A2 Media Studies Advanced Portfolio Evaluation

By Alix Kelly

Question 1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

The newspaper that I analysed for my product research include the Salford Advertiser, The Manchester Evening News and the Tameside

Advertiser.

For my newspaper, I have used a conventional masthead that uses bold text which is similar to the Salford advertiser that I looked at in my product research. However, I have challenged the conventions as I have used an italic effect to make it standout to the audience. This will reflect on the audience as looking professional and sophisticated. The context and location for my newspaper is set in Manchester, this is similar to the Salford advertiser and it includes articles that will affect local areas and communities such as Walkden and Little Hulton. The articles focus on the crime and accidents in local areas in Manchester, this has been used in similar products such as the Salford Advertiser and the Manchester Evening News. In terms of the design layout, I can apply Steve Neal’s theory of repetition as it’s a conventional layout of a newspaper, using columns and photographs to make the newspaper standout to the audience and appear interesting and direct. The text I have used it typical, traditional black font, the house style is a colour scheme of black, white and a primary colour of red. This was decided through my primary market research, I have also used this because the colours can be decoded by the audience as professional, and the red stands out as an important colour and symbolises danger or importance to read the newspaper. The danger symbolism is linked to the genre of the newspaper which is mostly crime and accidents.

Design Layout

Below is my own masthead that I have created on Photoshop, it is clear that I have used a similar typeface as the Salford Advertiser and also the using the form of the red colour scheme.

The camerawork and editing used on my newspaper has been professional and detailed. I have used mainly landscape pictures so that the audience gets a better idea of what the setting is like and if the can recognize it and it also keeps the newspaper looking consistent. I have not done much editing on the pictures apart from editing the lighting and contrast so that some pictures look more dull to add to the negativity of the article. I have also used a black and white effect on the photograph of a thug on the second page, this is to make the image seem it has been caught off a CCTV camera. This is a conventional technique as similar products that I have looked at such as the Salford advertiser have used this for example, the newspaper that I looked at showed a landscape image of a house and also a landscape image of a firework, similar to my newspaper, this allows the audience to see more of the image and create their own idea of what is happening. However, the difference with my images and images used in real life newspapers is the use of the editing, mainly pictures in newspapers have not been edited in terms of colours, but they do crop the image.

Camera Work and Editing

My Images

Salford Advertisers

Images

The narrative of my newspaper is following the theory of Todorov who uses the 5 stages of the equilibrium. My articles start with the disequilibrium which makes the audience want to read on to try and resolve the equilibrium. One article does not have a resolution of the equilibrium because the villain has not been found and is still on the hunt to being caught, this is in the form of the Manchester Evening News on the second page, the drug dealers have still not been caught. Newspapers that I have looked at have a similar narrative to this have also started with a disequilibrium in the first paragraph. Genre, my newspaper follows a conventional role of looking at crime around the local area, this is similar to work that I have looked at in the Salford advertiser; this involves the audience because the crime took place in a local area that could have an affect on the audience. This has a detective style to it and the audience will try to decode the articles by trying to figure out where the criminal could be and why he is doing what he is.

Narrative and Genre

CharactersIn terms of the characters, I have used conventional characters that are usually noticed in real life newspapers. Looking at Propps, I have used a victim in a crime and the police as the hero’s because they are trying to help solve the case. The article also addresses the audience directly and asks them to get involved to capture the criminals. This suggest that the audience could also be related as a hero. The criminals in each of the articles are the villains, but they are also the prizes as if they are caught they can be brought to justice. The family of the woman who tried to help save a shop keeper can also be considered the donor as they give information out to help try and catch the criminals.

I can also relate my ancillary tasks 1 and 2 to similar forms and conventions of other media text. Firstly, the billboards which analysed were very conventional and used the same masthead used in my newspaper on the board so that it was easily recognizable to the audience and created a professional consistency. For my billboard, I designed a similar masthead which would placed in the centre of the board, this is like the Sun and Manchester Evening News billboards which I focused on. I used distinctive colours which broke the conventions as they would not usually be seen associated with a newspaper billboard, but this came from the influence of the MEN billboard which used the colour yellow. This could be decoded by the audience as a positive and happy colour, so for my billboard I used orange and red. The red symbolized importance and also catches the attention of the audience. I also used a warm orange colour to create an interesting contrast. In terms of the editing on my billboard, I used circular effects to make the product unique and to also keep a similar house style to the newspaper. This is a conventional technique like the MEN used from my product research, this is because they use the yellow in the billboard which they use for their colour scheme in their newspaper. For my ancillary 2 task, I made a radio advert, this was a conventional advert that remained 30 seconds long and used well spoken woman as a voice over. This is a form of the radio adverts that I listened to and analysed, including Nandos and an Energy drink advert. I included short, snappy lines that are directed straight to the audience.

Ancillary 1 and 2

Ancillary 1 and 2 Continued

Above is my own billboard, you can see how I have adapted my text and layout to the products I have research including the layout of the masthead and the positioning of the masthead.