LINK TO EVALUATION

http://gemmawestlandsa2evaluation.blogspot.co.uk/

Analysing Students work

Looking at past students work is helpful in influencing in my product. It is clear to see how they adapted conventions of Local newspapers to their product. The fact I was able to recognise this has strengthened my knowledge and made me feel confident that I will be able to do it for my own product.  Something that the past students work did well was have a house style, consisting of recognisable fonts and  colour scheme. This has influenced my own product. Looking at Existing products has been helpful as it has showed me what not to do for my product. Although the majority of the students work I looked at included the correct conventions, some didn't, for example in 'The North East Inquisitor', the layout of the articles does not follow the standard conventions of a Local Newspaper.

photo shoot planning

With regards to collecting the images for my 
 product, I emailed my friends to ask them to be my models, and explained the role they would play in my product.

 By asking them for assistance for my product enables me to get a rough idea of when I will be able to do take my images and speeds up the process of completion of my product.
I have also devised a list of locations I will need:

1. Seaburn beach- I will be needing this location for the Crayola Pencil article. 
2. Old Burden- This location is for my main article
3. Oak tree farm- This location will be needed for a feature above the line fold.

Changing articles: 

During construction of my product, I have decided to change my main article from Seaburn Beach renovation to an escapee highland cow. The Sea front renovation article will now be a side article on my second page, and briefer than my first draft. As my article is short, there will be no need for an image now. 

Asking Permission
For my main article, I need to take an image of a model couple with a calf. Therefore I will need to write and ask the permission of the farm owner to check it is ok to photograph his cattle. 

Webpage ancillary task

To help me construct my webpage ancillary task, I have watched several Adobe Dreamweaver tutorials on how to use Dreamweaver. Having never used the software before, the videos gave me the basic information and skills I need and I will apply them to my product.


http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-dreamweaver-cs5/getting-started-gs-what-is-dreamweaver-cs5-/

This clip acted as an introduction to the software and told me some background information on the product.

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-dreamweaver-cs5/getting-started-gs-what-is-dreamweaver-cs5-/

I then continued to view the tutorials on this site that were title according to the information they provided. When constructing my ancillary task, I will refer back to these videos to help my work.

when creating my Online site I have to consider why might people choose to view the site instead of purchasing the paper?

• The site is more virtual and convenient, lots of people are using internet technology ,therefore good promotion method
• Interactional, a way for the paper to get close to its audience and make it more accessible for them. If people are on the internet anyway, it will be easier for them to get their news online than leave the house, especially on cold days.

Deconstructions

What have I learn from my deconstructions?

• Positioning of features is CRUCIAL. When the audience is using the site, it is very easy for them to look on another site if they are bored by mine. Therefore, I need to make sure the most important news feature is positioned directly nearly the top of the page and large so it is one of the first things the viewer can see. The other news features need to be positioned around, though smaller to demonstrate that they are less important.
• My images need to be bright and colourful, however also include and supplement the house style of my product. The main colour of my product is red to represent Sunderland, therefore it will be helpful if images can consist or the colour red to help give the site an identity.
• writing over images- this is a good method of communication and telling the audience what the image is about. The text must be positioned at the bottom of the mage as to not distract attention or make the image less visible. I can also create hyperlinks with the text to take the audience directly to where they need to be. This is a fast and virtual method for the audience.
• My features must be clear and not claustrophobic. Although I need all my features to stand out and attract the audience, having them clumped together will make the site look disorganised and hard to follow. Creating barriers between features will be helpful, like the Chronicle Online does by positioning Thumbnail hyperlinks between features to break it up and add organisation. If audiences see how organised my 'Sunderland Life ' site is, they may opt to continually read the product online, and also spread the words to friends and family. This is a fast successful method of promotion.
• references to web 2.0 is crucial. Throughout the page their is constant Facebook logins and references, showing the site is trying to get involved with social networking sites. I will do this for my product as it is a way of promotion and is also a more accessible, convenient method for a large proportion of my target audience (teenagers-middle aged) who are constantly using Facebook. The fact they will be able to get their news on these networking sites will be more convenient for them, they will feel more obliged.

 

 

 

 

 

please click here to view my zooming presentation on deconstructing websites.

presentation

We have each individually done a presentation dedicated on our product, in which we show our class mates a brief overview of our product. Our teacher recorded us and then marked us specifically on presentation skills, as well as clear format.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC8uqboMb_Y Here is the first part of my presentation.




