Development from preliminary to advance production

As i also worked with print last year I gained some experience with the technologies I used in my advance production which helped me save time this year as I already had some skills working with programmes such as pages.
However last year I worked with magazines and not newspaper which I learned had a bigger difference than i expected. I found creating a newspaper far more challenging than a magazine as i found it harder to create newspaper story which would be a success.
As I decided to challenge conventions to create a newspaper for younger people I was looking at a similar audience when creating my newspaper as I did when creating my magazine which saved me a doing a lot of research into my audience as I had already learn about my audience.

Most successfully I feel my blogging skills have developed since my preliminary work from last year as I have gain stills and began to make my blog more visually effect and working with different technologies. I feel this was both from my own background research and extra time spent using blogger to gain skills, but i have also noticed since my course began blogs have became more commonly used in the world around me, which has also helped me become more familiar with blogging.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?



When in the process of creating my product and also undertaking my research i might sure to regularly ask people who would meet my target audience for opinions and necessary changes they felt i should make in order to make sure my product meet their needs.

From audience feedback i learnt what kind of things my audience would look for within newspapers and the problems they seen in current newspaper enable me to create a new newspaper which would be more popular.

I also learnt how and when to question my audience, so that i knew i was working with my audience when it would be more effective and not wasting my time.

How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary task:

• As I created my Newspaper cover first I tried to create a style which breaks conventions of local newspapers in order for in to stand but which also has a style which i could follow through when creating my ancillary tasks in order for these to work together.
• I feel my newspaper second page was least successful as it didn't work as well as it could have alongside my main and other ancillary tasks.
• I feel the use of the same fonts and red arrow used in my newspaper cover, poster and on the website was a really successful way to create a link between my main and ancillary tasks. This would help create a unqiue style for my newspaper and help the adience recongnise the product as working together, this makes my work more realistic as a real media product.

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

• Main task, Newspaper cover: When doing my research, from looking at current newspapers I decided when making my newspaper to challenge and break the conventions of existing newspaper in order to attract a new younger audience. Therefore I experimented with different layouts trying to find a layout which will stand out to my audience whilst having the balance of being a suitable and easy to follow newspaper layout.
• Ancillary task, Poster: When creating my poster i used the challenging as a way to advertise the newspaper in order to achieve my aim of attracting a new audience. "The local newspaper which stand outs" the poster point out both visually and in the text that the newspaper is aiming to challenge the conventions of local newspaper, creating a postmodern effect.
• Ancillary task, Newspaper second page: I feel my second page of my newspaper did not challenge conventions as much as the rest, yet i also feel this was the weakest of my coursework. Therefore i think that challenging the conventions must have been successful.
• Ancillary task, Website: As i completed my website last I tried to ensure that my website worked successfully alongside my main and other ancillary tasks, therefore i kept my website as local as possible and stuck to a similar style. This therefore meant that my website also broke convention of local newspaper websites. Although I did look at other local newspaper websites, to see the layout, so that this would be familiar to audience, making it easy for audience to find their way around the website with little confusion. So overall my website both followed and challenged convention of local newspaper websites in order for it to be easy to use yet to work alongside my newspaper.

Technology I worked with

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Technologies used during evaluation

Blogger:
It was my choice how i decided to present the evaluation of my work, however as i had gained skills and experience working with blogger i decided to use this to my advantage and present my evaluation within a blog. I feel this was a successful idea as already had skills working with blogger it wasn't too time consuming as i didn't need to learn how to use blogger. Also as i needed to show images of my work to evaluate using blogger was a good way to present images and text alongside each other.



