Coursework: Print magazine research and planning

Research and planning blog tasks

Create a blogpost called 'Print brief research and planning' and complete the following tasks to plan and prepare your print work:

1) Research magazine cover key conventions. Look over the magazine cover key conventions notes sheet and write which of these you will use for your magazine cover.

There are a lot of aspects to focus on, I'll try to include everything from the list. The key conventions.

2) Find at least five culture magazine front covers (either current or former magazines) aimed at a similar target audience to your project (adults interested in popular culture). For each one, pick out one design idea that you could use in your own print work. Some examples you may wish to look at include the Guardian Guide, Sunday Times Culture magazine, Time Out, The Face, the Radio Times, Aesthetica, the move and Paper:

3) Find at least three contents pages from culture, lifestyle or music magazines on Google images. How are contents pages designed? How do they use a combination of text and images to create an effective design?

4) Find at least three double-page spread features from culture, lifestyle or music magazines on Google images. How are they designed? How are text and images displayed? What design tricks can you borrow from your examples?

5) Read at least three example features from newspapers and magazine to learn the format, writing style and content for a culture magazine. You may wish to use the following to help you:

Guardian review of The Morning Show - new Apple TV drama (500 words)

Time Out - The 10 Best TV shows of the week (1,500 words)

Benedict Cumberbatch hints at female future (250 words)

Vogue feature about '90s music 

The 50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels

Planning, sketching and writing

1) Plan a title and slogan for your new, original culture magazine. Sketch out possible designs for the masthead - font, style, colour etc.

Title: EASE
Tagline: Art of/behind the entertainment 

2) Plan the content for your magazine front cover. Your double-page spread will be the main story but what other cover lines, images and more will you include on the cover?

The front cover will feature the main image as main character for my show, photo-shopped so it looks like the two of them are laying down next to each other as two different personalities.
The Tagline will be placed on top of the cover, with a simple font 

3) Write a list of the all the features, regular sections and more that will appear on your contents page. If you've chosen to produce a different internal page, plan that here instead.

Content

The quide -
Art - Top 20 museums in London! -  pages 24
Fashion - Met Gala and the trend for the spring 2020 - pages 44
Cinema and Television - Biggest hits of 2020 48
Ceberity - what's new with our favourite celebs - pages 56
Politics - the US election comming up; the women in formation to lead! - pages 64
Dinning - Easter holidays, get ready for the healthy bunny! - pages 74

Features -
 24 The 'Getaway' public art now open for free
 48 New show 'Eli' on your Netflix avaliable from April 2020!
 58 Cameron C talks about how to be trans in Hollywod

4) Create a spider diagram or bullet point list of all the issues or topics your TV drama addresses. How can you use this information to create a main feature for your culture magazine about your TV drama that will appeal to your target audience?

5) Write the text for your double-page spread feature. This needs to be a minimum of 400 words and be completely original and feature an aspect of your TV drama. Make sure you include a headline, subheading and any pullout quotes or sidebar contents. 

Unbeatable
We had the chance to talk to the main actress of the upcoming Netflix show ‘Eli’ Julia Baginska as well as the rest of the crew, talking industry, representation, and life on-set.
It’s quite obvious that most people in either US or UK have heard about the largely anticipated Netflix release of the supernatural crime drama ‘Eli’. The show, based on the famous novel by Daniela Bailey, gained fame before the actual shooting started. It’s understandable considering the devoted fan base of the novelist and the popularity of the supernatural genre in the last 4 years. Julia had that feeling from the beginning. ‘I knew that the show is going to be popular and I cannot feel more lucky and grateful for this amazing opportunity’. She also gave us some inside the cast and her everyday routine. ‘It’s quite overwhelming to change your life so suddenly. One day all you do is go to some auditions, go to the gym, meet up with some friends and, well, that’s about it. Then in a flash, you don’t even have the time to pee between takes’ she laughs ‘as much as it’s fulfilling, it’s also so exhausting’. It takes a lot of committed and talented people to create a product that’s already gaining positive reviews from the teasers and the final trailer that was released last Saturday. Jane Williams; the producer of the show; also expresses her commitment to the show. ‘I put my sweat and tears into this show and to see the excitement on the internet I cannot wait to release the episodes to the audience’. As she spoke, one of the main actors; Will Radford; interrupted the interview, hugging Bailey. ‘We love it here, we love her, as long as she bosses us around, we’re here, you know?’ they both laughed ‘In all honesty, the work here is amazing, I feel so lucky.’ Will states.

As much enjoyment as the cast and crew have, a lot of them struggled and are still struggling in their personal lives. Julia opened up about her early struggles in the industry before she was cast as Eleanor. ‘It’s hard. Very hard. The industry is more open to representation, but outside of the screen, the word is still in hands in people that have a closed view of what ‘equality’ means to them and they’re not willing to change. Women have to fight to be played the same and, unfortunately, take sexist roles and materialize women, not only on the screen but on set as well. ‘ she states ‘It’s a long fight but at least we have the freedom to fight back.’

6) Produce an A4 sketch of your front cover including the key conventions and design tricks you have studied in existing magazines and then planned in planning task 1 above.

7) Produce an A4 sketch of your contents page. This can be a single page of A4 or alternatively a double-page spread (A3).

8) Produce an A4 landscape sketch of your double page spread design now you have chosen the subject matter.

Photoshoot

1) Which of your main characters will appear on the front cover of your magazine?

The hero and villain of my show. I need two main images to make it into one as well as 3 more for the imges on the side.

2) What image or images do you need for the contents page?

1 main, bigger image of the characters, one bright and one in the shadows, 
and about 3-5 extra photos of the other shos, food and people overall.

3) What image or images will you use for the double-page spread? Remember, you need seven different original images across the print brief.

One image of the main character either kicking her leg through the page or a simple mid/lond shot in a simplistic frame.

4) Write a shot list for the photoshoot. Make sure you plan a variety of camera shots you will look to capture - medium shots, close-ups etc.

mid shot (cover, main)
mid shot (cover, main)
long shot (double-page)
mid/long shot (double-page)
close-up 
close-up

5) What costume, props or make-up will you require for the photoshoot?

Shirts - extra and elegant
make-up - heavy and non, bruice 
props - tablets, extra clothes