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.

 

costume and Make-up planning

Costume and Make-up planning:

For my article images, I need them to represent real life. This images need to be something that the target audience can relate to. Therefore I want to the keep the costumes and makeup simple. Unlike for my AS coursework, the models for my images could wear imaginative and stylish clothing, and the make-up could be bizarre. This was because they needed to represent the celebrity culture and be recognised as pop stars. However my product will be reflecting the life’s of real people, therefore I need to represent them truthfully.

Marathon Article                 

Costume- Crayola Costume- I have decided to use this as the costume as lots of runners in charity runs dress up in costumes as this increase the sponsor. The teenager in the article is going to be portrayed as desperate to help the Alzheimer’s charity. The Costume will also add some enlightenment to the article and help represent the girl as funny, which will attract kits if sentimental attention. There will be props in the image that will also show the athletic side, for example, the girl will be wearing running shoes and joggers and will be holding a lucozade water bottle. These will act as signs and portray the model as athletic. 

Make-up- the model will be wearing no make-up to put emphasis on the fact she has just ran a marathon. I will make sure she appears sweaty and exhausted to help make the image look realistic.

Main article-
Costume- My main article will consist of a male and female posing as a married couple. Their outfits will be designed to reflect theire profession; farmers. Therefore they will be wearing stereotypical farming clothes, for example wellies, big coats, jumpers. The outfit will help the audiences understanding of the text.

audience theory

AUDIENCE THEORY

MASS SOCIETY- Modern societies destroy individuality by bringing people under the control of large conglomerates. This means the society are generalised into being controlled by the media and having their thoughts and behaviour influenced by the conglomerates.

FRANKHURT SHOOL feared the power of the mass media and blamed it for destroying free thinking and creativity. As an audience, we are exposed to a large number of media texts per day and we have to think how much of the news it tells us are we passive to and do we believe. They suggested the HYPERDERMIC SYRINGE MODEL.

HYPERDERMIC SYRINGE MODEL

This is where the mass media have a direct and dramatic effect on behaviour. The audience of text is passive and powerless. For my product, this theory will apply. It is common that when we read a newspaper, the younger more vulnerable years digest what we read because a story has been dramatized to make it seem exciting. Journalists also use the treatment value ‘on spot reportage’, to strengthen the successfulness of a newstory. I will be providing on spot reportage for my ‘Teenage girl runs Sunderland 10k article’, to help the reader’s digest the story and be passive to it. The image will help readers imagine the news story and give them powerful imagery which will make the story seem real. Local Newspapers however are distributed on a much smaller scale then national ones. It is more likely this theory would apply to tabloids like ‘The Sun’, or ‘The Daily Mail’, where audiences tend to be passive to what they read, especially if it is a piece of gossip about a celebrity.

 

TWO STEP FLOW
This theory is all about opinion leaders passing on messages to an audience. Opinion leaders pay close attention to the mass media. They pass on their own interpretation of the media content to the receiver. This theory s relevant to my product, because as I am the editor of the paper, I am therefore the opinion leader. I have to filter down news to make my audience receive I the way I want them to receive it, just like editors of the Sun or Daily Mail do with the news they receive. Opinion leader are very influential to the masses as they are providing them with news that they have maybe altered or tampered with.
Personal influence- this refers to the passitivity of the audience. Will audiences willingly swallow everything they receive from an opinion leader or will they question the news they read about?

Uses and gratifications (Bulmer and Katz 19740)

This theory stresses how audience are not passive BUT in charge, stating there is no such thing as a single mass audience.

Also suggests that audience are highly differentiated eg class, race, sex, religion, nationality, and all have their own opinions.

Researchers in 1970 argued that audience need certain psychological needs from media texts which are classed as ‘Uses and Gratifications’. These are a need for..

·         Information

·         A personal identity

·         Social interaction

·         Entertainment

The media then has its own uses and pleasure for its audiences which are…

·         Regularity and structuring (scheduling, availability etc)

·         Shared experiences, a sense of community.

