Pitch presentation

Leaves

SHANE MITCHELL

IntroductionGood morrow.I am Shane Mitchell and I stand before you today to present a concept. An idea. My pitch proposal is a potential magazine called ‘Leaves’. I hope my endeavors today can seduce you into believing that my prospect will be beneficial not only for your brief, but – also – for the needs of your organisation, of which I shall essay to ensure I meet.

Here’s what my magazine shall entail…

- My client is, of course, The Northern Echo.

- I have been asked to create a magazine with a specific genre – that being ‘literary’ in my case.

- Though I do need to be self-financed through advertising.

- Also have a very specific age range for my TA – 16 – 25.

“You have been commissioned by The Northern Echo to produce a new magazine or newspaper. Your product could be in any style or genre but it must be self-financed through sales or advertising. You must also produce your magazine for a specified audience segment within the 16 – 25 age group.”

Brief

I have met these aims by - Creating a magazine with a genre that has never been done before as a free product will, in itself, be a contributing factor to the high readership I am expected to gain.

I have created many opportunities for potentialadvertisers – therefore theadvertising revenue will be at an increase.

Do you have a problem?The age range presented a problem because I needed to be very specific with language choice in order to cater to such a young TA.

In addition to this, actually knowing where to start with my genre was also difficult because of how there are few writing magazines on the market - I didn’t really

have too many examples to be

guided by!

Writers’ Forum Writing Magazine

Blue and pink complement one another

Main story emphasised with large font size

A simple masthead that’s easy to read

Blue, red & yellow complement too

Button stickers show interesting information

Competition, used to entice

Easy to see

…they are the two main writing magazinesThat’s why I have decided to follow the central layout, for a start.

That is also why I have chosen to work with a colour scheme that aptly fits together. For example – Black and orange/purple and silver:

Client Constraints

My magazine will perhaps have other people in the household who may read.

Because The Northern Echo has a strong relationship with the community, I must also ensure that my magazine contains no offensive material such as taboo language; mild or strong.

The Northern Echo feels a great amount of respect to the locals and refrains from ever publishing anything that could ever sully their reputation.

The Northern Echo champion stories that represent local heroes or great events or achievements in the local area.

Genre Research

I have chosen a literary genre and was inspired to do this by my insatiable thirst for words and exploration of learning.

I knew that I could learn more about this particular field by choosing this genre.

My interest meant that I knew what I wanting to do, but doing genre research only made me more sure because I knew which side my bread was buttered on.

However, these books on language by Mark Forsyth also gave me inspiration to write my articles. Not only that, but I was able to learn a large amount of information and insight regarding grammar that I would be otherwise blind to.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

My audience is for those from 16-25.

In the “Creatives” tribe.

Mixed gender.

(But research has shown that males dominate the literary world with more men writing books world-wide.Therefore, a more specific male to female ratio would be 70:30)

Socioeconomics: C2, C1, B.Education: A-Level – degree level.Fairly low income given many readers will be students.

So it’s a good thing that it’s free!

How will my audience be catered to?

There will a range of advanced

terminology and lexical items.

Create a variation in content

(tables, lists & articles).

Colloquial use of language

The DPSs w

ill have a varie

ty of

contro

lled and unco

ntrolle

d

layouts

Variety in DPS content

Equal image – text ratio

WHY ‘Leaves’?Well, the name is a another word for pages of a book, and so it fits aptly with my genre.

Plus, few people actually know this, therefore, confusion of the name choice will create a mysterious tone for these people.

DPS - 1

DPS - 2

The DPS mock-up process was stressful and challenging, however, I still managed to create what I believe to be an effective set of DPSs.

“The text is difficult to read but I like the layout.”

“Maybe change the font on the first one but I like the colour schemes. It looks really old too.”

Quotes from focus group -

The amount of fonts on DPS 2 is difficult to navigate and looks awfully messy

I must now think very carefully about font choice.

My magazine’s income is through advertising!

My magazine has 16 pages, though I have my DPSs and preliminary pages to accompany the DPSs.

I do have a net loss of £1,159, but this is because of my printing costs of -£3,

859

But, why was it that I opted for an advertising only income?

Hours needed

Journalists Photographers Models SubeditorsResearchers Lighting Assis-

tant Make-up Assis-tant

Graphic Designers

Personnel Costs

£15

£17

£25

£20£15

£10

£10

£30

6h

3h

4h14h

9h

2h

2h14h

Total Expenditure: £1116

Equipment Costs

Hours needed

Studio Space Rental

Flash Lighting Studio Kit

Camera

Additional Lens Hire

Travel

Props

£25

£28

£20£5

£10

£20 3h

3h

3h

3h

2h

3h

Total Expenditure: £314

Distribution!

