The document discusses a preliminary task to design the front cover and contents page of a school magazine to gain experience with the software and layout that will be used for a music magazine. It provides details on the target audience, possible cover designs, images and text to include on the front cover and contents page. Examples of shots types and three potential front cover photos are discussed, with an explanation for choosing one close-up shot of two students laughing. The effects used to edit this shot are described. In conclusion, the document reflects on how this task helped learn skills for designing an appealing magazine and understanding typical magazine elements and layouts that can inform the design of a music magazine.

2.  We were asked to make a school magazine cover and
contents page as our preliminary task to get used to
the software we will use for our music magazine. We
get to understand the program we will use and trial
different effects that work. Also we got to
understand the layout of a magazine so we can use
this for our own knowledge to make a magazine.

3. The school logo: this
symbolises the school as a
whole and what it
represents and it appeals
to people wo are
interested in the school
which means it is directed
to people at the school
and if they see the logo
they know it is to do wit
the school without
reading it.
Date line: this lets the people know
who are buying what issue it is so they
can buy the most recent one and
what year it was. It is so small as it is
the least important but its still there
as extra information so ty know what
time it was released to buy the
newest one or from the date they
wanted.
Master head: this lets the reader
know what the article is mainly about
to give a brief overview before they
read it so they can find the article they
want to read about but its short and
snappy and to the point so it gets the
point of the article out.
Mini contents: shows roughly what
is in the article so people can see
what’s inside and can choose
whether to look at it or not if
there’s something that interests
them.

4. Title of the magazine telling you
which school it is to do with and who
it is aimed at in this case it’s the
parents so it will be all the
information about the school and
will be word heavy since children
wont take much interest in it.
Main picture is a far shot of a group of
children. This is saying to the parents
that they all join together as a school
and they are academic with all years
meeting together to read the book
showing the skills they have at their
age.
Competition: this is to get people
involved with the magazine and
draws them to it if they are
getting something out of it, so by
seeing the word “win” you want
to find out more about the
competition.
Little bit of information about what
else you can see what else is included
in the magazine

5. Items that should be included in a
magazine
Amount of people who said this
Total=20 people
Photos of the school 6
Speeches from teachers 2
Achievements of students 4
Pictures of the students 1
Information about the school 3
Results of the school 2
Information about departments 2

6. 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 of the school magazine will be students of the school aged 11-18 but parents of the
children will also read It just to get the information about the school for them to know. They will keep the
writing simple and not word heavy for the kids.
Possible title ideas:
(masthead / title block)
What is your magazine going to be called?
Priory News
Priory Daily
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”
Close up of a student working on an exams to link to main story.
Main cover line:
What will be the main story?
GCSE’s hit a home run
Additional key images:
What other images will be on your front cover?
Remember, it is a school magazine.
Pictures of the school, pictures of the head teachers etc.
Additional cover lines:
Other features, stories or selling points which will be inside the
magazine, these need to be audience appropriate.
Getting involved
Achievements
Sports
Typography:
(style, size, colour of copy)
Think about the writing and the style of the writing on your front page.
it will be a clear font that shows style like This style is quite good because its clear and big enough so it will
be Franklin Gothic and either size 11 or bigger. And the colour will be black with red titles.
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 would be a pale colour that doesn’t take away from the main image or a picture of the front
of the 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.
Props will include a table in the hall, piece of paper of the students celebrating and equipment as they work.

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 front cover of your newsletter will look like.

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 contents page of your newsletter will look like.

9. Extreme Close-Up (ECU)
Big Close-Up (BCU)
Close-Up (CU)
Medium Close-Up (MCU)
Medium Shot (MS)
Medium Long Shot (MLS)
Long Shot (LS)
Very Long Shot (VLS)
Two Shot (any shot with two characters or objects equally
framed)
‘Over the Shoulder Shot’
Interviewee looks into space in the
frame
Moving Subject Walks into Space
High Angle Shot (looking down)
Low Angle Shot (looking up)
Tilted Frame (Canted/Dutch Angle)

12. Out of these 3 medium shots I chose the
first one because the other two are very
boring and aren’t as good quality as the
first. Also the first shows them being
close friends and having a bit of a laugh
so it makes it more of an interesting shot
for the front of the magazine.

13. I changed this image by removing the
background so that it was just the two
people instead of the white
background behind and I made the
opacity lower so it could blend in to the
background of the logo to make it less
prominent but blend it in to make it
better.

14.  From this task I have learnt how to use different skills
of how to make a magazine look worthy enough to
buy. I learnt to use Photoshop to make the magazine
as good as possible and the tools that I needed to
make the school magazine will help me to make the
music magazine later on. Also by studying and
researching about school magazines, their layouts
and what people expect to be included in them I can
use this to determined how a music magazine can be
laid out similarly but with different information inside.