In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My media work follows the codes and conventions of local newspapers that I found from my research for my product in many ways. Newspapers have a general layout in which they all follow, this is how newspapers are recognised, and then each newspaper adds certain factors that makes their newspaper individual and memorable. Therefore, I've also done this with my layout, keeping it very similar to the general layout, yet a few aspects have changed, for example, the layout of my contents section down the left hand side of my paper, the majority of this section on papers is different. I learnt from my focus group that they like this general layout and see it as a good aspect of the newspaper, the style, the layout, the colour scheme and so on. So to make my newspaper realistic I also followed the layout of the local newspapers that I looked at in my research. Although, I added aspects that my focus group said would be useful and they would prefer, for example, my puzzle section on my second page and my contents bar. A large factor of my newspaper that challenged the codes and conventions was the 'Life & Style' booklet that is advertised in the banner on my front page. I added this factor to my newspaper and my focus group had said that they can find local newspaper boring and then same old stuff in there every week, so they believed this to be a good aspect to have as it will make the newspaper more interesting each week. When producing my poster for my ancillary tasks, I very much followed the codes and conventions of the posters that I found in my research section, my focus group also agreed that they're very satisfied with the layout and features of a poster, therefore, I chose to keep it the same, making it bold, eye-catching and easy to read. When it came to my radio advert I found that radio adverts for local newspaper don't in fact exist, therefore, I had no codes and conventions to follow, so I looked into the national papers and took ideas from there. Although, I challenged the codes and conventions that I found as my advert only included me talking, instead of having a background music, as I thought that this took the attention away from the voice.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
My coursework as a whole works together to create a house-style making my tasks flow and link in with one another. My ancillary tasks support my main product by the way in which my newspaper and poster have the same colour scheme, news stories and style making my work more professional. My radio also supports my product through the way in which it links in the vital information of the newspaper, like the price and certain aspects, for example, the 'Life & Style' section and the puzzle, which are key aspects of my newspaper. I believe that through the way in which my products link to one another, they are recognisable in relation to one another and I believe this to be an important factor.
What have you learnt from audience feedback?
Throughout my production my audience feedback has been crucial to the making of my newspaper the final piece that it is. Earlier on in my blog I spoke about a focus group that I'd be using, I'd communicate with them through a group e-mail so that everyone as able to see everyone else's opinions so that we were able to have open conversations about others ideas. Having this focus group allowed me to get views from various age groups meaning that my newspaper is more likely to appeal to different age groups and genders, a way in which my newspaper appeals to a younger age group is through having the puzzles as they'll use them as a level of diversion. The focus group was also a key aspect to my work as it allowed me to follow the codes and conventions of the local newspapers that I researched as well as having different view points to make my work more up-to-date and what the audience want, as the focus group will be my audience so I needed to make my newspaper what they'd want to read. Having an audience feedback also allowed me to have various views points from all different age groups, allowing to know what the audience wanted let me have the upper hand in appealing to my audience. This focus group made my work a lot smoother, accurate and professional.
How did you use media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Media technology has had a huge impact on my work, and I wouldn't have been able to make my work to this standard without the use of technology, from the use of the internet to Adobe Photoshop. I used various programs on the computer to make my product to the standard in which it is, the main program was Adobe Photoshop which is where I produced my newspaper and poster. Another program which I used to create my product was the word document, as this is the program in which I used to write out my articles. The main media technology I used was the internet, which I needed continuously through my work. I used the internet to research newspapers in general, the way in which they looked through ages, from newspapers from decades ago to the up to date newspaper to look at different aspects of the papers. I also looked on the newspapers website to look at articles that had been written in the past year, this helped me to choose what type of article to write, along with the way in which to write it, the language and grammar used. Another way I used the internet was to watch Photoshop tutorials on youtube.com to help with aspects of Photoshop that I didn't know how to use, therefore, being very useful in completing my product. The biggest way that I've used the internet is to write this blog, as it's caused me to be on the internet more or less every day throughout making my product so I'm able to update you on where my work has got to, this is the aspect of media technology that I've used to evaluate my work also. The internet has also had a large impact on me being able to contact my focus group as a whole, as it's a lot easier to contact my group as a whole through e-mail, compared to phoning each of them up separately or by trying to get everyone to meet up. I also used media technology when recording my radio advert. The final way in which I've used media technology is by the simple use of a camera to get my pictures for the newspapers. So in general, media technology is very much needed in my media product, as without the media technology my product wouldn't be the the product that it has been made in to. It also wouldn't be up to the professional standard, as all of the tasks needed the use of media technology.
