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

As well as producing the newspaper, me and Alice had to produce two ancillary tasks: a local radio advert, along side the 'Portishead Beacon'. The purpose of the local radio advert and poster was to promote the 'Portishead Beacon'.

• The radio advert's production was difficult at first, due to the fact that no other local newspaper radio advert exists and therefore there is a lack of inspiration and judgment. However, despite this occurrence, we feel that we have created a authentically sounding radio advert, encompassing the conventions (and in some cases challenging) of a radio advert (see previous blog for details on this issue). The radio advert continues to emphasise the local community of Portishead, by encompassing stereotypical West Country/ Somerset accents, that perhaps only the people of Portishead would know about and accept. Additionally, the radio advert coincides with our newspaper, because it continues the theme of the 'Beacon' (a lighthouse). More than likely, only local people would know about the lighthouse that is situated in Potishead and therefore the locality of the area is embellished. The newspaper's slogan ('Shining a light on you') is used again and this combines well with the main product.
  
• The poster, we feel, also compliments the newspaper well. Like the radio advert, our newspaper keeps up the theme of locaility and community spirit (one of our main aims for the 'Portishead Beacon' newspaper). The fact that the free book was written by a local author, reinforces this. Also, the loyalty factor of the newspaper also pays dividends towards community spirit and local pride; if local people continue to buy the 'Portishead Beacon,' they will recieve a prize for their commitment to the local community. The colour scheme also compliments the newspaper. A poster's main purpose is to attract the attention of potential buyers and let the product essentially sell itself. The purple/pink/purple colours in the poster could attract the attention of someone passing by and may persuade them to buy the newspaper (which is not as bright and colourful as the poster- its job is to inform the local community of local events that have unfolded. Typically, a more formal approach has to be adopted). The poster could also link in with the 'local heroes' page (Josie Reese could be considered a 'local hero').

Overall, we are happy with the result of the two ancillary tasks and think they compliment the main production task well. We also discovered that many newspapers create a radio advert and poster. purely to promote the newspaper and hope that sales increase.

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

We used several new media technologies to produce our newspaper, radio advert and poster.

• The internet ('internet explorer' and 'safari')- This was an invaluable aid in all aspects of our A2 coursework. This technology was primarily used for research of other local newspapers already available to buy, that we often took inspiration from e.g. 'The Evening Post' (see earlier post for more details). However, the internet also encompassed several resources that were important to the production of our main and subsidiary tasks e.g. sound effects for radio advert. It was also interesting using an internet explorer on an iMac computer, learning that more than one type of internet explorer is available to use for researching, planning, constructing and evaluating any project.
• 'Adobe Photoshop'- this technological software was used to manipulate photos. We also built upon the skills we learnt at AS level. Me and Alice, since our AS productions, had partially forgotten how to cut out images and place them onto another background. Fortunately, once we began using the software at the start of the year, memories on how to do the operation flooded back to us and we were able to manipulate photos in this way, for example, the photo of the dance teacher and student in the 'millionaire saves dance group' story was manipulated (the main image was placed onto the carpet background). Another manipulation technique we learnt was adjusting a photo's contrast/brightness, colours and so on. The dance group photo was initially very dark, so we had to adjust the brightness, contrast and colours, in order to make the subjects clearer and easier to see. Ultimately, this software package was mainly used in the production of our media studies coursework.
• 'Garage Band'- This software package was available on the iMac computer. We used this technological software package to produce our radio advert. In using the software, we learnt about mixing levels, panning and the layering different tracks. Additionally, we learnt how to download sounds from various different free sound bite websites and upload them to the software.
• The blog- the blog was mainly used for evaluations. Throughout the blog, me and Alice have written about the process of production and have continuously evaluated the success of any operation and have also gained an outsider's opinion/evaluation, for example, feedback on our newspaper pre, during and post application and similarly with the radio advert. The blog was also a great way of documenting the process of producing a newspaper, radio advert and poster and perhaps, in some ways, emulates the production of newspapers that we took inspiration from. Evaluations were essential to our A2 coursework, because often, one can be so enwrapped in one's work, that often an outsider's view is required.
• 'Microsoft publisher'- this type of technological software was mainly used to plan and construct our products. From previous posts, the reader may have noticed that when we planned the initial layout of our newspaper, we used 'Microsoft Publisher'. We used this type of technological software, because desktop publishing programmes are generally easy to use and amendments can be made easily and quickly.
• iMac computer- this technological piece of hardware encompassed many of the programmes we used above. Therefore, the iMac computer essentially constructed, evaluated, planned and researched our newspaper, radio advert and poster.
• A3 newspaper- to make the newspaper look as authentic as possible, we printed the final copy of it in an A3 size (the size of an average genuine local newspaper).

