genre research

For my newspaper product, the Genre is going to be ‘Local’. It is extremely important that before I construct my product, I do thorough research into the existing genre, to make my product as realistic as possible. Genre is seen as a structuralist approach to literary, print, film theory and much more. Studying the ‘Local Newspaper’ genre, I will be able to find and examine the structural elements that combine and put together the telling of a story, or events in the case of my product. I will be able to base my product on these elements, also known as ‘Paradigm’. I will analyse and take apart several different local Newspapers, to see if a fundamental pattern emerges. Here I will distinguish the Genre, and with it the conventions that belong to it.

There is Genres for almost every creative product, for example, films, tv shows, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, books and much more. It is important that when whatever product you are going to construct, moving image or print, that you have a genre in mind, with conventions that will help you produce the product to a successful level. Some Genres, appeal to audiences more than others, for example some people prefer reading a tabloid newspaper than a Broadsheet, so with the importance of Genre, comes the importance of appealing to the correct audience. Directors of films can look at existing Genres to see how well they appeal to audiences, and this will determine whether they will base their film on that Genre.

For my product, the genre of my Newspaper will be Local. With a local Newspaper, it is deemed important for it to appeal to the full extent of the city/town it concerns. The rules of genre can be applied to my product, and promote the organisation of my product. Over the years, the boundaries between genres have decreased, and some critics say it’s hard to define a products genre. Some conventions overlap, and one product could include elements from several different genres. In order to make sure I keep to my correct genre, I will follow the description by Jane Furere, who divided ways to categorize genres, into 3 separate groups.  

A newspaper is a source of information in print for the public to read. It is the equivalent to what is on news channels, however in a written format, which can be read on busses, trains or simply in the house for morning reading. There are different formats of newspapers available to suit different audience types. A tabloid newspaper has news based on celebrities and gossip that will interest the mass audience, whereas a Broadsheet newspaper touches on political and business matters, for example the Guardian or the Independent.

Newspapers have both a visual and literal element available to the audience, and can be referred back to and re-read. Special editions of newspapers are available for things of mass interest to the audience, for example Royal Weddings and the Olympics which can be kept as souvenirs of the events. Audiences have a chance to get more involved with the news by reading a newspaper, as news articles are wrote more directly, some using first person pro nouns. Typical conventions of newspapers that allow a closer relationship are competitions and quizzes, and even posters.

An audience reading a newspaper may digest more news than someone watching it, as they are paying their full attention to the article, and may feel more obliged to read the stories in depth as they have paid for it.

Paradigms is the explanation of all conventions of a genre being put together, and being recognised as a genre.
view this link to see my research of codes and conventions of Local Newspapers
Before I researched into the conventions of the existing products, I analysed a front page of a local Newspaper to see what my initial knowledge is. I will later compare the comventions before and after.

please click on this link to view the text more closely!

Analysising existing products-

To construct a Local Newspaper to the best of my abilities, I am going to deconstruct several Local Newspapers so that I am familiar with the standard conventions and layout. This will help me when it comes to constructing my own Newspaper, as I’ll use and develop the existing conventions that I learn about.  

click here to see my research on codes and conventions of existing Local Newspapers
click here to view my research on anchored images

click here to see my deconstruction of the first 2 pages of the Sunderland Echo 

EXTRA THOUGHTS

In this particular local Newspaper, ‘The Wear’, two main stories are featured on the front page, own with a political theme, the other about a house fire. Positioned to the right of the front cover is a ‘spoiler’ column of what the audience can expect to find inside, constructed similar to a contents table. There are several features from the contents page that will attract different audiences, maximizing the overall potential audience of the Newspaper. For example, there is a News section with a ‘Politics special’. This can interest a range of different ages who are interested in politics, persuading them to pick up the Local Newspaper. The next column down is ‘On Campus’, which is specifically for teenagers attending college/ University, so immediately we can see the Newspaper is appealing to different types of audiences, and aren’t specifically appealing towards an age group, or a gender. Also on the ‘What’s inside’ table is a ‘Fashion’ column, and further down a ‘Sports’ column. Those who pick up the newspaper will immediately be able to see that it has something in for everyone. This persuades when I construct my own newspaper to include features that will appeal to both genres, of different ages.

According to Galtung And Ruges theory, the more new values a story has in, the more popular and newsworthy they prove to be. The news articles on the front page of ‘The Wear’ are most likely to be chosen according to the amount of news values they have. Within the ‘New Mayor vows to do city proud’ article, there is lots an abundance of new values that together, will make the article News worthy. One of the news values included is ‘Reference To Elite Person’. This is when a rich person or someone with a high status of power is featured in an article. In this particular article, this concerns the mayor, who in the article picture is having his chain of honour placed around his neck, clearly showing the audience he is the new mayor adding a visual factor. Another news value included is ‘Meaningfulness’. For the people of Sunderland, this articles definitely concerns them as they are been given a new mayor. The target audience of the Newspaper is initially, the people of Sunderland; therefore this article achieves the goal of appealing to the intended audience. Another news value included in the article is ‘Conflict’, although it is only minor, and can be considered quite humorous. The new mayor I said to be a Newcastle fan “The chains of the office were passed down to Sunderland’s new mayor Dennis Richardson this week, despite his being a Newcastle United fan”.

