Shot types

It is important when taking pictures for productions that yo know the difference between shot types and what they connote. For example, an over the shoulder shot would connote that two or more people are talking to each other. Similarly, a long shot looking out at someone could connote loneliness or helplessness. Shot types need to be considered when storyboarding or planning image or moving image taking, as to not go into a photoshoot disorganised.

Some examples of shot types are shown above, and to elaborate, an establishing shot is where a shot is used to set the scene in a film or as a main image. A long shot (image 2) shows most or all of the subject of the image, giving an impression of their surroundings. Some other examples are close-ups, which show a small part of the scene in detail close up, and a medium long shot, where the feet and ankles are usually cut off.
In terms of newspaper images, medium shots tend to be the most frequently used shots, meaning the editors can pack in enough detail into the shot, without becoming too blurry or far away. I will need to conform to this unwritten rule to meet the conventions of existing media texts.

In terms of camera angles, the angle the shot is taken from can have connotations as well. For example, high angle shots can create tension on a character, whereas eye-level shots can connote dialogue.
Other examples of shot angles are point of view shots, which show what the character/subject is seeing, thus putting yourself in their eyes, and a two-shot; a shot of two people together.

Camera movement, something I do not need to worry about for my newspaper, also has an effect on how the audience view characters and draw emotions towards the film. Some examples of camera movement are zooming, which can reveal more by zooming out and hone in on certain things by zooming in, and crab, where the camera moves left or right.

To connect people with stories and conform to the uses and gratifications theory, I want to be able to give varying shot choices which match the story. For example, if I am reporting on criminals and have a low angle shot looking up at them, they can become to seem imposing, which could be both confusing and alienating for a reader.

Newspaper Synopsis

I have decided about the values I want my newspaper to be based around. It is important to set these out instead of just designing a newspaper then writing articles with no direction or principals.

My newspaper will report in a broadsheet manner, with political stories which will interest the majority of people. The language I will use will need to be more middle-market as to not alienate certain people, including youths. This includes the use of puns and some sensationalised language, which fits my writing style, however I will be careful not to fall into the realms of the Daily Mail's lexical features, which is far more tabloid than I will be hoping to achieve.

My newspaper will be first published on a weekly basis, meeting the conventions of local newspapers. I will not be a daily paper because on a local scale, there is not always enough content to fill a newspaper with from day to day, so I would have more to write about each week.

From a political perspective; like the 'i' and its sister paper the Independent, I aim to be free from political bias, because unlike on a national scale it is difficult to change and adapt to the political views from people on the local scene. With people power, money and a heck of a lot of experience, The Sun amongst others does this by fully supporting the Labour Party and criticising the Tory government at every opportunity. I will merely be giving an 'insight' into the news, hoping to comment on it in unprecedented detail, but not making suggestion readers should follow any political party.

In terms of size, my newspaper will be a compact/tabloid size, as mentioned in a previous post. I will do this to encourage people that there is not extensive amounts of texts to read through; something popular among younger audiences, as shown by the rise in sales of the Independent and Times as they have switched to the smaller format.

In terms of the content of my newspaper, as it is a local newspaper I will need to report on local stories. Despite this, I want to keep my readers up to date with what's going on in the country, and giving those stories a local perspective. In this way, with families struggling to make ends meet, they will need only one regular newspaper where all the information they need is in one place. I want to be one of the only newspapers around that combines local and national news in this way.

To meet a significant target audience for me, I will incorporate Facebook and Twitter to make the reader feel a part of the newspaper, which links in with the Uses and Gratifications theory by Blumler and Katz in a previous post. If readers feel a part of my newspaper, they will feel more obliged to read it, giving them the  impression they are influencing the content of my paper, as well as hoping their comments are published. Also in keeping with my target audience and from looking at conventions, I will emulate the 'news in brief' section that takes up the first inside pages of the 'i' newspaper in a smaller way. Being a proven way of delivering news in bite sized chunks, I will be hoping to give this service to my paper's own followers.

These values will run across all three of my products to avoid continuity errors and upsetting audiences. They will ultimately evolve over time, but for a one-off project, longevity is not necessarily something I am worried about.

Studio photography and Lighting

As I will need to take studio shots for my newspaper and not being a photography student, I have done some research into studio photography and lighting so I can be educated for when it comes to the photo shoot itself. I have already done a post on journalistic photography, but this is a very different slant to that, with all shots set up how the photographer wants them, as opposed to having the chances of a good photo down to pot luck, as in the world of the paparazzi.

The lighting in a photo is what can make your image iconic or poor quality. While natural light is often sufficient when taking photos, the flash which is often built into standard SLR cameras lights up the scene, allowing the camera to pick up that light and create an image of what is in front of it. However, neither of these options are relevant when the photography is taking place in a studio. The obvious advantages of taking photos in studio conditions are that you can control variables such as the weather (there is none inside), and you can adjust the lighting to your image. Darker images can give a sense of warmth within the picture, and brighter images can have a more uplifting effect, and this can be manipulated through what is literally the flick of a switch.

The typical lighting setup would be the 'two light' system, whereby two lights are used, one facing the subject of the photo, and another on the other side of them, creating a 'soft halo of light' around them. The first light is the brightest, so a soft box is often used.

Despite everybody taking a lot of care and attention over lighting; in recent times, lighting has become more editable on image manipulation programs like Photoshop, a tool I will no doubt be using.

When it comes to my studio shoot I will be sure to make good use of the facilities we have at college, with a range of cameras and lighting. I will also use the 'two light' system, as is the convention for studio shoots.

Naming

I have bounced some ideas around a focus group of my closest and most creative friends.
We have come up with:

Bodmin Bouy
C
The Cornish Insight
Onlooker
Bodmin Closet
The Pasty of Information
Moor Information
The Roast (on sunday)
The Spanner

While some of these names are frankly dreadful, I took an interest in 'C,' which has reference to the 'i' newspaper, which is compact and as an abbreviation of 'Cornwall.' Also, I like the Onlooker, because it is reminiscent of 'The Observer,' and infers it does not give a subjective account of information, but more passes it on. Similarly, The Cornish Insight connotes an 'insight' into the week's events, keeping readers in the know. This is the name everybody thought was the best, so I will go with it. I also like The Cornish Insight because it brings back memories of 'The Cornish Guardian' or The Cornish Times,' both of which are prominant newspapers in this region. Moreover, following the conventions set by these newspapers will be a clever idea, to 'fit in with the crowd' and sell newspapers.

