1. In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and
conventions
The main task that was put forward to us was to produce a local newspaper, in this we had
to research and plan prior to starting the production. I looked into other local Newspapers
such as the Bromley Times, the Metro and the News Shopper.
Genre
My paper “Bromley Sport” is a local sports paper covering the area of Bromley. The paper
that I have created will be comparable to papers such as the News Shopper and the Metro,
for they contain the conventions that my paper will need to follow. The reason why I
compare my paper to these instead of national papers such as the Sun and Guardian is that I
believe there is a gap in the market for a local sports paper targeting people in the age
group of 16-20. These two papers base their news on more than just one area and focus on
national news. The conventions used within these papers are of a tabloid and Berliner
format. I want the layout of my paper to be more conventional for a local area. The main
inspirations for my paper was the local paper such as the News Shopper and the Metro,
they had similar conventions in structure, content and page design. I needed to follow these
so my product would be recognised as belonging to the local paper genre, to gain the
attention of my intended target audience. I could also see what conventions I could
challenge to make my paper more unique and exciting for a younger audience who wouldn’t
normally read a local paper.
Institution
The Newspaper challenged the five column layout as I decided to use four columns making
the pages less cramped. I followed other conventions such as the masthead being placed at
the top with the plug placed in the top left corner, I also included a news and brief column
which was conventional for the News Shopper. These are the conventions that the
institutions have set, it was my choice to follow them.
Layout/Measurements
The audience in which I am aiming to target is people between the ages of 16-20. These
people within this category are more interested in sport than others. The layout of the
papers I have looked at were very much conventional, the majority of the papers that I
viewed had a five column layout compared to the Metro that had a four column layout
which I wanted to follow. I took some measurement from the Metro, it had a gutter space
measurement of 0.5cm with I decided to keep, the main photo was 16cm by 15cm which I
then changed to 18cm by 16cm to make the photo bigger attracting more people to look at
the paper. I attempted to follow the measurement as best as I could but some parts looked
smaller when I laid them out. The masthead was measured at 18cm by 5cm, this fitted my
paper well due to me wanting people to be drawn to the name of the paper and to the

2. paper details. The plug was measured at 5.5cm by 5cm and was placed at the top right of
the page, this is a very conventional plug size and position which I decided to keep the
same. I also measured the margins of the paper to see whether they were the same size on
each side. The size of adverts, contact information, news and brief, Jump line, Bye line
stayed the same as a conventional paper.
Design of Masthead
The design of my Masthead was drawn and produced a number of times with drafts and
improvement sketches/prints. I researched into a number of different Masthead for
different papers such as the Bromley times and Metro, this enabled me to compare and
contrast different types of mastheads and develop a particular design that would best fit my
paper and attract my type of target audience. My Masthead contains two different colours,
two different font types. Throughout my research it showed that I challenged conventions
but I believed it benefited my paper making it more eye catching and unique compared to
other papers.
Photography
When looking at other local papers, the photos used for the articles are all taken
professionally and appear clear and visible. Having this will be a positive for the paper
because the audience will appreciate a clear photo to go with the article, and will most likely
buy the paper again of the picture quality is good. The photos that I have used in my paper
are all taken by me, I tried to a get as clear and good quality as possible using a school SLR
camera. I hoped the main photo for the front page would best represent the lead article.
This will give the audience a feeling of being more engaged with the story, for people like
visuals to go with a story and help them understand what happened. My photo is fairly
typical of a sports story because it shows an action shot from a game.
Advertising
Advertising is a main source of income for many newspapers, for example the Metro uses a
lot of advertising due to it being a free paper and requires funding via the companies being
advertised. This applies to my paper because it is free and relies on funding from other
companies. The adverts used are mainly sport orientated for it is a sporting paper following
the areas of what my target audience will be into.
Stories and Structure Stories
The stories I used within my paper stuck to what I set out to write about, I researched into
10 possible stories that I could use in my paper. Two of the stories that I included were
written from scratch and the other was already existing but I chose to edit it, making it more
appealing to my target audience. Writing the stories allowed me to be creative and give the
audience different stories than they would usually see in the news. All of the stories had a

3. structure of who, why, what, where and when with the most important details first and
supporting details following. All were detailed enough to give the audience the important
information and how it links in with the local area.
Corporate/Publishing/Contact details
The corporate side of my paper is not very detailed, compared to other local newspapers
that make the mission statement known to the audience. The publishing details such as
distribution figures, quality of production, these are factors to consider for the audience will
want to know how many products are produced and where they can be found. All of the
papers that I researched contained their contact details either in the top left of the front
page which is the most conventional place, I followed the convention by positioning them
there.

4. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary
tasks
The main product that was set out for us to produce was a Newspaper, the newspaper that I
produced was called “Bromley Sport”, and this meant that the paper was aiming at the area
of local sport associated with the area of Bromley. The combination of these tasks and the
main product gave the newspaper an overall better advertising brand. For instance the
newspaper being produced is the starting block to actually getting it produced and actually
getting it well known within the public eye.
The paper that I created was well planned and researched into, so that it followed most
conventions and for some parts challenged them if I felt that I could in some parts. Looking
at other local papers such as the Bromley Times, Metro and the News Shopper allowed me
to gain information and knowledge on the structure, layout of my text, photography and
adverts. The paper that I designed would require extensive advertising to the public
especially aiming at the target audience that my paper was aiming at, if I didn’t consider my
target audience when creating my adverts, I would be attracting the wrong type of people
to be reading my newspaper.
Having two tasks is a benefit for the paper, for they are both very much different types of
advertising. Having the newspaper poster advert has enabled me to put the main parts of
the newspaper in the poster, this will most likely attract the audience to read it for it
contains the main parts of what is going to be included in the paper in brief. This is always a
benefit for it is clear and easy to read and will give the audience what they need to know

5. about the paper without long winded information putting them off. The poster still needed
to be researched and planned upon, for instance I researched into different poster types
that were successfully used by main stream newspapers, such as the Guardian and Metro.
This enabled me gain to have a base to start from and use conventions in, like the use of the
same masthead colours from my paper and contact information.
The next task of advertising the paper was a website, this is very much different type of
advertising due to it being on the web. I started off by researching into many different
examples used by big corporations such as Sky Sports and BBC sport. I also researched into
local websites such as the Bromley Times Sport page. Researching into these websites
allowed me to get an idea of what to expect on a professional website page. In my website I
decided to use the same masthead colours and I did in the paper and poster, allowing
people to relate all three of them together. I used certain links allowing viewers to explore
other aspects of my website and other website linked with my paper. I decided to use the
same stories that were used within my paper. I also used a sports link with all the up to date
sport information.
So to evaluate the effectiveness of the main product and the two tasks, is that the main
Newspaper task will be positive if it appears professional and appeals to the right target
audience, but it requires the two other tasks to work just as well and attract the readers
that I am requiring, if these tasks do not target the right audience or get the right message
across to the them, then the paper will be unappealing and therefore lose interest. The
production values of the paper are that the paper itself is going to be very high quality,
keeping intact with the majority of newspaper conventions. The papers production values
also are high importance and are taken very seriously, meaning the articles are going to
have to be unbiased and have to provide the best insight possible.
The main aspects that would prevent me from producing a high quality paper compared to
others is the experience and skills needed. The people who produce these papers are highly
experienced in their area and this allows them to draw on that to assist them when
struggling, also I was on my own when producing the paper and it had a huge amount of
work to cover such as photography, writing articles, producing the layout and designing the
Masthead. However I think that I have designed a paper that will appeal to the target
audience that I am trying to target.
When designing these three products I was trying to connote a message of fairness. I
wanted people to get the impression that my paper was non-biased. I think that this
message is clear within my newspaper and my website but isn’t that clear within my poster.
I think this because the poster doesn’t really contain any of the values that my paper and
website do. Another message that I was trying to put across to the audience was that my
paper would target only local sport. I think I have achieved this message due to all my
stories being related to local events that have occurred and some which are occurring. The
mode of address of my paper was formal which followed the conventions of newspapers.

6. The headlines used were serious and included an elision. I decided to include an elision to
reinforce how serious the some of the stories were. It also followed conventions of
newspapers. The majority of the stories were formal but some were informal. I decided to
include some informal stories due to the target audience that I am targeting. Some informal
stories would appeal to them. Within my paper I included a variety of different signs and
codes allowing the reader to decode their own meaning. For example, the photography
used included a variety of action shots, this connoted that my paper was full of action.
Overall I think that I have used a variety of codes and conventions when producing my
newspaper to allow my audience to enjoy reading the paper, but at the same time take it
seriously.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
In the production process of designing and creating what my paper would look like, I
produced a variety of different paper drafts of what I believed my front page and second
page would look like. After designing each draft I gathered feedback each time on what my
target audience thought of the designs. This allowed me to improve and amend certain
features each time. The audience allowed me to see where I went wrong and what parts I
had done well and have worked well.
Masthead changes
Whilst designing my masthead, there were many occasions where I believed I had produced
my final masthead design. After receiving a variety of feedback on my designs on how it
looked and how it would appeal to my target audience of 16-20. I also gathered feedback
from my peers and teacher which also allowed me to improve on areas that required
improvement. I had an idea of just having a normal font and a plain background, but after
having feedback from clients and peers, I was told to use a livelier font and have a
background colour which would make the paper stand out and be unique from others. I
therefore used the internet to research into different fonts from a website called Da font.
This allowed me to find a font that I liked and would appeal to my target audience. The
appearance of the masthead was changed with the SPORT being in a San Serif styles