·         Audience identification- looking at characters and thinking they are like them/not like them

·         Educational uses

·         Escapism

·         Peoples centred needs

MY PRODUCT IN RELATION TO USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

Regularity and structuring – this is one of the main gratifications. Media texts distribute their product so it can fit in with the schedule of its target audience, to make it more convenient and accessible. It aims in integrates itself into rhythms and routines of home life. By doing this it also enables audience to plan their day and offers them a means of organisation, what time they need to be in for their favourite show etc. For my product, I will look at existing products that have a similar target audience to learn what structuring would be most convenient for them. Local Newspapers are distributed daily and sold in Newsagents close to metro and bus stops, a convenient place for the audience to buy it coming home from work. ‘Sunderland Life’ will also be produced daily, to appeal to my target audience who are used to being update with city news on a daily basis.

Social interaction + virtual community- this is where the audience are rewarded from a product as it is a means of conversation and they can go away and talk about it with friends. They also gain gratification from social inclusion. It also gives a diverse audience something to share. To miss something in the media which you are usually a regular r audience can mean exclusion from conversation. For example, the audience of my product will be able to talk about the new stories amongst a diverse group of people within the area of Sunderland as the regionality is something they all have in common. Both males and females, all ethnicities and a collection of age ranges can discuss and share their favourite new stories from my product which they can gain gratification from. The fact that the local newspaper is their every day may seem demanding for the audience, and to keep with the conversation they will feel pressure to purchase the product daily and discuss the local news with their friends. The fact for my ancillary task I am creating a webpage also shows makes it more accessible for audiences who haven’t had the chance to go out the house or the time to purchase the paper.

Audience Identification –in order to maximise produces potential, makers often try and reflect the target audience’s age, gender and interests within their product, meaning the audience can identify with characters/situations. Identification and relating yourself to a character is one of the main gratifications within a product.

Within my product I will intend to reflect my diverse target audience in attempt to maximise potential sales. For my new stories, I have tried to base them on people with different ages and genders.

For one of my new stories I have selected a teenage girl, which the teenage audience will be able to identify with. She is running for charity, and will be an inspiration as well as portraying teenagers in a positive light.

People who can identify with her:

For another news story I have based it on a granddad who has been killed in a hit and run. Family in general will be able to respond and relate to this article who have grandfathers/dads and wouldn’t know what to do without them. They will be able to sympathise with the old man’s family. Similarly, men of a similar age will thank it was themselves, or understand how much pain his relatives will be going through.

The fact audiences will be able to identify with the people in my articles will make my product more appealing and make them want to continually buy it.

I will also be reflecting different job roles in my articles. For example my main article will be based on farmers. In other articles I will be making references from locals and include their job roles, e.g. 'Wendy 35, stay at home mother', or 'Bob 43, Brick Layer'.

Education- people learn from the media. It is argued that although media is not always issue based, issues arise naturally as a consequence of the entertainment. As well as entertaining the viewers, it also offers secondary educational or informative function. My product, although to some extent is to entertain, has a fundamental purpose of educating the local people with the latest news of what’s happening in their town. People go to a local newspaper with expectations of the product, it’s going to provide information and interesting news that may affect their life or values. My audience will therefore be educated primarily. For example, my Seafront renovation will provide information on the funding, the ideas and the decisions behind it. My Sunderland 10k article will include a brief synopsis of Alzheimer’s disease for readers who are unsure.

Escapism- the media is a form of escapism. Audiences can go and watch an action adventure in it and get lost, forgetting their own problems and simply enjoying the entertainment. One of the chief gratifications is the sense of removal to ‘elsewhere’ for a part of the day. My product does contain elements of escapism, although not as many as other products such as TV dramas and novels. The Medias intentions is to portray low points of characters’ lives, leaving audiences feeling superior to other characters (rather them than me). My product reflects real life so there isn’t much room for audiences to get lost in the product. When reading my product, audiences will be stepping into the lives of other people briefly. For them to hear and read about other people’s problems may be a rest from thinking about their own, there is lots of conventions within the local newspaper there to prevent them from getting too sucked into the product, for example, ‘win tickets for bowling’. This reminds the audience what the product is.Research shows that audiences aren’t particularly interested in happy endings for dramas and films. Here escapism could apply to my product as I do have a news story where the ‘negativity’ news value is present. One results in the death of a granddad in a hit and run. Rather than audiences gaining satisfaction and superiority from this though, they will maybe see their problems as nothing to the man’s family’s grief and re-think their unhappiness. My main article will offer brief escapism for the audience, as it is humorous. The fact a highland cow has made its way to local supermarket will act as light relief from troubles for the audiences something nice and refreshing to read.

