Friday, 11 May 2012

The Final Products.





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

I used different media technologies in product creation such as using different pieces of software for the different stages of production. For my radio advert i used software such as Audacity to create the base for my radio and record the voice over from the different people participating.



After putting my radio advert in audacity i then placed the track in Adobe Premier and added a soundtrack from the internet and editied both tracks to correspond with the voices in the origional recording. The image above demonstrates how i imported the different files and used the timeline to edit the tracks to suit the recording.


When creating my newspaper i used the software Microsoft Publisher to make my project look professional and effective. I created my newspaper name by using the featur Word Art, which allowed me to create an eye catching font and choose an effective colour scheme to display my newspaper name.




Along with creating the name for my newspaper i also used Publisher to allign the columns for my page layout. This allowed me to easily input my text into the spaces that i wanted to and make the newspaper look presentable and professional. To make the different pictures and text stand out, Publisher allowed me to create different sized text boxes and shapes to sculpt my newspaper into a unique design. Following on from the designing of my images, Microsoft Publisher had a 'Crop' feature in which i could resize my images so that they would fit into a required position and be of suitable size. Adding on to the crop tool i could also resize my shapes to contain the same image, but be of a bigger/smaller size dependant on the space provided.


When creating my newspaper i used new media technologies such as a digital camera (Nikon D60). I noticed that the digital camera had a viewing screen upon it which allowed me to view the image i had taken instantly once i had taken it. I found this feature very useful as it allowed me to perfect my pictures and display them to the highest possible standard.Along with a viewing screen the camera i used also had a flash feature which produced light in darkened places so that my images would be able to be recognised with or without light.




3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Throughout the duration of my project I have used audience feedback to try and collect information about user's responces and improve spefic areas that they wish to be improved. I used different techniques to collect audience feedback but i concentrated on the social networking site Facebook as it allowed me to collect comments on people's thoughts and reactions to my product.


Feedback from Bubble.us shows how i have recorded comments from other people about my produt and overall they seem to have shown a positive responce towards the project.



However even though i have collected positive responces from other people there were negative comments too about different features such as my adverts. After consiering different options i decided to leave my prject the way it was origionally designed as i feel that the majority of the feedback was encouraging and it displayed my project as a positive production.


I took feedback on a number of different aspects in my project ranging from the adverts to the front page and as i collected the audience feedback i noticed that the genuine attitude towards my project was a enjoyable, warm responce as the audience seemed to take a liking to the product. There were some constructing comments that were given and i realised it is important to make sure that specific newspaper featurs are completed to a high standard. These include the colour scheme that i used throughout my newspaper and also the font and text i displayed.



 I also took feedback from my radio advert as the audience commented on the different approach i used and how effective it was. From the comments i can see that the radio advert was an overall success but however there could've been some minor changes to try and improve the way in which it was delivered.




As one can tell from reading the comments i am aware that the radio can possibly be improved for any future productions by changing the background noise into more suitable and reliable feature of the radio. Along with the background noise i could also change the voices of the people involved and make them more suitable to the task of presenting the newspaper.


Throughout my project i used different theory techniques to contrast with my audience and my project. The first theory i used was Chomsky's theory which aspires that the audience and product are being delivered to advertisers through real media texts. This theory corresponds with my product as it could be said that it uses the audience and advertisers to produce a branding for my newspaper.

Another theory that i used was the gate keeping theory as i portrayed the model on my front page as a student criminal to have an important effect on my audience. I chose this image as it is most relevent and it describes the best level of effect and significance.


To conclude my uses of theory's my final theory was the idea that my audience feedback supported the use of the Uses and Gratifications theory. This was explained as it implies that audiences are not passive and easily taught, but that they use media texts in an active way rather than using the 'hypodermic syringe theory' that dims audiences as simple and easy going.

Thursday, 10 May 2012

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

When I combined my main product with my ancillary texts I realised that I needed fluidity and continuity  to do this effectively and display consistency in terms of the colour schemes, my logo being on each form and overall image of the products to match the corresponding text surrounding them or linking them to the story.


To start, I first realised that when I  combine my main product with ancillary products I must use my slogan in the exact same way to demonstrate consistency and by doing this i would portrait and image of my newspaper with the aim of persuading readers that my newspaper is of a higher standard and better quality of that of competitors.





The two pictures above demonstrate how i used both the same logo and slogan in my poster as well as my newspaper front page. I did this to add consistency to my products so that my product looks professional and follows similer conventions that other newspapers have used in the past. This technique has been used by many newspapers because it gives off a positive and continuous reflection of the product.


Along with the logo the image above also demonstrates how I have used the same slogn in my newspaper as well as my poster. I have illustrated the slogan with a bold catchy font which will attract the customer and the text 'keeping people connected' gives a 'family' feel which will appeal to the customer.


Brand identity was a major feature i wanted to perfect in my project and by keeping the same slogan and logo i have contrasted with this objective. The consistency has been very important to keep the idea of 'keeping people connected' in the minds of the reader and with this use of brand identity it will grab the attention of readers as used with other conventions from other newspapers.

