Evaluation

Evaluation

My local broadsheet newspaper does use, develop and challenge forms and conventions real media products use. Firstly, my local newspaper used conventions which are used in modern newspapers. We did this because we agreed that it would be a mistake to challenge conventions, considering we have no experience with creating a newspaper. Whilst planning my newspaper, I analysed modern layouts and created a variety of flat plans based around a couple of my favourite broadsheet newspapers. The reason I did this was because I could apply a similar layout to my newspaper. I did this because, popular newspapers already have a target audience established and their newspapers work well because these consumers still purchase their newspapers. Without challenging these conventions I was able to use a similar layout which is already effective with audiences. In addition to this, using similar fonts which are used often throughout broadsheet newspapers such as times new roman which is a formal, serif font. This is effective because it gives a professional appeal to audiences, which is important when establishing a target audience.

However once we conducted more research, we discovered that many young people do not read newspapers. After analysing newspapers it was also clear that there is a gap in the market for a local newspaper that has headlines for these young audiences. My partner and I decided to develop the modern conventions of broadsheet newspapers being targeted at the middle aged demographic, by having articles aimed at younger audiences. A way in which I have done this is with a headline story about university fees decreasing. As this is important information for any student I decided that this would increase the likelihood for students to read my broadsheet newspaper; after my primary research results, I discovered that young audiences between 16-19 do not tend to read newspapers at all. This is why it was important for my partner and I to enhance this through our newspaper, and making young audiences (particularly students) feel included in changes in society. Also, because 60% of 18-21 year olds do not take part in the general election, it is important for us to challenge conventions of broadsheet newspapers targeting middle aged audiences by informing younger audiences of changes within society, to give them greater knowledge into the developing world.

My media product does not tend to challenge any conventions, and the reason for this is because we feel our newspaper successfully targets a younger audience and informs them of news and events that may affect them. Contemporary newspapers present bad news such as natural disasters; we challenged this by writing positive articles in our newspaper for our audiences. Mine and my partner’s local newspaper are both festive editions released during December; therefore it was important for our newspaper to present positive material because our target audience are of the younger generations (16-27).

Through my primary and secondary research, I researched the demands from a local newspaper from a range of audiences and applied the feedback to my newspaper. My production was focused on a local newspaper and as part of this; I had to create a billboard and a radio advertisement. The combination of these texts was effective because my ancillary texts focus on the promotion side of my newspaper.

My main product and ancillary texts are effective together because my partner and I decided to have a theme of reading our newspaper whilst eating breakfast, reinforcing the idea that our newspaper should be a weekly routine. This theme is expressed mainly through both the billboard and radio advertisement. We decided to use a breakfast theme throughout our adverts after the researching contemporary newspapers. I discovered that audiences like to relate to newspapers they read because it keeps them interested. However, my radio advertisement includes ‘breakfast’ related sounds such as buttering toast, boiling the kettle and pouring the water into a mug. The effect of this reinforces the idea of reading our newspaper whilst eating breakfast. Dialogue then continues from here with a conversation between a mother and a daughter discussing an article in the newspaper, this is effective when targeting younger audiences because the daughter’s interest in our article is enthusiastic. Supporting this idea, our billboard is a photograph of a kitchen table with props such as, cups and saucers, bowls, cutlery and breakfast which reinforce the idea of reading our newspaper early in the morning while eating breakfast. A mild filter has been used on the photograph to slightly blur the background so the audience’s attention is focused on the newspaper which they notice straight away. The combination of texts here are effective because both advertisements reinforce our newspaper being essential for families during the morning, and also my radio advertisement combined with my newspaper is effective because my radio advert shows how younger audiences have interests in articles in our newspaper, which is what we expect our target audience to enjoy as we are targeting the younger generations.

Whilst creating these tasks, it was difficult to research contemporary radio advertisements which advertise local newspapers because there are so few of them. There was very little information to perform constructive research on due to this, however we improvised on this and used what research we had to our advantage. We were unable to judge how effective our newspaper radio advert was but this showed initiative and creativity because we used the best of what we had. However my main product works very well with my ancillary tasks because younger audiences are effectively targeted and the idea of reading our newspaper in the morning is emphasised by both the billboard and radio advertisement.

