Production plan

Unit G321 – Foundation Portfolio in Media – Production Plan Template

Week beginning: Monday 27th October 2014Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayResearching the production process for ‘We Love Pop’ so I can understand how I would produce my magazine.

Researching how long it takes to release ‘We Love Pop’ therefore I will then know when I can release my magazine.

Researching the Editor and the job roles at the magazine.

Researching what the production company does in order to publish the magazine and the costs involved.

Researching key people involved in the production process

Statistics about the magazine in terms of circulation figures and frequency of the magazine.

Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by:27/10/14 28/10/14 29/10/14 30/10/14 31/10/14 1/11/14 2/11/14


The final steps for

producing my magazine will be to send it to the publication so that they can print it. This could be done by any printing publication but my magazine of inspiration uses Egmont.

Monday: Research production process for my magazine

Date of publication – The first thing to do is to set up a date of publication. Once this date has been established, for my magazine I need to create a schedule. A schedule is a plan on how I am going to go about the production process and when each of the process will occur.

Managing the schedule - The schedule should be made in such a way that there are provisions for certain mishaps so that even when these mishaps occur, I can always meet the deadline. This is the reason why a proper management of the schedule is very vital.

Editorial and budgetary decision –The editorial decisions involve the magazine’s editorial team assembling and deciding what topics will be covered in the next issue of the magazine. After deciding which types of article ideas or topics, news stories, illustrations and photographs will be used in the magazine, the team now makes the budgetary decisions.

Content Acquisition – The content acquisition process is the most important step because without content we simply cannot have the magazine in the first place. There are two major ways that content can be gathered for a magazine. The first is through in-house staff writers and the second way is through

Week beginning: Monday 3rd November 2014Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayResearching what type of models I will need when producing my magazine.

Asking friends if I would be able to take photos of them for my magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Take photos of friends for my magazine including props from my prop list.

Starting to produce my magazine hand drawn drafts.

Colouring the hand drawn drafts including my house style for the magazine.

Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by:3/11/14 4/11/14 5/11/14 7/11/14 8/11/14 9/11/14

Week beginning: Monday 10th November 2014Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayStarting to produce the front cover on Photoshop

Choose the best photographs for each page and edit using Photoshop

Add cover stories for the magazine including the house style

Front cover should now be completed have time to do any final improvements

Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by: Complete by:10/11/14 12/11/14 13/11/14 15/11/14 16/11/14 17/11/14

Week beginning: Monday 18th November 2014Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayStart drawing the hand drawn drafts for contents page.

Start colouring including house style

Produce contents page on Photoshop

Add coverlines to page


Week beginning: Monday 25th November 2014Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayFinal touches to the contents page

Start hand drawn drafts to double page spread

Produce questions for interview

Ask questions Produce double page spread

Final touches to double page spread including adding edited photos.

Check over each page of front cover, double page spread and contents page.



external writers that are commissioned to write on topics that are specialist in nature. It is at this stage that artwork and graphics are also worked on. The artwork is defined as illustrations and pictures that are going to be placed in the magazine. Graphics are the pictures or images that are designed with a computer program.

Sub-editing – Sub editing focuses on one major thing, which is quality control. The magazine sub-editor will be responsible for this job. This step involves the following important things:

Checking of the accuracy of all facts in the articles Making sure that words are properly spelled Making sure that grammar and punctuation are used correctly Making sure that all articles follow the house-style Working on the page layout

Page Layout –Their job is to typeset and layout the various pages that come together to make the magazine. In performing this task, they use very powerful Desktop Publishing (DTP) programs such as InDesign or Pagemaker to get the job done. It is at this stage that adverts from advertisers are placed into the content.

Proofreading – once the above stage has been completed, the next stage is the proofreading. The editorial department will print out a hardcopy of the magazine for the sole purpose of reading through to find and correct any mistakes in it. It is easier to proofread a hardcopy than it is to proofread a softcopy. Any mistake that is spotted is quickly corrected on the DTP file. The editorial team keeps proofreading until every member is satisfied that all mistakes have been corrected.

File emailed to printer – After the proofreading stage, the DTP file of the entire magazine is sent to the printer whose job will be to print the magazine. Pre-press is defined as the process of checking to make sure that you are sending all the fonts and images needed for the magazine with your file. Once this stage is over, the printing company takes over. But before the printing company prints the hundreds or thousands of copies requested by the publication, the company first prints a few copies and sends them to the publication’s editor for checking once again. This is called the printer’s proofs. If the editor and his team are satisfied with the printer’s proofs, then the green light is given to the printer for mass printing to commence. Each copy the printer prints is the final finished product.


Distribution – This is the last stage of the entire process. The printing company, having finished with the printing of the magazines will package them neatly and send them to a warehouse. From the warehouse, the magazines are then distributed and then sold to the public. This process will be done each week as my magazine is going to be a weekly publication.

From: http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-production-process/

Tuesday: Researching how long it takes to release ‘We Love Pop’

‘We Love Pop’ is released on a weekly basis, therefore when producing their magazine they are very early in advance as they need to have enough time to produce it. Producing a weekly magazine means that the magazine will have to guess what celebrity will be popular at that time and what the target audience will want to read about.How and When I plan to produce my magazine: When producing my magazine I plan on using Photoshop, this is because I find it easy to create a layout and remain the brand identity on each page (front cover, contents page and double page spread). I plan on producing my magazine every week, this is because the magazine of inspiration is a weekly magazine released every week, and therefore I will copy ‘We Love Pop’. Therefore my first magazine release date will be in December.

