The four questions I will be answering in order to evaluate my work are:
1) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
2) How does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
3) How is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
4)What have you learned from your audience feedback
My foundation portfolio, which consisted of me making a front page and double page spread of a music magazine, has given me the knowledge of how to use different media technologies which helped me construct my advanced portfolio and my knowledge of these technologies have indeed being enriched through the process. I used three main media technologies in constructing my main task, a front page and inside page of a newspaper and my ancillary task, a poster and a radio advert. I used Photoshop primarily for the manipulation of my pictures. I decided to edit my image because my researched showed that images anchor meaning to the article, and according to Barthes (cited in Bagnell, 1977:98) photograph is ‘an object that has been worked on, chosen, composed, constructed, treated according to professional, aesthetic or ideological norms which are so many factors of connotation.’
For example, the original image used to anchor my major headline was edited due to the feedback received from my audience through my questionnaire, which was that it wasn’t bright enough. I did this by experimenting with the different levels available in the “image adjustment” tab which successfully edited my image and made it brighter and more juxtaposed with my headline thus appealing more to my target audience. My picture was done in color to emphasis on the realism of it.
For example, the original image used to anchor my major headline was edited due to the feedback received from my audience through my questionnaire, which was that it wasn’t bright enough. I did this by experimenting with the different levels available in the “image adjustment” tab which successfully edited my image and made it brighter and more juxtaposed with my headline thus appealing more to my target audience. My picture was done in color to emphasis on the realism of it.
The first image is my original picture, and the second image is the edited version of my original image.
I used Adobe in design to help me achieve the simplistic layout I established in my research that most local newspapers used to emphasise on the formality of the genre. Tools such as the “base line grids” helped me align my text and have equal spaces between my text, while the “document grid” helped me position the different components present within my front page such as the nameplate, teaser, captions and headlines thus having equal spaces between them. The “fit content to frame” tool flattered the layout suggested by my target audience, as it allowed me to re size my images hence giving me enough space to fit other components unto the page such as classifieds which is useful in promoting consumerism as it gives the target audience a taste of what is inside the newspaper. As I wrote all my articles in Microsoft word first to ensure my spelling and punctuation were accurate, I then imported them into in design and then using the columns provided and baseline grid tool, I constructed the layout of my article. Using this software meant my front page, inside page and poster were more structured thus making it easier for my audience to read it.
This is a print screen of me using the baseline grid and document grid, to help lay my newspaper out professionally.
I used adobe audition to help with the construction of my second ancillary task, which was a radio advert. This software was useful in the construction of my radio advert as it enabled me to put my recording into different sessions in order to edit them track by track. I did this, by highlighting unnecessary parts I didn’t need such as laughter, heavy breathing and any mistakes made when reading the lines, then pressing the delete button to delete the section selected. Overall, it was exceptionally helpful in clarifying and projecting the voices of my actors thus making it easier for my audience to hear all the relevant information about the newspaper, i.e. where to purchase it from and how much it costs. I did this by going into the effects tab, then clicking on “amplitude” then to “normalize” I normalized the voices of my actors to 100. After normalising it, I added a back track which was 4 minutes long, so I had to cut it down by editing it so I can have the first 43 seconds to accompany it with my recorded tracks. Normalising the voices of my actors meant that after I added the back track, my audience could still hear what is being said. However I still had to lower the volume of my back track. Editing my tracks and my back track heightened the chances of my audience listening to the advert. Finally I exported it into an audio file called Wave to enable me to listen to it at every computer, whether or not it had adobe audition on it.
Throughout my research, I noticed that the primary colours used in newspapers are grey black and white, this emphasises on the simplistic and formal approach the genre takes. The nameplate and adverts are mainly the only parts of the newspaper which has colour. This is why the pictures used to support articles are essential as not only does it give a balance to the newspaper but it adds colour to it, thus making the paper standout from other newspapers. Also the pictures used in the newspaper represent the demographic it is aimed at and may hinder the success of the newspaper reaching its target audience if they do not find it appealing. I used a high quality camera, which meant that my pictures where not pixielated giving my audience aesthetic pleasure and a clearer understanding of the story/ article written.
These are a few of the pictures I took using my digital camera.
These are print screens of the different sites I went on to help with my research and planning.
I used excel mostly for planning. I put the results I received from my various questionnaire in which I typed up using Microsoft office into Microsoft excel and then put the results into a graph in order to compare the results of each category.
Considering the role of the nameplate, which is to help the audience recognise the newspaper. I used Croydon Guardian as an aid to help me design my nameplate because my newspaper is aimed at the same target audience and is set in the same borough. I followed and challenged it’s conventions to make my design unique while making it suitable for my target audience and easy for them to recognize the borough in which it caters for.
