School Magazine Moodboard

I have recently decided to put all my ideas onto paper. Now these are generally called a Moodboard. This includes all my ideas from the fonts, pictures, colours and layouts. It’s a simple Moodboard but I think it does the job for my initial ideas. Hope you like it!

Analysis Of A Good School Magazine

After analysing ‘The BBS Times’, I didn't think I showed you a very good example. Because of this I thought I would analyse Greenfields School Magazine.

This is a great example of a school magazine! Look at it! Colourful, interesting and all age approved.

First off the masthead is different to your general magazine. Although it goes across the top of the page, it goes on two levels. This is a nice layout as it isn't as square as other magazines.  It isn't central either as it has the logo on the left. Again I like this layout as its fresh and new.

The pictures are great too. The main picture is very welcoming. This is good at it draws readers in. the other pictures also give a little glimpse into the magazine. This is great as it makes the readers interested before they have even turned a page.

The banner at the bottom is also a nice touch. It breaks up the page making it not look too solid. They have also given the banner the school colours making it more professional and represents the school even more.

Last but not least, they have used minimal secondary leads. This doesn't make it look to cluttered. The way they have used the same font and colour as the masthead makes it look nicer and not too all-over-the-place.

The person who made this magazine should be very proud of themselves and if my magazine looks as good as this one, I will be very happy indeed. 

Analysis Of A School Magazine

I've previously done an analysis of general fashion magazine, so today I thought I would do one for a school magazine. Today I will be reviewing Burton Borough Schools magazine 'The BBS Times'.

Like all magazines, ‘The BBS Times’ has a masthead. This has taken up the whole top width of the page which helps it to stand out. The font ‘New Times Roman’ that they have used isn't the best of choices. For a school magazine, this is just too formal. It needs a more modern font like ‘Verdana’ to suit all ages.  They have also put in a nice touch of adding the logo on both sides of the masthead, to advertise the school.

The plain black and white isn't a good approach  This is very dull and boring and wont catches peoples eyes. It needs some more colour and different sized text to stand out a bit. Even some more pictures would help this bland front! Come on BBS, you can do better than this!

The layout isn't very interesting either. The two columns down the page is just BORING! A full colour picture with a few lines of writing would suffice  You want to interest people to read the magazine, not make them fall asleep by just looking at it.

Obviously ‘The BBS Times’ isn't the best example of a school magazine, but as sure as anything, we can learn from it. 

My Magazine Ideas

So, on our first study period for Media, some of us decided to sketch our ideas of our magazine. Now, you are lucky people as today, you are... (wait for it).....seeing my sketches and ideas. You're welcome.  

So first off, the front cover.

As you can see, I decided to have a masthead at the top of the page like with most magazines. This is so it stands out. I don't know what colour and font I would use but I will do some testing.

For the logo, I liked the idea of the schools tie. From what have heard, most people are going with the idea of the school tree, like the schools logo. I thought I would be different but, I will have to see how it looks first. I liked the idea because it incorporates the school with the uniform and the school colours (which the tie holds). 

On the front, I also wanted a picture of a student. I thought it would show the pride the school has in its pupils, and people on a magazine are popular.

With the splash (remember that word?), I thought I would put it underneath the masthead in a bold font so it would stand out. I would also make the main picture fit in with this, so it looks more professional.

I would also put a couple of secondary leads at the bottom of the page with maybe a picture to go with it. This would be in a smaller size. I’m not sure yet but I like the idea of the stories headings being in different colours or sizes, so more stand out compare to others. 

For the contents page...

I liked the idea of the column with the stories and page numbers to be on the right hand side. I thought this would look nicer. I would also like to have a picture somewhere on the left had side, relating to one of the stories.  In some magazines I have seen ‘editor’s letter’. I liked this idea as I thought it makes the reader feel more involved with the ‘editor’. For the magazine I thought I would change it to the ‘heads letter’ so it fits in with the genre of a school magazine better. I would also like the background to be a light green colour, as it is one of the school colours. 

Although I have these ideas in my head, they might not seem right when I start to make the magazine. If things change, I will make a post for you to show you how it will look, with the new changes.  Hope you are looking forward to the final product, I am!

