The student researched real newspaper conventions like masthead styles and front page content when developing their media product. For the masthead, they used a bold red font that was different from the typical "Times New Roman". Advertisements were placed beside the masthead to avoid drawing attention away from the content. The main article used a dark headline font and image to set a serious tone, following real newspaper conventions. Advertisements were included throughout and focused on local businesses to be relevant to the target audience. The layout and variety of advertisements matched a real local newspaper for clear reading.

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products.

2. Masthead
At the start of developing my media product, I researched many newspapers to get an
insight as to what the conventions were that were mostly used. Having does this, it
gave my ideas as to what my newspaper should look like and what forms and
conventions it needed to adopt.
For my masthead I used a large and bold font so it stands out to the readers and it is
easily identifiable. As my background is white, the colour red is made much more
obvious and appealing to the target audience as well as potential readers. Unlike the
convention of most newspapers, which is to have the masthead extremely large and in
the font ‘Times New Roman’, I chose to reject the form and chose a different style of
writing and did not make it as big. The justification for this is that if I made the font big,
this would attract attention away from the advertisements the I decided to put on each
side of the masthead. Furthermore, as this was an original piece of work, I did not want
to adapt to too much of the conventions to the extent that there are only minor
differences, so for that reason I chose I font that was representative of a local
newspaper and the area it was for as well as being different and somewhat unique.
I decided to put advertisements next to the masthead because I knew that I did not
want to have an overpowering masthead that drew attention away from the rest of the
newspaper. In the way that I have laid out my advertisements, date, price and any
additional information, it makes sure there's enough space for anything that needs to
be added as well as highlighting the necessary information.

3. Main article
As part of my research and planning I looked at what type of main
stories newspapers had on the front page. Most of them were negative
because I think this is what is most likely to attract new readers to the
newspaper. I decided to take on this convention in my media product
and used a negative story at the front. I used a dark font for the
headline as I believe this is what sets the tone of the article as being
serious as oppose to having a colourful headline and cursive font as I
think this would make is seem as though it is a kids newspaper. I also
included a caption at the bottom of the picture to inform the readers
what the picture is about and what is represents. If this was not
included, readers could easily assume that the picture was for an
advertisement or had no relevance to the story and so on.
A variety of the newspapers that I observed had an image of what the
main thing was being discussed in the article and I also took on this
convention in mine. I used an image of ‘Fatima’ (the main character in
my article) of how she was bruised after she was beaten so the
audience could develop a sense of empathy for the teenager as I think
this creates a sense of realism as well as the image of the girl before the
attack so they could see what she was like.

4. Advertisements
Throughout my production I also included advertisements. As many
local newspapers are free, they have a variety of advertisements to
help fund the newspaper and even though my newspaper was priced
at 30 pence I, I included the convention in my own work. I spread
them out on my front and inside pages so they did not look too
crammed together nor unnecessary.
All the advertisements are relevant because they are local traders or
services that are based in Brent so it is easily accessible for the target
audience.

5. My newspaper in comparison
to another
In comparison to an already established newspaper,
my production has a similar layout for the
advertisements and the actual main article. The reason
I chose to keep it similar is because it was more clear
and concise for the audience to read and they were
able to find whatever information necessary easily.
As the Brent and Kilburn times has done, I put a main
article in the centre of the newspaper so it grabs all
attention and then put a sub article on the side so
people can chose whether or not they want to read it
without seeming as though it is overwhelming.
I also chose to put a variety of different
advertisements on the front cover so it can provide
information to a larger target audience. For example, If
I were to develop advertisements all based of female
fashion and beauty, I would not be taking my male and
youth audience into consideration and providing them
with any useful information. This is also done in the
Brent and Kilburn times so they are providing
information to more than one segment of the market.

6. My newspaper in comparison
to another
In comparison to an already established newspaper,
my production has a similar layout for the
advertisements and the actual main article. The reason
I chose to keep it similar is because it was more clear
and concise for the audience to read and they were
able to find whatever information necessary easily.
As the Brent and Kilburn times has done, I put a main
article in the centre of the newspaper so it grabs all
attention and then put a sub article on the side so
people can chose whether or not they want to read it
without seeming as though it is overwhelming.
I also chose to put a variety of different
advertisements on the front cover so it can provide
information to a larger target audience. For example, If
I were to develop advertisements all based of female
fashion and beauty, I would not be taking my male and
youth audience into consideration and providing them
with any useful information. This is also done in the
Brent and Kilburn times so they are providing
information to more than one segment of the market.