Equipment /Budget /Locations /Cast /Crew

Equipment I will use

• Capturing - Canon EOS 600D
• This can be used for still or moving images
• Tripod
• Studio + Lighting
• Editing - Apple Mac
• Adobe Photoshop CS5.5
• Adobe InDesign CS5.5
• Apple iWeb

Budget

I have a budget of next to nothing, as all the equipment I will use can be loaned out for free through college. However, getting to locations will cost me in petrol, so I will set aside £10 for petrol, and also £20 for making my website live, which I will come to in a post further down the line.

Locations

I am unsure of the locations I will be shooting in as yet, because I do not know which stories I will run with.

UPDATE:

• Woods Browning photography studio
• Bodmin Barnecutts
• Bodmin College
• Newquay, Boardmasters (pre-taken image)

Cast

I do not have any cast as all of my stories will be factual, and cannot be fictitious.

UPDATE: 

• Josh Cottom and Jamie Howard - Bodmin College advert
• Chris Morris - Sports Relief story

Crew

I will be completing the project solely by myself, with no need of any help from any crew.

Survey (Market research)

I need to find some stories locally and to do this I needed to find out just what young people; a primary target audience to me, wanted to see and read within the paper. I conducted a survey on Survey Monkey, giving participants options as to what kind of stories they would like to see and read within my newspaper. Because I wanted to give my newspaper a young target audience, I gave the survey to the young people from my class, whose ages range from 17-18, an age I would be happy to target at.

There was no gender or age bias in my survey, as half the participants were male and half were female.

 

Similarly, all participants voted as being 15-24, an important age range for advertising media texts to, because they are ultimately the future of journalism. As I have mentioned, because the ages were the same, I can infer that young people in general want to see the stories that were voted for.

As we can see, a surprising amount of people have voted for political stories to go into my newspaper, with four out of 10 people declaring an interest. Naturally, I will include political stories into my newspaper, as things like the budget cuts, new laws etc affect us all.
Somewhat more surprisingly is that nobody voted for sports stories to go into my newspaper. This could work to my advantage, because having small sports stories within the first three pages of a newspaper is unconventional, thus going against the conventions of real media texts and potentially upsetting an audience.

Conversely, technology was the most popular choice by my peers, which I could have guessed beforehand given the amount of technology and technology change we have grown up with throughout the '90s and the '00s. Secondly, one would expect a media class who are engaging in new media appliances and texts every week to want to read about new technologies; perhaps more so than, say a history class, so I need to be careful when generalising my sample to all young people. Despite this, I will include technology stories and integrate my newspaper with popular websites such as Facebook and Twitter to engage with a younger target audience.
Another expected front-runner is music news stories. Music is a big part of everybody's lives, again especially for a creative media class. I am hoping to write up about local bands within my allocated three pages.

Other popular choices were food stories, which could be tricky to add in on a local scale, and weather stories, which we know to be essential to all news outlets, especially given the British and indeed Cornish obsession with the weather!

It was interesting that local celebrities was only selected by 10% of people, as I made the decision to abandon a tabloid style for my newspaper and instead go with a traditional broadsheet style of reporting. This survey, along with my previous one from the beginning shows me that either young people are caring less and less about celebrities, or there are no Cornish celebrities to talk about that they are interested in.

I have learnt a great deal from this survey; and now have a better idea of what to put into my newspaper and what to leave out. At the end of the day, if people are not wanting to read excessive amounts of sport (albeit if it was at the back of the newspaper which I am not actually producing), or science stories, then the consumer is right and focusing on those stories would be a risk, especially if this is the launch of a new newspaper. Similarly, popular stories like technology stories and music need to be included in detail, as that seems to be where there is a lot of interest.

News Update

News 1:

JK Rowling

This week's Leveson inquiry into the phone hackings of celebrities and crime victims has prompted many to again call for a regulated press. Stars such as Sienna Miller, JK Rowling, Hugh Grant and Steve Coogan, as well as murder victim family the Dowlers, and kidnapping victims the McCanns spoke about their experiences after journalists unethically hacked phones and gained stories via unlawful means. This is relevant to my work, because when I come to collect stories for my own newspaper I will need to be ethical and follow the law, even if my paper will not be published. I will follow the PCC guidelines previously posted and respect the privacy of people involved in my stories.


News 2:

Just a bit more background on newspapers in general, and I found that the Liverpool Daily Post will become a weekly publication after new year, citing 'redundancies' at Trinity News Group (who own the Daily Mail) for the change. Just another example of how the economic climate is affecting all areas of industry.

Article analysis

To get to grips with article analysis, something I have not got a long track record of though enjoy, I have analysed two of the same article but from different newspaper websites. This is to get my head around different writing styles and techniques, as well as devices newspapers use to incorporate this into a technological way online. I decided to look at a story that recently broke about a chap who swung a cat, got caught on CCTV and turned himself in. I looked at The Daily Mail and The Sun's versions of the story and decided to analyse them.

The Sun - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3929321/Cat-swing-suspect-hands-himself-in.html
  Hitting you at a first glance of the page is the big picture of the actual incident, which captures the short moment of the long video in which the cat is being swung perilously close to a metal bar, highlighting the potential seriousness of the action. This crafty use of images in terms of graphology is both sensationalised reporting, as it accents the very worst moment of the crime, yet informative as it again saves the reader from having to scroll down to view an image.   Moving on to the lexical choices explored by The Sun’s article, and it is clear to see it is written just as one would expect from this newspaper.  Google’s definition of the word ‘yob,’ which the youth involved is described as within the article, is ‘A rude, noisy and aggressive young man.’ Without forgetting the seriousness of the incident itself, perhaps calling somebody who we only actually know to have committed one offence which may have been in the heat of the moment a ‘yob’ could be seen as unjust. We do not know that the man is indeed rude or noisy; suggesting perhaps a stereotypical tabloid sensationalised noun-come-label which is placed on the suspect, who, it should be noted, has not at the time of writing been proven guilty to any crime despite handing himself in.   As we move further down the article into the first few paragraphs, more sensationalised language is used, such as in ‘brute,’ ‘terrified,’ and ‘appalled.’ To get the reader on the side of the newspaper using this clever strong emotive language is a good selling technique for the paper, as it almost sycophantically begs the consumer to take sides against the man. This is enforced through the next picture, taken from a social networking website showing him shocking a “spliff-like cig.” From what was likely to be a gallery of hundreds of pictures to choose from, The Sun has chosen to use the most negative picture imaginable to represent him with.   Further with the emotive style language used in this article, the cat’s name is mentioned and it is said that the cat is ‘too scared to go out,’ almost personifying it. Again, the newspaper would want to use this to create sympathy for the cat and take a side against the man. This is very much a tabloid technique, as broadsheet newspapers do not often report in this kind of campaigning way. Other strong words that are used include ‘smashed,’ ‘barbaric’ and ‘attack’ – all having the semantic field of violence, war and criminal activity. The journalist then goes on to find it sufficient to mention the suspect’s half brother slaughtered a baby; piling even more hatred onto this man, who, lets not forget  - merely swung a cat in a street.

