Evaluation: Using Conventions From Real Media Texts

-In what ways have your productions used or developed conventions adopted from real media products?

My newspaper has been developed with some standard codes and conventions as well as me adapting some. For example, I have kept conventions with the design of the newspaper -

Header/Masthead - ‘Isle of Wight Observer’ positioned along the top like most newspapers
Date/price/website/ - normal conventions that need to be on a newspaper
Articles with supporting images - Most local papers use images to enhance the stories etc.
Paragraphing - I used the usual column format, as well as used a drop capital at the start of articles, and capital first words.

I adapted some codes and conventions such as the title of the newspaper, I kept the design similar in a serif font, however I edited the design in Adobe Illustrator and create a monocle-styled letter ‘O’ for Observer.

Evaluation: Post Production

-How much of your text was ‘created’ only in post-production?

All of the articles in my newspaper were created in post-production, as I created the layout and design for my newspaper first. Once I had created sections for the text, images and adverts, I used place holders and then inputted the final text when it was finished. I had original stories in my head, and ideas that are written lower down on my blog showing possible ideas.


The text was created in post-production as, apart from the ideas and possible articles that are stated,
there was no need to produce it any earlier. I started writing the articles and read them over, making changes when necessary and proof reading as I went along. The articles and stories in my newspaper are all fiction stories that I have created, therefore no planning or research into a story was needed, I simply wrote and re-wrote, edited when necessary and put the final articles into my already created layout for my newspaper.

Evaluation: Research and Planning

-How did your research into audience contribute to your production work?

My research into audience contributed my newspaper as I was able to determine what articles and adverts to put into my newspaper. I researched into what information was most favourable and determined that general news was the most popular option. Another high result was Music, and I used these results to produce my newspaper effectively by having general news stories such as crime in my newspaper. I also incorporated a banner for the Isle of Wight Festival into my newspaper as a link to the interest in music.


I also researched into whether the audience felt like their current local newspaper provided them with relevant information and articles. As the majority of the result was yes, I researched my local newspaper The Isle of Wight County Press and tried to write articles that are similar to the ones present in that newspaper.

Evaluation: Creativity

-What features of your work are original to you, and how successfully does your work engage its audience and provoke its interest?

The feature of my work that is most notably original to me is the header of my newspaper. To break away from conventions of the standard newspaper, I added an element of graphic design to my design by creating a logo with a difference to the regular, simple text. I stuck to the conventions for the majority of the newspaper to instill a sense of realism to my piece, however I feel that the graphic element separates it from the standard newspapers.



I also added a banner at the top of my newspaper advertising the website for the newspaper. I feel this is a modern addition to newspaper designs and influences my newspaper by giving it a more up-to-date attribute.

My newspaper successfully engages its audience and provokes interest in all criteria. I feel that it does this in various ways, one of them being that my newspaper design is a modern design yet sticks to the codes and conventions of the standard newspaper, therefore appealing and satisfying all newspapers. This is a valid attribute for my newspaper as my research shows that not a great deal of younger teens and youths read a newspaper, so I feel that my newspaper will change this by having a more modern and interesting design than conventional newspapers. Another reason is that the articles in my newspaper are straight-to-the-point stories and news, there is only hard-hitting news that affects a large audience, rather than articles that may be specific to one audience and interest, therefore narrowing the amount of readers.

Evaluation: Digital Technology

-How did digital technology influence your work in post-production?

Digital technology has had a large influence and impact in the post-production stage of my newspaper production. In fact, after the ideas had been created and the processes determined, the majority of the production was digital technology. For example, the use of the programs Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign CS5 were used in collaboration to create my newspaper. I used Adobe Photoshop to edit my photos - altering the colours, changing the hue and saturation, applying various blending options, cropping, and more. Adobe Illustrator allowed me to create the masthead for my newspaper. I created the type using the typeface Georgia and then using the Pen Tool to add the ‘tail’ and the ‘eye’ of the monocle. Adobe InDesign played the biggest part in the production process of my newspaper as it was the program responsible for putting together and the arrangement of my newspaper. I imported my photos and images from Photoshop and Illustrator into InDesign and used rules, guides, and alignment grids to ensure that the images and text of my newspaper had been aligned and places properly, as would be apparent in a professional newspaper.


I chose to use the Adobe Creative Suite CS5 to produce my newspaper as it is a highly advanced set of programs (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator) used by professionals. I had experience previous with these programs being a graphic designer, I regularly use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator with my work. I was not as experienced with the use of InDesign, however I had used it to create my magazine in my AS Media coursework. My skills with InDesign have increased noticeably, I now have a much greater understanding of the program and it has prepared me for further use of the software.

