2. Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Uses Typical Conventions of newspapers. Masthead Photographs Main story / Headline Adverts
3. Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Page Number Secondary Lead Adverts By-line
4. Q1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Challenging forms and conventions.
5. Q2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Ancillary Texts Radio Advert Music Voiceover Language
10. Q3) What have your learned from your audience feedback? Positives Language Used Length of Articles Colour Content
11. Q3) What have your learned from your audience feedback? Negatives Conventions Layout Lack of images
12. Q3) What have your learned from your audience feedback How this has helped me Learnt from mistakes Know where to focus Improved my product
13. Q4) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stage? Photoshop
14. Q4) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stage? Publisher
15. Q4) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stage? Blogger
Editor's Notes
After careful analysis of other local newspapers it was decided that I was to use some typical conventions of a newspaper in order to get the best outcome. The typical conventions I used were things such as advertising, this was a big part of my newspaper as audience research showed people liked the adverts, and other newspapers such as the ‘Metro’ use them a lot. Other typical conventions I used were things such as the masthead “Worsley reporter”, this was however a unique name and represented the area which it focused on. The photographs used on the front page were bright, predominantly green colours which stood out, this would attract people’s eye and was parallel to the area which it focused on, Worsley as it is a more rural area in salford. I also used the typical main article for the front page, this much like other newspapers carried on to another page as the article was too long and in depth for one page, and also encouraged people to look through the rest of the paper. At the right hand side of the page there is also a menu of what else will appear in the newspaper, this is a typical convention and highlights some of the more interesting articles.
The second page also has a secondary lead article, which is less important than the article on the first page, but is still another interesting story. Another typical convention of the second page is the name of the newspaper, and date at the top of the page, this stops the people reading it from getting confused and perhaps reading an older paper by mistake. The page number is also at the top of the page which is helpful for navigation, as some articles continue onto other page numbers. The adverts on this page also only contain information and no photographs, this is a typical convention of an advert as it is lest cost. The by Line in the articles also tells us what journalist wrote the article, this allows people to research and see what else they have written.
I have chosen not to challenge any forms and conventions when creating a newspaper, this is because it was my intention to create a standard free local newspaper which would attract people in a specific area. If I were to challenge conventions and forms, it would not receive as well a reception as hoped as, it would also be difficult to achieve a realistic looking and effective newspaper whilst challenging them.
My ancillary texts were effective due to a number of variables. Firstly the radio advert, used appropriate music (Nat king Cole) which would be stereotyped to people who live in middle class areas. This works as Worsley where the newspaper is distributed is predominantly a middle class area. The voiceover is also in a clear voice which can be understood well by anyone. The voiceover is also in a well spoken accent which again is stereotyped to the area and class. The language used is also appropriate and does not contain any profanities, having a wide target audience. The language is also descriptive and encourages the audience to get the paper with all its benefits.
The Poster advert is also effective as it uses the famous “john bull” image from world war one in order to point at the audience telling them its their paper and encouraging them to buy it. The buzz words around the image also encourage the audience to get, utilising the word “free” often. The buzz words also have many exclamation marks which stresses how important it is. The colour scheme and language used are similar to that of the newspaper and are there to catch the audience’s eye whilst remaining appropriate.
The main and final product is also effective. The product uses bright and clear/ good quality images in order to appeal to the audience. Each image is also appropriate and fits into the article it is representing well. The Language used by the journalist in each article is also appropriate, the language is formal, however there is a slight bit of humour. The articles are set out well and explain the report well, without neglecting any vital information. The Newspaper also has no taboo language within it, this appeals to a wider audience and allows anyone to read it easily. The language is also not too complicated, however there is a level of sophistication evident, this again allows younger people and less educated people to read it easily, but also allows more educated people to enjoy similarly.
After conducting a focus group in order to collaborate the best results, then distributing my final product around I was able to gather good audience research. After asking what genre people would like to see most in the newspaper I came to the conclusion that crime was the most sought after, therefore I decided to have most of my articles crime related. After distributing the final product around, I successful in achieving this as people seemed to enjoy the crime articles evident more. The length of the articles was also positive from audience feedback, people said that the length was no too long so that they would get bored, but they were long enough to find out all the information needed. The language used throughout was also a positive from audience feedback, people said that it was easy to understand, but it was not written for a child so that it was enjoyable. The amount of colour evident throughout was also positive, audience feedback revealed that it was bright and caught their eye.
There however were also negative points from the audience feedback received. There was a lack of images on page two, there was only one image, despite it being large and it standing out well, people agreed that more images were needed, in order to catch peoples eye and keep them interested. The layout of the newspaper also achieved some criticism. Audiences agreed that some of the articles did not seem to fit well on the page, and the spacing between them was uneven and inconsistent.
The audience feedback has helped me to become a much better newspaper designed. I have now learnt from my mistakes and in future I will concentrate on layout more. After listening to what audiences had to say I now know to focus on putting more images which stand out onto the pages, whilst having a more consistent layout. This has helped me to improve my product as when conducting the focus group i was able to introduce all of the ideas.
Using Photoshop to create my ancillary poster allowed me create the poster in the best way possible, I was able to change the configure the size of the page to the size of an actual poster. I was also able to change the colour of the background and edit sizes of pictures which made it stand out more, I could also edit the text and use the real masthead I used from the final product and use it in my advertisement.
Publisher was the main media technology which I used. This was the basis on which my final product was created on. I was able to design a newspaper more effectively, using such techniques as text wrap to improve the overall appearance. I took screenshots of every step I took in order to show my improvements. I could also create the outline of where the text goes and tables to where my pictures and text would fit equally throughout the page using dimensions.
Using blogger allowed me to collaborate all of my work onto one digital medium. Allowing me to put all of my work onto one website, allowed easy access but also improved my skills. I was able to organise and manage my work and place them into a specific order. I also had to configure the settings of blogger so that it could not just be viewed by any member of the public, this is useful for prevention of plagiarism, I now know how to do this.