Daily Mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2059495/Police-identify-suspect-swung-cat-tail-Ramsgate.html

  It is apparent on first look at the Daily Mail article that it meets the conventions associated with the tabloid press in terms of graphology. Its article is laid out in an easy to read manner, with a big unmissable bold-typeface headline in two parts. It is separated with a colon so it reads easier and is perhaps more understandable for readers with a younger reading age, again fitting in with stereotypes of a tabloid audience; one I will look to avoid when making my own newspaper.  Underneath this, there are four bullet points outlining the main features of the article, which will either entice the reader or give them the information they require so they can continue browsing the website quickly. A lot of broadsheet newspapers’ websites use this format; a strategy The Mail appear to use to liken themselves to more serious reporters of news. Like the main headline here, the bullet points below it are in a bolder font, which make it even easier to read. This, too ties in with the Daily Mail and the general tabloid press’s audience of lower social groupings, and people with less interest in reading a lot of text.

  In the article itself, there are clear signs of exaggerated lexical choices, as we would expect from this newspaper. Like in The Sun’s article, the man is referred to as a yob, having only been known to commit this one crime. From the word go, whether he is a yob or not, the reader is under the impression that the man in question is not a nice person; and we are given little chance to mould our own opinions on him throughout the article.

The way that the article initially presents itself to new readers is also demeaning towards the suspect, using the words ‘Face of the yob who swung a cat by its tail:’ almost reminiscent of ‘wanted’ posters, shaming the man involved. This would not be seen in a broadsheet newspaper, who tend to report more objectively and without bias.

In relation to his earlier life, there is an interesting paragraph with quotes from other members of his community about how he is a ‘troublemaker.’ He is also described using the adjective ‘jobless;’ something that is frowned upon for a 20-year-old in our society, and this is backed up by The Daily Mail’s constant urge to display an ersatz sense of disgust. This again attempts to get the reader fully onto the side of the newspaper in a bid to increase customer satisfaction; typical tabloid behaviour, but one that can be reproduced and developed for my own cause.

Despite the Mail’s article is comparatively long, there is a smaller section than on The Sun on the story of his half brother murdering a baby, such behaviour I would distance myself from when creating my own product. The suspect’s upbringing and lack of mother and discipline from his father has come under attack in the article by The Daily Mail, something which brings back memories from August, when several Mail articles and reader’s comments would claim primary reasons for the riots and anarchy across Britain were down to a lacking of a father figure in their youth.

Throughout, the name of the cat ‘Mowgli’ is constantly used, a opposed to using a pronoun such as ‘it’ or ‘the cat,’ giving the reader a connection to the cat. It is also referred to as ‘recovering,’ personifying it, so the reader feels sorrier for the cat, and more disgusted at the acts of the man. Also used is the phrase that the cat’s head was ‘perilously close to being smashed,’ adding to the emotive language littered through the article to get the reader thinking in the way the newspaper wants them to think. But the article uses exaggerated and emotive word choices the whole way through, with the verb ‘shocked,’ the adjective ‘cruel’ and describes the man as a ‘tearaway who had gone off the rails.’

Names

When mind-mapping names, I will need to follow the conventions of other newspapers and regional newspapers.

Papers often have one or two word titles, often giving an insight or philosophical take on the newspaper, which can be delved into in terms of connotations.
Popular tabloids 'The Sun' and 'The Star,' seem to connote the same thing and this is the idea that they are all-seeing, and look down on us. They can use their perceived 'all seeing, all knowing' nature to give an account of information from the viewpoint of someone perhaps watching on and making comment. The two papers' names also inhibit ideas about shedding light on the situation, again linking to making comment on news, which is supposedly what tabloid newspapers do.

Other interesting newspaper names include 'The Guardian,' which suggests the paper will keep you safe and/or informed, and its sister paper 'The Observer,' whose name infers the newspaper merely observes and reports, giving the audience the idea the information it distributes is valid and quality news.

Some names are indicative of a paper's political slant; 'The Independent' is a good example of this, as its connotes the newspaper doesn't hold any political bias, whereas some establishments may lean to the left or right of the political spectrum. This allows the reader to believe they are reading impartial information, unlike their stereotypes of tabloid style newspapers, something they will likely choose to avoid.
The prefix 'on Sunday' or 'Saturday' is indicative of the unconventional day in which it is published.

With regards to local newspapers, the name of the region is in the newspaper name 99% of the time, giving a clear indication as to where the newspaper is based. Some examples of this are the Cornish Guardian and the Western Morning news.

I will need to think carefully about what the name for my own newspaper will be, as first impressions are always important and conversely, people can often read too much into a name.

News update: NRS - Print still in favour with today’s tech generation (June 2011)

I found this article while searching online for audience profiling information and found it fascinating.

http://www.nrs.co.uk/news.html

Currently the latest news story on what is presumably a badly maintained National Readership Survey website from June 2011, Katherine Page reports that people have not given up on print productions such as newspapers and magazines, even though material that could be found inside these productions can be located online more easily and often cheaper.

The NRS identified 6.4 million people who they classed as 'technophiles,' who used a lot of technology. They observed that technophiles are young people earning more than the average wage, and had a span of up to 25 newspapers and magazines, compared to an average of 17.