To create my radio adverts, I also used the program GarageBand, an application that allows users to create music or podcasts. It is produced by Apple and is an advanced piece of software for creating music. I created my radio advert by using the Apple loops that came with the program, and organising various ones over another to produce the desired effect. I then proceeded to record my voice using the microphone built into my MacBook.

Final Piece: Poster

Final Piece: Radio Adverts

Radio Advert - Strings


Radio Advert - Modern

Final Piece: Newspaper

Articles: Knife Cover Story

THE two surviving boys, currently being treated at St. Mary’s Hospital, Newport, who’s names cannot be released due to their age, were walking with a third boy back to their homes in Shanklin from Sandown Pier at around 6pm, last Friday. They were walking along the beaches up until the slipway, entering Small Hope Beach, when they were confronted by six youths who have been identified as Steven Haines, 19, and Ben Warding, 18, (both from Sandown), Michael Stock, 19, (from Newport), Kyle Reiss, 17, (from Shanklin), and Chris Ladening, 21, and Daryl Thomas, 18, (both from Ryde).

The six, dressed in tracksuits and foodies, surrounded the boys - shoving them and provoking them to give up their phones and wallets. The three boys retaliated by trying to work their way out of the group’s circle and push past to free themselves - one of the boys managed to duck past one of them and run, which startled the others as the two remaining boys broke free also, turning the situation into a game of cat and mouse on the shore. Michael Stock, 19, and Kyle Reiss, 17, admitted to focusing on one of the boysand managed to catch up to him, pinning him to the ground as the other two boys fled to draw attention and help. As Stock and Reiss pulled the remaining boy to his feet, he swung at Reiss with a large rock he had picked whilst being pinned now, striking him in the side of the head. As Reiss fell to the floor unconscious, Stock retaliated by pulling a switchblade from his jacket and stabbing the boy a total of five times in the chest and abdominal region.

When police and medics arrived at the scene, Stock was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital with minor head wounds, however the boy was tragically D.O.A. The six youths are awaiting sentencing, due in court this Wednesday.

Small Hope Beach is closed whilst police continue to investigate the scenes, though flowers have been left at the beach huts.

Articles: Police Target Text-Driving

After 2009 saw the Isle of Wight and the south in general, hold some of the highest rates in the country of police arrest for driving whilst using a mobile phone, Isle of Wight constabularies have vowed to put in place more drastic measures to cut down on the number of people offending – particularly in light of the three recent car accidents, (two in January of this year on Forest Road, Newport, and one along the military road near Calbourne in March).

Chief Constable Ricky Mayres spoke out yesterday sighting general lack of public knowledge about the dangers of mobile phone use while driving, as the main cause of the problem.
“We aim to start in schools. Educate young teens in the risks. They are very apparent and seemingly very real, as we tragically were able to see already this year.” He claims too much emphasis is put on drink-driving as the only real safety issue with young drivers, but in fact, statistics show that there have been more local arrests for driving whilst using a mobile phone lately than ever before. “Everyone knows about the hands-free sets most phones come with nowadays, particularly the more modern ones that seem to be most common with the teens,” said Chief Mayres, speaking from Newport police station. “But it’s texting too that’s actually causing a lot of the damage. It only takes one second for someone to take their eyes off the road and regret it. It has to stop before anybody else is allowed to be hurt.”

The Hampshire Police, (who already arrange talks to local schools) have spoken out declaring that it should not just be the children being educated in the risks and safety issues of driving whilst using a mobile phone – and according to their spokesperson, are in talks to look into tackling the situation of adult ignorance surrounding the problem.

Articles: Island Film Talent

ISLAND TALENT FOLLOWS IN MINGELLA’S FOOTSTEPS

AN aspiring home-grown scriptwriter, Joshua Turner, 23, originally of Shanklin on the Isle of Wight has recently received some fantastic news, as his newest creation has been bought by a new independent British film company. Acting as lifelong home to the late Anthony Mingella, the Isle of Wight has long been associated with cinematic prestige, and undoubtedly inspired by the Oscar-winning Director (who in fact attended the same school, Sandown High) – Turner, who studied Drama and English at A level, going on to graduate with a first class degree in Film Production and Scriptwriting from Reading University, said that he had known that he wanted to be involved in the film making industry since he was a child – yet it was the first viewing of Mingella’s The English Patient when he was 15 that culminated in him actually starting to make it happen.