  I took a closer look at the articles on the front page, and deconstructed what slection values, news values and treatment values were included by the journalist.



























Deconstructing the articles has helped my understanding of how an article is written. I have learnt that it is important to consider what newsvalues and treatment values will appeal to your target audience, to ensure they will have an enjoyable read. When making my product, I will refer back to my notes on article writing to help me achieve a high grade.

poster ancillary task

FLAT PLANS!

I have constructed a flat plan for what my initial thought for the layout and presentation of my poster will be. Here is my rationale explaining my choices.

Colour:

For my newspaper poster ancillary task,  I intend to use the same colour scheme as my newspaper, to achieve the product having a house style and proving recognisable to the audience. Since the newspaper is local, the poster will therefore be local to. Because of this I want my colour scheme to represent the local proximity successfully, to make audiences aware that the paper is local. I will use red, white and black as my main colours, as these best represent the city of Sunderland. These colour mean a great depth to the locals, especially those intrigued with football. It is important that these colours are gender neutral as it means both can relate to the product. Also the red and white colours unite the community, whatever age or gender you are, as people feel a strong passion and admiration towards the football club, and therefore the newspaper because they think it’s supporting it. The poster will immediately alert people of this and persuade them to seek the newspaper and purchase it. If I include an image on my poster, I want the colour palette to be natural so the audience can for see the paper as being relatable and realistic.

Images:

For my poster, I intend to have one main dominating image to captivate the audience and initially persuade them to go and purchase the newspaper. The role of the Poster is to introduce the audience to the newspaper and act as an icebreaker. This means that the poster needs to be welcoming and energetic, to best represent newspaper and show it as friendly. Therefore my main image will be a close up of a satisfied reader. This will act as a reaction shot and captivate their happy smile, showing to the audience that the newspaper is a joyous read. Because the poster includes a reader means the target audience can relate to it immediately, and share the same views on it. The mise en scene within the image is going to be basic, as to not distract attention away from the reaction shot. It will be in the local surroundings, a recognisable place so the target audience can immediately establish that the poster is advertising a local newspaper. Because the person featured is going to be a relatable device to my poster, she/he will need to be down to earth, their clothing will be simply yet attractive. The colour palette and lighting will be natural to portray a relatable person.

Text:

My poster will include text that will represent my local newspaper. The slogan will be catchy and I will consider using rhetoric devices to captivate the target audience and persuade them to purchase the newspaper. With text, elements such as syntax and lexica field have to be considered, which will influence my word choice. I will choose a slogan which will appeal to my entire target audience, even if it is interpreted differently. The masthead will be the largest text on the page (technical code), to initiate to the potential audience the newspaper it is advertising, (symbolic code). The slogan will be positioned directly under the image, following the natural human eye flow, making it easily digestible. Any extra information such as website links or telephone numbers will be positioned on the bottom left, following existing conventions. This also means it isn’t distracting the reader’s attentions from main conventions of the poster which will persuade them tp purchase the product more than the extra information.

After creating a flat plan of my poster, I constructed a hand drawing of a rough plan of my main image. Although it is just an idea, I made a few additional notes which will help me decide whether I wish to pursue this idea and carry out the photo shoot.

This promotional film poster can be expected to be found a place where the audience will have enough time to digest the information supplied, and get a taste of what the film is about. From the poster, we can guess this is a teaser poster as a date isn’t specified; however a time period is given. This poster would be found in bus shelters, when those waiting for the bus have time to look over it, and may even supply them entertainment while they wait. We can also expect to find it in cinemas, and billboards.

Passing the poster quickly, the main things the audience would notice would be the main characters as they are the biggest features of the poster and are centered directly in the middle. The colours of the characters are also more heavy darks, and appear to have a thicker texture, making them more noticeable against the washed out background. The other element of the poster the audience would notice would be the title as the heads of the characters are overlapping it, and the audience’s eye would be immediately drawn to it. The colour is also startling white, contrasting with the washed out background.

From the poster, the audience will be able to interpret that these characters may be the protagonist. It is clear from the positioning of the men that the man in front is Sherlock Holmes, and we can presume from his confident smile, that the man behind him is his accomplice.

In the background of the poster, several items are featured which will give an insight to the audience of what the fill is about. Firstly, we can see a gun. This suggests immediately to the audience that the film is an action adventure, or will have some levels of violence. A series of newspapers are also featured. Due to the large amount of technology platforms available for communication today, this suggests to the audience that the film is set in the past, and perhaps have some political views featured. Furthermore, suggesting that the film is set in the past, there is a bottle of poison, an old fashion method of killing.  