Smartphone users were found to be avid consumers of broadsheet papers such as the FT and the Independent, and "the 2.3 million technophiles aged 15-24 are ‘average issue readers’ of eight different newspapers and magazines in print, compared to the all-adult average of seven titles," seemingly busting the idea that young people do all their news reading online and in front of the TV.

For the newspaper industry, this will be somewhat of a relief, as it battles to keep its audience when so many other platforms make it easier to consume news, however online news flaws in the same way that iBooks and the Kindle have not flourished, and that is the lack of tangible object. There is a definite underlying satisfaction of the feel of the paper, as well as the layout of books, newspapers and magazines, and this could be what keeps the print industry alive. We are in an age where newspapers are trying to make themselves reader friendly and more appealing to want to pick up and read, with the Times transforming into a smaller 'compact' layout and the rise of the 'i' branch of the Independent, a newspaper which has had huge success.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

The Uses and Gratifications Theory asks why people use use media, and specifically, different types of media. This is useful when aiming your product at different audiences, because if we can better understand why somebody might consume a media text, we can better aim our own new texts at certain audiences.

The theory was conceived in the 1960s, and was developed further in 1794 by Blumler & Katz, who outlined some possible reasons why somebody might consume a text, and these are:

• Diversion from everyday problems
• Personal relationships and emotional interactions (soap operas are a good example of this)
• Personal identity and constructing an identity through emulating behaviours, values and beliefs of characters
• Surveillance, or gathering information via informational programs such as the news and holiday programs.

In terms of newspapers, the uses and gratifications theory is relevant because people are interested in being 'nosey' in society, keeping an eye on events around the world, and in their own communities, and wanting to be up to date. This sells newspapers every day, and is an integral part of the news industry as a whole.

Denis McQuail expanded on the idea further, by putting forward an even more detailed breakdown on audience motives;

• Information
• Finding out relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings and the world (this suggests, like Blumler and Katz, that people are interested in what is happening around them),
• Seeking advice, as in informational texts like brochures,
• Satisfying curiosity,
• Learning (documentaries are a good example of this),
• Gaining a sense of security through knowledge.

The sense of security which is mentioned is important when selling newspapers, because people think that if they read information from the newspaper they trust, they can feel safer in the knowledge they have gained; another important part in selling newspapers and the longevity of the printed news and its audience over time. 

• Personal Identity
• Finding reinforcement for personal values, such as seeing celebrities and newspapers meet your beliefs to create a bond between the consumer and the media itself,
• Finding models of behaviour, such as subcultural, religious and political trends being emulated by consumers, and creating your own identity from this.
• Identifying with people like celebrities, like David Beckham, who an audience may look up to, and make them feel like they can associate themselves with them,
• Gaining insight into oneself.

In terms of newspapers, an audience may find themselves wanting to find models of behaviour, and meeting those values shared amongst a wider audience, feeling part of a group, thus increasing the gratification of the consumer.

• Integrating and Social Interaction
• Gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy,
• Identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging, (linking in with my last point about shared beliefs),
• Finding a basis for conversation and social interaction; people can use media texts to interact with other people, both through their shared interests and through the media itself, like online and through texting,
• Having a substitute for real-life companionship,
• Helping to carry out social roles,
• Enabling one to connect with family, friends and society.

The media is a good foundation stone for relationships and social integration in terms of common interests, as well as applying the knowledge learned from, eg newspapers for conversational use. 

• Entertainment
• Escaping, or being diverted from problems; this can be a reason for why anybody enjoys anything, such as sport, gaming, reading news, or watching a film,
• Relaxing,
• Getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment,
• Filling time,
• Emotional release,
• Sexual arousal.

In terms of newspapers again, the reason for consuming a newspaper could be because they already associate the idea of sitting down with a newspaper with the enjoyment of relaxing, or escaping every day life, or filling time.

Learning iWeb

For one of my auxiliary tasks, I will have to create a website for my newspaper, and to do this I had to gain knowledge and experience of a piece of software which will allow me to create it. Due to the nature of the equipment we have in college (Apple Macs), we have the iWeb software available to us in all lessons, and during extra-curricular time as well. Because of these factors, I chose iWeb over Adobe Dreamweaver, which I actually had some practice in from GCSE ICT. Also, I felt that I could use iWeb to create a more professional standard product, both using the layouts suggested inside the program and the more sophisticated tools that iWeb offered. I took to iWeb for some creative experimentation, basing my ideas on the days news, as reported by The Guardian (above).

Having looked at some of the styles iWeb offered, I found the best one that would suit a newspaper style website. I chose the 'blog' template, which looked as though it fitted my genre. Others I had looked at looked more like they should be for personal blogs or websites, such as these

The layout I decided to use was a blog layout presumably aimed at people using it for holiday entries, however it was perfect for my practice using the product. Taking into consideration it was just a practice session, with the aid of my teachers, peers and internet guides, I played around with what I had, adding in satirical stories as well as those I had found from the internet. I learnt how to add in text properly, using the 'new blog' feature, how to delete items that I didn't want, change text that was there, insert my own images, and had a better idea of how the layouts worked on iWeb as they differ greatly from any Adobe or Microsoft product I had ever used. One thing I found difficult was that the built in layouts were restricting in that I could not change the colours of the backgrounds or alter the layout from its set position. Despite this, I was happy with what I had achieved, and I now feel in a better position for moving onto actually creating my website; safe in the knowledge I can make a product that looks good and is efficient in a small amount of time.
The most valuable lesson I had learnt from my experience was the aspect of saving my document, as on College Macs, you need to find a 'domain' file once you have saved it in order to enable editing next time around, however I shut down my computer without thinking and the file was lost. Thankfully I was not half way through working on my final piece!

Initial thoughts - Newspaper

I have been having some initial thoughts in terms of how I want to lay out my newspaper, as well as what I want to include in it.

