Iqbal Tanay AS Media Prelimanaray task

1. Iqbal Tanay

2. I was asked to design a school magazine front cover and contents page
from scratch. The front cover had to consist of a medium – close up image
of a student. I intended to produce this by using computer software such
as paint and Photoshop. I gathered primary images by taking photos on
camera using different camera shots of students and picking a good one to
suit the front cover. I intended to look at different school magazines to gain
an idea of what different features and techniques I could include in my
own magazine. I decided to make the magazine less formal than usual as
my school is not an upper-class or private school. Also, the magazine is to
be aimed at teenagers and students of the school, so it should be
attractive and eye catching toward them.

3. Issue number
Masthead
Strapline
Emblem of a Man reaching for the
clouds could connote the term “reach
for the clouds” or could reveal that the
school is an eco friendly school.
Subheading
Students of all different races could show that
its not a “posh” school aimed at a certain race
And genders of people. Also seen in the
slogan “the best in everyone”
Students of all
Races
Logo/emblem
Primary story
Key
Images
Formal writing
Colour scheme
School info/
Details
puff/
splash
Part of social networking sites could
interpret that the school is up to date
with the social media trends.

4. Masthead
Logo/emblem
Subheading
The key image is of three white students
which could be purposely used to show that
the school is more professional and “posh”
than other schools. Also, all three students
are male which could perceive that it is a all
boys school. Furthermore, there is a price tag
of £2.99 which is evident that the school may
be a rich school aimed at a certain race or
gender.
Barcode/
price
Key
Image
Primary story

5. What do you expect to see in a school magazine?
Sports Results
II (2)
Music Reviews
(0)
Film Reviews
I (1)
Articles about school life
IIIIIIII (8)
Upcoming events
IIIIII (6)
Message from the Head
IIIIIIIIIIII (12)
School compliments
IIIIIII (7)
How much should it cost?
-
Free?
IIIIII (6)
£1 - £3
II (2)
From this tally chart, I can come up with a
conclusion that school magazines are expected
to be related to school purposes only. For
example, they expect to see a message from
the head and articles about school life. On the
other hand, no one expects to see music
reviews and only one person expects to see a
film review. In terms of pricing, the majority of
people expects a school magazine to be free.
This may be due to the fact that the research
was conducted in a school which is not a
private school or in an upper class area.

6. Draft Plan
Final Plan

7. Draft Plan
Final Plan

9. The plan of the front cover differentiates a lot
from the actual front cover. I realised that I
should change certain parts of the text to make
it more attractive. e.g. I changed the size of the
masthead to make it eye catching.
Furthermore, I decided to have Boris Johnson
on the bottom of the screen as the space was
very empty, and this puff/splash would be a
good feature to add.
Additionally, I decided to replace Obama with
a teacher from Red nose day as if it were two
darker skinned people on the front cover, it
might give a different perception to the
readers; therefore I used a black raced student
and a white raced teacher.

10. The plan of the contents page varied largely
from the actual design of the contents page.
The main feature I decided to change was the
image of the football team. This is because at
the bottom of the screen there will already be
an image of something sporty, so I decided to
change it to a more academic image. I used an
image of a school and I replaced the bottom
image of a football player with students in a
boxing club.
I removed the zigzags as they looked messy in a
page, I decided to use a fading effect to
separate the images from each other in a
“clean” way.

11. 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.
My target audience for the School magazine will be kids and teenagers (students) from ages 13-18. They will have a range of
different interests and hobbies from various sports to music and education. The newsletter would be specifically aimed at students
who attend the school .
Possible title ideas:
(masthead / title block)
What is your magazine going to be called?
Press on Manor
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”
Main cover line:
What will be the main story?
There will be an image of a student who is happy and smiling. This image will be a photograph of a student in a medium close-up.
Additional key images:
What other images will be on your front cover?
Remember, it is a school magazine.
I will include the school emblem to represent Preston Manor. I will also include a picture of a student attending the school’s new
fighting self defence club.
Additional cover lines:
Other features, stories or selling points which will be
inside the magazine, these need to be audience
appropriate.
There will be another side puff/splash about a school club and I will have a text which says go to the # page for more info.
I will also include a sub heading which says “Best A level results in London”
Typography:
(style, size, colour of copy)
Think about the writing and the style of the writing on
your front page.
I will have different fonts for the different words. The word “press” will be in dark colours and in block or Arial font. However the
word “manor” will be coloured in different colours and will have more of a catchy, attractive design. The font will be wavy and childlike. (audience appealing.)
Background colour/image:
What will be in the background, remember you don’t
want to take the focus away from the main image.
The image of the student will fill the whole background. The image of the student might be taken in front of the school building
itself to relate to the purpose of the school magazine. To also symbolise that the happy student is part of the Preston Manor 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.
I will use Photoshop to add the puff/splashes and give it an attractive, eye-catching effect. I might also make the splash image of the
student in the fight club look like he’s popping out of the image. PRESS
The main story will be about Barack Obama’s Visit to Preston Manor. I will include a sub heading and an image of Barack Obama.

12. I found this picture of Boris Johnson on Google images and decided it would be good to use on the
magazine because of his positioning. I pasted the image on to photo shop. I used magnetic lasso tool to
cut out the section which I needed and remove the un needed section. I then added a text which I made
on powerpoint and also removed the background. I then used the eraser tool to rub out some of the
colour from the letter “B” to reveal Boris’s hand.

13. I added the background to the magazine by searching the image of my school on google
images and copying it on to photo shop. I then dragged the image to the bottom of the clip
list to make it the background. I clicked free transform to enlarge the image as if the medium
close up image of the student seems to be there in the background. I then faded the student
using the blur tool to make it more realistic.

14. I found this image on google and I copied it on to the contents page on photo shop. I edited
this by firstly going to the brush tool and selecting the black colour. Secondly, I changed the
brush options to a sideways spray tool which makes it look like the image is fading. I applied
this to the top half of the image. I then selected the white colour and did the same to the
bottom half of the image. This made it look like the image is fading to the background colour.

15. During the time in which I was doing my preliminary task, I have learnt various
skills and improved on certain skills which I already had. This task helped me
gain experience in using photo shop and adding primary and secondary images
together into one image. Additionally, I learnt how to use a camera to take
photos in different angles and positions for different purposes. I also learnt
what different features make a school magazine and what people expect to
see in one, I acknowledged how different school magazines vary and why.
Overall, I believe I have succeeded in completing the task to a high standard. I
have produced a front cover and contents page of a school magazine with
different features with reasoning to apply to my target audience.