Finished :). Final Piecess

Here are my final pieces. They took a long time to compete, and was fairly complicated and confusing when beginning however because of the work I completed using the mac last year I had some experience and I feel i learnt a lot when completing the my work


Front Cover:




My final second page (the scanner cut off the edge):

My Poster (which would on a bus)

The Link to my website: http://local-life-newspaper.piczo.com/?cr=3

I created another blog where i have evaluated my products, here's the link: http://chloe-media-evaluation.blogspot.com/

The cover of my newspaper is based upon research of local magazine fronts. I have left the colours pretty simple as i don't want to over complicate the cover and to take the audiences eye away from the text and images. I did the colour red because i felt this would stand out against the grey and make a statement. This also creates a contrast against the grey.
For more information please see my evaluaion blog.

I used photoshop to create my image for my poster as i have to layer images on the top of each other to create the effect i wanted. I got one of my models to wear a red coat - this is because i wanted to link the colours of my newspaper to other functions. Because she was reading another newspaper i edited the paper she was reading with the red arrow and images of my own - this is because again i wanted to be able to link it all together and make it seem like it was actually my newspaper. I choose to this this certain image because i wanted my newspaper to stand out above all other leading papers and i think the poster reflects how the newspaper will attract readers.

I did some research into i could create my website, i firstly looked at using publisher but then decide piczo woud be more suitable as it automatically publishes the website on the internet. I have started my main page with the story which is on the front of the newspaper, and i did this becasuse i thought it should link together. I have used the red arrow at the top of my website because i wanted the audience to be familier with the style. I have uploaded some pictures on to each page and from looking at other online newspapers i have realised that they have more than two links. After realising this i have decided on my website i shall create more than two links because i would like to it look more life like.
Print screens to follow soon.

Article Liza-Jane Gillespie wrote

Liza-Jane Gillespie wrote a article on the interview me and Jaynie gave her to help with our coursework (what i spoke about eariler).

Here is the article:

Beginning creating my Newspaper cover was challenging as I have used Pages in a while, so it took me some time to get used to working with it again, but as i worked i learnt more about how to use Pages and improved my skills hopefully to achieve a very successful Newspaper cover.

I decide to name my Newspaper "Local Life". I think this name was a good idea as it is also reflected in the very local report. Also I think the alliteration makes the name catchy and memorable, which is likely encourage readers to buy the Newspaper again and they will remember it.

I found it difficult to make clear what was the title of the newspaper ("Local Life") and what the the headline of the cover story ("Doing it in a community fashion"). To make it clearer I decided to have a red arrow and line behind the words "Local Life", I think this was a good idea as the name now stands out and I am going to used this effect again in both my poster and website, as a logo for the Newspaper, so audience will recognise the links and realise all three of the things are working together.

As my design brief if to create a new newspaper I think it's important to make it known the newspaper is new, and the reader know to look for it in the future. Therefore I decided to have the bottom section of the newspaper advertising subscribing to the newspaper as a way to attract loyal readers early on. Also i added the text "the new voice of alveston" on top of a read strip. I made this red as it stands out and link to colours used in the title giving my newspaper its own familiar look. Stating that its new in my opinion would create curiosity for people seeing the newspaper in the shop as they know this newspaper is not like other newspapers they might read.

Interview with Liza-Jane Gillespie

On Thursday 4th March I and Jaynie Thompson (who is also doing the newspaper brief in my class) interview journalist Liza-Jane Gillespie from the Thornbury Gazette.

We came up with some questions which we felt would be useful for us when completing our coursework, and she was able to answer all of the questions in detail giving us more knowledge of how the newspaper industry works, and this helped give us idea on the best ways to put together a newspaper and reports.

We recorded the interview using a dictaphone, this is a link to the soundfile which is on my google docs account: http://docs.google.com/#all

Photos.

I began taking photo's for my newspaper cover. From looking at my research i realised that newspapers have both posed and 'action' photos. Therefore I have decided to take some photos of Rosie-Beth with a mannequin, i think this is a good idea as it shows the textiles environment, and would look good. Also it would hint to the reader what the story is about.
I will also take some photos of textiles students in a working environment, this will show the students in action and will make it clear all the the effort which the students are going to, to create successful garments in order for the fashion show to go on.