“I already loved the film, and watched it many times when I was younger, but it wasn’t until I received a VCR copy for Christmas when I was about sixteen that I realized it was written by Anthony Mingella, and particularly that he had lived on the island! This changed everything for me. Suddenly I had new found hope for what had, up until then, been very much a pipe dream.”

When Turner received the news via phone call, he was in fact working in his father’s café, where he had been working since graduation, whilst developing scripts on the side. “It was an amazing moment,” Turner said, speaking from his house in Newport. “We get a lot of locals in of course who had known for the past two years what I’d been waiting for. Everyone cheered when I finally told them, it was such an exciting moment for me.”

Even more exciting news for the Island comes with the particular film company’s involvement too, however. They have in fact granted Turner full artistic license in location and involvement in the script’s casting, and he hopes to use this to showcase as much Island talent as possible. The plot, set in a small seaside village in the 1970s tells the story of a young fisherman living with his elderly, disabled father – and focuses on the ups and downs of such a relationship, and the interference of his falling in love and wanting to live independently whilst trying to cope with his current situation. Turner says that it is very important to him that he is allowed to choose the setting for the film. “Being surrounded by beaches, my childhood memories helped immensely in my creation of the story. It would seem wrong to take the film anywhere away from the Island, it definitely must be set here. It’s too perfect.” Though the film will take a few years in development and planning before it can be released commercially, it already seems set to be a hit, with the locals at least.

Radio Adverts

I have created two radio adverts for my newspaper using Garageband, a piece of music producing software by Apple. I recorded my own voice using my macbook, and added audio loops that came with Garageband.

I have created two different radio adverts, one featuring orchestral strings, and another more up to date/modern advert - which features a parody of a vintage radio advert.

Here are screenshots showing the process of creating my radio adverts.

Front Page Mock Up

Here is the layout I will be using for the front page of my newspaper. Using Adobe InDesign CS5, I have created all the text and image placeholders for the layout, and when writing my stories I will simply replace the placeholder text and images. The red shapes represent where adverts will be placed, and the main cover story image will go in the centre.

Below are screenshots of the processes involved in creating the front page -

1. Showing the text flow, allowing your text to flow from one text box to another

2. This screenshot shows the use of Guides and Rulers to keep the columns and rows of text, as well as images aligned

3. Showing the Place tool - placing an image or text into a placeholder

4. This screenshot shows the logo I created for the Isle of Wight Observer

News Values

News Values are similar to a set of codes and conventions that articles are required to follow, in order for the public to receive news stories that are significant to them. There are a total of twelve news values, and they can be split into the following three classifications -

Impact
• Threshold: The bigger impact the story has, the more people it affects, the more extreme the effect or the more money or resources it involves, the better its chances of hitting the news stands.

• Frequency: Events, such as motorway pile-ups, murders and plane crashes, which occur suddenly and fit well with the newspaper or news broadcast's schedule are more readily reported than those which occur gradually or at inconvenient times of day or night. Long-term trends are unlikely to receive much coverage.

• Negativity: Bad news is more exciting than good news. Stories about death, tragedy, violence, damage, natural disasters, political upheaval, etc are always rated above positive stories such as royal weddings or celebrations. Bad news stories are more likely to be reported than good news because they are more likely to score high on other news values, such as threshold, unexpectedness, unambiguity and meaningfulness.

• Unexpectedness: If an event is out of the ordinary it will be more likely to make it into the news than an everyday occurrence would.

• Unambiguity: Events which are easy to grasp make better articles than those which are open to more than one interpretation, or where understanding of the implications depends on first understanding the complex background to the event.

Audience identification
• Personalisation: People are interested in people. News stories that centre on a particular person, and are presented from a human interest angle, are likely to make the front page, particularly if they involve a well-known person.

• Meaningfulness: This relates to cultural proximity and the extent to which the audience identifies with the topic. Stories about people who speak the same language, look the same, and share the same preoccupations as the audience receive more coverage than those involving people who do not.

• Reference to elite nations: Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention than those dealing with less influential nations. This also relates to cultural proximity — as those nations which are culturally closest to our own will receive most of the coverage.

• Reference to elite persons: The media pay attention to the rich, powerful, famous and infamous. Stories about important people get the most coverage. Hence, the American President gets more coverage than an Isle of Wight Councillor.

Pragmatics of media coverage
• Consonance: Or Corrospondance, stories which match the media's expectations receive more coverage than those which contradict them. At first sight, this appears to contradict the notion of unexpectedness. However, consonance refers to the media's readiness to report an item, which they are more likely to do if they are prepared for it. Journalists often have a preconceived idea of the angle they want to report an event from, even before they get there.

