! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Week beginning: Monday 17th November 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayFinish plan for the magazine front cover, contents & DPS- hand drawn drafts, call models and arrange photography times and location, to be ready to shoot any day from now.

Take photo’s (if models are able to come) of all possible shots in all pages. Set up a photoshop document for magazine cover. Finish all production planning as I can focus on the production side.

Edit the magazine cover using photo’s took and photoshop on this day, as editing will be going on for a long period of time.

(Available to take more pictures if needed)

Send the progressing cover for proof reading / checking.

start laying out the contents page

Complete by: The Next Day

Complete by: Thursday

Complete by: Monday

Complete by: the end of Monday

18th November 2014

20th November 2014

24th November 2014

24th November 2014

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Week beginning: Monday 24th November 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayFinish creating the contents page’ masthead too. Continue creating the

contents page, until it is finished (including positioning of pictures, listing of the contents etc.

Finish Planning & Research tasks if there are any left.

Complete by: Friday

Complete by: The end of the Sunday

28th November 2014

29th November 2014

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Week beginning: Monday 1st December 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayStart editing the DPS using Adobe Indesign. Start here so that I will have time to complete it, as well as having feedbacks then editing the checked points / mistakes for other pages if necessary.

Send the DPS for checking.

Complete by: Sunday

7th December 2014

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Week beginning: Monday 8th December 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayGet Feedback and work on corrections.

Upload the final pages onto blog and start evaluation. Use different medias to answer different questions. (Distributing magazine onto blog)

Complete by: The end of Friday

Complete by: The end of the day

12th December 2014

22nd November 2014

13th December 2014

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Week beginning: Monday 15th December 2014

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayStart Evaluation (answering 7 Questions). Use different forms of media.

Upload all evaluations onto blog page and make sure everything is finished.

Complete by: The end of Saturday

Complete by: The end of the day

20th December 2014

21st December 2014

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Production process involved in a magazine

1. First of all the date of publishing the magazine as a finished product needs to be decided. Once this date is decided upon, then the editors etc can now create a schedule of plans on when each parts of the production process will occur and the deadlines for them. The Schedule must be followed, and there should be parts in the schedule that nothing will be over-due if a happening occurs.

2. Editorial decisions are now to be made. This involves the decision of who will be in the magazine editorial team, and what issues / topics will be covered in the next magazine issue. During this decision, they will have to think about the types of images, illustrations, articles and stories that are going to be presented. They also look at the money that is available and how it will be spent during the production process.

3. Next the editors move on to content acquisition. This is about gathering the actual content of the magazine. This is achieved is by in-house staff writers or writers outside that are commissioned to write on specific topics. Meetings for interviews, deciding on locations for photography, researching into the topics being mentioned by journalists and reporters is done as well. During this time, illustrations /photographs and graphics are created and refined continuously. The graphics are designed with a computer program, and photographs are taken in studios etc.

4. Sub Editing is done next, which ensures quality control of the magazine content. This is done by sub-editors, but if there aren’t any, then it is done by the editors. During this process it is their responsibility to check accuracy of all the facts and spellings in articles, as well as grammar and punctuation. Also they check whether the articles have the house-style of the magazine. This is also the stage where editors work on the page layout.

5. Next is the stage where the page layout is created in detail. This is also the point where advertisers place adverts into the content of the magazine. The layout staff is responsible for creating the layout, and their job is to decide on positions of images, words and articles for each of the magazine pages. They use softwares such as Adobe Indesign and other Desktop Publishing (DTP) programs to produce a high quality finish.

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

6. Once all the pages are created, proofreading is done. The editorial department will print out the pages and proofread for any design or content corrections. If mistakes are found, the editors correct it on the original document. This is repeated until no more mistakes are found.

7. The file of the entire magazine is sent to the printer to print the magazine. It is at this stage where ‘Pre-press’ is done. It is the process of checking whether or not the editors are sending all the necessary images and fonts needed for the pages. Before the printing company prints out many copies of the magazine, they first print out a few for the publication editor to go through a final proof-reading. (Printer’s proofs). When all pages are correct and ready to be distributed, mass printing occurs within the printing company.

8. The last stage of the magazine production process is the distribution. When the printing company finishes printing all the magazine copies, they are packaged neatly and are sent to a warehouse, where they are distributed around stores and shops, then they are sold to the public.

A time scale in which a magazine is published can vary depending on the page numbers and the content. For example, research / writing can vary from a few weeks to a several months, depending on how complex the project is. The editing may take 3 to 4 weeks, depending on how many proofs the editors had to go through, but also how much corrections are to be done on each page. The total time spent approximately on proofreading pages are 2 to 3 weeks. Colour proofing can take up to three weeks but this can be done while editing / design is taking place.

Key Personnels: Editor- They are responsible of the editorial and the production side of magazine. In Kerrang!’s content, they are also responsible for choosing cover stars, choosing bands for tours and tracks for CD’s, and overseeing the layout, content and artworks of articles. They also have the responsibility to manage writing staffs, and proofreading their articles and the whole magazine, which may be returned to the writer for revision. It is also their job to send out briefs to the writers mentioning word counts, deadline, fees etc.

Writer/journalist- They are responsible for generating ideas for future contents, verifying information and interview sources, writing and proofreading the actual text, meeting and discussing ideas and plans with designers, photographers, editors and subs.

! Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Art Director- They are responsible for the aesthetics of the magazine. They oversee the words and images across every page in the magazine, and create a house style that represents the magazine.

Photo Editor- They oversee the photography that goes into the magazine. Their job is to hire photographers, not to take them. It is their responsibility to make sure that the photographs are in the right place in the right pages.

Sources:

http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-production-process/ - this webpage is where I gained most of the information from, and it helped me to understand exactly what each job roles involves and what they have to do.

http://www.bpccam.co.uk/timescales.htm - This website is where I gained the information of the timescale in which the timescale a monthly magazine may take to be created.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-life-in-media-paul-brannigan-editor-of-kerrang-900352.html - Where I got the information of the Kerrang! Editor from.