In conclusion, modern technology in general was essential in all aspects of our A2 media studies coursework. Had technology not have advanced and been available for home use, we doubt very much that we would have been able to have completed the coursework.

Evaluation

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

throughout the blog, every time we have inserted a new piece into our newspaper we have mentioned why we have put it in due to the conventions of newspapers that we have previously studied.

As we were making a newspaper we were limited to the amount of creativity and use of our own imaginative ideas as newspapers often stuck with the same conventions. There were obvious conventions that we had to use, which were:

• The newspaper name



• Types of pictures



• Slogan



• Logo etc...

but we were still able to design them the way that we wanted. With the logo we chose something that would compliment our headline and fit in with the theme of our magazine. As our newspaper name was the Portishead beacon, and our newspaper was about providing the people of Portishead with news we thought a logo of the lighthouse in Portishead was a good idea, as the lighthouse shines a light on people and guides them, our newspaper provides them with news and also it is a recognisable symbol in Portishead.

In our research we looked a lot at other newspapers and the types of stories that they published. We also asked the local residents of Portishead about what they were most interested in and what they like to find in their local newspapers. As the results were varied we decided to cover the main types of stories that our target audience liked and ones that were covered in other newspapers. In our newspaper we decided to insert something that had not been found in other newspapers which was the local heroes page. We decided this was going to be a weekly feature page focused on someone in the community who deserves it. This would attract more people in the local area to read the newspaper making it more successful as they may know the person. It also makes it a more of a local newspaper as people can get involved and have a chance themselves to be published on this page.

The types of photos that we chose to publish in our newspaper followed closely to the ones that were published in real newspapers. For example the dance photo ....

this was a common set up of a photo as it gave a clear picture of all of the girls faces. Also the outfits their wearing you can tell they do some sort of sport and the place where the photo is taken straight away gives a clear indication of what the story is going to be about which is, I think, a main aim when a photo is published.

In both of the local 'heroes' page we put in action photos. Here we challenged conventions of a real media product as when we conducted our research most of the photos found in the main section were posed or set up to look a certain way, the only action photos were found in the sports section at the end of the newspaper. So by putting action photos on these pages we were trying something different.

On the July front page we decided to put a panel down the side of different stories found in the newspaper as we found this was a common convention found in several different newspapers, but in the September one we changed it to a story so that our local newspaper did not show the same layout every time it was published, giving it a variety of looks but still recognisable by the name, logo and colour scheme.

To go along with the change in image we also chose different styles of photos to publish on the front page. On the July front page we used various different shots from close ups to long shots of the victim in the main story but on the September front page we did not have any photos of people but of something that was very recognisable to the people of Portishead. By doing this we thought it would show the variation of stories covered by the 'Portishead Beacon' on the front page, following conventions of other newspapers.

The layout of both of the front pages were very different to show we didn't produce the same layout everytime and that we were able to be creative givin that we had to stick to 'newspaper guidlines'. On the July front page we had the headline and story at the bottem with the pictures just above it, where as on the September front page we moved the headline to the top and put the story and picture below it. Either way, we still felt that the layout of both front covers looked effective.