My product will be distributed to all the places that The Northern Echo distributes their paper. But where do they distribute?

The size of the product will be 210x297mm, much like many other products. The print quality will also be a stich-bound silk paper type that offers a tolerable quality, though may not feel as good as gloss and will not be as aesthetically pleasing either. But the reason I have done this is to save costs.

ESPECIALLY SINCE MY ONLY INCOME IS THROUGH ADVERTISING!

Constraints

From researching the PCC, I have learned that there is much to consider.

For example:I must be accurate with what I say in my articles. I must also be careful about revealing information that could expose individuals to any harm.

Code no. 1, 3 & 4 must be taken into consideration

Schedule!

The major problem I have with my schedule is…

getting a good

slot For photoshoots

And ensuring my model is on time (my prospective model is notorious for being unreliable at times)

However, I have a back-up model to fill the space if the situation arises

MY

PRODUCT!

Was it my research that led me to deciding what genre I should use?

Not particularly – however, my genre research only encouraged me further to use a literary genre.From the off-set, I h

ad my

mind focussed on a literary

genre because literature and

language are my favourite

things!

Front cover Symbolic imagery –Mask, quill

Font - Simplistic and bold

Masthead choice- meaning of leaves

Main DPSs in a bigger font to attract

ContentsOf course, article names are presented with page numbers‘…….’ means that my article doesn’t look bare

Polaroid pictures of literature – relevance to genre and a way of getting my audience into the ‘literary mode’.

DPS 1Masthead – wordplay, creates a more relaxing tone because of the pun

Image – the rope is symbolic of grammatical rules and represents how grammar can paralyse writing as a true art form

Interrogative Kicker – “Do rules have you bound?” Evokes curiosity in the reader

Article – more of a colloquial, light-hearted article

Colour scheme – light blue/blood red – grey – emphasises the dramatic colour (light blue/blood red)

DPS 2Masthead – Not word-play, but does use alliteration which is a technique that people enjoy reading (though no-one knows why).

Kicker – rhyme to lure the reader in. Again, readers love rhythm.

Article – brief article that mentions the books listed.

Article accompaniment – list of recommended reads

Offers variety

Imagery – more literal, but expresses the joy that many multitudes of books can bring Colour schemes – green and biege –

more academic connotations

DPS 3Masthead – wordplay – a pent-house is exclusive to those that deserve to be there; this article is very much the same, only it also revolves around pens.

Imagery – again, literal imagery. But is also a direct opposite from a window to future-self/ideal imagery – urges the reader to think carefully about a better pen

Colour scheme – purple & gold – connotations of luxuriousness

Article Accompaniment - A table with potential pens for the reader

Offers variety again

Article – another shorter article that revolves around the pens

Comparison – Leaves vs Writers’ Forum

Language – The language in Writers’ Forum is never really challenging which is surprising since a common philosophy that writers hold is that it isn’t what we say, but how we say it. The language isn’t adventurous and doesn’t excite the reader. There are no jokes and the tenor seems very formal.

My language shall break conventions of grammar as demonstration, using many literary and language techniques to excite the reader (tricolon, synaesthesia, diacope etc.) The language will have colloquialisms (markers of sympathetic circularity).

Comparison – Leaves vs Writers’ Forum Colours will be

bolder and brighter, giving it a better aesthetical quality. Also, I will use a variety of colours that collocate with one another (slide 8).

Colour – colours here are generally rather boring and not adventurous at all.

Comparison – Leaves vs Writers’ Forum

Imagery – Again, boring, literal imagery that doesn’t really express anything at all.

My product will have imagery that is symbolic and representative of writing.

Comparison – Leaves vs Writers’ Forum

Font – Doesn’t really seem very fun nor of any artistic/aesthetic quality. No variety.

My product will have fonts that are different in places and are relevant to the genre (handwriting fonts, typewriter fonts). This will give the magazine a literary feel.

Comparison – Leaves vs Writers’ Forum

The only thing Leaves and Writers’ Forum will have in common is the general layout. Though I will offer more variety in mine – central layouts and different article positives are good examples of what I mean

Writers’ Forum is seemingly very boring! I only buy it for its knowledge, not because of how wonderfully designed it is!

USP – my USP is my list of reading recommendations and table of pens. The pen-table isn’t seen in competing magazines.

With my product, I wanted to enhance the technical writing skills of beginner writers. My m

otivation for

doing this was

derived from m

y

own failings in

younger years.

But how do I cater to my client’s needs?

CONCLUSION

Thank you for your time -

are there any questions?