Terminology- Camera Angles And Movement

Welcome to another terminology post! Now I know these aren't very exciting but, I have to do loads of posts, and I have no ideas...anyway, someone might find this useful!

Today we are talking angles, movement, and what they do for the shot-

High- Shot looking down at the subject/object so they look smaller.

(Night In The Museum)



 Low- Shot looking up at subject/object so it looks bigger.

(Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Canted- Shot slightly slanted

(Inception)

Pan- Horizontal/vertical sweeps of scene 

Tilt- Camera looks up/down on subject/object. Camera not on same level.

(The Untouchables)

Track- Camera on cart. Moves along with subject.

Dolly- Camera on cart. Moves towards/away form subject.

Crane- Dolly shot in air. Can move in all directions.

Steadicam- Stabilisation system to keep shot steady as camera moves.

Hand-held- Person holds camera as filming.

Zoom- Moves smoothly from long-shot to close-up.

Reverse zoom- Moves from close-up to long-shot.

So now you have some new words to use, enjoy them!

Magazine Analysis

I have before told you about the conventions of a magazine.  Today I am going to show you this through the form of a front cover of a Glamour magazine, with more detail. Here we go!-

Magazines have mastheads! Glamour have used a bold big font at the top of the page. This stands out and catches the eye of the reader. Mastheads are also short and snappy so they are easy to remember (as it is the magazines name). The text font and colour need to link in with the magazine genre, so it fits in and doesn't look strange (e.g. don't have a fashion magazine with a black sci-fi themed masthead).

A splash is good to have on a magazine. This is the lead story. These are needed to bring the reader to the magazine. They need to big, juicy and exclusive! Well...do you people to read it or not? The splash needs to be bold, short and bigger than the secondary leads, so it stands out. Don’t forget a photo to go with it!

Secondary leads are another main part of the magazine. These are other big stories to entice the readers. Again, make them short and interesting and include a photo.

(Glamour Magazine)

(Glamour Magazine with labels of conventions)

Tags are a great way to interest people. These are words like 'exclusive' and 'new'. Make sure they are bold and colourful to catch people’s eyes. 

Tip on’s are a great idea. A tip on is the little promotional item that some magazines give for free. These make the readers thing they are gaining a little extra from your magazine (and might make them buy multiple copies). These can range from a sample product to a discount voucher. 

These are a few good things to add to a magazine and make it look a lot better! Till next time!

Terminology- Camera Shots

For all of you who like your vocabulary, this is for you! This is going to be one of a few of posts about media terminology.

This time we are talking camera shots-

Establishing shot- long shot to show beginning of a sequence to show and overview of scenes that follows.

Master shot- single shot showing scene from start to finish.

Close-up shot- tight framed shot. Shown in large scale.

(The Shining)

Mid-shot- camera shot from a ‘medium’ distance.

 (This Is Forty)

Long shot- camera shot from a ‘long’ distance. Shows full object/person.

(Titanic)

 

Two-shot- view of two subjects. They do not have to be next to each other.

(The Social Network)

 

Aerial shot- high shot of a subject.

(London)

Point of view shot- shot in the view of the subject

(Tessaleanne photography)

Over the shoulder shot- framed behind a person looking at the subject. subject takes 2/3 of the frame

(Tangled)

These are just a few of the shot you can get. Look out for more media terms!

Magazine Conventions

Yes…I have done a conventions page for a school magazine, but that doesn't mean I can’t do one for magazines in general!  

First off, in this post there will be a lot more terminology so get ready for all the jargon. Secondly, this post is generally better, stick around!

So, with non-school magazines, they have a lot more to stand up to. There are a lot of competitors all trying to win over that one reader, deciding which magazine looks better to read today. This is why you need conventions, to show that you are a professional, easy to follow, and won’t waist that reader’s time.

Get your pen and paper (or favourite this page), as this is what you need-

Masthead- you need a title for your magazine of course! This needs to be distinct and bold to become eye-catching and say ‘READ ME’.