• Because my newspaper needs to be local, I will base it in Cornwall, maybe even just North Cornwall or the Bodmin area. This way I can more easily get stories in more detail, as I don't have a team of journalists like big newspaper companies do.
• If I based it around Cornwall, I could attain my news stories via the county website and interviewing people.
• The fact I can drive and have a car will assist me in this as I will not be restricted to where I can go out and take primary images, information and interviews.
• In terms of my style of newspaper, I want to meet conventions of local newspapers by making it broadsheet, but at the same time I want to make it smaller as a compact paper, much like i newspaper and how The Times is now since it moved from pure broadsheet to compact.
• Within my newspaper, I will need to be current and up to date in terms of technology use, as this is an area I feel local newspapers do not explore enough. With this young generation being the most actively involved in technology, it is critical that I can tap into this to pick up a younger audience.
• I want a younger audience so I could write for them and aim my stories at them. Similarly, I think there is a gap in the market, especially in Cornwall, for a regional newspaper that would appeal to young people. While I do not want to use colours, immature fonts and pictures to lure in a young audience (this does not work anyway!), or base my whole paper around news for young people, I want it to appeal in the same way that internet news websites do. To do this, I will need to quote technology such as Twitter, give news on technology, such as how it will effect people from Cornwall.

Thoughts and Ideas

After my recent research, I have come to change my mind as to how I want to present my newspaper.

Like The Guardian and The Independent; newspapers of the 21^st century cannot be broadsheet size. This is backed up by the fact that when these two newspapers moved to the compact/tabloid size, their sales began to increase. This is a good example of how I can use real media texts and their ideas in order to create my own product effectively. As Bentley said, the making of the new is nothing more than the remodelling of the old, meaning it is important to use existing products to meet the conventions and needs of a target audience.

Because of this, I will also use the compact/tabloid size, which is 380mm x 289mm. Despite being the same size as a tabloid newspaper, I will be reporting and laying out my paper in a broadsheet manner, with serious stories and lexical choices. This is to follow the conventions of regional newspapers I have observed while theoretically catering for age groups across the board. Older people, who are a prominent audience of local newspapers, will be attracted to the conventional broadsheet style news coverage with the luxury of not having to carry around a giant newspaper, especially in a world where everything is now so compact, a la iPods, flat screen TVs and game consoles. This is the area I believe will attract more young people, who want to keep up with a comprehensive coverage of local news, while not looking un-cool or out of place reading what many see as an outmoded form of news with the expansion of the internet. Because of this and my survey results alike, I will be fully integrating technology into my newspaper, giving it a youthful slant but at the same time not alienating older generations who do not ‘tweet’ or use Facebook.

I will keep the same formal layout as broadsheet newspapers I have observed like the Cornish Guardian, again to please traditional consumers, and even pry CG readers away by moving into the 21^st century in terms of evolving local news with technology and bringing in more interest from wider age groups who have expressed an interest in local news in my survey.

Analysis of Existing Media Texts

Before I create my own newspaper, I need to look at existing newspapers in order to find conventions to follow. Following conventions is a vital part of production, as to not alienate expecting audiences, especially in a society where everybody gets exactly what they expect and want.

Analysis of Existing Media Texts on Prezi

Audience Profiling

Audience Profiling

Audiences can be grouped into certain groups, based on variables in order to better aim a product at them,

• Gender
• Age
• Demographic, eg. where they live
• Profiling; which is used to identify types of consumers

Insight Social Value Groups

These groups, as suggested by the National Readership Survey (NRS), are different types of people in relation to their social value group. It shows that different people have different characteristics, and products can be aimed at them by producers of media texts to give the audience a more personalised experience. Identifying these characteristics and meeting them in a way that appeals to these social groups is an important part in the planning and production of any media text, and this will not end at my newspaper.

In terms of newspapers in general, broadsheet readers are seen to be stereotypically in the traditionalist category, being averse to risk and guided by traditional behaviours, which coincides with stereotypes about broadsheet newspapers; apprehensive to change in fear of  losing a dedicated traditionalist audience.

If I were to go ahead with my plans to create a compact newspaper, I should aim my product at 'innovators,' who seek new things and new targets, as well as 'strivers,' who like to hold onto traditional values, but show importance in image and status. This is because people seeing an audience reading my newspaper will think they were interested in local affairs taken into a new perspective by a 'swanky' new newspaper, as drummed home by any advertising I would supposedly do, including the poster I need to create.

News Update - Hillsborough Tragedy Debate

The Hillsborough football tragedy was finally debated in parliament last night, after 22 years of trauma from the families of the 96 fans killed in a fatal crush in the Semi Final of the FA cup at the Sheffield Wednesday ground in 1989.

Following the event, The Sun falsely reported lies on their front page to boost their sales. The front page was titled 'The Truth' and is known as the one of the most infamous stories in terms of inaccuracy to date.

The article, edited by Kelvin Mackenzie, stated that some fans picked the pockets of victims, urinated on 'brave' cops, and beat up other police members. All of these accusations have since been found to be untrue, though in 2005, Mackenzie said that he was 'not sorry' for printing the article, because he was adamant that it was the full truth.

In the debate yesterday, it was called for the newspapers sources to be revealed, so that there can be justice for the fans who were unfairly treated while they were grieving the deaths of their friends and families.
It was also strongly suggested that Mackenzie was 'never allowed to work for any media institution ever again,' by several MPs, though this does look unlikely - he's recently been employed by the Daily Mail.

Finally, the journalists involved will have to reveal where they gained the sources of their leading story from. Reporting false news like this is against the law, and especially in cases like this, certain methods of tabloid reporting in my view should be looked into. Moreover, I will take this into consideration in my own work - any stories I gather will have to be correct in terms of content, and quoting people correctly. It is important to learn from real media texts, both new and old, to look at the ways of reporting that work, and those that don't work. One thing we can take from any newspaper is that they are always trying to sell themselves to the audience, and a big scoop such as the aforementioned will help the cause while the paper is sat on a rack with its competition.

Front Page Conventions

Newspaper front pages have several functions, including attracting readers, giving the main news, showing what smaller stories the newspaper offers, and giving the paper an identity and personality through the colours and layout it uses. In general, newspapers will present themselves with a big headline on their front page.The headline will refer to he biggest story since the last issue, and this is often determined by public interest in terms of the target audience for the newspaper. For example, tabloid newspapers will traditionally have their main story as some celebrity gossip or scandal, usomg puns in the headline, whereas more broadsheet newspapers like to focus on (serious) political and economic happenings. The cover is the one chance to sell the product, so it needs to appeal to its target audience.



The ever colourful and scandalous tabloid
newspaper



This broadsheet newspaper is laid out in a much
more serious manner, with a powerful picture to sell the paper,
and lots of text.