When we researched adverts we came accross bussiness that were advertised quite frequently, resturants, hairdressers etc, so we thought it was important to follow the same sort of bussiness but design them the way that we wanted. With the resturant one we made up our own name of a resturant and designed it the way that we wanted. Even though we never came accross a taxi advert we thought it would be a good idea to insert one, firstly to not strictly follow the same adverts published in local newspapers but also taxi's apply to pretty much everyone and we thought it would be a useful advert to insert.

Some of the basic common conventions of newspapers we felt we had to use to make our newspaper look authentic. These incluced the captions under all of the main photos, date, newspaper slogan, newspaper name and logo at the top of the local heros pages and full date also at the top of those pages. These conventions, we felt gave our newspaper a more authentic look.

On the september local heros page we have inserted a pull quote in the middle of the text. In one of the local newspapers we looked at we found that they published specifit quotes by people they had interviewd next to a photo of their face. We followed this similar idea but changed it slightly by not publishing a photo, as we thought there was no need due to the whole artical being about the person who said it, and by it being a quote that was in the artical but just shortened down to become a 'pull quote'

Another main convention that we thought we had to follow was the short sharp headlines used by all newspapers. By using these types of headlines it should draw the reader in making them want to read the artical straight away. On our July newspaper we came up with Stopped, Stolen and left Stranded. With this headline we thought it was 'catchy' due to the alliteration of the 3 S's and we feel like it makes the reader want to know what happened. One of our headlines on our local heros page, 'spun gold', can be adressed in two different ways. One of them is; as the person in our photo is holding a medal the 'gold' bit can be addressed as a gold medal and also 'spun gold' is a phrase commonly used in tabble tennis which is that our artical is about

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

After we finished producing our newspaper and subsidary tasks, we asked 5 members of the public to complete a short questionaire, that judged our production's authenticity when compared to other newspapers already available to buy.

The questions asked and the answer options were as follows:

1. Does the newspaper look authentic when compared to other local papers already available to buy? (we showed the person completing the questionaire three examples of local newspapers when they answered this question). The answer options were "yes, this looks like a genuine newspaper that I would read," "With a few improvements, this newspaper could be made to look authentic (please state these improvements)" and "no, the 'Portishead Beacon' looks like an amateur production (please state why this is the case)".

2. Do the radio advert and poster look/sound at a standard that you would want to look at/ listen too? The answer options were "there were no local radio adverts to compare this radio advert too, nonethless, it was a good production," "the radio advert was a poor production (if so please state why this is the case," "the poster looked authentic" and "the poster did not look professional (why is this your opinion?)". One option had to be chosen for the radio advert and poster.

3. Any other comments to make?

After we had asked these questions we looked over the answers that they gave us and analyses them and applied them to the question; What have you learned from you audience feedback?

Person number one; We showed them the Mercury and the Evening post along with our own newspaper. They said that our newspaper showed alot of 'authenicity' when placed next to two real newspapers especially the layout of both of our front pages and the types of pictures taken. This person really took a liking to both of our local heros pages and the stories that we covered on them, and that if it was a real feature they would like to read about it.



On the second question about our radio/poster, even though their were no radio adverts to compare it to they said that it sounded like something that would be heard on a radio and that the sound effects went really well with the 'theme' of our newspaper. Also with the poster they thought the link with the portishead author was a good way to attract people in and that the book was a good/comon idea used by newspapers and has always been successful



Person number 2; Just like person 1, we showed person 2 the same newspapers (Mercury and The Evening Post) as these were the newspapers we used in our previous research. This person also thought our newspaper looked like an authentic newspaper and that our logo and newspaper name went well together expecially with it being a portishead newspaper. They liked our local heros page, and took an interest into our main story on the July front page.