Wednesday: Researching the Editor

A magazine features editor is responsible for the content and quality of their publication and ensures that stories are engaging and informative.Most opportunities are in large publishing companies that produce a wide range of titles. These include weekly and monthly consumer or lifestyle titles, which are commonly referred to as 'glossy' magazines. However, features editors are also employed by trade magazines, specialist publishers, online media and in-house magazines.

http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-production-process/


Magazine features editors do not always need specialist knowledge of the subject they cover, unless the content is highly technical, although an interest in the subject is usually expected.

Typical work activitiesThe role will vary according to the size of the publication and the nature of its content, but responsibilities will typically include:

overseeing the layout, appearance and content of feature articles; generating ideas for features with writing staff; commissioning articles from freelance and in-house writers; managing writing staff and freelance feature writers; editing and re-writing articles, some of which may be rejected or returned to the writer for revision; overseeing artwork, design and photography for the features section of the magazine; attending photo shoots; organising meetings with writers and artists to discuss ideas for artwork, layout and features; negotiating payments with freelance writers; understanding and complying with media law and industry ethical guidelines; selecting feature articles for each issue; sending out briefs to writers, which can include word count, deadline, fee and writing style; proofreading all pages before going to press; raising the profile of the magazine; networking with others at industry events; Assisting other staff to meet their deadlines.

From: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/magazine_features_editor_job_description.htm

Thursday: Researching what the production company does

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/magazine_features_editor_job_description.htm


The production company for ‘We Love Pop’ is Egmontthey produce over 20 monthly magazines. Created to excite and entertain, The free gift on every issue is specially selected to add even more value to the magazine experience. For older readers, Go Girl and We Love Pop keep 7–15 year olds absorbed for hours with topical, engaging and entertaining content. And when you’ve read those from cover to cover, they have their own interactive websites that you can check out too!Consumer Insight is at the heart of what they do. Regular focus groups, formal research panels and a close relationship with schools means that they permanently stay in touch with our young readers, making sure that they deliver exactly what they want.

From: https://www.egmont.co.uk/who-we-are/magazines/

Friday: Researching key people involved in the production process

Journalist:Magazine journalists research and write news articles and features for a wide variety of publications, usually periodicals, including:• consumer titles which cover both general interest and specialist areas;• customer magazines from shops, supermarkets, etc;• trade publications, also know as business-to-business (B2B) magazines.Magazine journalism can cover a range of disciplines, such as writing, interviewing, sub-editing, and designing.Increasingly, magazines are also being produced for other media, especially the web. Knowledge of the concise writing style needed for the internet and search engine optimisation are very useful skills.There are thousands of magazine titles in the UK and, while there are plenty of opportunities, competition can be fierce when trying to get a job.Typical work activitiesThe nature of a journalist's work varies considerably depending on the size of the employing organisation and the subject matter covered by the publication. It may also be affected by the medium through which the magazine is produced.Typical responsibilities can include:• researching a subject and story;• writing and editing news stories and features in the publication's house style;• ensuring work is well written, accurate and submitted to deadline;• conducting interviews, either in person or remotely;• attending seminars, conferences and fairs (some magazine publishers hold exhibitions and events to allow advertisers to meet their readership);

https://www.egmont.co.uk/who-we-are/magazines/


• generating ideas for stories;• sourcing images to accompany written pieces;• meeting with colleagues to plan the content of the issue and the character of the publication

Production ManagerA production manager is involved with the planning, coordination and control of manufacturing processes. They ensure that goods and services are produced efficiently and that the correct amount is produced at the right cost and level of quality.The scope of the job depends on the nature of the production system:• jobbing;• mass;• process;• batch production.Many companies are involved in several types of production, adding to the complexity of the job. Most production managers are responsible for both human and material resources.The job role is also referred to as operations manager.Typical work activitiesThe exact nature of the work will depend on the size of the employing organisation. However, tasks typically involve:• overseeing the production process, drawing up a production schedule;• ensuring that the production is cost effective;• making sure that products are produced on time and are of good quality;• working out the human and material resources needed;• drafting a timescale for the job;• estimating costs and setting the quality standards;• monitoring the production processes and adjusting schedules as needed;• being responsible for the selection and maintenance of equipment;• monitoring product standards and implementing quality-control programs;• liaising among different departments, e.g. suppliers, managers;• working with managers to implement the company's policies and goals;• ensuring that health and safety guidelines are followed;• supervising and motivating a team of workers;


• reviewing worker performance;• identifying training needs.

Saturday: Statistics about the magazine

Egmont claims website traffic has reached cumulative figures of 55,000 unique users and 298,862 page views since launch, while its Facebook following stands at around 14,000, and Twitter, 2,000. For July, it claimed 31,895 unique users and 123,318 page views. For August, this dropped to 28,201 unique users, but page views had climbed to159,777. We Love Pop launched in July, with a print run of 200,000 and a cover price of £1. Print, rather than digital was to be the main platform.

Production plan

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