Plan and develop pre-production materials (U3: P3, M2)

Learning outcome 2 (U3): Be able to plan and develop pre-production materials for an original media product to a client brief. 

Mood board

This is the mood board for the pop-based magazine I am going to create, it features images of relevant artists, albums, streaming platforms and related stickers. Overall, I have tried to incorporate anything relevant to the world of pop that would additionally appeal to my target audience. My target audience is primarily younger and therefore prefer visual content so I will be applying this fact to my front cover which will display a variety of enticing images. 

Fonts

Masthead

Title and cover lines

Articles

Above are the final fonts I decided upon for my magazine, the various fonts will be used to entice my target audience and keep a consistent theme for the magazine. I decided to use the font ‘awesome possum’ for my masthead because of its youthful connotations, I believe this will appeal to my target audience. ‘Growing garden’ has more of a script typeface and therefore will appeal to the primarily feminine audience my magazine is hoping to accumulate. Additionally, it is easy to read and will therefore allow passing customers to read enticing cover lines with ease. Finally, Tahoma has a sans serif typeface that will be clear and easy to read while retaining the youthful theme of the magazine.

Colour scheme

Pop tends to use bright and youthful colours to appeal to the young target audience. Likewise, my magazine will do this and likely focus on the pinks and yellows to really convey the feminine and youthful theme of the magazine. However, colours may differ between issues due to content.

Layout- mockups

Here is the digital mockup of both my front cover and double-page spread. As clearly shown in the front cover I have incorporated the fonts discussed above, using the font 'growing garden' for the headline as well as the cover lines. Additionally, I used the font 'awesome possum' for the masthead (logo) and the social media links, however, the social media links will be altered to icons following the advice from the client. I used pink tones for this mockup as this is likely to remain the primary colour palate although it will alter to make the featured artist stand out and become more appealing to passing customers. Furthermore, I have included barcodes, dates and website links as these are essential elements for any magazine. 

In my double-page spread, I have continued the use of a pink colour palette to match the front cover. My QR code is featured as well as using the font 'growing garden' for headlines and 'Tahoma' for the body of text.

Consent forms

The photography release form allows me to obtain permission to photograph the model, if this isn't obtained and the model doesn't consent to the images being taken/ used in the magazine it could lead to legal issues for the magazine. In addition, we needed permission to shoot on location so a location release form was signed to ensure there were no issues with using the premise and that any extra rules were understood to avoid legal issues.

Location recce 

A location recce helped me to determine whether or not the location was suitable for the photoshoot I had in mind.

LOCATION RECCE

Location: Model’s house Location address: 166 Deacoms Road WD6 4LK Type of building: house

Why is this location suitable for my project? I have decided to have my photoshoot with the artist at her house. I feel there are many appropriate places within the house to take photos of, these give the images a more authentic feel and will allow our reader to better connect with the featured artist. Additionally, there are blank walls within the house which allows the front cover image to look more professional and sleek to fit the essence of the magazine.

Transport links to location: Drive, bus, train or walk Physical access to site: Walk through the front of the house

General information People who are affected/ could interfere with the photoshoot: the artists family members who also live in the property. How to minimise the impact: carry out the photoshoot while other residence of the house are out or in other rooms of the house, perhaps we should reserve the room which we occupy for the photoshoot. Power sources: LED light fixtures, electrical outlets

Restrictions or hazards nearby: dragging cables, house pets, possible fires.

Location photos

Risk assessment

Interestingly, this document enabled me to plan for any potential hazards so I could install additional safety measures to ensure these hazards didn't occur, if they did this document also allowed me to plan a response to the risk.

Gantt chart 

This document clearly displays the schedule for the project, when tasks need to be completed by and what the tasks are.

Pre production

Post production

Legal issues

 Copyrights 

Copyrights are laws that protect an individuals work from being copied and used by someone else, where the 2nd party could attempt to pass it off as their own for either profit or personal use. The action of getting your work copyrighted allows the individual to have exclusive access to this work so no one else can use it without permission. For example, an image might be copyrighted to preclude others from using it for commercial use or entertainment purposes. This is a way for the photographer to make money and if a magazine for instance uses this image without gaining rights to it first it can result in major fines and other legal issues. In order for my magazine to avoid this issue, we will take our own photos and ensure we follow the proper procedures if we decide to use someone else's photo.

 Offering a decline button for cookies 

Cookies would be used on our online copy of the magazine and these are used to help give users an easier and more convenient online experience. Such as, our website might use cookies to remember a users username and password so they won't have to input this each time they visit our site. However, cookies are not necessary for any website and therefore you should always provide a reject button for cookies as this could lead to customers feeling exploited and perhaps taking legal action, resulting in fines or lawsuits. Therefore, we will ensure that our website offers a 'decline cookies' button to allow customers the choice and we will thus be within our legal rights.

 Defamation 

Defamation is when there is a form of communication that unfairly harms one's reputation through a false statement. Our magazine might be susceptible to this if a writer makes a false claim about an interviewed artist, therefore resulting in legal action to take place and harm the magazine finances as well as its reputation among its readers. To avoid this issue we will ensure all articles are checked and researched before being published to steer clear of any false claims resulting in further legal issues. 

Ethical issues

 Conflict of interest 

A conflict of interest is when someone (such as a writer) is meant to be impartial in a situation (such as the interview) but has a personal or emotional connection to the topic in question which affects the overall outcome of the situation. For example, if a writer doesn't like the artist they might write a negative review which will result in bias and affect the credibility of the interview and the overall article. To avoid this we must ensure all writers remain neutral on the artists they write about. 

 Credits and sources 

The magazine must always list their credits and or their sources of information for the reader to see, it is morally correct. If a colleague or friend gives you advice or useful information which you use in the magazine then the right thing to do is credit them for it, this can be so little as a footnote with their name acknowledged. It will also help to reduce any legal issues the individual might attempt to act upon. 

 No cursing in the magazine 

My magazine is targeted toward young pre-teens and teenagers and therefore any form of inappropriate language would be irresponsible to use in articles. If we were to use any curse words it's likely the parent who buys the magazine for them will disapprove and ultimately stop purchasing it from us. To avoid this we will ensure all writers understand that we cannot use this language and get editors to double-check it has not been used anywhere throughout the magazine.

 Respecting the artists boundaries 

Artists often have lots happening in their lives and as writers we need to respect this and if they feel a particular personal dilemmas is not to be shared with the world, we need to ensure we don't discuss it in any articles. These artists trust us with their personal issues and confide in us therefore, to be ethical, we must not exploit them for more reader and fame.