The document outlines the production process and schedule for creating a magazine. It involves deciding on a publication date, managing the production schedule, making editorial and budget decisions, acquiring content from in-house and external writers, sub-editing for quality control, page layout, proofreading, sending the file to the printer, distribution, and setting the release date and frequency. The production manager must properly manage the schedule to meet deadlines and allow for mistakes. Content acquisition is a key step, involving both in-house and external writers as well as artwork and graphics. The schedule provides checkpoints for completing each stage of the process by certain dates to ensure the magazine is published on time.
1. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
Name: TJ Salango
Candidate Number: 1220
Week beginning: 28/09/15
Monday Thursday Monday Thursday Monday Thursday Monday
Date of Publication:
this is the date in which
a magazine is to be
released to the public
when finished. Once it
has been decided then
you are working on a
schedule; meaning that
you are now going to
plan the production
process and when it
will occur.
Managing the
Schedule: you must
properly manage the
schedule in order to
create a good
magazine; this provides
you with provisions for
mistakes so that you
can always meet the
deadline.This is a vital
convention.
Editorial and
Budgetary Decision:
The magazine’s editorial
team will now decide
what content will be
included in the
magazine’s issue,
basically what will make
up the magazine. After
the types of articles,
ideas and topics have
been decided then the
team will focus on the
budget of the magazine;
how much money will be
spent towards producing
it?
Content Acquisition:
this is probably the most
significant step in the
process; content is what
makes up the entire
magazine, without
content there is no
magazine. There are 2
ways in which content
can be collected for the
magazine; the first way is
through in-house staff
writers and the second
way is through external
writers who work on
commission to write
topics that are
controversial. The
artwork and graphics are
being worked on at the
moment; graphics are
images that are designed
with a computer
program. Journalists and
reporters also conduct
research into the topics
through the internet,
Sub-Editing: sub editing
focuses on one thing
which is quality control;
large media organisations
will have a sub editor who
will be completely
responsible for this job.
Without a sub editor you
only have an editor. They
have to complete a list of
tasks to ensure that the
magazine consists of the
correct content.
accuracy of all facts in the
articles
words are properly
spelled
grammar and punctuation
are used correctly
Making sure that all
articles follow the house-
style
Page Layout: often times
there is a special team
who is responsible for
page layouts called the
layout staff; their task is
to layout all of the pages
in the magazine. They can
use powerful desktop
publishing software such
as InDesign or
Pagemaker to get the job
done to the best of their
ability. The advertisers
are placed into the
content of the magazine.
Proofreading: the
editorial department will
print out a hard copy of
the magazine and read
through it to find any
mistakes and correct
them. Any mistake is
quickly corrected on the
DTP file. All mistakes
have to be corrected for
professionalism.
FileEmailed To
Printer: after all of the
proofreading is done
and all of the mistakes
have been corrected
then the ‘pre press’
comes in. Pre press is
the process of checking
to make sure that you
are sending all the fonts
and images needed for
the magazine with your
file. After this its the
printing company’s turn
to take over. They must
first print a fewcopies
and send them to the
publication’s editor for
checking once again
before printing
hundreds or thousands
of copies. IF the editor
and his team are happy
with it then the printing
company goes on to
mass print the magazine
issue.
Distribution: the
finalstage of the
process, the printing
company will now
package the issues
neatly and send them
to a warehouse,
where it is then
distributed to
retailers and sold to
the public.
Distribution
Company: My
distribution
institution would be
an established and
popular company,
InterMedia Partners.
To launch my
magazine will cost me
between 2 to 4
million dollars per
year in order to cover
demand.As my sales
increase I will
increase the amount
2. Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template
Name: TJ Salango
Candidate Number: 1220
news and interviews. layout of money spent in
distribution in order
to produce and sell
my magazine to a
growing audience.For
the first year it will
cost me $2 million.
Date of release and
Frequency:
Release Date – 5th
December 2015,first
Saturday of
December,allows
people to buy new
magazines on the
weekend rather than
during the week.
Frequency – every 4
weeks to cover 14
magazine releases per
year as opposed to 12
(1 per month).This is
to ensure the most up
to date content with
the readers whilst
still providing time in
between to actually
compile content and
produce the
magazine.
Complete by: 01/10/15 Complete by: 05/10/15 Complete by: 08/10/15 Complete by: 12/10/15 Complete by: 15/10/15 Complete by: 19/10/15 Complete by:
22/10/15