Photography

Any picture I take throughout my project needs to be my own, and I will use tools to edit them myself to make them brighter and more noticeable and suitable for my paper. The picture on the front of my page will be of a school, as the story is about 'Ashton Middle School' so it relates to the article. The picture will also need to be relevant in order for it to make sense.

The pictures on the inside of my paper will also be ones I’ve taken and edited, and will relate to the stories, otherwise the pictures would be irrelevant. I also need to take pictures to go onto my advertisement poster. These pictures will be of the local town, as my newspaper is a local one.

Here is the original picture: This is a picture of two of my friends dressed as children characters 'Wheres Wolly?' and a lion.

Here is the picture i've edited:

I've cropped the picture so it isn't as big and i've played around with the contrast to make it more eyecatching and appealing to the consumer.

This picture is for the article 'The Wacky Races', this picture is appropiate because it relates to the article. It's of two people dressed up as children characters, (this is what the article is about).

Here is the original picture : It's a picture of my family and friends,dressed up and i am going to use this in the article about the school production of 'Grease', 'the girls back stage'.

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Here is the edited picture: I've made the picture brighter and changed the contrast, it makes the picture bolder and more appealing to the consumer.

Here is the original picture:

This picture is to go on my poster advertisement, as it claims the newspaper will contain 'News,Nightlife and Sport' and this is a picture of my uncle fishing, and fishing is a sport.

Here is the edited picture: I've made this picture alot brighter than the original one and slightly changed the contrast,this will attract people to the poster more.

Finally the last picture to go on my newspaper was of the walk that Ashton Middle school would have taken on their ghost walk, which makes it relevant to the story

Here is the edited version of the picture, i've edited the contrast to make it slightly brighter but so it still looks eery, as it's ment to be a ghost walk :

Conventions

• Name – The name of a local newspaper needs to be catchy, memorable and relate to the target audience. The name of my newspaper is ‘The Dunstable Post’, as it isn’t specific, but is sophisticated and can apply to all ages. I came up with this name by looking at other newspapers and combining them e.g 'The Dunstable Gazette', 'The herald and post', 'The Daily Mail'.
• Layout – The layout needs to follow the same conventions as regular newspapers. Two articles on the front, at least one picture, advertisements, plugs, and the master head, along with the date and issue number. Articles need to be in columns and read from left to right, as this is the way people naturally read.
• Colour scheme – The colour scheme needs to be the same throughout the project in order to look professional, so in this case it's black,white,red.
• Advertisement – To keep the newspaper popular it needs to be advertised. It can be advertised in few ways, such as the Internet (websites, social networking sites),flyer's, radio, posters and people handing out the free newspaper. However i have chosen to create a poster and a radio advertisement to advertise my paper for my two ancillary tasks. I have chosen these as i think they are suitable for my target audience.

Ancillary task #2

For my second ancillary task I’m going to create a radio advert for my newspaper. To do this I need to listen to 'heart.fm' (Dunstable’s local radio station) to get inspiration and an understanding of how free newspapers are advertised across the radio, and how to make a successful one.

After listening, i didn't hear of any radios being advertised, however i did realise what conventions advertisers use when they create a radio advertisement. I need to ensure it captures the listeners attention, and is catchy and almost annoying to make sure it imprints on their mind and they remember it, for example there is a radio advertisement 'Pop along to Poplars nursery, to make your garden grow!'. Using simple English techniques such as alliteration will also help me in creating my radio advertisement.

I need to create a catchy jingle to go with my radio advertisement, so far this is my script:

"Have you heard about the Dunstable Post?
It's your brand new local paper filled with the most,
Sports,news,nightlife and more,
Oh and don't forget we deliver it straight to your door!

Be ready to catch up on your local town new every Monday"

I edited this script slightly a number of times, and the finish product was this :




I created the jingle using Cubase4 and also had help on how to use it from some Music Technology students, and i tried to make my jingle catchy and memorable, so it remains in the listeners mind.

Ancillary task #1

One of my ancillary tasks is to create a poster to advertise the newspaper. From my research I discovered that not a lot of free newspapers are advertised, but I did find out that the Metro was advertised, however this isn’t a local paper in a town as it runs through the whole Metro. From walking around the local towns I also discovered that the free newspapers are handed out, so I need to consider this when making my poster. I would need to make sure my poster is eye catching enough to hold the consumers interest, yet not 'fussy' so they don't have to take a lot of time to realise what it's advertising. The conventions I would use to do this are; bold writing, bright colours, headlines and pictures.

I couldn't find any particular posters to take inspiration from in my research, but i need to make sure my poster suits the town and the audience I'm aiming my paper at. To do this, i think i need to make my poster quite conserved, yet eye catching.

Key articles in local newspapers

After researching into my towns local newspapers I discovered the key articles/pages contained

• Sport
• Announcements such as birthdays, deaths, marriages.
• General news to do with the town, e.g. crime, events, new businesses.
• Weather
• Editors letter

I will be taking these into consideration when writing articles to go into my newspaper. Although crime is a negative subject, it's one that always catches the readers attention, so i am more than likely to put this on the front of my newspaper, and then more lighthearted subjects on the second page.

Target Audience

One of the first things I need to establish before I start my newspaper is the Target Audience. As the newspaper I’m going to create is a local one, I need to research into the current local newspapers in my town such as the ‘Dunstable Gazette”, and see who they are aimed at, as this influences what goes into a newspaper.

