Wednesday, 22 April 2009

Friday 10th October 2009

I drew rough sketches of my front cover and contents page.

Thursday 9th October 2008

Today we had to start the Preliminary Task properly, we had to work individually. At first I used my brainstorm to help me decide on a title for my magazine, I chose a few possible names:
School starts 8.30,
Home at 3.20,
Detention, and
Class

I then thought about my ideas and decided to go with ‘Class’ for my title. I then chose a list of cover lines that would appear on the cover of my magazine. The cover lines I chose were:
Top Tips for Revision
This weeks snapshots
Get Great Grades
Competition inside
Exclusive Interview: Head teacher speaks out…
How to stop smoking

I then came up with a list of regular content for my magazine, a list of 10 feature articles and a list of images that would appear in my contents page.

Wednesday 8th October 2008

During this lesson we were given a booklet outlining the course work that we had to complete. We then made a start on the Preliminary Task. To start this task we had to brainstorm ideas about school, to help us when it comes to making a ‘School Magazine’.

Tuesday 7th October 2008

For this lesson this class was split into groups of four, each group were given a camera and using the sheets we had completed on Monday 6th October about framing and shot types take various photographs. Our task was to take photographs which illustrate different shot types and mise-en-scene. We had to use each other as models to pose for our photographs, and we were not allowed to use anyone outside of our group. We had to take photographs of things such as, ‘A big close up of someone using a mobile phone’ and ‘a very long shot conveying isolation’. We then had to take more photographs but this time we were not allowed to use any people in the shots, we had to decide on the shot and the framing ourselves, for these pictures we had to take photographs of ‘Connotations of friendship’ and ‘Connotations of Stress’. We then had to import all our images onto a word file and write a caption for each one stating what the shot was.

Monday 6th October 2008

We all had to complete a work sheet ‘Shot types and framing’ this sheet had a variety of camera shot on it and we had to go through the sheet as a group and decide what shots they were, For Example, Extreme Close-up, Long Shot, Tilted Frame. We had to complete this exercise in order to help us with further work we had to do.

Friday October 3rd 2008

We began our coursework by looking at examples of magazines to establish the Codes and Conventions of a front cover and contents page. We worked in groups to establish the codes and conventions of Front Covers and Contents Pages.

Front Covers
The codes and conventions of magazine front covers in this genre are:

· Masthead is either in the top left corner or full width of the cover
· Title is in a unique font not used anywhere else in the magazine
· Issue date and price are either by the title or the barcode
· Positioning statement is above the title
· Usually one image of either a female or male celebrity which dominates the cover
· Background to the picture is usually a plain colour
· Picture is either close up, medium close up or medium long shot
· Direct address is used – the person in the picture is making eye contact with the reader
· A simple colour scheme is used, usually no more than three colours
· The main coverline is the largest text apart from the title and anchors the meaning of the image
· Coverlines frame the image and there is no text over the person’s face
· Coverlines usually have a few words in capitals which are puns, alliteration or just intriguing and there are sublines which explain more about the content of the article and which aren’t in capitals
· These coverlines are usually three or four lines long
· Puffs are used to promote free gifts, special offers etc
· Sometimes a strip is used at the bottom of the cover just containing single words relating to the contents which conveys that the magazine is packed with interesting articles
· Only one or two fonts are used for the coverlines
· The same type size is used for most coverlines
· The buzzword exclusive is commonly used, usually on the main coverline
· Barcode

Contents Pages
The codes and conventions of contents pages for this genre of magazine are:

· Contents are usually two pages
· The contents are laid out in either three or four columns
· Pictures dominate the contents pages
· Pictures are different sizes and have page numbers on them which anchor them to the written contents
· Headings are used to divide up the contents e.g. In every issue, On the cover, Features, Regulars, Grooming, Fashion
· There is a line gap between each section of the contents
· Each line of contents begins with page number in a colour or bold; then a couple of words in capitals; bold or colour; and then an explanation of the content of the article
· Regular contents just have a page number and usually a single word e.g. letters
· The type size of the text is usually 11pt
· There is usually a small picture of the front cover of the magazine which goes with the ‘On the cover’ section of the contents
· There are credits for the front cover picture
· Subscription details
· Contact details are sometimes included – address and email address