Centred needs- the media fulfills everyone’s centred needs. The media is intent on delivering entertainment because it sells. For my product, I have researched what makes newspaper articles entertaining, and found it is a collection of news values and the inclusion of treatment values. This means injecting dramatic effects and on the spot reportage into my articles to make them more interesting for the target audiences.

Institutional Research

For my product, I have to design and create my own institution and also a logo to accompany it. I intend to research existing institutions to help influence my own.Johnston Press

The institution was founded in Falkirk 1767 and owns over 200 local newspapers and websites. Those within their possession and production hold the number one position in their different and diverse markets across the UK and the Republic of Ireland The Johnston Press is the only institution concentrating completely on the local regional newspapers.

With the recessions in the UK and Republic of Ireland, advertising revenues have been hit hard throughout all sectors of media and regional press have had to adapt to this sudden subvert accordingly. Johnston press has taken on an on going series of programs and is working together with new technology to continue their delivery of quality newspapers and websites.   

How Johnston Press have developed the past years?

2009-2012- the institutions introduce a series of online advertising offers for key areas relating to products including: recruitment, business directory, daily deals and property.

They also launched a mobile networking site and its first ipad app.

Audience interaction and inclusion-

To engage the community to their product, they make sure every feature within and be recognised by an individual or group. It also aims to commemorate and congratulate group achievements.

How has it developed with the ages?

They recognize and adapt to the fact that audiences are becoming increasingly sophisticate in the way they consume content and they aim to work hard to provide the info they want in ways they wish to receive it.  Their online sites have resulted in attracting a younger audience with figures showing 67% of users are under the age of 35. 

Having done background research on existing Local Newspaper Institutions, I have now gained the knowledge to create my own, which I will call Life Productions. ‘Life’ creates a direct link with my product (Sunderland Life) and audiences will be able to associate them. My institution will aim to represent the local community and produce to them the most current news to keep them up to date with local news. My institution will aim to provide the locals with entertainment.

My product would be produced by ‘Life Productions’. As I have decided to make a new production company, it will tailor specifically to the needs of my product and produce it with limited competition. As it is new as well, it displays the potential it has to produce similar products. An abundance of local newspapers are produced by ‘North East Press’, so producing my product through my own production company means something new and fresh for the audience to read. 

Where will my product be distributed?

My product will be distributed in similar places to where existing products are, as it will be a recognisable place for the audience. My product would be distributed in local newsagents, where the audience are aware that they will be able to purchase it due to existing products being distributed there. . Oftenly newsagnents will be called 'Sunderland Echo'Also,immediately telling the locals that the product is sold their. It also makes the product seem more important and in high demand as it has its own specific shop. Furthermore, it suggests the popularity of the product which can influence new readers to purchase the product. In the future, my product will be distributed in 'Sunderland Life' Newsagents. Again this will alert locals that they can purchase the newspaper their and attract business. 
It is common that in the town centres there is newspaper stalls for the Sunderland Echo and this could be a distribution method for my own product. This is easy and accessible for the target audience as it doesn't require that they divert their trip to newsagents. By placing the stand in the town centre, they may feel obliged to purchase the product for convenience. Also by picking the town centre we know that the target audience will be exposed to the product, which will increase sales prices.

By distributing my product in local supermarkets will be beneficial also, as it is a key location where my target audience will be. People within Sunderland will presumably do their food shopping in a Sunderland store, for example ASDA or Morrison's. There is usually a separate stand division from magazines specifically for local newspapers to draw the audience’s attention to them.