I took a few shots of Rosie-Beth with the mannequin, and i have also been in a few of these photos, as i am also involved in this fashion show and it shows that I have met with Rosie-Beth in order to write the article.
I have used a digital point and shot camera to take these photos, as it was easier for me access this, but if i have time i will take more photos using a SLR camera so that the photos are in good quality.

Here are some of the photo i took:

I like the classroom atmosphere in the background of this photo, as it shows the working environment.

I also think the use of the mannequin works well, it shows off that the article is about textiles and fashion

I think Rosie-Beth is posing a bit too much in this photo so it doesn't look natural enough, but i do like that Rosie-Beth looks confident which I think is a reflection of her confidence in textiles giving off a good impression of the school

If I decide to use this image I would crop it, as the bottom of the photo isn't needed and it has a date stamp on, which would look unprofessional on a newspaper cover.

I like that Rosie-Beth is laughing in this photo, because it gives the photo a positive feeling. However she is not looking at the camera, and the hand is blurred so I don't think this photo would be appropriate for as newspaper.
But as i do like the laughing effect I may use this photo to inspire some of my other photos.

I think Rosie-Beth's facial expression is most appropriate in this photo, as she both looks happy but serious at the same time

Once again I will crop the date stamp out of the photo.

I like that I am in this photo with Rosie-Beth as it makes the photos more personal and give the photo a community feel as it has more than one person in it, giving the connotations of team work.

However the lighting and the angle of this photo has made the picture unclear so it wouldn't be appropriate to use for my newspaper cover

Here's another picture i took of me with Rosie-Beth

I think this a better photo than the other as the lighting is improved and te picture is clear.

However I don't like the picture much, i think it would have worked better if me and Rosie-Beth were stood side by side instead of me kneeling.

I took some photo's of Georgina

looking as if she's sewing. I decided to do this because i thought it was a good idea to show students working.

I don't like the angle of this photo much and I think it would be a good idea to for Georgina to be smiling at the camera in the photo, so the photo gives a positive feeling.

I think this photo of Georgina sewing is much more successful than the last one.

I think this angle works well as you can see Georgina's face, and it looks as though she is really concentrating on sewing, and I think this really empathising the hard work the students are putting in to the fashion show, which is what I want to show on my newspaper cover.

I like the happy feeling this photo gives as

Georgina is smiling, however I feel the smile look too fake, when I'm looking for a more natural style.

Out of all the photo of Georgina I think her facial expression is best in this photo, I think the smile work really well and gives the photo a positive feel.

I think this photo needs brighter lighting, as it is fairly dark and I'd like the photo to stand out more, but I could edit this is a decide to use this photo so it shouldn't be much of an issue

What my newspaper story will be about...

I have been looking out for any event happening in my local community which would be possible for me to write about.

I have realised that a sixth form student in my school has is arranging a fashion show at my school, showing off most A-level, GCSE and maybe even some lower school students textiles work. I think this would be a good event for me to write about, as I can hold interview with Rosie-Beth Hickling who is arranging the fashion show, and take photo of the students in the process of creating their garments. Also I feel that as fashion is something I am interested in a can write about this more passionately which will create a more interesting story for the reader. As this is about what young people are doing I feel this gives a positive light on young people, unlike ordinary stereotypes, and hopefully will attract a new younger audience which I aim for.

Rethink of story idea..

I have had a rethink whilst planning my final newspaper story. I was planning on having a local newspaper with a spin of a national story, but i realised that the would make it difficult for me to use my own photographs, so i have decide to create a more local newspaper story which will add to the local community feeling I like my newspaper to create.

I have decided to complete a tally chart on in which I will categories the different types of stories shown on the This is Bristol website. This will help to see what type of stories are seen as successful, and if I think it would be a good idea to follow or challlenge these conventions.

I have been trying to come up with idea for stories in my local newspaper, but although i have been doing content analysis and close text analysis on local newspapers i have collected (which i will post on the blog once i have scanned them) i have still found this very difficult.
Here are some things i think i need to consider in order to decide what would be a successful story in my local newspaper:

• How local do i consider as local?
• a local Newspaper can be very local as the "Thornbury Gazette" - the problem with working this local is that there are less interesting.
• I could work with a less local newspaper something similar to the the Bristol "Evening Post". This is still classed as local but in a larger scale which mean there are more oppertunities to find stories as i am looking within a larger community
• Also i have noticed it has became common within local newspapers to use a worldwide stories with a local view on this. I think this is a good idea as i can use more interesting world stories, which is likely to be more exciting

I am going to look on the "Evening Post" website, on order to give me more ideas about what what is going on in my local community, and how they use more world stories with a local spin off. Heres a link to the website http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/.