Technologies used during research

Blogger:
As part of my advance production I required to present my research within a blog.
As i worked with blogger last year i had some skills but i feel these have developed a lot over this past year, i feel my blog was presented in a much more visual way, making it a more interesting piece of work, also not all the work on my blog was text, i also including picture and link showing my plans and research as it developed. I feel since i began the course blogs have became more popular in general, and more commonly used within the society i live in, which of course has helped me learn more about blogs and understand other uses for blogs which was interesting

Dictaphone:
I held a interview with Journalist from a local newspaper in order for my to learn from someone working in the industry, I recorded this interview using a Dictaphone as well as taking notes. This technology came in useful as I did not need to take breaks during the interview to make notes, and i could listen to what was said however often i needed.
This was the first time i used a Dictaphone, but luckily the result was successful as the interview was recorded and i could use the recording within my research







Technologies used during construction


Apple Macs, Pages:

I worked with pages on apple macs, to create my newspaper cover, second page and poster. Luckily i had some experience working with pages for my coursework last year, however it did take me some time to get used to working with pages again. I feel i learnt more as i worked with pages and developed my skills.

Piczo Website:

I used the site http://www.piczo.com/?cr=3 to build my website.
I had never used this before so it took me some time to get used to working with, but after a while i learn how the site worked and i feel i created a successful local newspaper website to make this.

Digital Camera

I used a simple point and shoot camera because it was easier to transport than a slr and i still think the photos i took we're still of a good enough quality

Photoshop

I used photoshop to create the depth of field effect on my poster, luckily i have some experience with working with photoshop already so it wasn't too challenge to create the right effect.

Local News Updates Website Link

I decided to create a local news updates page as people audience would want regular news update, something that would be difficult for the newspaper couldn't offer, as it would not be able update as often, an advantage of having the website .

Choices i made when creating this page:

• Keep the same fonts, and colour scheme etc to keep the website familiar
• I decide to write more little stories, instead of one large story, so that the audience can choose what stories they decide to read, and as its aimed at a young audience it wouldn't be suitable for large amount of texts, instead i think its a better idea to have small piece of news.
• I added photos to go alongside the story as the made the page look more visually effect and to go alongside the stories.
• I have put a link to the home page and a drop down box with link to the other pages at the top of the website so that it is easy for people to find what they are looking for on the website

Contact page of website

I decided to create contact page as audience might have suggestion or comment they'd like to leave with the creator of the website and newspaper
Choices i made when creating this page:

• Keep the same fonts, and colour scheme etc to keep the website familiar
• I decide to put in a comment box, so that the audience can interact with the website, something which the newspaper wouldn't offer.
• I tried to keep this page simple and to the point.
• I have put a link to the home page and a drop down box with link to the other pages at the top of the website so that it is easy for people to find what they are looking for on the website

Sports Website Page

I decided to create a local sport paage link on my website as sports are a common thing in newspapers and on newspaper website

Choices i made when creating this page:

• Keep the same fonts, and colour scheme etc to keep the website familiar
• I decide to write more little stories, instead of one large story, so that the audience can choose what stories they decide to read, and as its aimed at a young audience it wouldn't be suitable for large amount of texts, instead i think its a better idea to have small piece of news.
• I added adverts linking to sports clubs etc, so my website would be earning money from aadvertiser too and it also link to thee part of the website its on.
• I have put a link to the home page and a drop down box with link to the other pages at the top of the website so that it is easy for people to find what they are looking for on the website
• Although this is sports news i tried to keep it as local a possible so it still fits the style of the rest of my newspaper

Entertainment and reviews website page

I decided to create a entertainment and reviews page so audience can hear other people opiniion on films/music they are thinking of seeing and/buying.

Choices i made when creating this page:

• Keep the same fonts, and colour scheme etc to keep the website familiar
• I made sure i rated each thing out of five stars to make it look realistic.
• I added photos of ablum and dvd covers artwork and videos from youtube so the reader can visualise what they are reading about
• I have put a link to the home page and a drop down box with link to the other pages at the top of the website so that it is easy for people to find what they are looking for on the website

Upcoming Events Website Page

I decided to create upcoming events page so people can look to see what local event are coming up and decide if to attend.