Followed Conventions | Challenged Conventions |
Bold fonts are used on both parts of the names in order to make it standout from the rest of the text used on the page. This creates a hierarchy on the page.1 | I noticed that two different font sizes are used in the nameplate. I decided to do the same however to emphasize on the uniqueness of my newspaper, I typed the “Croydon” in the biggest font because I wanted to make it clear to the audience that, that is the borough in which it caters for |
I used the color blue, a distinctive visual style of every local newspaper based in Croydon, as it represents the whitgift centre, a tourist attraction of Croydon whose logo is written in blue.2 | The ideological value behind me using two shades of blue on my nameplate was because I do not have a defining icon which would make my nameplate standout, I felt adding the lighter shade of blue which acted as the logo of my newspaper with its unique L shape design stood out more and created a hierarchy as it meant the nameplate was the only component on the page which had a range of colors thus appealing to my target audience. Secondly, 32 people within my target audience voted for me to use these colors within my nameplate.2 |
I incorporated the sales information and the homepage address of the newspaper thus making it more interactive. | The text “TIMES CROYDON” is written in capital letters. I did this because throughout my research I noticed that most times the major headline is written in capital letters so it can draw the audience attention to the article and to make the headline more dramatic and I noticed that this appealed to the audience more and I wanted this emphasis placed on my nameplate.1 |
This is an example of how I put the feedback of my questionnaire together.
This is a print screen of my power point presentation, taking you through the research and planning stages of my work.
I used conventions of real media products, and this is made evident through the success of my product and how easy the audience managed to establish the genre of it - a local newspaper.
My newspaper is A3 (14.5”x23”), the standard size of a tabloid newspaper, and first on the page is a nameplate which informs the audience the name of the newspaper and what borough it caters for. I incorporated quite a few pictures into my newspaper because my questionnaire showed that my audience wanted pictures on the front page as it created a balance between the heavy text on the page and visually anchored and illustrated the story to them thus giving them a clearer understanding of what the story/ article is about- a distinctive feature of most newspapers.
My image represented the stereotypical view that the newspaper holds. The media has always linked gangs with the black race, which is why I used a black model to represent the victim of this gang war as I felt it made my headline more authentic. It also linked with Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding, as the fact that my model was of a black ethnicity drew upon my audience expectations. This meant that my audience decoded my image the way I expected it to be. This also links with the two step flow theory which suggest that audience are passive towards mass media and do not challenge the information at hand, as they believe that newspaper’s feed us with accurate information with facts and figures to backup findings.
Although I used simple syntax all throughout my articles, I ensured I kept a formal register in order to highlight the formality of the genre and to emphasize the seriousness of the articles incorporated into the paper. This is a style of writing embraced by journalists as it helps the readers create meaning of the stories easily. "The process of selection is central to the production of all newspapers". which was why in depth research was done before deciding what articles should be featured into my newspaper. My articles especially my two major headlines “Rival gang wars are going down the hill” and “far from a father figure” begins by setting the world as an equilibrium, and then it becomes disrupted before returning to a new equilibrium. It is done in a narrative way as suggested by the narrative theory and does not only provide a framework for my audience to decode the article but it effectively lures my audience into reading the article. I decided to feature these two articles because throughout my research I noticed that most news that make it into the newspaper are always negative as said by Galtung and Ruge because it makes the audience sympathies thus drawing them into reading the article.
I also included a by-line into my design to illustrate the name of the journalist who wrote the article hence making the audience familiar with the journalists and creating a rapport with them. My inside page had the page number written boldly at the top left hand corner as done by most newspapers, to make it easier for the audience to find any pages they would like to read especially if they are drawn in by the classifieds on the front page, and also to help them read it in a chronological order if they wish to do so. A caption was also used under all images incorporated in both pages of my newspaper because it
"enabled the reader to ‘load down the image with particular cultural meanings and the photograph functions as the proof that the text's message is true." as said by Bignell
My advert of croydon college appealed to my demographic because I felt education is an institution which appeals to a wider range of audience as it doesn’t target a specific race or gender and links with the overall value of the newspaper. According to Blulmer and Katz audiences are lured into reading texts that reflects their “personal identity”. My newspaper poster advertises my major headline along with the nameplate. They both take up most of the space on the newspaper, this is a generic layout of most newspaper posters I have researched as it makes it easier for the audience to recognize the newspaper being advertised. Finally, my radio advert followed the structure of radio scripts. It was written in the 3 steps done by most radio adverts “problem, answer, solution” to make the audience more attentive .These are just some examples of how I used conventions of real media products.
30 people within my target audience said they wanted to see a picture on the poster because they felt pictures grab every one's attention more in contrast to text. They felt due to the fact that it is a new newspaper, having an image on the page, would act as a distinctive feature thus making it easier for the audience to recognise and distinguish it from other local newspapers in Croydon.
Incorporating a picture into my layout hindered me from following generic conventions of newspaper posters which have a large amount of space dedicated to the headline, which normally takes up the most space. My headline did not take up the majority of space on the page, due to the distinctive style in which it was written in. I highlighted key words within the headline by making the font size bigger because when asking for audience feedback, I found out that some members of my audience have dyslexia and so found it difficult to read and understand written text and so I felt the style in which I wrote it in made it easier for them. Also my newspaper is aimed at elderly people, some of which are partially blind, so this approach to the layout of the headline made it easier for them to read the text from far and create meaning from it as it was similar to an eye test chart.