7. compared to Bromley being in a Serif style. I also used a blue coloured gradient as the
background colour to make it more appealing.
My first draft of my masthead appealed to my target audience but didn’t follow the
conventions of newspaper mastheads. It only contained the paper name and the date.
Conventional masthead normally contains a slogan, date, title and website details. My
target audience like the colours used within the masthead and the fonts used however they
think that the masthead looks like a magazine due to the way that the text is laid out.
Page Design
The setting out of pages was researched into very thoroughly. I researched into a variety of
different local papers such as the Bromley times, metro and the News shopper. Researching
into these papers has allowed me to see how they have laid their papers out and here
particular sections need to be. I set out the newspaper on In-design., and measured out all
the boxes according to the previous measurements that I gathered.
The feedback that I got both from my clients and my teachers allowed me to see where I
needed to relocate certain boxes and parts of the paper. The feedback also allowed me to
re-adjust some measurements that needed to be changed, for example the size of the main
picture and the size of the news and brief.
Photographs
The feedback that I gained on my photographs was mostly on the picture quality and some
was on the picture content. I was also questioned on whether or not the photos were
appropriate for my target audience. I had to consider whether or not the photos were
appealing to my target audience and would attract people to read the paper. I had originally
taken photos of a young boy playing on a football pitch. The photo didn’t include any action,
I felt this wouldn’t attract people to read my paper. After the feedback I decided to get an
action shot photo of someone playing football. On the second page the photos I had used
was of an England rugby player scoring a try and a celebrity. I decided to change these
photos due to them being about national news instead of local news which I intended the
stories to be about. I changed the photos to one of a local boy pushing for professional
status as a footballer and one of a local girl who wants to compete in the Olympics. I
decided to choose these stories due to them relating to local events which will appeal to my
audience more than the stories before would have.
After changing the picture the feedback that I gathered was very positive. They said that the
pictures were very clear and appropriate. Having clear and appropriate photos represents
my paper as being professional.
Researching stories

8. In the early stages of deciding my stories I decided to include stories about a local celebrity
helping against a pool closure, a story about a local footballer and a story about England
sevens team winning the world cup. I had researched ten possible stories but these three
stories appealed to me the most. I also thought that these were the most suitable for my
target audience. After gathering feedback about my stories, I found out that only one of
them was a local story and therefore needed changing. I decided to change the stories
because my paper focuses on local sporting news not national news. I decided to change the
stories. One of the stories that I changed was about a local boy who is pushing for
professional status as a footballer at Chelsea Fc. I believe that this would appeal to my
target audience more than the story about a celebrity.
The other story that I added in was on about a local girl who has the chance to become an
Olympian but her dream is slowly fading due to her equipment facilities being taken away. I
believe that this story would appeal to my target audience more than the national one
about rugby due to it being a hard story about a local girl.
Demographics and Psychographics
It has already been established that my target audience is people between the ages of
16-20. This audience will be between the C1-E category, so they will be either employed in
skilled trades or will still be in education. According to VALS they are traditionalist and are
interested in similar things to their parents. The majority of people who reviewed my paper
would fit this profile.
First Draft Print out
After many attempts of drafting my newspaper using the programme In Design, we as a
class decided to print out our first draft and see what they would appear like on A3 paper.
After printing them out we then placed the first drafts on the walls of our classroom, this
allowed my peers and class mates to give creative criticism by writing on sticky cards and
placing them of different parts of the newspaper. Some labels contained positive feedback
and some negative feedback which allowed us to know what to improve. The feedback that
I gathered was that my peers really liked the layout and the masthead that I had designed.
The constructive criticism that I gathered back was that I needed to change my stories to
make them more relevant to my target audience and the pictures needed to be of better
quality. My peers then gave me certain criticism that I needed to do to improve the paper.
Changes that I made on the Paper
After my feedback, the recommendations for the changes were that, I should make the
stories more relevant to local news and what my audience will be interested in, so I decided
to research into local stories that would appeal more to my target audience. Another major

