Statistics about
the magazine in
terms of
circulation
figures and
frequency of the
magazine.
Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by:
9th November
2014
9th November
2014
16th November
2014
16th November
2014
23rd November
2014
23rd November
2014
30th November
2014
Source: http://www.hosbeg.com/the-magazine-production-process
There a few steps to the production process of a magazine:

2. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
Date of Publication – Firstly the date the first issue of my magazine is going to be released
needs to be set in stone so that it can worked at and published by that date. After this is set
you have to work on schedule so you are able to meet the deadline of the production
process.
Managing the schedule - This is a key part of the process because if the schedule is
managed appropriately what willmost likelyhappen is that you willhave a magazine that
is fit for purpose. Although all tasks must be meticulously planned to the point there must
be time set aside for adjustments or updates on the original work.
Editorialand Budgeting – This is highly important because this about how much is set
aside for the content that is going to be put into my magazine. What happens is the content
is firstly decided upon by the editors and then a budget is set to one side to use for the
issue.
Content – Content is highly important when it comes to producing my magazine and there
is two ways of collectingit. You have internal and external writers that are told to right
stories that they are specialist at. Also at the same time the images and graphics for the
issue is being put in place on a computer program.
Sub-editing – Sub editing focuses on one major thing, which is quality control. If the media
organizationis big enough to have a sub-editor, then he is going to be responsible for this

3. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
job; if there is no sub-editor, then the editor does this job. This step involves the following
important things:
 Checking of the accuracyof all facts in the articles
 Making sure that words are properly spelled
 Making sure that grammar and punctuation are used correctly
 Making sure that all articles follow the house-style
 Working on the page layout…..
Page Layout – In big publications, there is a specific team that has the responsibility for
the page layouts called the layout staff. Their job is to typeset and layout the various pages
that come together to make my magazine. In performing this task, they use very powerful
Desktop Publishing (DTP) programs such as InDesign or PageMakerto get the job done. It
is at this stage that adverts from advertisers are placed into the content.
Proofreading – Once the above stage has been completed, the next stage is the
proofreading. The editorial department willprint out a hardcopy of my magazine for the
sole purpose of reading through to find and correct any mistakes in it. It is easier to

4. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
proofread a hardcopy than it is to proofread a softcopy. Any mistake that is spotted is
quickly corrected on the DTP file. The editorial team keeps proofreading until every
member is satisfied that all mistakes have been corrected.
File emailed to printer – After the proofreading stage, the DTP file of the entire magazine
is sent to the printer whose job willbe to print the magazine ‘REVAMP’. It is at this point
the popular term ‘pre-press’ comes in. Pre-press is defined as the process of checking to
make sure that you are sending all the fonts and images needed for the magazine with your
file. Once this stage is over, the printing company takes over. But before the printing
company prints the hundreds or thousands of copies requested by the publication, the
company first prints a few copies and sends them to the publication’s editor for checking
once again. This is called the printer’s proofs. If the editor and his team are satisfied with
the printer’s proofs, then the green light is given to the printer for mass printing to
commence. Each copy the printer prints is the final finished product – the magazine that
readers are going to have in their hands to read.
Distribution – This is the last stage of the entire process. The printing company, having
finished with the printing of my magazines, will package them neatly and send them to a

5. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
warehouse. From the warehouse, the magazines are then distributed and then sold to the
public for the first time.
This length it can take to release a magazine can differ on how many issues you actually
produce. If your magazine is a weekly magazine such as TIME magazine it has to be able to
fit for purpose and released within a week.On the other hand another type of magazine
that is released every month (like REVAMP will be) may have more content because they
only have one issue a month and that is why is takes them longer to release it, due to it
having more content to produce.
Roles & Responsibilities
Print Editors – These people are pivotal to getting the magazine released and published
on time. This is because they set the schedule for when the issue needs to be completed,
makes the assignments that need to be complete and build the magazine layout.

6. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
Production Staff – These guys are there to help out wherever they can or specialist areas
dependent on their expertise so the magazine goes out on time, e.g. puts articles in
magazine with the print editor.
Print Writers – They are highly important because they product the content that goes in
the magazines. The stories written by these people are the content that goes into the
magazine for the public to read.
Web Team/Editor (Optional) – These people are there so the magazine has the ability to
go on the web or on their actual website. They convert the magazine to an HTML and then
put in their own online navigation and layout, so it is appropriate for web use.