Portishead Post Poster

To accompany the newspaper that I have created I had to create a poster that worked with the newspaper. Originally I planned the poster on being based on the competition that is linked in with the newspaper offering readers with a chance to win a months supply of petrol. I began to create the poster as planned and you can see what I started to create below. When creating the poster I took a disliking to the appearance of it and decided to change it up. This was because of a couple of reasons one of which was the excess of white space which I could cover up by some text but I did not want to include too much text on the poster.

The next version of the poster I decided to use a link with the amateur photo competition which features within the newspaper, with one of the entrées being used for the poster. This works nicely with the newspaper as another aspect that compliments the main product. I thought a picture of the lighthouse would be the best thing to do with the lighthouse being one of the most memorable sights in Portishead and is something people relate to the town. Some of the aspects that the newspaper covers runs along the bottom of the poster to attract viewers. Branding from the newspaper such as the title and the logo also carry over to the poster to form a brand identity to relate the to.

CCTV Picture Creation

The picture above are the edited pictures that I made to replicate a CCTV camera effect as though it was taken while the criminal was in the act of stealing from the unsuspecting home. To produce this effect I had to take the photos in as similar position looking down as a real CCTV camera would do. I then had to take the imagery that I had taken to Photoshop in which I added several effects to produce this look such as producing many lines that go across the screen as well as making the image look grey and lacking colour. Another subtle but helpful effect that I made the image appear as though it is shaped like a globe with the image darker in the corners of the image. This was something I wanted to do as it added an edge to the story that I made as well as demonstrating some of my skills that I have used with IT to create this effect.

SMITH & SONS Double Glazing Advertisement Creation

SMITH & SONS was one of the advertisements that I planned to make before going into the creation stage of the project. I have created a sketch of what it would look like and also stated that it will be wholly created by me on Photoshop with a simplistic design. The first step was making sure that the dimensions for the advert that I would create would be the same dimensions that I had assigned to my advert on the layout that I previously designed.

One of the most important things I did was the manipulation of layers which was important with the many parts like the glass on this window needing to be arranged to be placed at the front. The window was easily made by using the rectangle tool to create the shape then rotating the shape. I also used the shadow effect on the window to make an almost 3D effect.

The next part of the process was drawing out the outline of the van show off its vague figure, I did this through the use of the pen tool as it allows you to make a freeform shape. I later added some of the other parts of how a van looks such as the wheels, the window and the lines you see on a van. This gives the overall look of the van as identifiable while also looking simplistic. I also added a shadow effect to the van at a similar gradient for the same reason as the window. The final task was to add the complimentary text and the advert was complete.

Theft Story Photos

Above are the three pictures I had taken that I later edited and inserted into my second page article on a criminal committing thievery. I did take some other photos while I was taking the pictures but, these are the ones I selected to go in my second page article. The first two images I later edited to make it look like it was taken from a CCTV camera which is why I took the images from above looking down on the culprit as a real CCTV camera would with both being roughly in the same position that I improved during the editing phase. I also made sure that it overlooked some of the house so it looks like it is attached to the wall. The third photo I used was of the culprit walking out of the police station while covering his face as many usually do so the press can't take a picture of them. This is to show that he has been caught, the clothing that I used was trackies with houudies with the hood pulled up which is the standard stereotype for a chav which most people perceive to be more likely to steal.

Layout Creation

 



The first step in the creation of my main product, the newspaper, was creating a basic layout on how the pages will look like. I used boxes to help represent what goes where helping to show where the imagery and the text that I will create in the future will go. As well as the layout you get an idea of how the page will looks with much of the complimentary colours and head banners used. All of this was created on A4 to begin with before I changed the dimensions to almost a A3 size that is more similar to the size of an actual newspaper. It was simple to move on to as it was easy to resize everything on the page. All of the components were easy to manipulate as they were set on different layers. The design has altered slightly as I carried on with the creation of the product but has not changed much from the original design shown here.  
 

Bristol Post New Style

Very recently one of the local newspapers for my regional area has had a revamp in its design and layout compared to what it formerly looked liked with it having a very different appearance. The new adopted appearance seems to be in a sort of magazine style with the front page consisting of many pictures without some of the articles that may start off on the front page. The reasoning behind this revamp seems to be due to a revaluation of its target audience with, its target audience looking to be changing to a younger female orientation. According to an editor of the newspaper they want the Bristol Post to give "trusted advice on what to do with their time and money" which is the sort of relationship which you would expect with a consumer and their magazine of choice emphasizing the change in approach. This focus means that the Bristol Post want to form a connection with its readership which want to keep purchasing the newspaper. The new design is supposed to promote positive news within the newspaper and for Bristol furthermore than it has done in the past which is a standard convention for a local newspaper to cover the positive stories more so that the national newspapers likely due to the readers view up on the area in which they live in.

