Recce

1.Are there any potential hazards that could pose a health and safety risk where your photo shoot will take place (trailing cables/traffic/other objects )?

I will be taking my images outside and the cold weather will have to be a consideration. I will take my images as quickly, however effectively as I can to make sure no models are too cold

2. What will you do to ensure these risks are minimised

I will stay clear of main roads that could cause potential hazards. I will also avoid taking images on rainy days to avoid making my images look dull and my models getting wet.

3. Will the time of day/weather affect the outcome of the photos? Have you allowed for this?

I am going to take my images in day light as I want to use natural lighting. Because I am doing a local newspaper for my product, the images need to represent real life. The natural lighting will help emphasize this. I hope for the weather to be sunny and dry. Because it is winter however, I cannot rely on the weather too much and will have to think of other methods of constructing messages in my images.

4. Have you considered the background to your photos, particularly if taken outside? How will you ensure you will get the background you want?

For my images, the backgrounds will be recognisable places throughout Sunderland, so the target audience can relate and recognise them, persuading them to read the article. Here the background will act as a captivator and draw the audience’s attention towards the image & article. For example, for one of my images I will be taking an image in Burdon. This is a scenic location and helps promote Sunderland

5. Have you considered lighting? What about the ‘problems’ of natural lighting, either outside, or streaming through a window? Will you need to use a flash? Have you considered reflective objects that might spoil the effect?

I will rely on natural lighting to emphasis aspects in my images, however failure or lack of natural lighting will result in the use of my camera flash. This will help brighten aspects of the image and help emphasis a happy mood if failure to do so by the natural lighting.

6. Do you need permission to take photos in the place/venue you have in mind?

No, all my places are in a free location.

7. Do you need to book time in a room (eg the photography studio at Shiney)?

I intend to take my images in an outside location.

8. Are other people/crowds likely to be an issue for you? What have you done to ensure that it will not spoil the effect?

As my locations for my images are popular places in Sunderland, I will have to take them at an early time to overcome this problem. For example, for one of my Images the location will be Seaburn Beach. Due to the winter season, crowds of people won’t be an issue however to decrease the chances even further I will take them on a morning.

9. Are you reliant on lifts/props/friends’ equipment/models? How have you planned that these things will come together at the appointed time? Plan B?

I am reliant on my friends who will act as models for my images. I have already contacted them and they are willing to act as models. I have asked what dates they are available and built a schedule around them.

representations within local newspapers

 

Within local newspapers, representations are varied. Because the news reported has originated from the local community, there are no age or gender restrictions within the news stories. Although the journalists and editors will want to represent the people within the news stories as positive, to have a make a good reflection on the City, they have to take into account the treatment value ‘Truth’. This being the journalist reporting the story has to make sure that the news is based on a true real life event and the local community who read the paper will not be deceived. This can alter the positive representation within newspapers, and account for new stories about local murders or criminals.

  Fundamentally, within a local newspaper, the local community is being represented through the citizens and their behaviour. The articles included are chosen to give a truthful representation of the city/town, together with the news value ‘Composition’, which was proposed by Galtung and Ruge. This news value states that article in a newspaper should be balanced to have a successful effect, for example one positive, up lifting news story with counter balance one negative degrading one.

The community is represented through each aspect and convention of a local newspaper. Through technical and symbolic codes, carefully consideration has been taken by editors to make sure the newspaper clearly represents the town/city it is reporting from. Unlike other media products, such as magazines or films, the target audience of a local newspaper isn’t specific to gender and age, however just the town it is representing. This means that conventions tend to be gender neutral. An example of this would be the colour scheme in the Sunderland Echo. Like every media product, a colour scheme is essential in giving the product a house style, which helps the audience recognise the product brand and give it an identity. Readers of the Sunderland Echo will recognise it immediately in a newspaper rack due to its familiar colour scheme that is used in each issue; red, white and black. The red and white are initially used to represent Sunderland. They are personal colours to the Sunderland community, as it is the colours that represent the Sunderland Football Club, and therefore Sunderland itself. Fans of football will associate the newspaper with supporting the football club, and be intrigued, and maybe feel obliged to purchase the paper. Again because the colours represent the football club and Sunderland, the local community with feel the paper represents themselves, and feel a close attachment with the paper, something that supports their home town. Here the editor has constructed the technical code so it will have this approach on the audience and represent a local, proud community.

 

News stories that frequently occur in the Sunderland Echo are family based, and there are often medium close ups used for article images revealing beaming happy families (cheese box pose). This portrays to the audience that positive things are happening within their city and furthermore portrays a family unit quality which can be influential to some readers.

