Planning

- Media Studies Coursework Proposal

My partner and I have chosen to produce a local newspaper together with a poster for the newspaper and also a radio advertisement. The reason me and my partner chose not to do two hyper-linked pages is because we wanted to show a variety of skills for our final product. The radio advertisement will allow us to use our editing skills with a sound clip, showing skills in different areas within the Media Industry. We would like our focus to be on local newspapers in modern society. We would like our research to specifically focus on the way in which newspapers promote their material and how they write about controversial arguments within the public eye.

During the production of our project we will need to use a variety of technology such as a camera, editing software, a microphone, etc. We are able to have access to a variety of cameras and basic editing software, however we are willing to stay behind in order to complete the project after school if this is the case as we are dedicated to make this product to the best of our ability. We believe that with teamwork we can use each-other’s strengths to create the best local newspaper we can. We both have a variety of skills which we will show in the production of our project such as being organised by saving our work regularly to ensure we do not misplace any work, meeting all our deadlines and encouraging one another to develop our ideas so that we can make our project how we imagine it.

One challenge we are prepared to face is the difficulty of creating the radio advertisement because my partner and I are somewhat 'inexperienced.' This shows the amount of work we are willing to put in, in order to make our project the best that it can be. Another challenge is the software itself; we are aware that because neither of us own any editing software, it will be the case of learning how to use the basic software given to us to the best of our ability. Communication between our actors/actresses may prove difficult if we do not have instant replies or if they decide to opt out of our project after we've made plans, however we do realise that they have commitments of their on which is why we are prepared to technically fit our schedule around them as long as they are reasonable.

- Planning the Target Audience

The target audience for our local newspaper is based for the general public, with specific elements for a younger generation. We have decided this based on the results from our Local Newspaper Questionnaire.

The answers to Question 2 show that 90% of people who answered our questionnaire are between the ages of 15-19. 
In addition to this, the results to Question 10, show that 80% of the people who answered the questionnaire would be interested in the views of the younger generation. This shows that the majority of people that would like to read about the views of the younger generation, are in the younger generation category themselves.

However the majority of our newspaper's information will be for older audiences. As you can see from my research that I found on 'The Media Briefing's' website that the average age of readers who read broadsheet newspapers are between the age of 43-61. Because this age group is considerably different to the age group of the 15-20 year old respondents, my partner and I think that we need to stay with the current conventions of newspapers and aim the majority of information to older audiences. However with elements that are linked to a younger audience. 

We do not wish to challenge the current conventions that newspapers use because we are far less experienced than any of the mainstream and/or local newspapers, we think it will be ambitious of us to go against the conventions in an area which we lack experience. In addition to this, because newspaper institutions use conventions such as; eye-catching headlines, plugs, etc. we already know that these conventions work, so if we stick with similar themes, we should be able to reach out to our target audience as effectively as they do.

- Logo

Here I have drawn different styles of a dolphin to use in our newspaper. I have drawn free hand on Serif PagePlus to try and get the right animations of a dolphin to use in our masthead. Similarly to "The Independent" who use an eagle in their masthead, with a newspaper in its claws which symbolises the newspaper. However we have used this technique with the iconic symbol of Poole where the dolphin represents the town.

My first design for the dolphin was better than my second as this one looks more natural. The curves around the fins bring the drawing to life, which is something I want my audience to see.

- Broadsheet Newspaper Masthead Ideas

These are a few ideas my partner and I have come up with for our masthead.

After careful consideration of mastheads and fonts to use, we decided to use The Poole Publication because the alliteration brings to life the masthead, and makes it stand out from other newspapers. We also decided to include the location of our newspaper as it is local news, this was to ensure audiences know what news we report.

- Measurements of a Broadsheet Newspaper

Here I have used a measurement converter to convert 12/20 inches to centimetres. This is because the typical size for a broadsheet newspaper is larger than a tabloid newspaper. Serif Page Plus restricts users from using inches as a unit of measurement, so I took it upon myself to convert these measurements, so that my broadsheet newspaper is at the correct size. The reason I have used Serif Page Plus is because I have used it a lot before, I used it for last year's music magazine and I am very familiar with it. I do not know how to use Adobe Photoshop so I feel it is best to stick with what I know.

- Newspaper Flat plans

Here I have designed a few flat plans for my broadsheet newspaper. I have chosen these newspapers from a varied range online. These are my favourite so I am considering using the some of them for the template for my newspaper.

                                                           

                   

I have been considering using an issue of The Guardian newspaper, as a template for my newspaper. However I am unsure because The Guardian is a national newspaper, the news stories I provide will be local news rather than national. I think that it will be better if I stick with one headline for my front cover. I will use a story that appeals to all of my target audience, rather than a story aimed at students. I will use that story on the inside page.

I have decided that my main article is going to be based on the Victorian Christmas Festival because in Poole, Christmas is hugely celebrated here, Poole Shopping Centre do a late night shopping event every Thursday of December, lighting up the Christmas tree, markets and so I thought that this would appeal to the majority of my target audience. Whereas the sub-article will be specifically aimed at students and anyone that would be interested in going to university. As me and my partner both want our newspaper to also appeal to a younger audience, as they will be considering opportunities for after university, they will be considering their options. The BBC Website have said that there's a "record high level of 49% of young people in England are likely to enter higher education" according to the latest official estimates. As this is just lower than half of the population of students in Britain that are looking to go to university, I think that it is a good idea that I include a section on the second page of my newspaper that are aimed at the students who are looking for other opportunities other than university. Such as apprenticeships, college courses, work experience etc. This is important for my newspaper as all of my younger audience will need to know their options for when they leave school.

