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

I believe my media product follows real media conventions through the layout. I tried to keep the layout similar to that of the newspaper I had researched. I found that 'The Times' was the most inspirational when creating my product. I liked the idea of keeping the masthead to the left hand corner of the page accompanied by the places in which you can purchase it. I liked the idea of adding the colour blue onto the page making it more interesting and vibrant. I basically used a combination of ideas from each of the exemplar newspapers below.



Another thing I considered was the headlines keeping only the first letter as a capital while the rest lowercase as if following either 'The Mercury' or 'The Times'. From researching I saw that each newspaper sticks to approximately three columns consisting of about 5 words per line, so I decided that was the way to go to achieve a professional looking newspaper. The actual text was something I had to consider also, I wanted it to sound friendly and achieve a community spirit. So after reading a few articles I got the gist of what they consists of.

Here is the initial design I decided on for my newspaper:

While following certain conventions, I also challenged them by designing something that combines all these ideas that I have collected from each newspaper. I decided that my newspaper had to be original and not copy exactly what each of these layouts consists of. By moving around the key elements of the layout I was able to create something different which still looks like a newspaper.

My feedback from my peers and teachers was also very positive as they all believed my newspaper followed real media conventions saying that it looked professional and realistic.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary?

Well, I would say that my main product and ancillary tasks were effective as I believe that my newspaper could pass off as a representation of a real life newspaper as it follows real media conventions and looks professional. My newspaper was created and designed from different examples of local newspapers including;

I used elements from each individuals convention creating a newspaper of my own. By deconstructing these local newspapers, I was able to create a realistic but original design that sticks to real life media conventions.

By also analysing stories and headlines I could get a clear idea of how newspapers write their stories and what type of stories they write. I found that they write about what things effect there local community and would be of interest. So, I wrote about things considering their local cinema and library, and an annual fayre. The stories don't seem to have the same seriousness as a newspaper in the mass media; it has a more friendly tone that a community would expect and relate to.

The pictures needed to have transparency about them so the audience would be able to relate to them and not find them too distant from reality. So, I decided that a simple picture taken from a slight angle of the library was more appropriate than that of a picture "over photoshopped". This picture has hardly been "under the knife" of photoshop - all I basically did was to alter saturation to make the picture look brighter as if on a brighter day.

My ancillary tasks advertises my newspaper, so I thought the most effective way to advertise was to place an actual image of my newspaper as the centre point. This ultimately shows the reader/viewer what the newspaper looks like perhaps making it easier for the purchaser to visually find it in the shops. Unfortunately, I was unable to find posters for North Somerset newspapers when researching but found that even so mass media newspaper adverts helped a great deal. I found that my poster was mostly based on that of the newspaper 'The Star', an example I found when researching posters:

I found that the radio advert was effective to some point. However, being critical I found my advert slightly long and tedious and I think that I could have spent more time on my jingle. Perhaps considering the effectiveness that it can have on the audience. I believe that a jingle should be catchy whilst I feel mine was slightly dull and long winded. Although, I can find things I would like to change, I do find that the narrative reflected what the newspaper is all about; the community revolving around the newspaper. The two women: Edith and Joan emphasis why the newspaper is so good by staying in character.

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

I used all of these media technologies in the construction of my newspaper:

• Google for Research
• InDesign for the construction of my newspaper and poster
• A Camera and Photoshop to create my photos for my newspaper and adverts
• Garageband and Soundbible to make up my Radio advert
• NeoOffice accompanied by Word when writing my articles
• Blogger to record everything I have done without the production