Apple technology provides a more accessible and virtual service for audiences as they can use the 'News stand' application to download their favourite magazines and Newspapers on. This initially means that audiences don't have to leave their house to purchase them anymore. My product will be distributed on Apple software and available to download from the news stand.

 The target audience of apple technology and my local newspaper have some overlaps, for example teenagers and the middle aged.

This, however may not be a successful distribution method as being sold in local newsagents and supermarkets, as the main readers of local newspapers are those over 60+ and aren't the audience of apple technology.
For one of my ancillary tasks, I will be creating an online website, another distribution method. Many existing products have an online website, and its away of reaching out and getting in touch with a younger audience as they are more likely to se the internet. A website if more accessible and virtual, away of communicating and connecting with the target audience and getting them involved in the product!

Home delivery?

As a section of my target audience is essentially pensioners, home delivery would be an effective way for the audience to get heir news. This is more convenient for the target audience as it means they don't have to go out their way and leave their house everyday. This is an effective marketing method.

 



Applying theories to my product

Structuralism (disambiguation)– refers to the way a narrative is told. As my product is a Local newspaper, this theory won’t apply to much to my product, however I will be able to use theorists to help me construct my articles. A key idea of structuralism is ‘taking a structuralist approach is to move away from the interpretation of the individual text on its own and drive towards understanding the layer, abstract structure which contain them’. This means that if I use a structuralist theory for my articles, this will decrease the ambiguity and help me achieve the preferred reading. Because of this, structuralism wasn’t welcome in the UK and the USA by traditional critics who liked to analyse texts. The basic structuralist theories will aid the understanding of my product to the audience.

TODOROVS THEORY OF NARRATIVE ORGANISATION.

For one of my articles, I will try and construct it around Todorvs Theory of equilibrium > disruption phase > second equilibrium to give it structure. I will use this theory for my Charity Marathon article. It will start off on a positive tone where the person involved will be recalling to the audience the happy memories she had with her relative. The Disruption phase/ disequilibrium will be when the relative is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s meaning the happiness in their lives was interrupted. The second equilibrium will be the person running the marathon to raise money for Alzheimer’s disease to help others suffering with it. This structure follows a basic structure that is used in many films and plays. Audiences are familiar with this plot and therefore will make the article easily digestible. It also narrows down the way the article can be interpreted. The preferred reading of this text is to represent teenagers in a good life, and being in the news for doing something rewarding for a change. Another article I will use this for is my Main splash. At first there will be equilibrium- the cow at home with the farmers, then disruption phase, the cow going missing and then finally new equilibrium, the cow being returned safely home.

Because my product is a Local Newspaper, it will be hard to apply all the Structuralism theory’s to my product. For example, Vladimir Props theory of character types which stated that within a narrative e find key characters such as the protagonist, antagonist, heroine, helper, parental figure, donor and victim. The main goal of my product is to produce something that represents reality as my product needs to provide the locals of Sunderland with the latest news. By including characters in my articles that have certain roles places a barrier between the real and the fake and takes a way an element of reality. Also, when reading the articles, the audience may register a familiar pattern when reading about the characters and may get lost in the article. Furthermore if they distinguish that the people within the article have character roles they may become too emotionally attached with the article which would remove a sense of reality. Therefore, I will not use this Structuralism theory in my product.

A theory, however that I will include in my product is Claude Levi Strauss Binary Opposite Theory. Strauss stated that narratives are usually structured around binary opposites. The opposites take the form of significant contrasts used to create a sense of difference or conflict. The opposites help the audience understand the meaning of a product or a text, for example to understand a male, they would have to register and understand a female, and the two genders are the contrast. An example of when I would use this in my product would be the style of articles that I produce. I intend to include one negative based article and one happy uplifting article. Because the audience will be exposed to the negative one, this will put more emphasis and understanding on the happy one and make it stand out more. The comparison helps the audiences understanding of the article. This will help my product be interpreted in the least possible way. This theory will only be useful to some extent. Because I need my product to appeal to both genders, it will be hard to adapt binary opposites in this way. My articles need to be gender neutral, rather than having one article dedicated to males and one to females. If I were doing this, this would be an example of a Binary opposite, as one article would contain a lexical field of feminine language, and the other article language that would appeal to males.