In this style model of a local newspaper, I have used more conventions of what a local newspaper use, for example, having the headline overlap the photograph. I think this is an effective local newspaper because it looks professional. Also I have been experimenting with the border around the date and the issue number, however my partner and I believe it looks better without the border.

In this style model I have made my local newspaper have two cover stories on the front page, I understand that some broadsheet newspapers do this, but I think that this makes the newspaper look more like a national newspaper. After more online research at contemporary local newspapers, not many include two stories on the front cover, this only seems to be a convention used with national newspapers, because they include more stories.

- Newspaper Advertisements

Here I have created a newspaper advertisement using Serif Page Plus. I have chosen to create a voucher so that the majority of my target audience would use. It is not gender-specific, for example if I advertised nail varnish, boys might not take any notice. Whereas this advert is likely to be redeemed by both genders. It is most likely to be used by adults with their own home, or students who also have their own home.

On the inside page of my broadsheet newspaper, I created a voucher for audiences to get a trip to France for £10. The reason I did this was because I wanted to give readers another reason to purchase my newspaper. As readers have to collect 20 of the vouchers, this good inspiration for them to keep buying my newspaper.

- Radio Advertisement
My partner and I have recorded sounds from an average morning to use in our radio advertisement. These include:

- kettle boiling
- pouring water into mug
- toast popping up
- buttering toast
- flicking through the newspaper
- dialogue from a mother's and daughter's perspective
- voice over.


The reasoning behind this is that my partner and I believe that the audience should feel as if reading The Poole Publication is a part of their daily routine. These everyday sounds help highlight this. After these sounds have played, we have prepared a script for two actors to read from, giving the advert some dialogue; this portrays a conversation between a mother and daughter getting ready to start the day, while the mother is reading our newspaper, she asks the daughter if she's heard about the headline that students would be interested in.

Creating the final product

We used a software called 'GarageBand' in order to edit our radio advert audio. This software is great because it was easy to cut and move our clips around until we are pleased of how it sounds.

We then entered the ending of a song onto the beginning of out advert, this was because it gives the effect that the radio have just finished playing a song, and are now playing a radio advertisement.

We included some 'jingles' that were already on this software, the reason for this is because it gives the effect that the radio have included this as a filler between the previous song and our advert. 

Whilst analysing previous radio advertisements, the majority of them were a duration of 30 seconds. We originally planned to only have sounds of typical morning sounds and dialogue of a mother and daughter. However we made our final piece better than expected because we included sound effects and the end of another song.

We encountered problems when uploading this file our blog. The reason for this was because we needed to embed the file from a video sharing site onto our blog. We searched online for tutorials on how to do this which was easy enough and helped us a lot.

- Billboard

After the questionnaire my partner and I conducted, we have decided to have a photograph of a plate with our newspaper on top. We have decided to do this after popular demand from the questionnaire. This is to reinforce the narrative of reading our newspaper whilst eating breakfast, much like a morning routine. 

Here are the trial photographs of our billboard. We took photos using different angles and horizontal and landscape. The reason we did this was to get the perfect photograph for our billboard. 

My partner and I have been deciding between these two final images, the reason for this was because there is limited things in the background. The lower angle position is effective because our newspaper is what audiences first look at. 

Creating the final product for our billboard

Here shows the process in which we made our billboard. Using Serif Page Plus, this allowed us to move, rotate, crop and filter the image to how we want it easily. We edited the billboard more and more as time passed which is clear because our final product looks very different. 

Here the arrow is pointing to all of the contrasts, filters and brightness which we used to make our billboard more aesthetically pleasing. We used a fade filter effect in order to blur the background more and have the focus on our newspaper. This is because it draws the audience's attention to our product.

Billboard audience feedback

1. Our first idea was to have a collage of images spread all over the billboard which shows audiences reading our newspaper in a variety of places you would expect somebody to read a newspaper for example; a bus stop, coffee shop.

2. Our second idea was based around our newspaper giving detailed, factual and formal news.

3. The third idea revolves around the dolphin logo which is iconic for Poole town centre, the caption being "your weekly splash of news"

4. Our fourth idea was an image of an eye which shows the reflection of an article from our newspaper. "An eye opener for the community" connecting audiences to our newspaper.

5. The fifth idea shows a man dressed formally reading our newspaper on a bench, this is formal and relates our newspaper to audience's everyday lives.

6. Our sixth and final idea for a billboard related to news being an important aspect of life, putting the newspaper on the table for breakfast makes our newspaper feel like a weekly routine.

Here my partner and I gathered some of our friends and had a one to one focus group. We recorded our conversation and our friends told us what they thought about our original ideas for our billboard. From this, we decided that using a photograph of a typical morning breakfast, with our newspaper laying on the table would suit the theme of reading 'The Poole Publication' in the morning. They chose this from the list of ideas we had; we wanted to know why they liked our ideas.

Here is what my partner and I have produced as our final product. There is a clear colour scheme of blue and white which matches our masthead. We thought this idea works well because there is no contrast of colour between the font and photograph.