Applying Narrative Theroy to Newspapers

The research me and my classmates have done on narrative theory's is not much use to me unless I apply it to Newspapers to link it to my coursework. I am going to look through some local newspaper and try to see which narrative theory's apply to the story, so that I can see what is most common and what work. Once I have done this i will decide whether I think its suitable to follow these conventions and challenge them. This will help me a lot when I write my newspaper story, as it will give me a structure and narrative idea to work with, which will inspire my story and the style of my writing.

I am going to randomly choose stories from a few local newspaper and see which narrative theories apply:

From the Evening Post, on Wednesday 7th October..
From top left story on page 27.
The story "Cafe in line for £5,000 food award". The story is about a cafe in Eastville which is taking part in a competitions with a chance of winning a £5,000 prize.
The narrative of this story:

• Begins: "Cafe in Eastville run by same family since 1964 has made it into the regional final of the Market Kitchen Local Food Heroes Awards 2009.
• Ends: "Judges will select one winner from each region as well as selecting one overall national champion by the end of October"
• The rest of the article goes into detail about what the competitions will consisted of and talks about the family and cafe that have entered.

Fitting this story to narrative theory's:

• Todorovs Theory: This theory would have the equilibrium as the audience is at first told about the family and the cafe they own, The disturbance of the Cafe getting into the final of the competition - something significant has changed for the family who own the cafe. Resolution, however this story does not have a resolution yet, as the newspaper was written before the results of the competition. So the reader does not learn about the family in the story getting a new equilibrium dependent on the results of the competition. Therefore some factors of this story fit Todorovs theory, yet does not completely follow this story as the story is 'unfinished' according to Todorovs theory.

The Future of Newspapers

The future of newspapers has been widely debated as the industry has faced down soaring newsprint prices, slumping ad sales, the loss of much classified advertising and precipitous drops in circulation. In recent years the number of newspapers slated for closure, bankruptcy or severe cutbacks has risen—especially in the United States, where the industry has shed a fifth of its journalists since 2001. Revenue has plunged while competition from internet media has squeezed older print publishers. The debate has become more urgent lately, as a deepening recession has shaved profits, and as once-explosive growth in newspaper web revenues has leveled off, forestalling what the industry hoped would become an important source of revenue. At issue is whether the newspaper industry faces a cyclical trough, or whether new technology has rendered obsolete newspapers in their traditional format.


An online newspaper, also known as a web newspaper, is a newspaper that exists on the World Wide Web or Internet, either separately or as an online version of a printed periodical.
Going online created more opportunities for newspapers, such as competing with broadcast journalism in presenting breaking news in a more timely manner. The credibility and strong brand recognition of well-established newspapers, and the close relationships they have with advertisers, are also seen by many in the newspaper industry as strengthening their chances of survival. The movement away from the printing process can also help decrease costs. Professional journalists have some advantages over blogs, as editors are normally aware of the potential for legal problems. Online newspapers are much like hard-copy newspapers and have the same legal boundaries, such as laws regarding libel, privacy and copyright, also apply to online publications in most countries, like in the UK. Also in the UK the Data Protection Act applies to online newspapers and news pages. But the distinction was not very clear to the public in the UK as to what was a blog or forum site and what was an online newspaper. In 2007, a ruling was passed to formally regulate UK based online newspapers, news audio, and news video websites covering the responsibilities expected of them and to clear up what is, and what isn't, an online publication.

News reporters are being taught to shoot video and to write in the succinct manner necessary for the Internet news pages. Many are learning how to implement blogs and the ruling by the UK's PCC should help this development of the internet. Journalism students in schools around the world are being taught about the "convergence" of all media and the need to have knowledge and skills involving print, broadcast and web. Some newspapers have attempted to integrate the internet into every aspect of their operations, i.e., reporters writing stories for both print and online, and classified advertisements appearing in both media; others operate websites that are more distinct from the printed newspaper. The Newspaper National Network LP is an online advertising sales partnership of the Newspaper Association of America and 25 major newspaper companies.