Hermeneutic code- I will not be structuring my product around this theory, as it represents the full truth being untold. My product has the main target of providing the audience with the latest news of their town, and to deceive them is out of the question. The code also aims to ‘keep audiences guessing until the final scenes where all is revealed and closure is achieved’. I am unsure as to whether this code could be adapted to my product, as I need to immediately catch the reader’s attention in the ‘Kicker paragraph’ of my article. To seclude and withdraw a vital piece of information till the end of the article isn’t a convention that most newspaper articles stick too, as usually the main source of excitement will be what the article is based around. Also if the key point is kept to the last minute, some readers may get bored and lose interest in the article altogether.

Proairetic code- this code refers to an action or an event that indicates something else is going to happen. This is a code I will not be including in my product as I don’t think it can be efficiently adapted. Again, the main goal of my product is to reflect real life and it would be hard to inject hints into articles as to what is to come next. On the other hand, a key selection value used by journalists is ‘Dramatization of news’. This is when journalists try their hardest to emphasis certain points of a news story to make it sound more dramatic and exciting. If I was to include a proairetic code for my product, it would add drama to the article.                                                                                                            

When we as a society look at a feature, we don’t question what we see, but what it represents. We try to recreate the illusion of the representation, not the actual thing. As a society, we forget that signs and symbols are actually, just signs and symbols.

Semiotics is the theory that helps explain the use of the symbols.

A signifier is the item itself, the denotation, whereas the signified is what is being represented, the connotations.

I intend to apply this to my product for example, for my ancillary poster task I am going to have an image of a family, smiling reading the newspaper. The signifier here is a group of people reading, however the signified is that they are a happy family and are enjoying the newspaper they are reading. The newspaper acts as a uniting point for the family, something they can all enjoy. The proximity between the models in my image will be close, again implying that the Newspaper is bringing them closer together as a family unit. This is the signified, what the proximity is representing. The location for the image will be in a family front room, with several props that strengthen the connotation of a family unit, for example a high chair and some slippers. All these concepts work together as a paradigm. The metonymy is that the Newspaper is for a family audience and there is conventions within the paper that will appeal to everyone.

The aim of this is that the signifiers with in my images make the audience think of other conventions to do with family life, for example the inclusion of a young teenage girl reading the paper next to her a woman posing as her gran will represent that the paper is ideal for all age ranges and family appropriate and is also the preffered reading of the text, what I want the audience to see.  This will encourage my target audience to purchase the product.

‘Encoding’- the information interpreted by the reader

‘Decoding’- The information interpreted by the reader

The encoding of the image for my ancillary task that my product is family friendly, a key mechanism to unite the family due to its family intended audience. The decodingy for my product will be that they understand it is for a family audience and suitable for all. By the use of this sign, it enables the audience to understand the product more as they will immediately register the target audience of the product.

Post modernism

A brief description of modernism. ‘In art, music, literature and architecture, modernism challenged traditional material and methods.

Post Modernism, for late nineteenth century to early twentieth century.

• Whereas modernism was pessimistic about the world where nothing was worth believing, Post Modernisms age enjoys the absence of such believes. It enjoys the idea of loss of order and finds breaking the rules exciting.

• A direct contrast between the two is where Modernism sets out to destroy the past; Post Modernism is keen to revisit it with IRONY.

• Post Modernism sets out to put style before substance, although it frequently rejects over-elaborate forms in favour of an austere style.

It was still, however described as a ‘high piece of art’.

High Culture- ‘Worthy, educated, important artistic’

Low Culture- ‘Popular, trivial, mass produced, commericial’.