Choices i made when creating this page:

• Keep the same fonts, and colour scheme etc to keep the website familiar
• I just decided a few small event which are likely to come up in local communities and just wrote a few details which picture linking alongside so it is both easy to understand and visually effective.
• I have put a link to the home page and a drop down box with link to the other pages at the top of the website so that it is easy for people to find what they are looking for on the website

Website Home Page..

Here is the home page to my newspaper. Although i was only required to create two hyperlinked pages,
Choices I made when creating my website homepage:

• Once again i stuck to similar colour schemes and fonts to keep it familiar and link to the rest of my products
• I thought it was a good idea to keep the same story on the homepage of my website, to give the impression the website is update regularly and to give more details of the storyline
• Once again i wrote about subscribing to the newspaper to gain loyal readers early on in the realise of the newspaper
• I wrote about the launch of the newspaper to highlight the fact that's it's a new local newspaper.
• I also put picture of my newspaper cover and poster on the website to show the reader what to expect from the newspaper
• The title of the newspaper moves across the arrow, i think this makes it more interesting and makes the title stand out.
• I created a list of links of other link to pages on the website, so it is easy to find things on the website
  

Newspaper second page

Here is my newspaper second page (sorry scanner cut side off slightly!). I feel this went well but overall the cover was more successful.
Choices i made:

• I decided to make the main story about a local community hall being built, as i wanted to keep the local community feel running through the newspaper.
• I thought as this was the second page of the newspaper i should put in a content page, but also wanted a story so i divided the page, also i had to provide for advertiser to, so put adverts in the page too.
• I keep all fonts and colour similar to the cover to link the two together.

My Poster

My Poster is my favourite finished product of my advance production. I think its really effective as it gives a really clear message. As I have talked about in my main blog this poster will be used on a bus to attract attention.

Choices I made when creating my poster:

• I made sure once again i used the same the red arrow, so audience would automatically see the link between the poster and the newspaper itself,
• I decided to use the depth of field in the image as when creating my newspaper i wanted to create something which stood out to younger audience and i wanted to give this message across in my poster.
• I made sure i edited the newspaper i used in the photo, to show some key features from my newspaper.
• I dressed my model in red to link to the newspaper colour scheme.

My completed cover.

I feel my finshed cover is very successful, although it was really challenging to complete. I like the arrow as it really stand out and i have been able to use this arrow in my other products so that audience would feel familiar with what they are reading and would instantly reconignse the product are link, although I think having the link between the product makes all or my work together more realistic as a real life media product.

Choice i made when creating my cover:

• Orignally i had the arrow a lighter grey but i realised it would be more effective to have red as it create a contrast with the grey and stands out as a colour. Overall i feel this small change transformed the look of the entire cover.
• Name my Newspaper "Local Life". Afer completing research and thinking realiscally about what reports I'd be able to have with photo's i realised my best option would be to keep my newspaper as local as possible and therefore i decide to reflect this in the name of the newspaper and used the alliteration to make the name catchy, which would make it more memorable for the new audience.
• Fronts: I tried maybe different fonts when using page to creating my cover. The font I choose were what I thought looked most aesetically pleasing and stood out the most whilst following some conventions of font use in newpapers so that the audience will reconigse this as a local newspaper.
• Photos: I have posted the other photos I have taken and considered using on my main blog. Ic dceid to use these two photo as they seemed most suitable after looking though all the photos. I decide to use two photo as they fited well with the layout, and although just have one photo worked well, i wanted to show both a posed photo and a action photo.
• The bottom row: i wanted a advert along the bottom of my newspaper to make it seem more realistic. I decide it would be best to have the advert linking to my newspaper and the fact that my newspaper is new. Therefore i made this section about subscribing to the newspaper as it would attact loyal readers early on.
• The tagline "letting you know about the local life we live" - Once again i worked with alliteration to create a catching tagline which link to the name of the newspaper and once again states that the newspaper is local, telling the audience what to expect from the newspaper.