Staff on Emap’s Maxpower have produced a ‘video magazine’ in a new twist on covermounts.
Duncan Edwards, publisher at Emap Active, said the idea was to provide "total entertainment" so readers could read the magazine and then hear and see the same features on the video.
Freelance photographer Andy Tipping and Maxpower features editor Hans Seeberg flew to LA earlier this year to film the video, which also includes footage of an illegal street car race in San Diego.
Edwards said: "Street racing is a phenomenon in the US and the guys managed to track down this race through anonymous phone calls and messages on websites. They filmed it for about 10 minutes until the police turned up." Street racing involves a succession of cars lining up on a dual carriageway, filtering out the rest of the traffic and then racing side by side.
Seeberg added: "The filming was absolutely non-stop. We spent all night at an illegal street car race in San Diego, left at 7.30am and then drove for four hours to go drag racing. We were gibbering wrecks."
The magazine and the video script were written by staff on Maxpower based at Emap Active in Peterborough. The video was also produced in-house, by staff at Emap Performance in London. Edwards said it was a first for Emap as videos are usually produced externally. The articles in the magazine will also have a time code printed next to the headline which corresponds to the video.
Edwards suggested the aim was to provide a "richer" multi-media experience.
"I think more and more journalists will start doing multi-purpose stuff once the high-speed internet becomes more mainstream," he said.
A Maxpower reader can now log on to maxpower.co.uk, visit Max Live at the National Exhibition Centre, buy a Max CD and watch the latest Max video or DVD.
The video magazine, the first 0f four one-shots planned this year, goes on sale next month with a print run of 85,000.
By Ruth Addicott
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