Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My media production uses the conventions of a real newspaper, focusing on the layout and
structure mainly the masthead which is most important to a newspaper as readers use the
masthead to identify the newspaper. Because it was a local newspaper I decided to design a
masthead that involved the community ‘YourSay’. Within the masthead includes the website
and the local area ‘Brent’, instead of just focusing on one area I took the decision to produce
a newspaper for the borough. Like all newspaper the masthead is positioned in the top right
corner this is to capture the audience’s attention. For the font of the masthead I choose a
bright red in order to grabs viewers eyes bold enough to see from a distance. I included a
quote ‘free tickets’ this will immediately capture the audience’s attention as no cost is
involved. The layout of my newspaper uses conventions from a real newspaper such as date,
issue number, website, advertisement and the local area. These conventions are necessary to
any newspaper therefore I kept this consistent in my media products so the continuation from
the newspaper and website is identifiable. My newspaper does not challenge any forms of
conventions however on the front cover of the newspaper I did not want to give too much
away therefore I decided to only include a small article on the main story and an image of a
next topic, this will therefore keep the readers curious wanting to read on.

The headline of the articles links with the image successfully, I wanted to write an article
based on positive news as gathered from newspaper research I spotted a gap in the market
that there weren’t much articles portraying good news. It is said Brent is one of the dangerous
areas in London therefore as my newspaper is targeted at the local residents of Brent I wanted
to be able to represent them as good citizens and not always looking at the downside of Brent.
My target audience were mainly teenagers as a sense of inspiration, as a student myself I
notice some teenagers do not pay attention to newspaper partly based on the fact the language
used is technical or they have no interest in the article. This therefore led me to the idea of
creating a local newspaper that teenagers are able to communicate with and learn from. My
main article is based on a teenager itself, I didn’t want to include a common article which
portrays teenagers as monsters but an article teenagers can relate to and be inspired. The fonts
of the masthead are bold and the article is in columns in comparison to the conventions of a
newspaper.

Before starting my website I first I did some research, I noticed the conventions for most
websites for local newspaper were straightforward to identify such as the navigation menu is
below the masthead, the design of the masthead is kept consistent, the only difference
between a public website and a local website is that the local website give more support and
guidance. Local residents are able to use the website to access information about the
community and contacts they may need. The continuation of the main headline on the
newspaper takes up most of the home page of the website; it provides more news and allows
local residents to login in having their own personal identity. Most websites uses the
masculine colour blue; however I wanted to keep the continuation of the colour red of my
masthead. This creates a sense of engaging and stands out. The main links were included in
my primary navigation however I also added tabs which will be relevant to the local. Like
most newspapers they have search box allowing viewers to have control of what they are
looking for, one of the most common convention of real websites. I tried to avoid producing a
dull website, therefore I made sure images were taken in the correct lightning and the colours
of the fonts were not contrasting with one another. The main colours used for my website
were red, white and grey; the fonts were kept simple using the fonts Baskerville Old Face and
Trebuchet MS.

I aimed kept the continuation of the colours and masthead for my live link and poster, the
purpose of doing so is for the audience to identify which newspaper it is. For my poster I
wanted it to be striking and engaging, in order to do so I use fonts that would stand out. I used
the conventions of a real poster capturing the image at a right angle being able to fit the one
of the areas in Brent as well as the model.

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

Continuation of masthead

Main product: Newspaper Article Ancillary texts: Website and Advert

Above is a representation of my main product and ancillary texts, like any other newspaper
the continuation of the masthead and font colours are kept the same. I also included the main
story on the front cover of the newspaper and on the home of the website. The theme colours
of both my newspaper and website are linked as I aimed to avoid colours contrasting with one
another. For my advertisement I wanted to create something that was eye-catching, a poster
that will grab the audience’s attention the second they look at it. Advertisement which is
important when promoting something new should be created to be engaging, therefore I
included effective quotes. Although the image for my poster is simple it holds a meaning
behind it using conventions of a real poster, making sure the snappy quote linked well with
the image itself.
 In my opinion I would say the combination of my main product and ancillary text was
effective as the conventions of media of newspapers and websites created an attachment
between the different types of conventions. A newspaper publishes the main headlines
however the ancillary texts go into much detail extending the information and easy access to
all readers who do not come across the newspaper published.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback on my website

The layout uses all conventions of real media; the

Nice to have a positive headline for

Feedback on my inside page

‘The continuation of the story is done nicely, the layout of the inside page is
also very good. Could do with a little more spacing maybe?’

Above I have ping pointed out some of the feedback given for my main product and ancillary
texts. The audience gave some good comments as well as some crucial evaluation; this
however helped me make any adjustments to my productions. The feedback given pointed
out the fact I use all conventions of media and my masthead stood out. This gave me a sense
of satisfaction as mastheads are crucial to newspapers; it helps reader’s identity the
newspaper.

From my audience feedback I have learnt my strengths and weaknesses to my productions

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research,
planning and evaluation stages?
 BlogSpot
 Social networks
 Serif Page Plus, Web Plus, Photo Plus
 Wordle
 Slide share
 Google
 Microsoft PowerPoint
 Camera

The use of media technologies pointed out above

The blogger allowed me to upload daily posts keeping a track on my progressions for my
media production. The BlogSpot is used to upload images, quotes and share posts with other
bloggers. All my construction and research, planning and evaluation stages are uploaded on
to BlogSpot putting all together the pieces of my research and my main product along with
my ancillary texts.

Software’s such as Serif Page Plus, Web Plus and Photo Plus were all new to me, this was an
impact for me as it was more time-consuming as I had to read through the tutorial about the
software and learn the use of editing available. In the end I was familiar with the software
which may be an advantage in the future, as I learnt how use the Blemish Remover in Photo
Plus removing any unwanted marks in the image and editing the imaging by changing the
lighting. Serif Web Plus had guide lines which allowed me to add texts and images in line
with one another, also making sure the navigator tabs looked like a real website.

The use of digital technologies such as cameras, laptop and usb are everyday technologies in
the real world. This however was a great advantage for me as it helped throughout my stages
of developing my final product.
Facebook and Twitter were social networks used for my audience feedback. Other than going
around asking people for feedback I uploaded my main product and ancillary texts on to
twitter and facebook gather a wider range of audience.