In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Newspaper Front&Second Pages:
My newspaper product uses a range of conventions that have been inspired by real newspaper products. I produced two billboard posters, a website and the first two pages of the front cover for my coursework - all of which were inspired by real media products.
My newspaper front pages includes several components of a real newspaper, including headlines & stories, adverts, and the masthead. I used the bold and large font style used in many local newspapers to replicate the design in my newspaper. The colour scheme I have used of blue and black is an original colour choice that was inspired by the colours in the Suffolk Free Press. I felt this choice of using an original colour scheme could make my work more original. Most of the front pages I researched included a photograph, as part of the story on the front page. I felt I should keep this trend going in my newspaper, by using an image linking to the main story. I included a series of adverts in my newspaper - a convention seen in real newspapers. I felt the inclusion of this would help give the newspaper a feel for a local paper. I made the adverts in my newspaper stand out, as adverts in actual newspapers stand out.
I could have added in features such as a weather forecast on my second page, as I did not include one. I did not include one, because the weather forecast is a convention not seen in most local newspaper, but tend to be seen in national newspapers.
I took inspiration from several local newspapers, including the Halstead Gazette, the Suffolk Free Press, the East Anglian Daily Times, and the Liverpool Echo.
Billboard:
My billboard was inspired by a range of local and national billboard, to allow me to vary my ideas, in order to make my work original and stand out. My horizontal billboard shows an image of a castle, which relates to the local area. Including something related to the newspaper can help display a link between the newspaper products, and my area of choice. This does not challenge real billboards, but it develops the idea of billboards. My portrait billboard shows a headline featuring that week's headline - a form of billboard design seen in real billboards. This links to real billboards which include a major headline for that day/week's edition.
Website:
My website was inspired by a range of real local newspaper websites which vary in style - but still perform the purpose of informing readers about news articles for a target area. Real websites include other pages for events, advertisements, sports sections, and jobs. I produced three different pages that linked to home, contact and events. I have used various features for the homepage taken from real websites, including news articles, upcoming events, travel details, adverts, and interactive components like a button. For the events page, I have included a list of events in detail to allow readers to learn more about them. I have also includes cinema listings for the local area to show what movies are out in theatre. This is an interactive feature that updates by itself. For the contact page, there is a form for users to fill in to contact the newspaper. The sidebars change for each page, and display different content seen on real newspaper sites. While my website does not challenge the conventions in real websites, I have used those ideas and made them personal for the newspaper.
