Newspaper poster

Here is a look at my promotional advertisment for my newspaper the Bromley Bite. At the moment the poster is still in the developmental stages however these pictures are the closest thing I have to the finished product so far.

evaluation

John Roberts Podcast by JOhn...


This interview is an in-depth evaluation of my advanced media portfolio. In it I will discuss how I progressed from the planning to the production stages with my various tasks.

Radio Advertisment

Johns ad by JOhn...

Above is a radio advertisement I edited scripted and produced for the purpose of promoting my newspaper. To create the advertisement I used the Mac program Garageband. The program allowed me to lay tracks of sound individually and compile them to make the final product. At first using the program was difficult for me because I had no previous with the software, however after playing around with the buttons I managed to get the hang of it and produced this piece of text.

During my research I established that all of the memorable adverts engaged the audience and rather than placidly putting across a pitch and incorporated movement into the advert. because Im aiming my product at the youth market, I think this style of production wil go down well with the audience.

The contents of my Advertisement: Besides my own vocals, all of the sound and effects used in the advertisement were downloaded from royalty free websites. At first I tried to record all of my effects myself, however I only ended up with lots of background noise and distorted sound. After this hiccup I did some reasearch using the internet and looked for websites where I could download royalty free sound effects and music. I found a website which offered a variety of sound clips and began to take my pick.

After browsing through the content I made some downloads: Street noise
Camera flash sound Gutair tuning sound
Crowd noise
I then went to Garageband and laid the tracks seperatly. I then began to cut and trim my vocal recording so the advert was neat. Now that I had the basic structure of the advert I began to add the other clips of sound and formed my radio ad.

evaluation question 1&2 drafts

In what ways does your media product use/develop or challenge forms and conventions?

Layout

Before starting my main task of creating a newspaper; I had to conduct some research of other newspapers; like the Bromley Times and The Metro and identify often-used conventions. I established that most papers use a five-column layout for their text making use of the space within a page. However not all papers followed this convention. (Example) For my newspaper I adopted this convention, however I tried my best to avoid making the articles to long-winded or boring. Although I tried to make the articles short and interesting I had to come to a compromise when I made a draft print out and realized that I just didn’t’t have enough text in my articles leaving me with a lot of blank spaces.

Measurement

For a newspaper to look the part, I appreciate that there needs to be a uniform set of measurements so everything fits into perspective. The alignment of columns, advertisements, masthead etc is important to keep the page neat and clearly orientated. For this reason I took numerous measurements from the metro newspaper like the; column width, gutter space and masthead width and length and entered them into the Mac program Indesign. By doing this I was able to give my newspaper a professional look.

Design

All of the adverts and other graphical images like the masthead and plugs where created with the measurements I took from the metro newspaper, at first I did not like the idea of using the measurements from another paper to construct my own; but in time I realized that doing so gave me a basic guideline to creating a professional looking newspaper. On top of this, I now appreciate how important it is to do thing a particular way so my media product could be identified as a newspaper and not mistaken for a magazine. With the design of my masthead I set out to make a logo which described my target market, graphically…… My paper is called “ The Bromley Bite”, for the font of “The” I used a polished joined handwriting styled font which I used to represent an articulate and critical reader; someone who reads an article and forms their own opinion rather than swallowing the ideas of the reporter. For “Bite” I used a basic block type font with rounded edges, personally this represents a neutral stand point however someone else could take a different meaning from it. And for “Bromley” I used a graffiti type font which I saw to represent an urban reader who is not restricted by a stereotype and wants to know what is going on in their area. Moving on to the colours I used thought the paper, I decided to use a bright pink and Light blue colour scheme. Using these colours I was trying to state that my paper was aimed at both males and females by relying on the stereotype that girls like pink and boys like blue. Although it is rather cliché I was hoping that by playing on this would make my intentions clear, however I do accept that the type of articles I produced may not appeal to much to a female audience.

How effective is the combination of my main product and the other ancillary tasks?