• Continuity: A story which is already in the news gathers a kind of momentum – the running story. This is partly because news teams are already in place to report the story, and partly because previous reportage may have made the story more accessible to the public.

• Composition: Stories must compete with one another for space in the media. For instance, editors may seek to provide a balance of different types of coverage. If there is an excess of foreign news, for instance, the least important foreign story may have to make way for an item of domestic news.

Article Ideas

Here are some of the articles I have come up with to use on the front and second page of my newspaper -

-Isle of Wight Festival: line up, big artists attending
-General Election: A guide to the Island MP's policies
-Crime and burgalry % increase*
-Wight Trash Skateboards tour*
-Shanklin Hope Beach Cliff-Fall*
-Hope Beach Closed: Fatal stabbing*
-Police cut down: Driving and texting*
-Movie location scout wants Island’s beach in film*
These are only a few ideas I have right now, the articles with *'s at the end are ones that I have photos that could be used.

Target Audience II

From these results I deduced that the best target audience would be between ages 18 - 55. I have chosen such a large age range as due to the size of the Isle of Wight; a specific age range such as 18-25 may be too small due to a possible lack of relevant and important topics. A National Newspaper would not face such a problem as insufficient information as the articles are found all over the nation and would not be limited by local events or news. By choosing a target age range similar to one of a National Newspaper, it allows me to have no limit on the amount of information to publish, and therefore allowing a larger target audience - in turn creating a greater number of readers and larger profit.

After discussing reasons with the participants that said they do not read their local newspaper, it became apparent that the most common reason was that there was no information that was relevant to them. I investigated further and after scanning through a few issues of my local newspaper, The Isle of Wight County Press, I determined that there was not an absence of articles concerning one topic due to more popular articles taking their place, however a lack of the actual events and information to publish.

Therefore, my newspaper will cover all topics such as sport, politics, general news, music, fashion, etc. Having a large target audience will allow my newspaper to entertain and provide for more readers.

Target Audience

The income of a newspaper is directly linked to the audience that purchases it. Without a specifically targeted audience, a newspaper cannot expect to make a profit. A newspaper company needs to select a target audience before producing material, as without a target audience, articles will not be consistent and may be important to some yet completely irrelevant to others. Socio demographics, age or political views are common bases for target audiences, as they are based on certain areas or sectors of the population.

Here I have asked a group of 30 people, consisting of friends, family and teachers on their views towards local newspapers.

I then focused on the group who did not read their local newspaper

Newspaper Layout II

Here are some mock layouts that I created in Adobe Indesign -

Newspaper Layout

The layout of a newspaper is important as it is responsible for which information is the main focus, where headlines are, if and where adverts are placed, etc. There is rarely any change whether the newspaper is local or national in regards to placement of the Header, however adverts may be placed above or below.

The default layout for a national Newspaper is Header at the top, either with or without an advertisement, the Main Article below, usually including a picture reference of the article. Some newspapers as shown here by The Times have simultaneous front page stories. The Times also has a listing of the other articles down the side of the front page.

However, The Daily Express has a slightly different layout as the Header always remains at the very top of the newspaper. It is followed below by the price, a preview of an article, and an advertisement all in one banner. It then proceeds to display the front page story's headline in very large letters, accompanied by a picture reference and the beginning of the article.

As you can see, with local newspapers there tend to be adverts in all four corners to support revenue and income of the newspaper suppliers in order to maintain profit, as I have discussed in a previous post.

With the Isle of Wight County Press, the Header remains at the top of the page, between two of the advertisements, and a banner showing other articles below.

The Newspaper has a mixture of articles shown on the front page, and the layout of the text and images is not as 'professional' as it would be in a National Newspaper, which would be produced using designers to correctly adjust the page layout.

Newspaper Header Survey

After being stuck on the decision between my two designs for Header of my newspaper, I conducted a survey. This was to determine whether the monocle-style 'O' was legible on my Header, as this was the point that was throwing me off.I asked 25 people at my school, the majority of which were friends, to see whether they could recognise the monocle in the letter 'O'. I recorded my results in a bar chart (below).

As shown by the results obtained, it has become apparent that the Header is indeed legible and the monocle is apparent. Based on this outcome, I will use this logo design as the header for my Newspaper.

Newspaper Header Design

Here are some designs for my Newspaper Header that I created using Adobe Illustrator.

The first design, I have dismissed due to the typeface being over-used in newspapers and in my opinion it is out-dated.