Local Newspapers are aimed at:

• Local people in the town – so will need to include articles locals will be interested in. Articles should be about the local people, or the town, towns nearby, or town events.
• Age range – I think the people who would be interested in reading a local newspaper, are people who work and spend alot of time in the town, students wouldn't be ideal as they don't usually have a lot of time to read the paper, or are particularily interested in their local town, as if they're in university or other education, they may not be home alot. Regardless of whether the person is employed or unemployed, the age range my newspaper will be 25+
• Although the newspaper is aimed at an older audience, it should contain aspects which will interest youths,18+ (gig/club/pub/bar advertisements, to try and broaden the audience). This can be done through specific advertisement.

Evaluation

Evaluation of newspaper (front cover)

I have made sure that my newspaper and my ancillary tasks all interlink with each other. I’ve achieved this by making sure they all relate to each other, for example the advertisements on my poster and my radio advertisement correlate with the newspaper itself. This makes my paper more effective, as the consumer is aware that the advertisements relate to the same paper. In my poster I promise the newspaper will contain sports, local news and nightlife, and on the front page I’ve create advertisement pulls, which tells the reader what happens on each page.

PICTURE HERE.

This is a pull to show the reader the newspaper contains sport, as stated in the advertisements.

This is an advertisement from a local business, as in my ancillary task (poster) I advertised that there is space for local business to advertise themselves.

I created the newspaper using publisher, which is a programme i am familiar with as i used it in my AS project. My local paper does not challenge conventions of other existing local papers, however I have developed the same conventions as them.  As the target audience for my paper is an older generation it is a possibility that a portion of them would be computer illiterate, that’s why I chose to do a poster and a radio advertisement for my ancillary task, as it’s more likely to be heard or seen, therefore advertises my paper better.  However, the more successful the paper became, a website would then be made, to reach out to a wider audience, younger generation.

To create my radio advertisement I used  Cubase4, which is a programme which enables me to record a voiceover in the music studio at my school and to create a musical jingle by using different instruments that the programme had to offer e.g different guitars and pianos. I got the idea for my jingle by listening to the other ones i heard on the radio and tried to copy them but put my own twist on it.

I have followed the same layout as most local papers, as it’s the layout people are familiar with, and more are able to understand, this also makes my paper more appealing and realistic.

On the second page of the newspaper, i have included on the upper left hand side a contents, so the reader is able to know what the paper contains, and where they can find it. Below this, i've written a story about a local run, fundraising for charity. This is a lighthearted topic, about the community and this is why i chose to write about it, i've also included a picture. Next to the contents, i included another light hearted story about a production a school put on, this is also including the community, and is the reason i chose to write about it. I had included a picture also for this story. On the second page, i've included an advertisement. This is what i advertised on the poster (Local companies can advertise themselves) and that is why i included it. I think it makes the paper look more realistic.

 Ancillary task - Poster
The picture below is of the poster i created for my ancillary task, i think a poster is a good way of advertising as it's accesible for everyone. The poster is quite simple and to the point,i done this as i think it's suitable for my target audience (the local adult people),these are people who don't have time to study a poster to find out what it's advertising, and on this one you don't need to. As it's quite simplistic, at first glance they know what it's advertising. Also the slogan 'Don't let dunstable die', makes the consumer think by reading and acknowledging the newspaper, they are taking part in keeping their community alive, and this encourages them to take notice. I also done a very simple colour scheme of black and white to look professional, and made 'Don't let Dunstable die!" in bright red, and as if it's been stamped across the page. I created this poster using publisher, and advertised the newspaper to be on Twitter and Facebook, to try and reach out to a younger generation.

PICTURE OF POSTER.

Media technologies

Throughout the project I have learnt how to use ‘Blogger.com’ to document my research and I found this has helped me through the course of my project and made it easier and the most efficient way to document my findings. To create my poster and my newspaper I used Publisher, as I’m familiar with this technology as I used it to create my AS level project. I found this was the most realistic publication to use to create my newspaper and poster, to give it a more professional outcome.

Questionnaire

To truly see how effective my newspaper and the advertising is, i need to see what the public think of it. I have devised a questionnaire, basing the questions around the advertisements and newspaper :

1) How effective is this newspaper as a free local newspaper?

2) Do you think this applies to the people of a local town?

3) Do you think this local newspaper looks realistic?

4) If this newspaper was delivered to your door, would you take the time to read it?

5) How effective do you think the advertising for this paper is?
6)  Do you think the articles in this newspaper relate to the people of the local town?
7)  After listening to the radio jingle, would you then know what the newspaper is about?
8)  Do you think the advertisement poster is eyecatching?
9)  From each of the advertisements would you want to read the local newspaper
10)  Overall how succesfull do you thin this project has been?



The results

The results of the questionnaire showed that people would read my newspaper if it was free and posted through their door and that the articles were relevant and informative on news of the local town. Also as i used the conventions of newspapers they were familiar with they thought it looked realistic,however i probably could have used a more proffesional programme to create it on.
The results of the questionnaire also proved that overall my newspaper was effective at being aimed at the elder generation, as the newspaper was accesible to everyone. However, people found that my poster advertisement could have been brighter, as it wasn't as eyecatching as it could have been, due to the dark colours, also my radio jingle was informative but the music seemed to be a bit long.

Comments
" The articles seem to be about the local town, and incorporate both postive and negative stories, so i would deffinately read it!"
"The advertisements would be easy to find but the jingle could have been more catchy, and the poster brighter"
"The newspaper definately looks realistic due to the layout, although it doesn't look as professional as ones i'm used to reading"

I've taken all this criticism on board, both negative and positive and would definately use it to my advantage, if creating one again. However overall i think my newspaper was a success.