Evaluation Question 1

1. In what ways
does your media
product use,
develop and
challenge forms
and conventions
on real media
products?
EVALUATION
QUESTION 1

2.  The typical conventions of a newspaper are:
 The use of a masthead, at the top of the front page
 The use of headlines, giving a brief overview of the story
 A main image, attracting the audience’s attention to the article
 The copy (main body of the article) is written with only one sentence
per paragraph
 The use of advertisements. In the case of cheaper or free
newspapers, more advertisements will be featured as a source of
income, whilst a paper with a higher price will feature fewer
advertisements
CONVENTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS

3. MASTHEAD
MY NEWSPAPER EXISTING PRODUCTS
I decided to conform to the typical
conventions of masthead in order to
create my own. I placed my masthead at
the top of the front page of my
newspaper, using the font “Old English
Text” in order to create a masthead that
was similar in style to that of the Daily
Mail and Daily Telegraph. Alongside these
design choices, I followed the convention
of including a web address within the
masthead, although I went further than
existing products by also including
information on my paper’s social media
pages. By also including the date and
price of my newspaper, I have created a
traditional masthead, without subverting
any conventions.

4. HEADLINES & SUBHEADINGS
MY NEWSPAPER EXISTING PRODUCTS
For my headlines, I again conformed to
typical newspaper conventions. My
headlines act as brief overviews of their
corresponding articles, with this design
choice inspired by the headlines of the
Western Mail, and my decision to use
capital letters and a serif font within the
headlines being inspired by those of the
Daily Mail. However, I rejected the typical
informal mode of address that is mainly
used by tabloid headlines, in favour of the
more serious and formal address that is
used by the Western Mail. For my front
page article, I also included a subheading
underneath my headline, giving further
information on the story surrounding the
changes to the Pencoed Sixth Form. The
brief, almost tabloid, style of my
subheading was inspired by the South
Wales Echo, which often makes use of
subheadings in this style.
The Daily Telegraph
South Wales Echo
Daily Mail Western Mail

5. COPY
MY NEWSPAPER EXISTING PRODUCTS
The copy of both articles featured within
my newspaper were written in order to
conform to the conventions of how a
tabloid newspaper article is written. This
means that I only used one sentence per
paragraph, and avoided using any
particularly complex words. Further
conforming to convention, the lead
paragraph of my articles were written in
bold, with the first letter made larger than
all others, acting as a combination of the
style of lead paragraphs used by the Daily
Mail and Western Mail. In order to
increase the accessibility of my
newspaper and improve the ease of
reading, I subverted the convention of the
copy being presented in a condensed
manner by placing a wider space between
each paragraph.
Daily Mail
Western Mail

6. ADVERTISEMENTS
MY NEWSPAPER EXISTING PRODUCTS
The design of both of the
advertisements featured inside my
newspaper were taken from
existing local newspapers from my
area, these being the Western Mail
and Glamorgan Gazette. The
placement of these advertisements
was based on the price of my
newspaper, with it’s slightly higher
price of 60p meaning that I
included fewer advertisements than
that of a free newspaper, such as
the Bridgend and Porthcawl Gem.
Glamorgan Gazette
Western Mail

7. ANCILLARY TASK – POSTER
MY NEWSPAPER EXISTING PRODUCTS
The design of my first ancillary task
was heavily inspired by an existing
billboard poster advertising the i
newspaper. This design included an
image of an actual person,
specifically a member of Pencoed’s
Sixth Form, reading my newspaper
in order to give my advertisement a
personal feel, reflecting the local
nature of the newspaper. As the
existing poster makes use of the
colour of red used within the
masthead of the i, I decided to
make use of two shades of red that
I had previously used in the
masthead and column on the front
page of my newspaper, creating a
sort of branding for the paper
across both the product and
advertisement.
Poster for the i

8. ANCILLARY TASK - WEBSITE
MY NEWSPAPER EXISTING PRODUCTS
For my second ancillary task,
creating two hyperlinked pages for
my newspaper’s website, I based
my design on a list of news website
conventions that I had created
during my research. My header was
designed to resemble the
masthead of my actual newspaper,
with the design including a “Log in”
option that was based off of a
similar feature on the WalesOnline
website. Alongside this, I made use
of only one main article, presented
at the top of the page, with a
number of secondary articles
underneath. In order to encourage
discussion of the issues raised in
each article, I included a link to a
forum, a common feature of
newspaper websites, and several
“Leave a comment…” text boxes.
WalesOnline, website for the Western Mail and South Wales
Echo
Website for the South Wales Evening Post