On the second quesiton this person also liked our radio advert and the idea of promoting our newspaper through a conversation rather than someone just telling the public straight up as it makes it less boring and thought the sound effects fitted it really well. They also thought the idea of giving a book away when collecting tokens is a good way to get people to buy the newspaper and the poster that advertised it was clearly set out and was easy to read.



Person number 3; We also showed this person the same newspapers as the other two people and they had similar comments to make about our own newspaper. They said 'if they saw it in a shop next to any of these newspapers it would blend in', which we interpreted as a good comment as this means ours wouldnt stand out and look amature.



On the second question they commented on how they had never heard a radio advert for a newspaper before and thought the idea we had come up with (the captain having a conversation with the sound of waves breaking) sounded like a real one and complimented our newspaper. The poster showed really clearly what it was advertising and the limited ammount of information made you want to find out more about this offer.





Person number 4; Like all of the other people we also showed this person the same newspapers along with the newspaper we made and asked them to compare the authenticity of our newspaper along with the real ones. This person said that it had very similar conventions to to the real ones especially pointing out the layout of ours against The Evening Post and was very interested in the types of stories we had come up with for both of our front pages.



On the second question this person liked the radio advert and the sound effects that went with it although they did say that we could have made it a little longer, and with the poster although it gave out a clear message of what it was advertising a little more information about the newspaper itself would have been helpful



Person number 5; This person had very similar comments to the people above. They also agreed that our newspaper had the authenticity to be like a real newspaper and covered the types of stories that a local newspaper would publish. The set up of the photos worked will with the types of stories especially the group dance photo and the traffic light photo. The adverts that were made looked like real adverts you would find in other newspapers especially the resturant one. However the taxi advert could of had a picture on it like other adverts but the colours used on that advert went well as they were the colours you associate with taxi's.



On the second question this person really enjoyed listening to our radio advert and said it was an entertaining catchy advert that makes you want to listen to it when you hear it coming on. 'The poster also gave a clear indication of what it was advertising as soon as you look it which is the main aim of the poster'



To sumerise all of these responses up the main thing we have learnt is that the 'Portishead Beacon' has the look of real local newspapers which is what we want so we hve achieved our main goal. There were specific things that people picked out that made it really look like a real newspaper, was the layout of both front pages, specific photos, conventions on the newspaper, adverts and types of stories that we have covered. As these were the main things that people picked out it seems like these are our strong points and that looked the most authentic. However one of the comments made picked out that on our taxi advert we could have applied a photo so we have learnt that if we were to do it again that maybe on all of our adverts we would put photos on them as this seems to be what people like. Also no specific comment was made on our logo so perhaps next time we could have made more specific audience research to see whether they liked our line drawing of the Portishead lighthouse or whether they would have rather had a photo or maybe a different logo all together.



To sumerise the comments made on our poster/radio advert, we thought that they both went quite well together. People took a particular liking to the radio advert considering there wernt any to compare it to and they seemed to be impressed with the sound effects that we used and how well they went with the 'theme' of our newspaper. One person said that they would of liked our radio advert to be longer but we discussed this and felt that if our radio advert would have been any longer then people may have lost interest and perhaps changed the radio to a different channel. We had many comments on how well our poster advertised the free book when you collect 4 tokens and that it was a good way of promoting our newspaper through poster form. Although one comment stated that the poster could have had a little more information, we also discussed this and said that perhaps it could have stated maybe the price of the newspaper but apart from that we couldn't think of anything else that wouldn't of over crowded it. Over all we thought that the audience feedback we had received was positive and that our media product was looked like an authentic piece that we were proud of.


Apart from this piece of audience feedback, if you go back to the start of our blog you will find how our audience research on local newspapers influenced many of our decisions and a detailed analysis of what people enjoyed about their local newspapers. Also throughout many of the posts in our blog we have stated why we have put certain things in due our audience research at the start. For example many people stated they liked crime and sport stories so we have applied this to the July front page about the Mr Watkins story and the local heros feature on table tennis.

We also did a video of someone from our main targeet audience to see what they had to say about our newspaper...