DECONSTRUCTIONS OF NEWSPAPERS:

For this poster, it is affective in appealing to its target audience as it is gender neutral. The features included on the receipt will equally appeal to male and female. Although this is an advert for a national newspaper, I learnt the generic conventions and will be able to adapt them to my own product. I have learnt that a simple style can be made effective.

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2.

By looking at existing products from both national and local products, I have learnt a great deal about the conventions included which will help me product my own product. For example I have learnt that the colour scheme is important and can connote emotions as well as represent a house style. Other things I have learnt:

• An image doesn’t necessarily have to be of a person.
• Layout can help frame the image
• Posters include websites, which helps portray the product as diverse.

flatplans

After deciding to construct the first two pages of a newspaper for my A2 Media coursework, I firstly designed 2 flat plans and along with it, an essay to explain my choices for certain conventions. When doing the flatplans, I didnt have the full intention to construct my Newspaper fro them, however they were an influential point and will help me anayse my progress with understanding the layout of a Newspaper.

When starting work on my flatplans, I didnt have much knowledge of the newspaper audience, or how they were generally layed out. I decided that the target audience for my Newspaper would be Teenagers heading to University. However after constructive critsiscm from my teacher, she helped me understand that Local Newspapers tend to have an older audience and not be so specififed to a teenage one. This changed my thoughts and opinions on how I would layout my Newspaper.

In my flatplans, my teacher told me I was focusing too much on teenagers, and that since I was constructing a Local newspaper, I need to suit the needs of a much larger audience both female and male, old and young. Adter taking this in account, when constrcuting my Newspaper, I will change colour schemes and certain conventions, as my initial colours I want to use, (blues and pinks), which wont necassirly appeal to men. Another factor I need to take into account is that newspaper ink is expensive, and I should stick to black ink for the text usage as this is more cost effective, and will look more like an existing product.

One of the images I wanted to include on my newspapaer, was a festival one, however again this wouldnt be sticking to a local newspaper convention, as not all age rangers who read local newspapers would enjoy this feature and the event didnt take place in the local region.

SECOND PAGE FLATPLANS

Similarly, with the front page, most my ideas were designed to target specifically teenagers, however the teachers constructive criticism has helped me find a more suitable target audience. I decided to find out more about the target audience of Local Newspapers, so I will carry out a research task, to see if a pattern develops.This way I'll be able to construct a more useful flat plan which will help me produce the product to the correct target audience.

Second construction of flat plans:

Flat plan for front page explained

After deconstructing several Local newspapers, I learnt more about the conventions and why they are positioned the way they are. This influenced me to change my flat plan for my front page to make it more appealing to my target audience and furthermore making it look more realistic.

In the explanation for my first flat plan, I discussed the colors that I intend to use within my colour scheme. I have decided to keep these the same as after analysing existing products, most local newspapers consist of colours that represent their local city.

I have decided to change the layout of some certain features to make my product have a more professional outcome. For example, I have now intended to have ‘PUGS’ at the top of the page which act as the ears of the newspaper. These are USP specifically designed to target my intended audience and strengthen their decision to purchase the paper. The left feature will be an image of a well-known restraint ‘Oak Tree Farm’ featured at Doxford Park and will be accompanied by a slogan to represent it. This feature will focus on the establishment going bust and business decreasing. The feature to the right will be a chance for the audience to win something. I will decide to choose from a range of buzz words such as ‘free’ or ‘win’. This will appeal to my target audience who will see this as a positive reason for buying the paper if they feel they will get something for free. The item they will receive free, I will make sure has something to do with the local surrounding. The audience will see this as more convenient and again will strengthen their decision to purchase the product.

At the bottom of the page, I have decided to position a feature entitled ‘WIN- City break for the family’ followed by the page number. It will be based upon a red block strip, to make it stand out against the other articles. This means that when the target audience, having been attracted to the product by seeing the USPs and the masthead positioned at the direct top of the page, will pull the newspaper out of the stand and immediately be drawn to the bottom feature. Again, the buzz word ‘Win’ that I intend to use will open the readers mind to other connotations today with winning, for example, something free. I have chosen to make the prize be a city break as it is the winter time, and most locals will be fed up with the wintery weather. A city break will make the readers think of a get away from winter. The fact it will say ‘for the family’ registers to the readers the target audience for the newspaper and that the product is family friendly.

Furthermore, I have decided to include a taster article at the side of the main article. The article will be positioned right of the main article image and therefore the readers will become aware of it quite suddenly. The feature a heading followed by a small passage which will alert the audience what they will expect to find on the page. In most cases, the heading of these articles are basic and get to the point simplistically. For example, the article to the left says, ‘Family’s shocked as schoolgirl, 16, found dead’. Due to the limited space, the heading has to form a quick surmise of the article itself. This is a convention I intend to use for my product.

FLAT PLAN FOR WEBSITE