Narrative Theroy

In lessons we have been learning about Narrative theroys. I think narrative theroy are interesting, we can decide if we agree with the theroys and if are work fits them, and if this is a good or bad thing.
Here is a bit about the different narrative theroys.

Tzvetan Trodorov's Narrative Theroy

A bit about the guy:

- He was born March 1st 1939 in Sofia

- He is a Franco-Bulgarian philospher

- He has lived in France since 1963

- He has written books and essays about literary theroy, thought history and culture theroy

- Has published a total of 21 books

- He has been a visiting professor at several universities, including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Berkeley

His theroy:

- Tzventan Todorov simplified the idea of narrative theroy while also allowing a more complex interpetation of film text with his theroy of Equilibrium and Disequilibruim

- Todorov's theroy was the equilibrium and disequibruim theroy. This theroy explains that stories have certain sections

- Equilibrium = beginning, meeting the character in their own world.

- Disturbance = things change, a problem occurs the we were introduced to changes, or there is a problem with the characters.

- Resolution = The problem is solved, and a different equillibruim is restored.

Example of his theroy being put in place:

His theroy is shown in Sweeney Todd

- Equillibrium = Main character has a happy family and life, he is getting married and has a child.
- Disturbance = Judges come and take his away from his family and ruin his life. The maincharacter then come back for revenge with a new name trying to kill the judge.

- Resolution = Judge is killed but the so is the mail character but he is reunited with his love after death while his daughter is free to live her life with her love.

How Todorovs Narrative theroy could link to my work:

- Most Newpapers stories seem to follow the Equillibruim theroy, although are at different stage of the theroy, - some stories may not have reached a new Equillibruim but casn be continuing stories in newpaper. Some stories may not finish by following this narrative theroy as there is not always a new Equillibruim to be me found

- I need to make sure if i use this narrative theroy i keep my storylines realistic.

Vladimir Propp

A bit about the guy:

-Born on 17th april 1895 and died 22nd august 1970 - aged 75.

His Theroy:

-Propp came up with the narrative theory from the russian folk tales.

- He extended the Russian Formalist approach to narratology (the study of narrative structure).

- Where, in the Formalist approach, sentence structures had been broken down into analysable elements - morphemes - Propp used this method by analogy to analyse folk tales.

- By breaking down a large number of Russian folk tales into their smallest narrative units - narratemes - Propp was able to arrive at a typology of narrative structures.

-By analysing types of characters & action, Propp was able to arrive at the conclusion that there were thirty-one generic narratemes in the Russian folk tale.

- While not all are present, he found that all the tales he analysed displayed the functions in unvarying sequence.

- After the initial situation is depicted, the tale takes the following sequence:

• A member of a family leaves home (the hero is introduced);
• An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'go to this place');
• The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale);
• The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find them 　　　　　　children/jewels etc; or intended victim questions the villain);
• The villain gains information about the victim;
• The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim);
• Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy;
• Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc, comits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc);
• Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative is that victimised hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment);
• Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action;
• Hero leaves home;
• Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving 　　　magical agent or helper (donor)
• Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against them);
• Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
• Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search
• Hero and villain join in direct combat;
• Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);
• Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
• Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revivied, captive freed);
• Hero returns;
• Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
• Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, her transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life
• Hero unrecognised, arrives home or in another country;
• False hero presents unfounded claims;
• Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance,other tasks);
• Task is resolved;
• Hero is recognised (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
• False hero or villain is exposed;
• Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc);
• Villain is punished;
• Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted)

- These narrative functionare also spread between the main characters. - Propp also decided that a narrative needed to have:-

• The villain, who struggles with the hero
• the donor,
• who prepares and/or provides hero with magical agent
• the helper, who assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures the hero
• the Princess, a sought-for person (and/or her father), who exists as a goal and often recognizes and marries hero and/or punishes villain
• the dispatcher, who sends the hero off
• the hero, who departs on a search (seeker-hero), reacts to the donor and weds at end
• the false hero (or antihero or usurper), who claims to be the hero, often seeking and reacting like a real hero (ie by trying to marry the princess)

Roland Barthes

A bit about the guy

- Roland Barthes was born on 12 November 1915

- Born in the town of Cherbourg in Normandy.

- He was the son of naval officer Louis Barthes, who was killed in a battle in the North Sea before his son was one year old.