Contents page- the contents page works as a directory. This tells the reader where the most important and entertaining stories are. This gives the reader the ease just to find the page they want without having to flick through the whole thing.

Secondary leads- these are the snippets of articles that give the reader an inside view of the magazine. These are mainly the most interesting stories and are represented by bold text or a picture to interest the buyer.

Splash- this is like a secondary lead but is the main story. This is represented on the front page with a bold heading and picture.

Stand first- these are good as they are the first lines before a main article. These need to be engaging to make the reader read the article.

Tag- tags are words or phrases that catch the eye of the reader and engage them. These can be words like- exclusive and new.

These are some main conventions for a magazine but don’t forget to keep the language suitable for everyone, readable fonts, suitable images and colours that work well.  

See you next time!

Do's And Don'ts For A School Magazine

Yes, this blog post is called 'Do’s and Don’ts for a School Magazine'...but I lie. It’s more like 'What I Will And Won’t Use In My School Magazine'.

Although the statement says 'What I Will And Won’t Use'... I don't actually know what I will use. I've been given examples like- The font, images, colours... but I don't actually know what to use.

In my and I have the ideas of using the school colours (yellow and green), but I don't know if it would look like.

I like the look of a mid-shot of a student on the front cover (like on the photo above). It gives a clear central shot of the student which could show pride in the school and the community. It is also centered so it looks neat and is a better layout.

I also like the look of having the main headlines and masthead in front of the image. This lets it stand out and makes it easy to read all of the text. It is also bold and modern, which can look professional. (Example on picture above)

I also want a good layout where everything it easy to read and see. I don’t want it looking too busy and all over the place as it reduces the professionalism of it. It needs to be clean with clear headings, columns and not crowded with pictures. (Below is a good example)

Font is a big part of the magazine. It is important as it needs to be readable for everyone. If you can’t read it, people won’t look at it!

I will show you examples of good and bad fonts using the example title- ‘Media News’

This font is called ‘Scriptina’. This font does have a good look to it. It’s bold, fancy, but beware! This font isn't suitable! It might look good but not everyone will be able to read it. It’s a no from me.

    

This font is called ‘Eastlift’. Now how hard is it to read? Well it’s not easy and so not suitable! 

 

Hope this helps with your school magazine needs!

School Magazine Conventions

For my preliminary task I have to make a couple of pages for a school magazine. Because of this, I decided to do some research on the conventions of a school magazine. This is what I found out-

-It needs to be easy to read. This includes the font, text colours and language used. This is essential so everyone can read it, including adults and children.

-Have clear photographs/images that link in with the articles. They also need to be eye-catching but appropriate for the theme of the magazine. (Some pictures of the pupils (medium/close-shot), school or logo can be useful.) This gives a better view to the reader about the story instead of them just reading text.

-You need a good layout. This makes people want to read it. A good layout is also comfortable to read, while adding value and perspective to your article. 

-It needs to include stories that stand out but are appropriate. They need to be clear and easy to follow with correct information.

-The front cover should include the logo, student photos and main headlines to entice people to the magazine. It can also be useful to use the school colours to help represent where it comes from and links better with the genre of the magazine.

-You also need to have a masthead. This is important so people know what the magazine is called, and so they can research it if they want to.

-All so include a contents page. This is important so people can quickly find a page they want to look at. This will improves the readers experience with the magazine, which helps them become more likable to it.

-Over all keep it simple, interesting and friendly to all readers.

Hope this helps and gives you a better idea about what to do. I certainly learned a lot!

All About Me

Hello readers!!! Welcome to my AS media blog!

My name is Gemma Beckett. I am currently studying Media, Business, ICT and Geography.

I took Media because I haven't done it before. I found it interesting as you got to research all about the social media, how things work behind the scenes and how it influences different people in the world. For example, we have been learning about how different programmes affect different people.

This blog is for my current assessment in Media about magazines. For this we have to make a magazine in the form of an front page, contents page and an double page. This blog is going to be like a diary for my work. I will update all that I have done on here so you can see how my magazine is created, and how I improve from a draft magazine into the real thing.

I hope that you enjoy this blog and stick with me thorough this journey.