Firstly, my newspaper, radio advertisement and poster were created with a youthful target market in mind. However I accept that they media products do not represent this group. Before constructing each text I had to do some research and identify what worked and how I would tailor my product to fit with successful conventions.

Poster

Using Google images I found a number of newspaper posters which promoted and advertised the newspaper, I established that posters for papers such as; the Metro and the Guardian making use of vibrant colours did well to capture the attention of a passer by. More often than not the poster had a creative twist which promoted the brand of the paper and was filled with imagery of the papers livery and colours. Upon reflection I accept that my poster did not do either of these things enough to make a memorable impression on anybody who looked at it. The idea I had was far from creative and had to many blank spaces, I simply created a print screen of my front page and entered some text around the image. The branding was only evident on the masthead which was scaled down on the print screen of the paper; lacking the flair of a production which had to appeal to young people.

Radio Advert

Before I started any planning work I visited rab.com and listened to some of the best radio ads of all time; to get an idea of what worked well in a radio advertisement. From this I learned that witty yet simple ideas often made communication between the institution ( the newspaper owner/ editor/ me) and the audience a lot more efficient. I gathered that once people felt engaged by the ad they would take away a lot more from it then they would the average advertisement. Although I was armed with this knowledge I failed to reflect it through my work. The script was poor and read like a news round, rather than catering to the young I did the complete opposite and produced an advertisement that suited a daytime advertisement slot; when my target audience would be in school.

Newspaper

Out of all of my tasks, I believe the newspaper was the most successful, possibly because I spent more time on it than I did the other task but either way it was a clearer example of the type of product I wanted to produce for a young target audience between the ages of 16 to 21. I made use of the space I had on the page by filling the gaps with adverts for driving lessons, restaurants, album releases etc.

In conclusion two out of the three task where rather weak and did little to support the main task; the newspaper. However I believe that structure of all of the tasks was decent but lacked a defined target audience. Although I knew whom I was catering to, I failed to reflect this through the poster and the radio advertisement.

front page complete

Here is a finished front-page, as you can see I have inserted my advertisements plug and main stories and this phase of production is now complete.

Other Advertisements

Above is a advert design for the RED Driving school. I thought this advert was fitting in consideration of my target market. I got an image of the RED logo from Google images and used a basic text from Photoshop to construct this coupon

The ASOS advert just above the Main headline was also inspired by my target market, besides music, sport and current affairs my newspaper also incorporates fashion into the full product, for this reason a advertisement of this orientation seemed fitting. To construct this advertisement I visited the ASOS website and selected a variety of products and then compiled these on photoshop by cut and pasting them into the same canvas. after doing this I then free-transformed the images and scaled them down to the same size.

(An example of how I obtained the pictures)

The pictures I used.

Asos pictures

View more documents from john9292.

The following slide share presentation is evidence of my newspaper feedback, I printed out the front and inside page of my paper and gave my classmates green and orange post-it notes and asked them to write out a comment and stick it to the paper. Green post-its represented a good comment and orange post-its were used to represent the flaws of the paper.

Feedback

View more documents from john9292.

feedback gathered from social networking sites

Feedback

View more documents from john9292.

Above is the feedback that was gathered from the social networking site, Facebook. I used the website to post my work and make it public; this allowed me to gain feedback from my peers and establish an unbiased view of any improvements i could make to the newspaper. I think that posting my work in a public domain was extremely beneficial because it opened my eyes and revealed what my target market would react too.

Pictures I took for my newspaper

The following pictures where taken by me for the use of soft news story in my newspaper. In these pictures I wanted to encapsulate the image of my readers.

In this picture I think I framed the shot well producing a clear and crisp image however, the camera case and rubbish bin spoiled the shot somewhat

This picture was similar however I think this image was sharper and higher in clarity. For this reason I will use this image for my article.