 

 

 

Post modernism cheerfully mixes both these cultures with an aim to not make distinguishes between them. Within Post modernism, context and seriousness didn’t matter, meaning its main aim was jokiness, irony, spectacle and surface.

When watching the Post Modernism film ‘Pulp Fiction’, both low and high culture elements are present and again playfully mixed.

High Culture:

The house styling and architecture is artistic.

The sculptures and props in her garden portray the characters being wealthy and important.

Low Culture:

‘Twist’ dance that occurs in the diner, a popular dance in the 50’s.

The fast food restraunts, reference to mass produced food.

    Intertextuality is constantly present within such texts, a delight of Post Modernism. Intertextuality refers to mentioning one text in another. It creates a relationship with the audience and compliments their knowledge if they recognise a certain bran or text. Using the film ‘pulp fiction’, as an example, several intertextuality references are made. In the 1950’s style diner scene, there is a Buddy Holly section and a Marilyn Monroe section for example. Audiences watching will immediately recognise this text link. This also brings in an element of low culture into the film (celebrity status). Moreover another example of intertextuality would be when John Travolta’s character orders a Vanilla Coke. He is referring to a real life product, which is rewarding to the audience. It also adds a realism factor to the film and reminds the audience they are only watching a film and stops them getting sucked in.

Post modernism also has a mix of genres. A good example of this for example would be Pulp Fiction. The genres within are: gangster, crime, action, comedy, indie, thriller, Blaxploitation, musical, romance, art house movie

MY PRODUCT IN RELATION TO POST MODERNISM

My product will have elements of post modernism in. Just like Post Modernism aims to break generic rules, I am going to do that with the target audience of my product. Where Local Newspapers are usually targeted towards the working class and older people, I am going to involve a lot more teenagers and increase a family audience. I will be subverting existing conventions of local newspapers and breaking normal conventions, just like Post Modernism. 

However, where Post Modernism finds lack of organisation exciting and revels in breaking the rules, I will not be able to do this for my product. My local newspaper needs to be ordered reflecting my target audience’s needs. It should take the standard layout of an existing product which will maximise the successfulness of mine. A lack of organisation in my product would make it unsuccessful and messy, audiences would mind it hard to follow and this would therefore decrease sales.

- a Standard layout of a newspaper that I found from google images.

Post modernism enjoys revisiting the past with irony; however it will be hard to apply this to my product. I have to take into consideration sensitivity and revising the pat of some events may be upsetting to some audiences.

For my product, style over substance is an issue. Although I have to take style into consideration and it has to compliment my articles, I have to remember the function of a local newspaper, to provide the local community with crucial news. I will be injecting journalist and treatment values into my articles such as ‘drama’ to make them seem more interesting; however they have to be based on the truth. Therefore my product will not be style of substance.

Low culture element will appear in my product more than high culture. For example, I will be including features for bowling and vouchers for Staples, something mass produced. Although it may be challenging to include elements of high culture, for my Seafront article I will be making a reference to the funding of the renovation. As it is a lump sum, this could be classed as high culture. Also the artistic design of the product could again, relate to high culture. The fact my product can playfully mix both elements makes it shows elements of post modernism. There will be lots more elements of low culture in my product, for example in my main splash. This is about the Highland cow that was found wandering Morrison's car park. Morrison's is a national supermarket that has mass produced products. Here this article will also include elements of high culture as I shall be making reference to the farm house and the old fashioned style design.

For Post Modernism, context and seriousness are not the key to success, however for my product it is. If there is a sad article or something with distressing news, I have to make a sensitive approach to make sure I would not upset readers, which would be unprofessional. I can therefore not stick to this Post Modernism convention.

My product will include intertextuality and make references to other products. The aim of my product is to provide news, and although it to some extent is to entertain, I need to make sure my audience don’t get lost in my product and see it as a story. Therefore these intertextual references acknowledge to the audience that this is real life, and brings them back to reality. For example, in my article based on a granddad being run over, I have mentioned the car brand than ran him over (BMW). Furthermore, my adverts will be intertextuality. My advert will be for stationary shop ‘staples’, intended for the Teenage part of the audience. Again this can be rewarding for the audience and also reminds them of the product they are reading.

