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MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 7 - COMPLETING YOUR FINAL ARTICLE & FRONT COVER

Okay we're at the very end of this unit. So far you've analysed the living hell out of a newspaper and mag, proposed a magazine you're making, as well as creating first and final drafts of an article, and a first draft of a front cover for that mag. Time to wrap things up. Do this in the following way. REMEMBER DISTINCTION CRITERIA DEPENDS UPON YOUR FINAL ARTICLE & FRONT COVER LOOKING WELL PROFESH. MAKE IT AS GOOD AS YOU CAN AND TAKE YOUR TIME - DON'T BE IN A RUSH TO FINISH UNLESS YOU'RE HAPPY WITH PASSES.  1. Create a new post. Give it the title 'PRINT PRODUCTION WEEK 7 - FINAL ARTICLE & FRONT COVER'. IN BOTH THE FOLLOWING STEPS MAKE SURE WHEN SCREENSHOTTING THAT YOU VIEW THINGS AS A PREVIEW SO THERE'S NO FORMATTING LINES/BOXES. I WANT TO SEE WHAT YOUR MAG WILL LOOK LIKE IF PRINTED OUT.  2. Put in the heading 'FINAL ARTICLE'. Using the FINAL DRAFT of your article text (so it shouldn't be the same as your first draft but sh
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MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 6 - Finishing Your Final Article Draft.

Okay, you sent me the first draft of your article. I will have sent this back to you with corrections. You now need to create the FINAL DRAFT of your article. Once you've done this, this is the text you should use in the final layout of your article. Complete this week's production tasks as follows. 1. Open up a new blogpost. Call it 'Print Production Week 6 - Article Final Draft'. 2. Add the heading EDITING. Screenshot your first draft AND my edited draft next to each other into your blogpost. Explain what the images show and what you're going to do. 3. Make the changes to your draft I've recommended. Then save the finished document, separate to your original piece, as a 'final draft'. 4. Add the heading FINAL DRAFT and screenshot your final draft in. Explain that you've made the changes to your document and this is now the final text you will use in your final layout for your article. 5. Add the heading PRODUCTION DIARY and just expla

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 5 - FRONT COVER SECOND DRAFT

So far you've Analysed Proposed Pitched Designed and you're now in a position where you have A First Draft Front Cover A First Draft Article Time to swing back to working on your FRONT COVER - there's no avoiding the fact that you need INDESIGN TIME - the thought that you'll get the design aspects of your magazine ready in a week is for the birds - not gonna happen. You're only spending about five or six hours a week in here and you'll need it to improve your skills. Well aware that when left to your own devices you'll mainly muck around on your own devices I want this creative process to unfold like this. 1. Open up a new blogpost. Call it 'Print Production Week 5 - Front Cover Second Draft' 2. Open up your First Draft of your front cover in Indesign, and open up your production diary from the week you created it (Week 1). Are you still going to stick with your original draft layout or are you going to change it? If you want

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 4 - ARTICLE FLATPLAN

Okay, on your magazine production work you should have - Done a DRAFT LAYOUT and FIRST GO of your FRONT COVER - PITCHED the article you're going to write. - WRITTEN a FIRST DRAFT of that article & sent it me. - Done a DRAFT LAYOUT for your ARTICLE While you wait for me to edit your article and send it back to you, it'd be a good time for you to continue experimenting with Indesign towards making a FIRST ATTEMPT at laying your article out on the page. Complete this part in the following way. 1. Open up a new blogpost. Call it 'ARTICLE FLAT PLAN' 2. Paste in your DRAFT LAYOUT and just add the sentence. 'This is the draft layout I will be working towards'. 3. Using Indesign or Photoshop, try putting the text from your FIRST DRAFT together with pictures to compose your magazine pages. You'll need your draft layout open so you know where things should go - your first attempt should be roughly to your layout. You should be averaging about 500-8

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 3 - Writing Your First Draft

So, you've proposed a magazine, had a first go at designing a front cover, have pitched a suitable article for your magazine giving yourself a word-count and deadline . . . . it's now time to do the most important part of being a writer/journalist - get your bum in the chair and WRITE. Complete this week's post in the following way.  1. Open up a new Blogpost. Call it 'PRINT MEDIA PRODUCTION WEEK 3: WRITING MY FIRST DRAFT. 2. Write your article in MSWord according to your pitch. Aim for your full exact wordcount, although 10% above or below that wordcount is acceptable. Give it a headline, and get your byline in there too. A few pointers at this early stage . . ..  READ similar articles, they'll give you guidance as to the kind of tone to strike.  READ your own article before sending it to me. Does it flow? Does it have rhythm or is it unwieldly and stilted? Are you getting out of breath reading anything - if so, you need to break that pa

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 2 - PITCHING YOUR ARTICLE

You've finished your proposal, as well as a first go at your front cover as well as a diary-entry. It's now time to also think about the ARTICLE you're going to write for your magazine. Nobody for any mag or newspaper simply writes things without first checking that someone is going to run it. The way writers do this is by writing an email to their editor where they PITCH an article for consideration that they want to write. It's a vital part of pre-production for a magazine (often pitches are discussed at editorial meetings - remember the preproduction stage for print media products?) so it's something that I feel is essential for you to do also. I want you to pitch the article you're going to write and design for your proposed magazine. You'll do this as follows. 1. OPEN UP A NEW BLOGPOST. Call it 'PRINT MEDIA PRODUCTION: WEEK 2' 2. Add the heading 'THE PITCH'. Then using these headings tell me the following . . . .  WHAT I WANT

MAGAZINE PRODUCTION WEEK 1 - A Draft Layout of the FRONT COVER

Until we get Indesign up in this room it's going to be tricky to actually complete design elements of this unit - however initially you just have to PLAN it which doesn't require Indesign. Complete this part in the following way and remember to carefully give the post the right title. The moderator is going to want to see a Print Production Process that goes from Week 1 through to Week 8. Complete this first part of your Print production process in the following way. 1. Open up a new blogpost. Call it 'Print Media Production Week 1'. 2. Insert the subheading - 'FRONT COVER DRAFT LAYOUT'. Have a look at this, yes I made it in MSPaint, I'm an old man. But it's a basic draft layout of how I think the front cover of my mag should look (yes I'm making a mag too). As you can see, it points out where images are going to go and where text is going to go and that'll do.  HAVE A LOOK AT A MAGAZINE - you'll find there's a bit