Transcript Feature Articles

Feature Articles
Aim: to explore the methods
magazines use in feature articles
to entertain/inform audiences.
The Magazine Form.
• Recap: What does form mean in relation to
magazines?
• Starter Task: Using your magazine investigate the
following about the magazine form:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
How many pages does it have?
How many of these pages are adverts?
How many articles are there?
What are the dimensions of the magazine?
Does it have a gloss or matt finish?
Does it have a contents page and editors letter/page?
Are there any competitions?
Are there consumer product spreads?
Does the magazine feature reviews of any sort?
Feature Articles
• Feature articles are the selling point of the magazine. Think of
the front cover as the ‘trailer’ for what’s in the actual magazine.
• Most articles are written to entertain and inform. Although in
some mags articles are written purely to entertain.
• In the most populist magazines the entertainment comes from the
presentation of the information – the image, the heading, the
layout etc - rather than the actual quality of the writing.
• Most magazine articles will be vaguely topical but not current
news as most magazines are periodical (weekly/monthly).
• Obviously the type of article featured in the magazine has to reflect
the overall ‘house style’ of the magazine and be aware of its
target audience.
Types of article in Music Mags
• Artist features: Profiling an artist who reflects the readership. Often
interview based and often to tie in with the artists new single, album
or tour etc.
• Interviews: Other sub featured artists.
• News: tells readers how the latest music news.
• Best of lists: round ups of the best of the year or decade or ever!
• Spreads: gadget or fashion spreads, again to tie in with target genre
and audience.
Task: can you find examples of any of these in your magazine? Make
notes on post its.
How to write an article in a few easy steps…..
• Step 1 - A high impact intro.
• Remember magazine articles are not like current
news stories. They must engage the reader and
there’s a number of ways to do this:
•
•
•
•
The question intro – pose a question.
The anecdote intro- tell an interesting short tale.
The quote intro - from the subject.
The description intro – describe the scene of the interview or the
subject.
• The shock intro- use sensational information.
…continued.
• Step 2 – the main body
• The main body will ask the writer to use a variety of
methods to retain the initial attention of the reader.
• First person- the journalist writes in first person throughout- gains
greater empathy from reader.
• Constant quotes – letting the interviewee speak as much as
possible.
• Pace- The article need to be edited and paced correctly to hold the
readers attention.
• Flowing prose: writers should be able to use a variety of sentence
lengths, connectives and paragraphs properly!
• Length: there is no standard and it depends on the magazine. A
proper double page feature should start at a 1000 words.
…and lastly
• Step 3- your style.
• The style and tone of writing is based on:
• The magazine's house style- layout, language style etc
• The target audience of the magazine- demographic (age, gender,
ethnicity).
• In that order! The magazine’s audience rule.
• Styles can be:
• Formal and serious in tone.
• Informal and colloquial.
Feature article layout
Headline- a quote
Main
image50 % of
copy?
by-line
Text in
columns
Name of artist in
another colour
synopsis
Page
number and
logo
The copy
• In journalism ‘the copy’ is the page and what goes on it.
One of the first rules of journalism is that you must never
leave blank spaces.
• When discussing the copy you can discuss it in
approximate percentages. For example 25% of the
copy is image/photo, whilst 50% is editorial (text).
• Many feature articles, particularly ones centred on
celebrity tend to be quite ‘image heavy’ with one or
even two pages sometimes being entirely devoted to an
image.
• This often means that feature articles can be 6,7 or more
pages in length. You have two pages!
Task: make notes on the student examples:
What makes this an effective double page spread?
What conventions of layout design can you identify?
Analysis of Article
• Paired Task: Look at an article and make
notes on:
•
•
•
•
Introduction
The main body
The copy and the layout
The writing style
• Main Task: Write two paragraphs about the
article.
Planning your story
• Firstly brainstorm some ideas
• Refine your idea into a step by step story
outline.
• Write two versions of your intro.
• Make notes for your main body, including
quotes.
Feature analysis task
• Upload to wiki: Take one feature article from your music
magazine to analyse, read it carefully and answer the
following:
• What type of article is it?
• What is the headline- does it use any language techniques( pun,
rhyme)?
• How many pages does the article cover and what is the word count
(approx)?
• How much of the ‘ copy’ is image and what can you say about the
image?
• How does the article start – consider the types of intro.
• What can you say about the writer's style and methods. How does it
communicate with its reader?
• What assumptions do they make about the reader? Does it represent
their reality?
• By next week!