It was useful doing this activity as I got a chance to interact with one key section of my target audience. I also gained some useful feedback from candidates. They asked me questions like how I was going to make my product appeal to a certain audience which prompted my thinking. when I said I was going to make it more accessible for a teenage audience by making it available online, this appealed to them and most commented that they would enjoy this feature as they use the internet on a daily basis.
Another helpful aspect of my presentation was some encouragement I got of my peers. They generally said they liked my product which gave me confidence and also told me I was appealing correctly to a key sector of my t.a.

Inspirational Texts

 For my local newspaper product, I will be analysing closely existing products in order to familiarise myself with conventions that I can adapt to my own work. I will be looking at certain texts for inspiration as to what I want my product to be like.

One of my inspirational texts is The Sunderland Echo-

It has a similar target audience to that of my product (family’s/locals) and is highly popular throughout the local region. I will deconstruct several Sunderland Echo’s to learn the characteristics and conventions of the product. I will aim to subvert some of the conventions as I want to involve teenagers more in my product.

Deconstructing the Sunderland Echo will prove useful in my research as I will be able to familiarise myself with the standard layout of a local newspaper and also learn about what type of articles they product, which will help me learn a great deal about my audience.

The Sunderland echo has large recognition and is the most successful local newspaper throughout Sunderland. Therefore  I will look up to this product for inspiration and construct my product with the Sunderland Echo in mind.  


For my product, I have also took inspiration from the daily newspaper 'Metro'. Although this provides national news as well as local, the layout has been very influential for my own product. The fact the newspaper provides both local and national news allows me to view the contrasting conventions between the Sunderland Echo. Here, I have learnt what conventions to include and not include in my own product.
 

action plan

Summer holidays:

·         Written proposal- description of my product will go on my blog.

·         Flat plans for my product- can be subject to change after doing deconstructions

·         Inspirational texts- upload these to blog.

·         Description of my target audience. This way I know from before construction of my product who I am appealing to.

October holidays:

·         Do my preliminary task: poster. This product shouldn't take too long to construct. Looking at existing products they are mainly simplistic, therefore my poster will be too. I will aim to take the image for the poster who will be posing as the editor. I will send my friend an email to ask if she will model for me. Getting my preliminary task constructed and out the way leaves more time to focus on my main product.

·         Take image of cinema and oak tree farm for which will feature on the front page of my product. By taking this images it means these are out the way and will allow me more time to focus on writing my articles.

·         Doing blog work- I am too complete all 4 deconstructions for my main product as well as the three for the preliminary tasks. By doing this I get to familiarise myself with the conventions from an early stage. This will help me with the construction of my product.

·         Research on last student’s work- I intend to get this done as I can get a feel of how others have designed this product. Looking at their grades I will be able to deconstruct them and see what I like and don’t like. This will be useful in the construction of my own product.

·         I will type up my notes from semiotics onto my blog and apply it to my product. I will be able to look back at these for revision notes also.

·         Script- I will aim to write a script for my Radio preliminary task, which I will aim to construct in the February holidays.

·         Evidence of online research- again this will reflect over my deconstructions

·         Focus groups and evidence- I will use social networking sites such as Facebook to question find out about my target audience- hat are there interests etc. I will then use this info for the construction of my product.

·         I will hand out questionnaires- some of my target audience may not use sites such as Facebook therefore I will target them with questionnaires.

December Holidays

·         For the Christmas holidays, I aim to take some trial images and explore some camera techniques, to see which would be best for my product. This can also help improve my image quality and make my images look more professional.

·         Research into institutions- This will not take long, however I shall do t in the Christmas holidays to make sure I do a thorough job. I will then create my own institution/logo, to go on my poster and newspaper product.

 

Images I will aim to take

Crayola Pencil images, on the Seafront. I will prepare by emailing my friend to ask her if she will model and also prepare an outfit.

·         I will also aim to write my article out. Looking at my flat plans that I created for my summer work, I see I have to construct 5 articles. With article ideas in mind, I will write these articles and then edit them into my product. This will ensure that I am keeping up to date with the construction of my product.

·         Photo-shoot planning and recce- I will get this out the way and do this early. This will help me plan my photo shoots and keep me prepared and organised with my work.

·         Costume and Make up planning- again will do this based on my articles and will help keep me organised for my photo shoot. This can also increase the professionalism of my images.

·         Notes on feminism- will copy these up and show how they apply to my product. I can then refer to these for revision

February Holidays-

·         Quotes from my target audience- I intend to update my target audience with my product so I know if I am appealing to them correctly. I will quote my target audience to show this.

·         Initial images uploaded to my blog- include those that I will and won’t be including and why.