The front page of a magazine can often determine peoples' opinions and expectations of the newspaper, and from this, stereotypes can be drawn about that newspaper. Just look at the picture of The Star above. Its price is written in the biggest font on the page, perhaps connoting that readers of the paper are particularly concerned about how much money they're spending, and even their decision to buy the newspaper hinges on how much it costs.
I feel, from looking at the above, that broadsheet newspapers' front pages seem to only document what is in that issue of the daily newspaper, whereas the tabloid front covers are almost an advertisement from the paper, perhaps assuming that their readers are not as dedicated; indicative of the stereotypical audiences of broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, business based people and young people respectively.

Local newspapers traditionally take the route of a more broadsheet style, particularly because of the lack of both interest and news within the entertainment industry of small regions, and more the will of close knit communities wanting to know just what is happening around them, as I found in my survey.

The Cornish Guardian, a good example of a local newspaper, shows that there are advertisements on the front page to keep the newspaper fairly cheap for readers, as well as a main story which is in the public interest, in this case, power and energy, as well as a side story which appears to be about education. Education is a big part of local newspapers, as opposed to national newspapers, as local schools and pupils have their chance to get their face in a newspaper.

Masthead conventions

The masthead of a newspaper will be, along with the leading picture, the first thing somebody looks for when they see a newspaper on the shelves. It is used to identify the newspaper, and it gives the audience an idea of the identity and values that will be inside the paper.

Tabloids
The logo within the masthead is integral in terms of how the newspaper is viewed by the public. Red-top tabloids are easily identified on the shelves by their red logos with big white font within them.

 

Redtop tabloid logos follow conventions in that they always have a red background with white writing, sometimes bordered by black or with a shadow. These logos are iconic because of the striking nature of way they are presented. When sat on top of a paper, they set the tone for a colourful, glamourised newspaper. It could the argued that the red backgrounds connote a passion that the tabloids report with, and the white is almost the ironic (given the scandals) face of innocence glaring at you. The red of the backgrounds could also be seen to be linked with the party colours for Labour, strongly supported by The Sun, The News of the World and The Mirror.

The graphology itself of the logos is often similar, where the text is centralised and written in bold font, very clear to see. This could fit in with the target audience and stereotypes of the newspapers as a whole, where tabloids are somewhere that people can get 'dumbed down' news, easy to read and quick to scan through.

These values represent the needs and stereotypes from a low social grade in terms of target audience; perhaps the C-E working class grade, because of its dumbed down sensationalist nature.

When the word 'Daily' or 'The' comes before the name of the paper, it is written above the main name within the height of the capitalised first letter. This correlates with other Sunday tabloids such as the Sunday Mirror, however The People is an exception to this, where 'The' is written vertically up the 'P' but still follows the convention of the moved 'The'.

Bearing in mind my newspaper will certainly not be a red top, I should not use these mastheads as a style model for my own paper as I do not wish to find myself associated with the values and beliefs of the tabloid press.

The Daily Mail, despite not using red mastheads like the aforementioned, is also a tabloid newspaper. Originally printed as a broadsheet, its logo is written in the traditional newspaper masthead typeface, which is synonymous with more broadsheet productions such as The Telegraph, and its symbol and layout is almost reminiscent of that of the Times. The Mail uses this to draw in an audience lesser educated in the workings of the printed press, giving passers by the deceitful impression that it might be something like a broadsheet, full of important news as opposed to the usual stories the other tabloids publish. Despite its cunning disguise, The Mail is still just as much a tabloid as say, The Sun; even down to its use of colour throughout its front cover, giving it a magazine-loving audience friendly look. Aside from the colour and font differences, the Mail's masthead does not present the word 'Daily' above 'Mail' in small font.

While I will not be emulating the style of the Daily Mail, its logo could be something, as a regional newspaper, that I could recreate, depending on what I want to call my paper. 

Compact

The world of compact newspapers is interesting, with originally broadsheet style newspapers shrinking to make themselves more appealing, but avoiding being classed as a sensationalised tabloid newspaper.

With the switch from broadsheet to compact, several changes can occur and I will posted about this on another blog. Papers will definitely be apprehensive about changing their mastheads in fear of alienating an audience, however this is what the Independent did recently, almost in order to move the paper into the 21st century. Above you can see that the old, more traditional font has been replaced with a big bold red typeface that takes up more room and the whole of the top of the front page. It is almost reminiscent of the typical tabloid design, but reversed. This could have connotations of it being the opposite to your typical tabloid, and the use of red really sets the tone for what is a colourful but similarly serious newspaper. The Times however, has kept its logo with the original crest. This gives a sense of a formal, seriousness to the paper which really runs throughout.

As far as the newspaper style is concerned, I think a compact newspaper is the way forward for me, my choice of masthead style may coincide with this. I am very interested in emulating the Independent's masthead style, as it is up to date and modern, and will appeal to a younger audience better than the plain typefaces as used in The Times' logo. It is also more sophisticated that tabloid mastheads, and would not bear unwanted connotations of a less serious tabloid.

Broadsheets

Broadsheet newspapers are typically more serious in terms of content, and this often wears off on the masthead style with layout and font, as in The Times. There are few broadsheets around in the present day, as papers switch to compact or berliner format to cope with a newer audience, however the lasting broadsheet papers have stuck to their guns in their content, size and mastheads.

The Telegraph's typeface is very traditional in its little flicks on the letters, its plain black colour, and the fact it hasn't really changed over the years. Similarly, its name 'Telegraph' has connotations of somebody receiving information via a telegraph or other old fashioned equipment, but I will discuss this in another blog post. The FT's masthead has a very plain font, and it does not seem likely that any advertising effort is made within the typeface or layout. This will be because you either buy the FT or you do not buy the FT; not many people will be in debate with themselves as to whether or not to purchase it. Potentially, its layout (boring and plain) may be representative of its subject matter to most people, or even the people who are regular readers!

These pitch much higher in terms of 'social rank' than the tabloids do, because of their traditionalist nature and largely black and white format within the masthead and throughout the newspaper. I would suggest that broadsheet newspapers pitch at around the A-B areas of social class, as they clealy address more pressing issues in society, while keeping in the more traditional 20th century format that has died out with the expansion of the internet and consice news.