Throughout my research, I noticed that the name of most local newspaper’’s begin with the name of the borough it caters for e.g. “CROYDON Guardian” “HACKNEY gazette”. However, using the generic convention, I developed it by naming my newspaper as “TIMES CROYDON” instead of “CROYDON TIMES”because I wanted to emphasize on the unique approach I was taking towards the construction of this newspaper and wanted my audience to easily identify my newspaper from other newspapers. I also wanted to highlight the idea that it is a new local newspaper and it is the modernized version of the other local newspapers catering for that borough. Not only this, but 20 people within my target audience suggested the name TIMES CROYDON was effective as it was different and gave a freshness to the genre. Visit week 5 of my blog for further information.
The combination of my main product and ancillary tasks are quite effective as there is a clear and strong cohesion between them. The continuous colour scheme of blue which runs all throughout my main tasks and first ancillary project, highlights the style and identity of my newspaper and emphasises on the simplistic layout that it has, a generic convention that all newspapers have. Considering how my target audience will respond to my newspaper, I used one recognizable colour on the page as I felt it represents my target audience and the wide age group in which this newspaper is aimed at. My audience suggested that if I used a range of different colours, my newspaper would look too eccentric and busy thus appealing mainly to my younger demographic ( teenagers) and omit the older demographic (adults, parents and elderly people) in which this newspaper is also aimed at.
The nameplate of my newspaper, a distinctive icon which helps my target audience identify my newspaper is presented on both my main tasks and ancillary projects. The nameplate is positioned at the top of both the newspaper poster and the front page which makes it appear as the main focus on the page. The idea of having the nameplate on both products means the audience will recognise the newspaper even if they haven’t seen it before, as they will become familiar with the nameplate when they see the newspaper poster, thus making it easier for them to recognise the newspaper itself. Similarly, my inside page has a smaller version of the nameplate written at the bottom of the newspaper which is emphasised by the black boarder drawn around it. Along with this the web address which gives the audience an opportunity to view archives online is placed on the left hand corner of both my front page and inside page. Also my second ancillary project- a radio advert, mentioned the name of my newspaper two times in an exciting way which was then normalized using adobe audition to help the audience remember the name of the newspaper and also to draw them into listening to the advert.
My researched suggested that most newspapers use serif fonts to present the texts within the newspapers, as it was simplistic, easy to read, suitable for a wider range of audience and emphasised on the formality of newspapers. The typeface of a newspaper is sometimes a distinctive feature which helps the target audience to differentiate the newspaper from other newspapers. For example Croydon Guardian and Croydon Advertiser, even though they are both local newspapers catering for residents of Croydon. The different typeface used helps me as a reader distinguish them from each other.
I decided to use Lucida bright and Times New Roman in both my front page, inside page, poster and even on my radio transcript because not only was it clear and easy to read by all thus appealing to my demographic who are of a wide age group but also because I wanted to emphasise on the simplistic approach I was taking towards the construction of my project and to make it easier for my audience to recognise each part of my production (main task and ancillary tasks) without having to rely on my nameplate and I felt I could easily show the link between all my products through the similar fonts used and emphasise on the formality of the genre I have chosen to explore. This shows my synoptic understanding of the context and practice of production.
All newspaper posters advertise the major headline of the newspaper it is advertising, to lure the readers into purchasing and reading the newspaper, which is why puns and alliterations are used to make the story more dramatic. I also used the major headline of my newspaper “Rival gang wars are going down the hill” on the newspaper poster to emphasise on the link between the two tasks and to give the readers a feel of what to expect in the newspaper and to lure them into reading it thus promoting consumerism. Although the pictures used for both the front page and poster are different despite accompanying the same headline, there are similarities between them which will help the audience recognise what newspaper it is. Both pictures anchor the headline effectively and bring home the narrative. It follows generic stereotypes which is that that gang wars are associated with the black race. Finally in my research I noticed that all my pictures incorporated in my main task and ancillary task do not follow the normal conventions of paparazzi pictures as they have a strong eye contact with the readers. I chose to do so because I felt it made the audience feel involved in the story and effectively draws their attention and gives a different angle to the story. My radio advert hypes up my newspaper informing the audience about the frequency, price, distribution and the narrative structure all of which can be found on the front page, inside page and poster.
As you know, every media product is aimed at a mass audience and so therefore should incorporate some features which your target audience would expect to see in the product to ensure they consume the product as said by Rick Altman and Richard Dyer. After defining my target audience , I put together numerous amount of questionnaires for each stage of my questionnaire asking my audience what they liked and most importantly what should be improved . My audience feedback had a great impact in how my final product looked like and what it consisted of towards the end of the construction, as their opinions meant I had to alter some things I had decided to incorporate based on my research on normal conventions of newspapers. My audience feedback helped me decide what layout to use, what colour should run through all three products, the price, the jingle for my radio advert, the generic conventions I should follow and those I should challenge and why. After finishing my final products I asked members from my target audience focusing mainly on the teenagers because I felt have disregarded their opinion quite a bit throughout the construction of this newspaper, about what they liked and what they would liked to be improved.