The remaining images where decent, however I dont think they were suitable enough for the use of my article, there was not enough going on in these shots and felt quite plain to me; as previously mentioned because I'm targeting youth I want to incorperate images which encapsulated movment. For this reason I going to take more pictures to accompany the story

my page so far

So far i've only inserted my story and the main Headline and my footer advertisement and top right plug. However the page seems to be taking shape

plug design

After much deliberation i decided to put a movie review up as a filling plug, i took an image from the internet and resized it and placed text around it. After i knew what wanted to produce for the space it made the task much easier.

Newspaper Draft

So far this is all i have done on my front page, I inserted the masthead i desgined and i placed text labbleing where i want to put the date, cost etc. at the momnet im finding Indesign hard but i know that with more practise i cant master this program and achieve a good grade from my production.

Newspaper Poster

Poster

View more documents from john9292.

Poster sketch

So far this is just a provisional sketch for newspapers poster, i understand that a lot of improvements can be made on the poster; but this image is just a preliminary mock up.

Newspaper Research

As a part of my ancillary task of creating a poster to advertise my newspaper, I decided to conduct a little research.



This involved looking at several posters for newspapers and identifying the conventions of them. So far the posters have come across are quite witty and creative. And very colourful.







Besides this, i have noticed that the papers logo/ colors or livery are always very prminant in the advertisment, i belive that doing this is important so the newspaper can be recognized on a shelf and succesfully linked with an advertisment on a billboard

adverts designs

Above is the first design I made for an advertisement which I placed at the foot of my front page, I took an image of the Xbox from Google images and then resized it in Photoshop. However after placing the image in the desired place; I realized that it was too large for the space. I took the psd file back to Photoshop and began to resize it.






Now we can see how the image has been resized in dimensions to fit the required space. In the program in design, I measured the length and width of the space I had allocated for the footer advertisement and entered these dimensions into Photoshop. By doing this it gave me a better perspective of how to place my text and images. After resizing I decided that making a change to the font would make the advert standout. I placed an inner glow effect on the most important details of the advert so they would stand out to a reader and be identifiable as important information.

Advertertisment designs

Besides generating my own stories, I also designed the advertisements used throughout the paper, to do this I used the photo editing software; photoshop. I took the newspaper measurements I used to design the template of my paper and entered them into photoshop in order to gain maximum resolution for the advertisements.

Initail sketch's for my newspaper

Rivaling in relation to my Newspaper

R- Through my newspaper I'm trying to re-present the youth of Bromley in a positive light, showing the wider public that as a group; 17-22 year old are a group that needs to be heard/ recognized and credited for the positive strides they take to better themselves. I find for most young people, they often finds themselves misunderstood; the way in which I re-present them through my newspaper will help youths identify with their community and their peers.


I- As the institution producing this paper, i have decided to produce a transparent view of the youth of Bromley. I decided to do this because i think it makes the paper edgy and more relevant; rather than a watered down, over filtered take of the youth in the community. This much is clear in the choice of my featured "hard news story". I didn't think that sugar coating the paper would have done me any favours when trying to re-present the youth of the area. The design is relatively conventional, I'm trying to do something different but not to different.on thing i have learnt whilst producing media text for my coursework is that conventions work and successful ones are often associated with a brand, so adopting often used conventions wont hurt.


V- I believe to make this paper successful all i need to do is consistently follow a simple set of values in order for my paper to easily be categorized. Adopting a set of conventions and sticking to them combined with honest and transparent reporting is all i need to get by. well written stories and good quality pictures along with a creative twist should do the job.


A- As mention before my preferred readership is between the ages of 17- 22,to satisfy this age group i have to appeal to them through the appropriate use of language, colors, pictures and style of reporting. I appreciate that i have to take into consideration that what i produce wont appeal to all, however i cant forget that i have to make my product widely accessible so diverse groups of people with individual preferences can still enjoy it.


L- For the language, i want to be able to provide a easily readable style of reporting but remain informative and entertaining. I hope people will take to this style of address because i think it would make the articles read better and present an untainted take on a stories.