The product of my poster is based upon the encoding and decoding theory as I am the producer I encoded and designed the product to reach a wide audience within Wigan. I started off with the idea that if i represent the town as being linked with a real sense of togetherness then it would appeal to a great audience and hopefully project more sales. In terms of decoding I hoped that the audience would see the poster and relate it to the title of the newspaper 'The Wigan Link'. this shows that i have linked in the poster as a newspaper chain to show the idea of linking people together via my newspaper. However as I realised that some audiences may have different abilities to understand the true meaning of the media texts and part of the cultural competence theory, i may deem my poster to be polysemic, dependant on the feedback i receive.

Another theory that support my product is Mcshane's theory, as he stated that there are 5 central tenets in which which journalists tend to follow, these are; conflict, danger to the community, the unusual, scandal and individualism. This story supports the 'danger to the community' part of the theory as a firearm being found in a college is typically associated with a 'danger to the community' or even 'unusual'. This story combines well with my main story on my cover page which supports 'danger to the community' also and which works well with my slogan 'keeping people connected'.
 
Linking onto my poster i also combined my radio production with the general theme of my newspaper production. I had each individual linking the different topics together and the story flowed so it gave the impression that the individuals were actually linked together. I combined my main product with my ancillary such as my radio to keep the same genuine theme of togetherness and linkage.  found that I conveyed the informative genre from my main product and used it in my poster as well (Keeping people together) which suggests a close relationship between the audience and the product. This displays the informative genre and i also included the protective genre which is conveyed by my slogan 'Keeping people connected' which is also used in my radio advertisement.

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Evaluation. Question 1.

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

To start I firstly used and developed the conventions of real media products in the design of my logo.


To start with i first noticed the general use of bold fonts and bright colours in the conventions of newspaper logos. I noticed that the generalisation of newspapers use this type of layout to attract the reader and use a contrast of colours to make thier logo eye-catching and appealing to the audience.
After consideration I decided to use these conventions in my own newspaper project and make my logo as appealing as possible. It would've been follish to go against these typical newspaper conventions as this technique has been proven to success over many years and so this is why I followed the trend.  
I decided to use this style of logo as the contrasting two colours make it very eye catching and 'in your face.' Despite using these colours and fonts i have used a different convention to existing newspapers, by adding my slogan onto my logo. This technique isn't ordinary but however i do feel that it adds a bit of change to traditional newspapers and may spice up my newspaper.

This is a typical design of a newspaper convention as it has the adverts demonstrated at the bottom of the page, the main headline in the middle, and the logo and the top of the newspaper. I have used these similar conventions in my project by adding the logo and advertisements in the same places and also i have included the main headline in the middle of the page, displayed with saurrounding pictures. This design is of a typical newspaper layout with many conventions being the same as this has proven successful in previous newspapers.
Within use of my own project i decided to use these conventions highlighted above to introcude traditional themes onto my own newspaper work. These convesntions add a traditional theme and layout to my newspaper and by taking ideas from typical newspaper conventions i feel that i have included some good ideas into my project.

The typical newpaper image above displays typical conventions used in newspaper front pges. I used this image in my research in order to develop my front page and design the layout so it will be appealing to the audience. 


When creating my poster I used some typical newspaper conventions by displaying my logo but however i decided it would be more eye-catching and appropiate to place my logo in the middle of my poster. This technique i used makes my newspaper unique to its audience and makes it stand out from other newspapers. I compared other posters from different newspapers and decided to follow the same layout of posters from 'The Dailly Mirror' and 'The Sun'. By following some of the same conventions i have displayed my logo in contrast with the picture and the slogan. 

Following on from the logo convention i have also used an image to match my slogan as theis is a very popular technique used by professional newspapers. My slogan for 'The Wigan Link' was "Keeping People Connected" and so i took the idea of everyone being connected through my newspaper, and made a paper chain of people out of newspaper. I noticed that the image of the paper chain fits well with the idea that The Wigan Link is all about keeping people connected through the news that they read in my newspaper and so i made the paper chain to symbolise that connection. I think this image is very appropiate to the slogan of my newspaper and it demonstrates a lot of time and effort that will appeal to my audience. The ida of the poster image is to make people feel a wholeness about one another and by reading the newspaper they are being brought together as one.
Along with my front page and my poster i have also used popular newspaper conventions on the inside page too. After my research and planning I highlighted these conventions and used them in my own product by using them in similar positions on the page. I decided to use conventions such as the same layouts of singular column text and a suitable contrasting colour scheme. I displayed the main image in the centre of the page with flowing text around it as seen in the 'Daily Mirror' and so these conventions made my newspaper very professional and unique.

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Existing Newspaper Logos




I have reasearched some current newspaper logos and noticed that the logo is the main attraction of the paper is indeed the logo and so i will be designing my logo as according to these.
I like the use of the background colours with the bold white lettering to make the logo stand out from the rest of the paper. the font and the layout of the logo make it important and interesting towards the reader and I am willing to apply this to use in my logo.