The second design uses a typeface named Georgia. I have repeated the use of this typeface throughout the following designs due to its sophisticated yet modern feel. This second design is in my opinion a better design than the first, however is too simple.

This third design is a more compact concept and I feel it works well. My only quarry is the word 'The' which seems out of place and disrupts the design.

As you can see on the forth design is similar to the third, however I have editted the letter O to represent a monocle. I made this change to add an aspect of design to the header, rather than basic text and I feel that it works well, however the placement of the word 'The' is still off.

The fifth design is one most likely to be used for my newspaper. I like this design over the majority of the others as it is simple yet fairly modern. As you can see I have aligned the text 'The Isle of Wight' to the right so that the left is less 'messy'.

The last design is similar to the above design, however features the monocle design also. Designs five and six are the ones I will be choosing my final from.

Chosen Type and Structure

For the newspaper I am creating I have chosen to produce a Weekly Newspaper. I feel this is the best choice for the project in-hand as the information displayed will be locally-based as opposed to a National newspaper, where the information would be required to be relevant to, for example, the whole of England.

The type of newspaper I have chosen is a local newspaper. However, as many online news sites such as BBC, Sky News, and CBS have pages concerning local, national and world news, I will try and vary my newspaper from other local newspapers by including some articles concerning national and world news. I will choose my headlines and front-page articles depending on the biggest story at that point in time, and also if it is relevant to local citizens.

For the structure of my newspaper I will most likely use a Tabloid format, as there would not be enough local information to fill a Broadsheet format newspaper. This said, due to having local, national and world news, I may choose a European format, for example, a Berliner format - slightly taller and marginally wider than the tabloid/compact format; and is both narrower and shorter than the broadsheet format. An example of this format is the newspaper Le Monde (left).

Newspaper Title

Local and county newspapers tend to name their newspapers based on the area/town. This is usually followed by a reference to newspapers, for example - The Isle of Wight County Press, and The Reading Chronicle. National newspapers also seem to go in this direction - connected with a reference to the newspaper industry, however do not usually have a reference to a local town/county - for example the Daily Express, The Telegraph, and the Daily Mail.

After researching the names of newspapers in the South of England on this website http://www.wrx.zen.co.uk/soupress.htm I have identified that the most common newspaper name format is 'The ____ Gazette' or the 'The ____ Herald'. Based on these codes and conventions, and to try and differ from the most common choices, I have named my local newspaper The Isle of Wight Observer.

Structure of Newspapers

The structure of local newspapers, such as my local newspaper - The Isle of Wight County Press, vary in many ways as opposed to many national newspapers - due to the revenue of the newspapers themselves. For example, you can see that there are adverts in all four corners and at the bottom of The Isle of Wight County Press - this is due to the fact that local newspapers rely on the majority of their income from advertising, rather than a national newspaper such as The Sun, who rely on huge numbers of buyers, which is why national newspapers tend to be priced lower than local newspapers.

However, this is not the case for all newspapers as leading newspapers such as The Guardian and The Telegraph are more expensive than local newspapers. This is because the news they are delivering is more relevant to the masses whereas a local newspaper will be delivering news that is more pertinent to the community or county. The difference in price is also due to the specific news of the newspaper. Articles in The Guardian will be more hard-hitting and important, therefore the newspaper companies will be paying reporters and journalists to research and discover the news.

Types of Newspaper

Daily
A daily newspaper is simply as the name states, and issued everyday. Some newspapers have exceptions of Sundays and some national holidays. Saturday editions, and sometimes Sunday editions and usually larger, include more in-depth and specialised sections, as well as having more advertising inserts, and costing more. Some newspapers have sister newspapers which run on Sundays specifically, such as the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday, and also the Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph.

Weekly
Weekly newspapers, such as the Isle of Wight County Press and the Sunday Telegraph, tend to be larger than daily papers. There are also some newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. These are still classified as weekly newspapers in the United States.

National
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country. This is a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom there are numerous national newspapers, such as The Independent, The Observer, The Sun, The Daily Mail and the Daily Express.

International
There is also a small group of newspapers which may characterised as international newspapers. Some, such as The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or "international editions" of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.

Coursework Brief

The brief I have chosen for my project is to produce:

'The first two pages of a new local newspaper, together with two of the following three options:

· A poster for the newspaper;
· A radio advertisement for the newspaper;
· Two hyperlinked pages from the paper’s website."

The two options I have chosen are

· A poster for the newspaper;
· A radio advertisement for the newspaper.