While I will not be creating a broadsheet newspaper, my product will be firmly broadsheet content based, meaning it will hold similar features of the broadsheet newspaper we know and love. Because of this, I will look to simplistic traditional broadsheet mastheads for inspiration and layout when creating my own, as I want to meet the target audience of broadsheet newspapers who feel the need, as I do, to move on from big papers and condense the same content down to a compact newspaper, which leads me on to the Guardian.

Guardian

Like the Independent, the Guardian has previously been printed as a full broadsheet newspaper, however unlike the Independent, which switched to compact, the Guardian moved to the Berliner format (again, I will explain this on another post).

The Guardian's logo is written in two different colours, the first I have explored to do so in this way. The font and colour fit in with the nature of the paper, with it having a blue theme and a blue bar along the top.

Like the Independent, I would be interested creating my own masthead like that of the Guardian's, as it meets the target audience that I would be happy to aim my own product at, given the way it has kept a lot of its readers since it went to compact form, thus having a lot of readers who are broadsheet quality based. The people I will be targeting are in the middle-upper social grade boundries with a split readership between males and females and I will ned to reflect this when looking at story and language choice. In terms of age, I will need to cater for an audience who can recognise by a front page that the quality of news will be good, and at the same time bring in lower social grades, like students and even the older generation.

Compact Newspapers/Berliner Format

As the name suggests, compact newspapers are small versions of bigger, generally broadsheet newspapers, and the name was coined by the Daily Mail in the '70s, who were predictably reluctant to be classed as tabloids. Newspapers such as the Independent and The Times, which were formally printed as broadsheets until they switched to compact newspapers, anticipated a change in the print market. Suddenly, with the rise of technology, it became easier to pick and choose stories for free from the internet, and the appeal of reading through a frankly massive 22" paper became less and less.

The Independent was the first paper to make the move to compact in 2005, as it was difficult for such a large paper to be read on transport, and in particular the London Underground and buses. The Times copied the move as The Independent's sales rose, and when broadsheet and compact versions went on sale, the smaller version generated more interest, and so the compact newspaper was truly born.

Compact newspapers are strictly not tabloid newspapers though, despite sharing the same size. One of the functions of a compact is to report broadsheet quality news.

In terms of my own newspaper, I think the compact paper is a very very good idea, because as mentioned it is not too large to read in public, yet contains a good amount of proper broadsheet journalism, not hindered by its size. For me, the positives definitely outweigh the costs of creating a smaller newspaper, and it is definitely an area I will contemplate when moving into my final preparations up to my practical work.

The Berliner format, which the Guardian is printed in, is just bigger than the compact/tabloid size, yet considerably smaller than a broadsheet newspaper. It is very popular throughout Europe and Asia, and it is another option I will explore.

Market research findings.

I have written up my findings from my survey into a Prezi. I have drawn conclusions from what I found and it will be useful for my project.
You can view the Prezi below, and as usual you can click to make it full screen if the text is unreadable.

Market Research Analysis on Prezi

Survey Monkey - Market Research

I have written up a survey which I intend to send to my friends and family to gather information about what they would like to see in the newspaper. I hope to get more of an impression about what kinds of newspapers people buy and the content they like to see in them. If they decide they do not like newspapers, I could try to appeal more to them by taking their feedback.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VJ5HLVS


I will post my results once I have gathered enough information.

Technologies

Over the last 100 years, technology has had an astronomical impact on the way the written media has presented itself to the public.

“A broader version of conventional literacy, which enables all visual, aural and digital forms, seeking to enable people to become thoughtful producers and interpreters of media” (Peter Fraser)
Fraser means that there has been a change in power between the consumers and creators of media, and this is evident in my further analysis of technology change.

It's 2012, and news coverage is instant from all corners of the globe. With the introduction of Twitter in 2005, suddenly all current information was at anyone's disposal. The idea is that you 'follow' somebody, and get live updates from wherever they are. Several stories have broken on Twitter before 24 hour news broadcasters like the BBC and Sky News could get hold of them (such as the death of Gadaffi, where pictures of his bloodied body surfaced online), and this represents Fraser's shift in the media from big companies with all the power, to suddenly every person with access to the internet being able to publish their thoughts for them to be read anywhere in the world. This is extremely beneficial for daily national newspaper journalists, who need information fast, however, this side of advances in technologies do not necessarily have as much impact in an industry where there is a week to prepare a newspaper for distribution, and the paper's contents revolve around a small region or community, not an entire country, which several hundred journalists and sources are employed to collect information from different places.

Gauntlett suggested that elite producers and typical consumers are merging with new technologies. Industry style cameras are available to everybody at all time low prices, and the hardware themselves are getting smaller. All these factors accumulate to mean that new technologies are becoming more accessible for the everyday person, meaning that it is not just big companies that can produce a high definition, or even 3D publications. With the ascension of social media and YouTube, your average Joe can upload their home-made video, and get instant comments, ratings and even become an overnight internet sensation. A good example of this is Justin Bieber, who uploaded videos of himself singing, and was spotted by music scouts. The fact he is now a millionaire and adored by millions of teenage girls, is a measure of just how far new technologies have had an impact in popular culture.

Leading on from the idea of journalism being aided by social networking, it is important to add that sub cultures can benefit from an increase in free speech on a bigger scale. Youths and ethnic minorities, who are often misrepresented in the media, can speak for themselves and be heard by many people. This means that finally, young people can be given a voice in the media.

Of course, alongside social networking comes blogging. Blogging means that anybody can be the journalist, and create their own feed of information for anybody to read. This, some would say, renders the newspaper old-fashioned; why would you buy one of you can follow somebody's blog (or Twitter account) who is in the know? But, at the end of the day, the luxury of having all of the relevant information in a relevant order in a tangible newspaper is somewhat appealing to people, and this is why newspapers sell.
Also on blogging, tracking my own progress through this project is made easier on Blogger, where I can incorporate text, video and images to my blog, as opposed to having them scattered around everywhere on my computer hard-drive and adding them in to the flawed Microsoft Word, as per my AS coursework.

The technology that we have gained in college over the last 5+ years has helped with incredible effect. Suddenly, powerful Apple Macs are available for everyone, with programs such as Word, Adobe Photoshop CS5.1, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, iWeb, and After Effects. This means that anybody, given some experience and know-how, can create an up to date, professional style production, and this will aid me in my coursework.