- His mother, Henriette Barthes, and his aunt and grandmother raised him in the village of Urt and the city of Bayonne.

- When Barthes was eleven, his family moved to Paris and it was there that he would grow to manhood (though his attachment to his provincial roots would remain strong throughout his life).
- Barthes showed great promise as a student and spent the period from 1935 to 1939 at the Sorbonne, earning a license in classical letters.

- He died 25 March 1980

His theroy

- Barthes agrues that the 'author' no longer exist, and because of ideas such as surrealism and the insights offered by modern thought, anything created is just a compilation of previous ideas and conventions drawn from previous texts.

- This theroy basically says instead of the author of a media text being the one controlling the meaning, it is the reader of the text that interprets it in a way which is relevant to their past experiences and knowledge of convention

- Roland Barthes describes a text as "galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can reach, they are indeterminable . . . ; the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language"

- What he is basically saying is that a text is like a tangled ball of threads, which need unravelling so we can separate out the colours.

- Once we start to unravel a text, we encounter an absolute plurality of potential meanings.

- We can start by looking at narrative in one way, from one viewpoint, bringing to bear one set of previous experiences and create one meaning for the text

- You can continue by unravelling the narrative from a different angle by pulling a different thread if you like and create an entirely different meaning, and so on.

- Texts can be 'Open', ie unravelled in a lot of different ways

- A text can also be 'Closed' and there is only one obvious thread to pull on.

- Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try to unravel meaning are called narative codes and they could be categoried in the following five ways:

• Action/proiarectic code and enigma codes (ie questions and answers)
• Symbols and signs
• Point of culture reference
• Simple description/reproduction

We've been given a sheet on right and left politics which i found very useful:-

I found this sheet very useful as it helped me to clarify the difference between left and right wing politics, which I've never completely understood.

I will now be able to refer to politics in work and I can either make me work fit left or right side of politics, which i think is an important aspect as both politics and newspapers are an important part of today society so there will need to be links and newspapers usually have a lot to do with politics.

Google docs

I have created a google doc account so it is easier for me to access my documents and put my documents on my blog..
I will test this later today, hopefully this will be successful so i will i have a easier way to share my documents.

Website for Bus Poster

My teacher has given me a link to a website which he found which he thinks will be useful to me as i have decided to do bus advertisements as my poster. It is a website for a company which create bus advertisements, which has different dimensions for bus advertisements so I can use these to decide size and scale I wish to work with. I will use these different scales to try some flat plans. This is a link to the website: http://www.psvmedia.co.uk/options.


I think it will be a good idea to do some different kind of flat plans to see what works best, and to try to be more creative in my flat plans, so i think as well as using the dementions of buses from the website to creative had drawn flat plans, i think i would be a good idea to also use digital technology to create some flat plans.
I have taken photos of buses with poster and advertisments one, (both side and back views), I will work with on pages with the macs to remove the poster from the picture of the bus, and i can now create flat plans with on the photo of the bus. I could do this several ways, (and I am most likely to try more than one way) I am thinking of doing this usings either pages, photoshop, or by hand drawing.

Bus posters :)

After thinking about it for a while i have decided the most suitable form for my poster would be for it to be on a local bus. I think this the best idea because:-

• I would reach more people as the bus is moving
• I could choose the which bus route my poster would be on, and look at stereotypicially people would will see the advert and therefore whos most likely to read my newspaper. So I'd have more control in attract my target audience
• I can choose where on the bus the poster is and also the size and scale I need to work with.

Poster?

Because I've noticed that Newspaper posters are uncommon I've been trying to to think of a more interesting format for a poster so that it is more interesting and more likely to do a better job in advertising my product, and attract a larger audience.
Some idea for more interesting newspaper adverts:-

• Billboard adverts - likely to attract lots of attention because on a large scale, i would have to find out size and work to scale, where the billboard is would depend on who notices it and therefore who reads the newspaper so i'd need to insure the billboard was in the right place, and obviously would have to be placed somewhere the local community would reconignse it
• Bus adverts (bus stops and on buses) - Also large so would attract attention, would need to find shapes and size so would have to work to scale, where on the bus it is placed would be a factor to consider as it can be in different place on the bus which would effect the size and scale i work with, The bus route would effect people who see the advert and therefore who read my newspaper, on buses seem more appropriate are moving and therefore the advert will be shown to a large scale of people