“Barthes (cited in Bagnell, 1977:98) suggests that the newspaper photograph is ‘an object that has been worked on, chosen, composed, constructed, treated according to professional, aesthetic or ideological norms which are so many factors of connotation”

FAMILY UNIT

This image is a medium/ long shot a collection of both male and females, ranging from new born – to 30’s/40’s. Straight away the audience can tell the story is gender neutral. The signifier within the image, with relation to Semantic codes, is people sitting close together smiling. The signified however, relates to the audience thoughts of the image. For example they will deduce from the close proximity between the people, that they have a close relation or strong bonding. The range of ages and genders suggests them as a family, especially how the man and woman are centre in the middle of the image, framed by children. Because the people within the image are smiling, it portrays and represents them as a happy family. Here, the signifiers have been constructed to allow the audience connote the happy family vibe, and construct a family unit, that they will be able to easily recognise or relate to. The fact that the people within the image are positioned on a setae also strengthens the connotation of a family environment, as the picture seems to be taken in a family home.  The family connotations within the image have a positive effect on the target audience, who will be able to relate to the image, or may even be inspirational to some dysfunctional families. The image plays a significant role of drawing the audience in and inviting them to read the article. It ill also ensure them the newspaper is family friendly as it is promoting families. This is a ‘graphic Code’. The image her will have been selected by editor, in relation to how well it connotes a message. For example, the newspaper will of gone through a selection process. The photographer may of taken pictures in a different location or setting, maybe the members in different positions, however the editor will of chosen it as it represents the designated message most successfully; a family unit. Another graphic code considered within the image is colour. The colour palette is natural and the people within haven’t been airbrushed like you would expect to find in a newspaper. This makes the image and the article more realistic and relatable for the target audience. Another graphic code is the size of the image in proportion to the article. It is the largest image on the page and is larger than the article itself, and therefore dominates it. This gives an importance to the images, and strengthens the family connotations. Paradigmatically, photographs involve connotations, and thus the significance of the particular photographs which have been chosen can be seen more clearly when considering what other paradigmatic connotations might have appeared in their place. It is interesting to notice that if one signifier within the image was changed, the signified would therefore also be different. For example, if the people within the image weren’t smiling, and instead had solemn or scowling pictures, this could connote an unhappy, stressed family, maybe grieving over a family loss or a family feud. Again because the newspaper is local, the community may feel a sense of pride that this model family is representing their community, and they are happy and prepared to do so.  This therefore portrays the city as having strong family bonds, and promoting family connections. What should be considered however is that the semiotic codes within the image aren’t accountable for each individual member of the target audience. The signifiers within the image may connote different messages and values to different readers, depending on age or gender. Semiotic analysis cannot determine how an individual reader might interpret the representations of the news items in a real social context.

The fact that family based images and articles are included frequently within the Sunderland Echo, adds to the house style of the paper. This displays to the audience that Sunderland promotes family life, and is proud and values families within the local community. This representation appeals to the target audience. Because everyone has a family, the representation isn’t age or gender specific, meaning it represents and appeals to the target audience of the local newspaper. It will appeal to all family members within a household, as there are members within the image that they can relate, for example fathers can relate and be inspired by the father figure in the image, the daughter of the family can be inspired by the daughter featured in the image. Again this suggests how the newspaper is appealing to the local community, and including all ages and gender.

PRIDE

This image is a good example of local newspapers representing proud moments within the local community. The image is a medium long shot of 3 people with close proximity, smiling. The girl in the middle is young, holding a heart shaped balloon. These are the signifiers in the image. The signified, what the audience can interpret is that this girl is the daughter of the lady and gentlemen either side of her. The way she is framed directly in the middle portrays to the audience that she is the centre of the article. Also because the caption includes a name ‘Kaylee’ the audience can presume the girl is in fact Kaylee. The smiling faces and the close proximity connote a happy strong family unit. The linguistic message here helps the reader have a stronger connotation. Within the image there is a lot of reference to hearts, there is a heart balloon featured and the play on word ‘hearty’ in the anchor. Here the audience can interpret that the girl in the image has had a heart problem. Because she is smiling, it portrays her as strong and a fighter, and shows that she doesn’t let the problem get her down. Furthermore, these signifiers trigger emotions so the audience become attached to the people featured, and intrigued to purchase the newspaper and read the article. The graphic code here suggests a lot about the importance of the article. The image is positioned at the back of the text, and large in scale. This represents the article as having importance, and dominating the test, representing it well.

News stories representing pride have a positive effect on the reader and prove popular, as it gives something for the community to be proud off. For my own product, I may consider representing pride to stick to conventions of existing products and make my product as realistic as possible.