9. change from my feedback was the pictures used in the newspaper. The picture that I used in
my first draft wasn’t of the quality of a professional newspaper and some were irrelevant to
my target audience. I decided to change the photos so that they included action shots which
would attract more people to read my newspaper. Improvements on the measurements
were needed so that I could make the paper as effective as possible, by this I mean use of
text, adverts and masthead.
Audience Feedback on paper
I did gain some valuable audience feedback on my paper, I gained some feedback from both
my peers and my teacher. When the paper was printed out on some A3, many of my peers
got some post-it notes and wrote a comment on the paper of what they thought worked
well and what they believed needed improving, this is good feedback for the age group of
my people are between 16-20. This meets my target audience criteria and makes the points
very relevant and I used them to improve the paper.
The second piece of feedback that I gained was from the internet and it was of the social
networking site Facebook, we as a class made a Facebook media newspaper group and
posted our papers on the site and allowed people to comment their opinions and comment
on the paper. The comments were mostly from our friends on the site, but outsiders could
also comment, which allowed me to gain a wider range of comments. The feedback that I
gained was both positive and some negative. My audience believed that the adverts used
were very relevant due to them relating to sport in some way. They also believed that my
Masthead was very eye catching due to the light blue used. They also believed that the
photography used was of a high quality and gave the paper a professional look. Another bit
of positive feedback was that they believed the spacing of my adverts and articles
preventing the paper from looking over crowded. However my audience believed that there
were some features that could be changed about my paper. They believed that the articles
that I wrote were in more depth telling them more about the story. Another feature that
believed that could be improved was my Masthead, they believed more information could
have been added to prevent the Masthead from looking bare.
I believed that audience feedback is a positive activity when producing a newspaper. The
audience feedback that I gathered allowed me to change certain features making the paper
more appealing. I also believe that it allows you to get feedback from a different view. The
feedback that I got allowed me to see where I went wrong when designing the paper. This
then allowed me to then go back and makes changes according to my audience feedback.

10. How did you use new media technologies in the Construction, Research and
Planning and Evaluation?
New media technology is a term associated with information sharing on the web (internet)
and I did use them in some ways to research media products and to help my products
develop creatively.
Newspaper

11. When constructing my newspaper, there was a lot of research and planning needed to get a
clear idea of different conventions used and how different papers targeted their target
audience. I gathered a variety of different information and research from local newspapers
such as the Bromley Times, News shopper and the Metro. I choose to look at these papers
due to them targeting the same target audience as me, I wanted my paper to be free and
mainly rely on adverts for funding which all three of these papers did and the stories used
within these papers were all local and therefore attracted a local audience instead of a
national one. From the papers that I gathered, I was able to get some measurements of how
the paper and certain sections are set out.
I used Google images a lot throughout the production of my newspaper for researching into
different paper layouts. These pictures enabled me to get an idea of the conventions used
within paper layouts. I also used Google images to gather some images that I later on edited
in Photoshop for features such as my plug and news and brief column.
Looking at previous blogs from last year allowed me to view the newspapers that achieved
top grades and gave me an idea of what I needed to do and what I needed to include to
meet the high grade requirements. Looking at the blogs also allowed me to see the photos
people used and how affective they were. I was also able to look at different layouts of front
and second pages.
Slide share is another new media technology that I have been introduced to in this project.
This site allowed me to publish post to blog spot in a slide show format. The site provides a
more professional look to our work than just posting in on blog spot. The website allowed us
to place information in more room. This new media technology made my blog look more
professional.
The site Da Font is a new site that I discovered whilst producing my newspaper. The site
allowed me to gain a font that was not boring and would appeal more to my target
audience. I was able to use these different fonts that I downloaded in my masthead
producing a more appealing front page to my target audience. The fonts on this site are free
because people design them and then upload them.
Poster Advert
In this task a lot of research went into looking at other newspaper posters and how they
attracted their target audience. I also looked at places where these posters would be

12. advertised such as bus stops and train stations. In this task I used a few new media
technologies.
I used Google images again in this task in the research of other news paper adverts such as
the Metro, Sun, Guardian and the New shopper. Using Google images allowed me to
navigate and locate different examples easily and gave me an idea in the construction of
what sort of layout I should be going with for my target audience. It would have been really
difficult to get examples of newspaper advertising without the web.
Website
In this task a lot of research was needed for the construction of my website. Looking at
other website gave me an idea on how to lay out my website so that I could attract my
target audience.
Using blog spot in the production of my website allowed me to view the website that I
produced last year. Looking at the website I produced last year allowed me to see how using
different colours and shapes could attract my target audience. It also allows me to see how
the website was laid out.
I used the search engine Google allot in the construction of my website. This allowed me to
visit other sporting website to see how they have constructed their website to attract their
target audience.
If we didn’t have this technology available then the whole process of researching, planning
and constructing the three media products would have been made more time consuming
and the quality of the products produced would’ve been nowhere near to the standard I
have got them to by using the technologies that I have had available to me during this
process.