From conducting audience feedback, this taught me a lot about what younger audience think about newspapers. This was important because it was obvious that 15-20 year olds don’t enjoy reading the newspaper and what seems to be the problem from analysing newspapers is that the articles don’t interest younger audiences because they do not relate to them. However I used this to my advantage and created a newspaper that does include students by writing articles that affects them. My audience feedback was very important for this due to the majority of respondents being young themselves, one of the questions asked ‘what would you expect to read about in a local newspaper?’ The results of this question showed that young audiences want to read about ‘facts’, ‘sport’ and ‘opinions’. These are the top three however the option with least votes is ‘religious views’ which may be because not all respondents were religious.

Conducting audience feedback was a great use of my time because it also taught me that younger audiences are interested in hearing the views of others. I am able to apply to this and include a section within my newspaper that gives readers something extra. This showed me that there is a gap in the market for a newspaper that provides opinions from students and young people. Admittedly this would be a niche market however my audience feedback suggests that this would be beneficial for my target audience. It was also evident throughout my questionnaire that young people don’t tend to read newspapers, however it seems by including articles that will interest these young audiences, they will be interested in our newspaper; voicing their opinions which will improve their part in the community.

My partner and I also organised a focus group between our friends. We asked them to speak honestly about our ideas about a billboard. I learned from this that they the majority preferred the idea of our billboard being an image of a typical breakfast meal reinforcing the idea behind our newspaper being a part of the morning routine. However, with this in mind they agreed that a large amount of newspapers are read in the morning which is a typical British thing to do. Also, because our friends are 17 years of age, they have said they like our ideas which emphasises that fact that young audiences may be interested in reading our newspaper.

During the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages of my coursework production, I used a wide range of media technologies. Firstly, I used a Kodak Vision 9 camera in order to take professional, high quality photographs for my newspaper and billboard. The reason I used this camera was because I wanted to make my photographs as aesthetically pleasing as possible for my target audience. I feel this worked well and I am pleased with how my products have turned out.

For my newspaper and my billboard I used this software called Adobe Photoshop which is complex editing software to use when creating a project. I applied my experience with using Serif PagePlus during my AS coursework production to Adobe Photoshop because they are similar, however Photoshop is more complex and allows you to do much more with editing photos and productions. It allows you to crop, use a blush tool, rotate, resize and so much more to images in order to make them how you like. Also, with the construction of my local newspaper, I used an online site called DaFont where it allowed me to type in a 15 digit number and it will automatically change it into a barcode, this was extremely useful because it gave my local newspaper a much more professional layout.

For my research, I used a wide range of websites online and applied anything I found as secondary research to my coursework productions. Also I actually used Serif PagePlus when I analysed modern newspapers because it is the simplest editing software to use. This was one part of my production that doesn’t require editing however it is easier to layout because I used arrows to show people what I analysed and where.

I used software called Survey Money for my primary questionnaire. This software allowed me to write up any questions I wanted to ask audiences easily and post it online for anybody around the world to answer. I posted this on a Padlet account which is a website my peers used to communicate with anything media related. My peers answered my questionnaire anonymously and I was able to apply all of my feedback to my coursework productions.

During the planning stages of my coursework production, a lot of media technologies were used in order to help the completion and presentation of my media products. Firstly, I used a tool called the Snipping Tool which allowed me to take a screenshot of the computer screen for me to be able to show a timeline for the completion of my coursework. Examples include screenshots of my progression on creating a logo for my local broadsheet newspaper and screenshots of me editing the paper length from A4 to 12/20 inches because broadsheet newspapers use larger paper. This was vital for my planning because it showed that I took into consideration everything that modern broadsheet newspapers do. Another aspect of the planning stage of my production which used media technologies was software called GarageBand. This software was used to edit and put together my radio advertisement; we also used a professional microphone to make the dialogue sound higher quality. This is important because it makes our advertisement seem more professional. Finally, the last media technology used for the planning stage of my production was when I needed to learn how to use editing software. The software GarageBand was difficult to use when completing my radio advertisement therefore I used a video sharing website to download a tutorial which taught me how to use the software easily. I then posted this tutorial on a site called Blogger along with all of my other coursework research, planning, final artefacts and evaluation. Blogger is very useful because it allows you to edit any progression made on productions easily and present any material how the user wants. My personal computer allowed me to perform all of these tasks easily and how I wanted, this helped me make my whole coursework production the way I wanted.