I- I want to share my ideology that that youths can make positive contributions to the community that they belong to rather than the often used stereotype that youths are irresponsible individuals.


N- The narrative of the paper is extremely important, i belive for this paper to read smoothly the narrative has to be well coordinated. by doing this the paper has a stream of information taking the readers on a journey, from one story to another there is a link which would take the reader from one articale to another although they would be reading completly different stories the same theme would keep cropping up the positivity amogst youth.


G- The genre of my newspaper will come under the tabloid catorgary, although my stories are of a somewhat serious nature; I class my paper as a tabliod based on the mode of address. I chose to use formal language so I could connect with my readers easily. i decided that writting as it would be said would be the best way to do this.

Demographics Profile

My newspaper is called the The Bromley Bite, this name connotes the style of the paper, producing chunks of information in "bites".
The basic profile of the readers of my newspaper would be defined by their; social class economic status and their educational background. The compilation of these things would give me a demographic profile of my likely readers, this way i would have better idea of whom I'm targeting. My core readership would be young males between the ages of (17 and 21) their educational backgrounds would be from college/ sixth form students processing to university and university students. Although this is my core audience this does not mean that other age groups are exempt from reading my newspaper; i believe anyone could see the front cover and want to read it; however the paper is targeted to a specific group.
Being students, their economic status would be from D to E. On the VALS system

3 Stories for my paper

For my three stories i have picked two hard news stories and one soft story.

My front page story will be covering the story of the young man who was kidnapped and violently beaten in the Bromley area.I think this story would appeal to my target audience because Bromley is an area unaccustomed to such crimes. Besides this the man who was kidnapped is within my target market age range so other people within this age range may be interested in the story.

My second story will also be a hard story about the stabbing death of a 24 year old Bromley youth, even though the victim is just outside of my target range i believe this story would still be relevant to my paper.

My third news story will be about a sporting topic. the story i will coverabout young boxer trying to reach the championship of the amateur boxing association, the boxer himself is 22 (within my age target), i believe people within this age group would want to read upcoming sporting figures within their own age group.

This is a hard news story about the stabbing death of a 24 year old Bromley youth, even though he is just outside of my target range i believe this story would still be relevant to my paper.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This story is about young boxer trying to reach the championship of the amateur boxing association, the boxer himself is 22 (within my age target), i believe people within this age group would want to read upcoming sporting figures within their own age group.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



this story is about the last minuet thriller from Millwalls recent game, i choose this story as a possible feature because the team are widely supported throughout the Bromley area

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This story is based on the youth parliament within the Bromley area. I believe this would appeal to the youths in my target market because some of them may be interested in becoming a member of the youth parliament.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



this story is based on a group of bromley youths who have been selected to perform on a west end stage.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This would be a great addition to my second page as a lighter story enlightening residence of the area of some emerging musicians within the area.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This story would be in a sports section in the newspaper, i chose this one because the story is about a young sprinter setting his sights on Olympic success, the youth in question is within the age of my target age group, so i thought success stories of young people would be a positive look for my paper.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




This story covers the violent kidnapping of a young man within the Bromley area, the young man was violently beaten and kidnapped over a 500 pound debt. I think this story would appeal to my target audience because Bromley is an area unaccustomed to such crimes. Besides this the man who was kidnapped is within my target market age range so other people within this age range may be interested in the story.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




This is a lighter story based on the arts, this story is informing readers of a concert within the Bromley area.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------





This story would be in a sports section in the newspaper, i chose this one because the story is about a starlet making a move from fulham fc to bromley fc, the youth in question is within the age of my target age group, so i thought success stories of young people would be a positive look for my paper.

MastHead

Above is a preliminary design of my newspapers logo, I tried to vary the fonts to make each word stand out. Concerning the colors, I chose them "Hot pink" and "Teal" to connote the male and female readership I'm targeting.

This is the first attempt at the construction of my newspaper. At the momnet i'm not to skilled with the Mac program Indesign and this draft shows as much. however in time i hope to build upon my skills and produce a professional lookin newspaper.

