AS Media Studies Preliminary Task - School Magazine

1. Brief
For this task, we were asked to create a school magazine with a
front cover and a contents page on it. This took me a few hours
and I had to take my own pictures in the process of creating my
front cover and contents page on the program Adobe
Photoshop. I intended to make this for students in the sixth
form, making sure it is appropriate for the purpose and appeals
to that age group by using colour schemes that attract the target
audience. I am also making sure that I have inserted the school
logo so that without reading you are aware and have a good idea
of the genre of the magazine, which is that of sixth form life. I
am also intending to add a variety of images onto my school
magazine to ensure that it isn't all just text and the audience are
able to stay engaged in what they are reading.

2. The masthead on this
school magazine suggests
a sign of formality with
the bold clear text that
has been used but also a
sense of informality in the
way that it has been tilted
at a 90 degree angle,
suggesting it is a school
magazine designed to
appeal to both students
as well as parents of the
school.
The story on this school
magazine links to the
image and indicates
success, reward and hard
work of students at the
school and the
achievements they have
got denoting it’s a
successful school.
The main image that has
been used on the front
page of this magazine
suggests that the school
has a strong achieving
background shown by
students standing with
their awards and that they
are always striving for
success.
The font and
language that has
been used is quite
formal and
segmented into
paragraphs denoting
it is an informative
school magazine
designed mainly to
inform parents and
carers.
The colour scheme that
has been used on this
magazine is quite varied,
suggesting although it is
mainly a formal magazine
for parents, the use of lots
of colour denotes that it is
trying to look eye catching
to grab the attention of
the reader.

3. The masthead in this
school magazine
connotes a sense of
professionalism. Also
with the use of the word
‘independent’ this is
indicating that this
school is indeed a
private school.
The main image on
the cover of this
magazine appears to
be showing two
pupils that are doing
work. This connotes
that the students are
hard working and are
doing their best to
achieve the highest
grades they can,
especially with the
implication that this
is a private school so
it would be
stereotypically
expected.
The strap line on this
magazine is ‘helping you
make the right choices for
your children.’ This
denotes that this
magazine is aimed at
parents and not for
children with the use of
the word ‘your’. This strap
line also suggests that
they are intending to lure
parents into purchasing
this magazine in the hope
that they can help their
children succeed.
The mini contents on the
side of the magazine are
there to give a brief
overview of the main
stories highlighted in this
magazine and could be
seen as teaser stories
since they include the
page number as well as
the title of the story in the
hope that people will
purchase the magazine if
those particular stories
catch their eye or are
intriguing to the audience.
The font that is used on the front cover of this magazine is quite large,
bold and in a variety of different colours so the audience are more
engaged with the magazine.

4. Audience Research
For my audience research, I asked a variety of students these questions of what
they would expect to see in a school magazine. They had to select from a variety
of different options of what they would expect to see in a school magazine
including school current affairs, student achievements, school dates, GCSE results
and also school facilities. The results from the research are shown below, with
school current affairs and news the most popular option that they would expect
to see in a school magazine, which is what I decided to implement into my school
magazine as some of the main topics.

5. 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 for this school magazine is going to be school children or more specifically sixth form students between the ages of 16 and 18 years old. To make it look
appealing to this target audience, I will need to make sure I have an engaging front cover that will grab the readers attention , but at the same time have a professional and
clean look to it. I will do this by using a lot of blending options and a variety of colours through the use of gradients in the text and background. I will also need to make
sure that the content is appropriate for that age group, for example I wouldn’t talk about GCSE results for sixth form students, as it has no relevance to them.
Possible title ideas:
(masthead / title block)
What is your magazine going to be called? ThePriory-SixthForm
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”
For the main image on the front page of this school magazine, the focal point will be of a happy student walking through the school, maybe holding his bag or possibly
some books in their hand.
Main cover line:
What will be the main story?
The main story on this school magazine will be tips for success in sixth form, as well as exam help and organisational skills to help achieve success.
Additional key images:
What other images will be on your front cover?
Remember, it is a school magazine.
Additional key images that I could use on my front cover could be either a picture of the front for the school, or a possible competition picture such as an iPod nano/iPod
shuffle as a merit reward.
Additional cover lines:
Other features, stories or selling points which will be inside the
magazine, these need to be audience appropriate.
Dealing with work loads.
Sixth Form Uniform.
Headphone Ban?
Music Dept gets Revamp
Merit Rewards
Sixth Form – Highest Intake in years
Typography:
(style, size, colour of copy)
Think about the writing and the style of the writing on your front page.
The typography for the front page will be most likely standard font, with a variety of different font sizes used in the title and different colour schemes too; most likely a red,
black, grey and white combination to blend with the logo of the school.
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 colour will most likely be a light grey colour, to make it look professional and allow the other features in the magazine to stand out more such as the
masthead and the main image.
Technical considerations:
(equipment, setting, props, costume, lighting)
Be realistic and creative, think about what you have access to and how
you could use it.
Expected sixth form clothing e.g. a suit, tie and trousers. Also a camera, as well as a school bag on their back.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. The front page of my school magazine
The title/masthead that I
have used for the front page
of my magazine is an
acronym of ‘The Priory
School – Sixth Form’ which
is basically addressing the
target audience of the
magazine which are sixth
form students who are
apart of The Priory School.
The school logo on the front
page is fairly clear and
stands out on the magazine
and being directly
underneath the title so will
be one of the first features
of the magazine that the
reader looks at. As well as
this, the logo gives the
magazine an identity to go
along with the title.
The issue number and date is
underneath the logo to give
the reader an idea of how
many of the magazines have
previously been published
and also whether the
magazine is the latest edition
or an older one.
The headings on the front
cover of this magazine have
been spread out so that they
are clear to see and also so
that the front cover is not too
crowded and people can get
a rough idea of the contents
of the school magazine as
well as what the topics of the
magazine will discuss. They
are all the same size just to
keep a sense of symmetry on
the magazine, with the red
text on the grey text boxes to
ensure that the clarity of the
sub headings are good.

9. Changing the Image
This is the original
image that I started
off with for the front
cover of my magazine.
After editing out the
image of the
background by
selecting the magic
wand tool, it gave me
an image like this on
Photoshop, with just
the outline of the
person. I also used the
plaster tool to remove
blemishes and spots on
the persons face as
well.

10. The contents page of my school magazine
For the contents page of my
school magazine, I once again
used a similar style of font
and layout to my front cover,
but with a few more additions
to the overall contents page.
The text is red and stands out
from the background image
that I have used
The logo on the
contents page has
been enlarged from
the front cover to
show the importance
that it has on this page
and to give the
contents page a similar
identity to that of the
front cover.
All the images that I have
used on my contents page are
appropriate to the topic they
are referring to, so for the
‘Headphone Ban?’ Column I
put some headphones next to
it to make it interesting and
also appropriate to the topic.
The background image that I
have used has been faded out
by editing the opacity of the
image to allow the sub
headings and masthead to
stand out on the contents
page. The image of the
person that I have used
underneath the contents
masthead has also been
edited to stand out against
the background that I have
used by making it brighter.

11. Changing the Image
This is the original image
that I had for the contents
page of my magazine.
For this image, I once again
used the magic wand tool to
remove the background of
the image, meaning that I
was just left with the outline
of the person. I also changed
the brightness and contrast of
the image by going onto
image, adjustments and then
altering the brightness and
contrast accordingly.