Mixing of genres- My Newspaper has one main genre, local. Because this is so specific it will be hard to draw in other genres, for example I cannot include worldwide or national news unless it may affect the locals of Sunderland. This therefore makes it hard for my product to mix genres. Unlike other media texts such as books or films, it is hard to use conventions of other genres. Films may have romance, gangster, indie, comedy and action conventions within the narrative. I could however, have these featured in certain articles. For example, one article based on a romance story of a couple just being married, or own on a crime that has just happened. I will take this into account because the variety of news means there will be more potential to appeal to a wider target audience.

                                                 FEMINISM

Laura Mulvey (1975) argues that the dominant view in cinema was male gaze, especially where women are concerned. The female body is filmed for male gaze to provide erotic pleasure as well as being voyeuristic. She is rendered a passive object.

The objectification of woman’s bodies has been a constant theme in critical analyses of woman’s representation. Looking at women within the media, they are normally sexualised for the male gaze and to benefit the male audience. It is hard to find a female actor in a film with a main protagonist role that isn’t pretty or that can be found attractive for males. Directors and producers make sure that there are desirable, well known female actors in the films to attract and persuade the males to go to the film, a bit of eye candy to supplement with the action. For example, in the Dark Knight Returns, Catwoman is played by Anne Hathaway, a 30 year old beautiful actress with a slim figure, clearly appealing to the male target audience of a film. Similar patterns are found in lots of Hollywood films, for example the Bond girls are always slim and pretty and desirable towards a male audience. It is clear to see that when a media text is constructed, the male gaze is taken into consideration.

This is when we look from the male perspective to put things in a film/magazine that will successfully sell to the male audience. This is mostly sexually attractive young women, either with a superior status or being portrayed as the damsel in distress. This can also be known as REGRESSIVE. This is noticeable mostly in action adventure films that have a main target audience of males. If woman are above 30/35, their role in films becomes motherly, or Propps character type ‘The Helper’. For example, ‘M ‘in James Bond, who is played by Dame Judy Dench. The actress is 78 year old and although she is a successful and popular actress, her age and the fact she is no long attractive hinders her being a leading Lady, strengthening the fact Woman are represented regressively in media texts and are objectified or used as a sexual object. Again, it is hard to find a leading lady in a film that is unattractive and old. For my product, it is important that a make a fair representation of Sunderland’s population, therefore I cannot base the newsworthiness of my articles around the age of the female and whether they are attractive towards to males. It will be hard to have a male gaze on images included in my newspaper because my target audience is gender neutral, and feminists may be offended by the way I have represented women. Although in some national newspapers, they have features to appeal directly to men, e.g. the Sun with page 3 girls; it would be out of the question to include a feature like this. I am aiming to make this newspaper suitable for family reading, so therefore this male gaze will not be met as it will not be appropriate for the younger readers. Although I will have women in my article, for example my marathon article will be based on an older teenage girl, sexualizing or portraying her as a passive object to appeal for the male gaze is out of the question. She needs to be shown as just running a marathon and will be very sweaty and red.

Looking at males- Whereas females are objectified as sexual objects within media texts, males aren’t. Conventional approaches to looking at males subjects tend to be limited to acceptable contexts in which traditional masculinity in not threatened. In other words it is common to view a mans masculinity within media products. For example, within TV sports, we are provided with a lot of close up shots of male bodies but are not given any sexual legitimacy by the camera work or commentary. This highlights the different way the genders are portrayed. For my local newspaper, if I was constructing the full product and not just the first two pages, it would have a sports summary in the back, which would no doubt include close up of the male body to highlight important moves. However, this would be for MALE benefit, rather than FEMALE.

When looking at media products, it’s important to consider the sexual orientation of the gender. For example, what a female finds attractive in a man will be different to what a gay man finds attractive in a man. It would be presumptuous to assume they like the same type. It is therefore important to look at an image and think ‘Is this targeted to a male or a lesbian? A female or a gay man?’  It was only in gay culture that an open display & objectification of the male body is for sexual pleasure.