Newspaper Research

The Bromley Times

The Bromley Times is a free weekly tabloid newspaper for the London Borough of Bromley, however the paper is also distributed in the suburbs of Orpington, Chislehurst, Biggin Hill and Beckenham. the paper is also published by Kentish Times Newspapers, a branch of Archant London. The editorial offices are in Sidcup.The paper Is distributed in several different ways; besides the door-to-door deliveries, a small number of copies are also sold in supermarkets and petrol stations, and more are distributed by handout at Bromley South railway station and the Walnuts Shopping Centre in Orpington. beside the hard copies, a daily e-edition is also available on the papers website website.



Bromley News Shopper

Formally known as the Bromley News Shopper Series is under the ownership of the Newquest Media group. The paper joined the ABC bureau in 1986, since then the paper has been able to average total of 73,770 copies per issue. beside the print version, the news shopper is available in web form via their website.



The Metro (London)

The Metro free paper was launched on the 16th of March in 1996, the publication is joint owned by the daily mail and General trust. the paper is distributed in other parts of the uk however the content is based on the region it is being distributing in. beside London the metro is also distributed in Brighton, Cardiff, Swansea & Newport, East Midlands , Liverpool,North East, North West, Scotland, West Country, Midlands and Yorkshire. The paper is distributed in large amounts at train stations roadside stands and local airports.

Newspaper measurments

Front page
• Width of page – 29cm
• Left margin of page – 1cm
• Right margin of page – 1.3cm
• Top margin of page – 1.2cm
• Bottom margin of page – 0.9cm
• Gutter space between text – 0.5cm
• Main story picture – 16cm length by 15cm width
• Mast head – 18cm length by 5cm width
• Advert – 26.5cm length by 7cm width
• Plug for future articles – 5.5cm length by 5cm width
• Column of text – 10cm length by 5cm width


2nd page
• Whole page – 33.7cm length by 26.5cm width
• Gutter space between adverts – 0.5cm
• Weather – 20cm length by 11cm width
• Main advert – 23.8cm length by 14.7 width
• Contact us block – 8cm length by 15cm width
• Advert placed top right of page – 7.5cm by 10.6cm width
• Left margin of page – 1.3cm
• Bottom margin of page – 0.7cm
• Top margin of page – 1.7cm
• Right margin of page – 1.6cm

Newspaper page two annotations

Newspaper annotations

Bromley times sketch and notes

The following sketches are of an issue of the Bromley Times newspaper, i made these sketches to analyse the layout of the paper and to identify the conventions used.



The first thing that caught my attention was the placement of advertisments. Advertising is used to fund the various operations of a newspaper, this is why on all pages you would see nurmerous adverts dotted around the page.

ideas for Brief

For my A2 Media Studies coursework, I have been asked to produce a two paged newspaper. I will have to create both a front cover and inside page. Because this work is being graded all of the photographic and text. content has to be created by myself.

To establish a firm idea of the various conventions I had to incorporate into my newspaper to make it work, I conducted a bit of research and planning; by looking at some established local papers "The Bromley Times" and "The Metro". whilst doing this I identified a number of paradigms which surfaced repetitively during my research. In all of the papers I looked at I recognized that the main logo was placed in the top left of the page, we read from the left to right so the placement of the logo was fitting. Also both papers followed the five columned layout, however in some cases text was substituted for chunks of advertisements. Whilst conducting my research; I learnt that advertising space had to be sold in order to facilitate the various operations of newspaper producers, as well as eliminating blank spaces.

At the moment i do not know know what genre i want my newspaper to fit into, however i do know who i want to target. I have decided to aim my newspaper towards young adults; roughly between the age of 17 and 21. I have decided to target this market because I'm within this age range. due to this i believe generating the content of the newspaper will flow a lot easier because i have an idea of what my peers would appreciate.

Below are sketches of my Newspaper, at the moment these are just provisional sketches of my website; however over time i except the design and layout of the newspaper to change a little bit