Evaluation questions

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge codes and conventions of real media texts?
            Newspaper poster- My newspaper poster follows and agrees with many conventions of a typical English poster, which has a very white and clear background, which therefore makes the black bold text stand out even more which is very effective in getting the message across to the audience/people who read this. Also, the masthead is very clear and the reader knows what this newspaper is called and what they will/want to buy.
          My main product-newspaper-my newspaper follows the codes and conventions of local newspapers. To produce my local newspaper effectively, i researched many different existing local newspapers, for example 'The Daily Echo' and 'The Advertiser', and from these i have learnt many different things that i have incorporated into my own product, for example i have learnt how to target my audience effectively, for example what language to use, how to use it and how to lay out my sentence structure to make it all flow together well for the audience to read and for the poster to work effectively. I have chosen to follow the typical codes and conventions, because these are very effective in drawing their audience and despite the new technology coming in, newspapers are still popular and still going. Also, the images on the text can really entice the onlooker, or put them off, and through my research into existing local newspapers, i have found that when they use more hard-hitting images, for example the bruised and beaten up face of someone who has been attacked by another person, this can entice readers as they feel shocked/alarmed when they see this image, and therefore they will want to see and read what this is about, and they feel sorry for the person who has been attacked and so they will want to empathise with the victim in question. I also did audience research to see what types of stories and sections they would like to see in a local newspaper, and in general i found that people liked/preffered lots of different sections, from serious stories/articles, to more lighthearted/heartwarming stories that can involve animals who have saved the day somehow, or some sort of funny story. They also like to have a section in which readers can write in and express their views on certain topics. This all fits in with the genre conventions of a local newspaper, as serious news should of course be included, but also as it is a local newspaper, they should have more community orientated articles and sections included, for example the write in sections for readers, and also the articles about animals doing great/cute things.
                 Radio advertisment- for my radio advertisment, i have researched into many different existing radio advertisement for newspapers, and i have found that there are certain conventions for a radio advertisement. For example, you will find that the vast majority of these advetisements have some sort of jingle to accompany the advert, and this is effective as this really helps the listeners to remember what the advertisement is about and all together makes it much more memorable, and this really helps with trying to sell the product in question. Also, there are no visual aspects of a radio advertisment, so the things that the audience hear must remain in their minds, so that they will then want to buy the product that is being advertised, and also that it stands out from the rest, and to help it stand out from the rest. An example of the radio advertisments that i have researched into is the Daily Express, which has a memorable jingle to it, that the audience will associate with this newspaper, and also, the tune has a moving/fast feel to it, which matches up with the name of the newspaper in question, so this makes the advertisment even more effective. So for my radio advertisment i will


2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
                    My newspaper combines well with my ancillary texts as my ancillary texts are advertising my main product and therefore they are all linked together well. For example. my newspaper poster is directly advertising my main product, my newspaper, and i believe the combination is effective as the headline which is on the newspaper poster is also the headline on the main newspaper, so therefore it is very clear for readers what the main story in the newspaper will be about, and this makes the advertising techniques effective. Also, with the radio advertisement, this is also advertising my newspaper, but instead of advertising the main headline, this will just say the name of the newspaper, as in my opinion this is a much more effective way of getting through to the audience, as they will not remember a long sequenced advertisement, and a short, sharp and effective advertisement will be much more effective because of this. Also, people tend to remember these kind of things better if they are short sharp and effective as there is no time for them to lose concentration while listening, as people can lose interest in an advertisement that goes on too long, and then the meaning and point is lost, and therefore is not effective in attracting the listeners to buy the product, as of course this is the goal of all the advertisements is to gain more customers as a result of these advertisements.

3. What have you learned from your audience research?

From my research that i have undertook, i have learnt many things that my audience want and expect from/in a local newspaper, and also how they would like me to go about producing my final product. For example, from my audience research, i have learnt that my audience would like my newspaper to include a news story that doesn't include something dreadful happening, so on the double spread of my newspaper that i created, i decided to include an article that is more uplifting 'TOWN WIN SEMI FINAL', which will give most of the local readers pleasure and pride in knowing that their local team is performing well . Gnerally from my audience research, i learnt that the majority of teenages, people around my age, were not interested in newspapers at all, and would not read or buy one out of choice. So i decided to change my intended audience, and target the more middle aged generation in society, as they seemed to be the ones who were/are more likely to purchase and read a newspaper. So this is effective in drawing in more people to buy my newspaper. Also from my audience research, i have learnt that many people who listen to the radio, they pay much more attention to advertisements that have a very catchy jingle to them, so they can instantly recognise what advert is being advertised, and that will be more attracted to buy it. A contemporary example of a radio advertisement that people are remembering for whatever reason, is the 'GoCompare' adverts, which are on Television as well. These advertisements are often repeated by people who listen to these, and this is proof of just how effectives these type of adverts can be.






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

In the construction process, i used media technologies to create my final media products, for example for the photos that are on my newspaper, i had used a camera from my iphone and the camera is of good resolution, which ensures that the photos are of good enough quality for my newspaper, and that the right message gets conveyed across. For example, if the photo was of bad quality, then it wouldn't be effective in drawing it's audience, and it would be sending out the wrong message to my audience. For my research and planning, i used a publisher program to produce my prototypes of my newspaper poster, the newspaper itself, and how everything should be laid out. This was effective, as i could change things around easily, and i could also get good ideas that i could use for my final newspaper product and my ancillary texts. However for my final newspaper and first two pages of the newspaper, i found a program on the internet, that i found a lot more useful to produce my products on, and also a lot more effective,as it has made my products look a lot more professional, and realistic, and therefore more attractive to my audience, and much more effective for me, as it will sell more newspapers. I used the same program, to evaluate my final products, and how effective they are. For my radio advertisement, i typed the script up on a word program, and actually produced the final product on my iphone, which has the capability to record things like this, and then transfer them to a computer. For the music that goes with this radio advertisement, i used a keyboard that i have, which has certain tunes on it that i could use for my radio advertisement, and i found this very useful and effective, and catchy 'jingles' are always very effective in ensuring that the listener remembers the particular advertisement and will tempt them into buying the product that is being advertised. And for the evaluation stage, i also found this useful, as i could go over what i had produced effectively, and it was very simple to do so, using the same program that i had used to produce it orignally.