Guardian Phone Hacking Prezi

In light of the phone hacking scandal, the Guardian have created a Prezi document timeline-ing everything that has happened so far. It is a useful source because it is full of information and quotes from everyone involved, from politicians to the hierarchy of News International, the institution most strongly linked with the hacking.
It is particularly interesting to see how long these journalists were breaking the law for - from as far back as 2002. The law has stood for a long time that nobody can hack a phone under British law, and this is assisted by the Press Complaints Commission.

Phone hacking: what happened when? on Prezi

Press Complaints Commission

The PCC
Because newspapers are self regulated, part of the idea of the free press, there is a complaints commission which looks over the press. The commission is funded by the newspapers that comply with its code of practice. These are the things that journalists are not allowed to partake in/use get stories:

1. Accuracy
2. Opportunity to reply
3. Privacy
4. Harassment
5. Intrusion into grief or shock
6. Children
7. Children in sex cases
8. Hospitals
9. Reporting of crime
10. Misrepresentation
11. Victims of sexual assault
12. Discrimination
13. Financial journalism
14. Confidential sources
15. Witness payments in criminal trials
16. Payment to criminals

However, while so many of these were broken by the News of the World in particular, the PCC were described as "absent" by Prime Minister David Cameron. He also said that the PCC should be replaced by another more effective service, in light of their inadequate action.
Newspaper executives were recorded secretly speaking about the PCC saying things like "Getting a PCC isn't great, but a lot of papers just brush it aside, all it is is a little apology somewhere in the paper, upi get a slap on the wrist, you get reported by the PCC, but there's no money." This shows that newspapers aren't threatened by the PCC's rules, and perhaps break the law more frequently than is reported because the PCC don't take hard enough action on them.

This is all very relevant to my own work, as the PCC sets out guidelines that I will have to follow.

Institution Information

Newspapers are just like any other media production; they are owned by several different companies and institutions who are either niche to that area or own a variety of media outlets. Some argue that media organisations can have too much influence on peoples' opinions of what they read, especially when one institution owns more than one publication.

News Corporation and News International

News International (NI) is one of the largest news companies in the UK. It is owned by the American 'News Corporation', which is founded by chief executive and media mogul Rupert Murdoch. NI is split into two main parts in terms of the paid newspaper industry. The Times Newspapers Ltd is responsible for publishing compact newspaper The Times and broadsheet paper The Sunday Times, whereas News Group Newspapers Ltd published tabloid newspaper The News of the World before its closure due to controversy over reporting techniques, and is now mainly responsible for publishing The Sun. Also under NI's control was NI Free Newspapers Limited, which published The London Paper, an evening freesheet in London, however it closed when competition from other free papers arose.

News International has been subject to intense recent scrutiny from the way journalists and editors have gained stories, mainly for the previously mentioned tabloid newspapers. With cases ongoing, and the company constantly shelling out more and more compensation money to hacking victims of both celebrities and victims of serious crime, the reputation of News International stands at an all time low. Subsequently, in fear of damaging their reputation further, Sunday newspaper The News of the World was closed in 2011, however there are wide claims that 'The Sun on Sunday' could soon be its already controversial successor.

Also in the heat of the NI debate is the subject of its owners, News Corporation, owned by Rupert Murdoch. News Corporation own so many products that they are one of the largest conglomerates in terms of entertainment in the world, with the likes of Disney and the BBC.  Murdoch's potential influence on everyday people has been frowned upon, with Murdoch being a strong and loyal supporter of the Labour Party. This has reflected in The Sun, who choose to also support the Labour party under his influence - however as he himself pointed out in front of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee last year when the hacking scandal was under an enquiry, The Sun and The News of the World are just a spit in the ocean in terms of all the companies he owns. News Corporation has assets all across the world, with some of their more famous ones being 20th Century Fox, BSkyB, MySpace, Australia's News Limited, Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones, to name but a few of hundreds.
News Corporation, NI's parent company, get a net income of about $2.7billion, making them a leading company worldwide.

Daily Mail and General Trust and Northcliffe Media

The Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British media conglomerate, which is based in the radio, TV and newspaper industries. The newspaper branch of DMGT is Associated Newspapers, which publishes tabloid papers The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, the urban newspaper Metro, and formally the London Evening Standard.
Also under the DMGT's watch is Northcliffe Media, formerly Northcliffe Newspaper Group, which deals with local and regional news across Wales and England. Closer to me, Northcliffe Media produces the Cornish Guarian, the Western Morning News, and Cornwall today. They have 18 daily publications, publishing from over 30 locations across the country.

DMGT has a net income of £185.9 million, considerably less than News Corp's income. This is due to NC's expansive international radius, and DMGT's smaller scale, focusing on local newspapers. DMGT and Northcliffe Newspaper Group might be a good institution to pitch my newspaper to, given their track record in local news.

Trinity Mirror

Trinity Mirror is a newspaper and magazine publisher based in Britain, best known for their tabloid productions The Daily Mirror, Sunday papers The Sunday Mirror and The People, as well as 240 regional newspapers.
While it is obviously good to see a company investing so much into regional news (here eg the Manchester Evening News), it can again be argued that other companies cannot compete with such a dominance in the market, perhaps making the competition unfair.

Trinity Mirror take a profit of £113.3 million, less than both DMGT and News Corporation. This is because they only really have 3 main money making newspapers, as opposed to the network of newspapers the formerly mentioned have. But, because of Trinity Mirror's track record in local news, they would be a good institution to have my newspaper published by.

Guardian Media Group

The GMG's main operations in terms of newspapers are broadsheets The Guardian and The Observer. While the Guardian Media Group's main priorities lie with The Guardian, it also had a strong ownership in regional newspapers, though this was sold in 2010 to Trinity Mirror.

The Guardian Media Group have a revenue of £225.1, more than DMGT and Trinity Mirror. However, because of their lack of loyalty to regional news, it is a good idea to not put my newspaper to GMG.

Northern & Shell

Finally, Northern & Shell, owned by businessman Richard Desmond, have a large ownership in the British printed media. It is largely tabloid based, as it consists of the daily and Sunday editions of The Express and Star; OK!, New! and Star magazines, Channel 5, as well as several adult productions, both on TV and as magazines.

Again, N&S have little regional news base, meaning that I would not publish with them.




Conclusion
I have come to the conclusion that I would publish my newspaper with DMGT and Norcliffe, because they also own newspapers local me meaning they have experience in the audience I am targeting.