For my product, it will be hard to look at my product from the male gaze and the female gaze and please both. I have to take into consideration that the main target audience is for both females and males and a generalisation of Sunderland’s population. To include things from the male gaze such as sexualisation of women and making them look desirable will not appeal to female audiences of feminists. 

It is hard to argue whether or not my product will have feminism in it. As I have stated previously, my target audience is gender neutral, and therefore I don’t intend to include a lot of it in order to keep the male audience intrigued and appealed by my product. However some conventions I have to take into account will have traces of feminism in.

FEMINISTS THEORY

Radical Feminist theories-Argues that women’s oppression is the result of the system of Patriarchy, a system of domination in which men as a group have power over women. They aim to challenge and overthrow the opposing standard gender roles and oppression of women and calls for a radical reordering of society. I will not be representing or supporting this theory in my product as the target audience in gender neutral and I may lose popularity if it is preaching feminism. Also they purpose of this product is to provide locals with news of the local community. They don’t want to be reading an article with connotation of feminism with in it. Furthermore to support this theory would mean having a lot of features directed to this target audience. For my product I need to provide a fair representation of news to my audience and include a range of news values to them. Again by using this feminist theory would mean a lack of variety and repetition which isn’t an existing variety within a local newspaper. Where my product may include some small elements of ‘Radical Feminists’ will be because it won’t include degrading images of women, or them being portrayed as an object of lust. As a female editor, I will ensure this and take images portraying them as appealing and happy, however not a sexual object. This will have elements of feminism; however it can be more related to the target audience including family members. This relates to this quote “The majority of work focuses on how different media texts have different meanings according to the sex of the producer/audience”. If my product was targeted to women, it may have more elements of feminism within. For example, my article may be totally based on the successfulness of women in media and business and focusing less on males. It also may have articles based on stay at home fathers, where the masculine stereotype is challenged. Further conventions could be negative talk of patriarchy and the challenging off it.

Queer theory- this offers the views that all identities are social constructions, the idea that sexuality in not rigidly defined and can be remade. With regards to this, I will not be supporting this in my product either.

Post Modern feminism- believes that it is but out dated to be discussing gender inequality and discuss uniqueness. This theory here is influenced by whether I want to include elements of Post Modernism in my product. To some extent, this theory will apply. As my target audience is gender neutral, I generally intend not to make too much reference to feminism in my product. Whilst I will not be displaying derogating images of female or portraying them ‘progressive’, I will not be preaching feminism within my articles. I aim to keep gender dominance neutral to avoid upsetting readers. However for my Seafront renovation article I will be making reference to the mayor of Sunderland and his financial decision to expand the seafront. This here can reflect a male’s superior status in society. To prevent this I will put a quote in about a female councillor to balance it out.

 Liberal- believe the problem is male prejudice against women’, embodied in law or expressed in the exclusion of women from particular areas of life. Liberal feminists argue that our society holds false beliefs that women are less intellectually and physically capable than men. For my product, readers could interpret one of my articles as having elements of liberal feminism in it. For example, my marathon article, based on a teenage girl who ran the Sunderland marathon and finished 4^th place. Here this article describes her physical fitness and promotes how her training helped her finish 4^th. However a point that could overlook that it is Liberal Feminism is that the article is more based on the fact she ran it for her gran who has Alzheimer’s, and focuses more on their relationship. Where some Liberal feminists may be annoyed at one of my articles would again be my Seafront renovation one, where it makes reference to the fact the Mayor (male) has announced and decided the renovation and is high place in society has allowed him to do it. Where I am trying to counter balance this, as before mentioned is to include quotes by female councillors and explaining their input in the decisions.

 Third wave –less emphasis on the battle equality and more emphasis on the positive nature of ambiguity and difference. This is a theory that will be included in my product as the fundamental audience for my product is gender neutral. My articles will not be based on battles for equality or have much focus on a gender divide. They will be gender neutral so that they can appeal to both male and females.