Newspaper Logos/Title

Above is a picture to represent some of the logos/title that you get within the newspaper industry. I have given a mixture of local and national newspapers as examples that I will talk about. This backs up the research of my previous decision of using the Portishead logo with the font that I picked. All of the above use one of a few colours being either black, blue or red. This enforces my decision of deciding between the colours of red and blue as possible colours to use, with me picking a blue colour scheme in the end. Looking at the letter casing the majority of the titles have one capital letter to start then continue in lower case with only the ECHO in the suggestions given above in only upper case. From this I have decided to follow suit with the convention of starting off with an upper case letter at the start of the word followed by letters in the lower case which differs from the sketches of my front cover which are all in upper case which will be changed when I came to making the product. Only sometimes is there any imagery to compliment the title as sometimes just the title is just enough. Using the Liverpool echo as an example though shows that imagery is sometimes used with the Liverpool Liver bird being used as it is a symbol of the city therefore helping with the identity of the newspaper. This is the reason why I am going to use the symbol for Portishead to help form the identity of the newspaper.

Advertising within Newspaper - Planning

Advertising takes a big part within local newspaper pages. This is normally due to the fact that local newspapers don't get the same sort of financing the national press receive from paper purchases because of the size of the audience. This is especially prominent  within the few local newspapers as well as the Metro that distribute their newspapers to its audience for free with, the need even more so for alternative financing. Following on from this point advertising should have a noticeable part within my local newspaper which is why I will plan these out beforehand.
With my local newspaper that I will make I have decided to do local adverting of local businesses with the audience of the newspaper being similar to the people who might be interested in the advertising. Within the two pages that I will make for my local newspaper there will be one advert on each page both situated in a corner of the page so that it does not detract from the overall product however, it will take up a considerable part of the page and will be noticeable. The advertisements can not advertise a business that has already been made therefore meaning that I will have to create the advertisement from scratch. The two adverts that I plan on making will be on the following:

• Accounting business for small businesses
• Double Glazing

 The names for the businesses above will be Smith & Sons for the double glazing company with the name for the accountancy company being S J Accountancy. The inspiration for the names came from looking through other similar companies and trying to show a similar name to that area of work as well as there names showing that they a small companies likely based within the area which is the companies that are likely to place there advertisements within the newspaper. The accountancy advertisement will be based on a photograph image I will make while the double glazing will be a graphic that I will produce showing a simplistic representation. Below are some sketches of what the advertisement could look like:

Radio Advert

The radio advert that I will create to advertise my local newspaper will be mentioning  some of the features within the newspaper which will be both of my main articles within the newspaper which I will actually right up as well as mentioning the competition within the edition to win a prize a months supply of petrol. This will not only link back to the newspaper but will also link to the other add on to the main product of the newspaper. Another feature to the radio advert is that it will have a voice over from someone who lives in Portishead to replicate a similar accent to what you would hear around Portishead this would help represent the local theme of the subject therefore helping to show that it is a local newspaper.

'Portishead Post' Poster Draft

The first thing I thought about when producing the poster is that it should compliment the main product which is the newspaper because of this the feature on the newspaper is also involved with the front page of my newspaper as part of the 'ears' on the front page. This feature is on a prize with a chance to win a months worth of petrol to all participants who enter. Hopefully this will encourage new readers to buy the newspaper in order to have a chance to win the prize. Another way I have linked the poster to the newspaper is by its style and appearance. The poster will clearly show what newspaper it relates to with the same title and font accompanied with the image, which will be placed at the top of the poster. Below is a sketch of what the poster will look like:

'Portishead Post' Second page Draft

Above is a drawing of roughly how my second page for my newspaper will look. On this page there will feature one main article with a single minor article to accompany it to the side. The advert on this page will be placed within the bottom left corner of the page. The Crime article will dominate the majority of the page due to the size of the story and its importance because of this there will be a lot of text as well as two pictures based on the story on the page. The title of the main article is also shown at the top of the page. There will also a be a little head banner in which will show the page number of the page currently it is situated on.

'Portishead Post' Front page draft

The picture that I have attached to this post is a draft of the front page of my local newspaper called the 'Portishead Post':

From the picture you can discover many features such as layout and what will be involved on the front page. Starting with the title, this would be placed at the top left of the page which is a standard convention for a newspaper as it will be the first thing you see to help differentiate between papers. This will be accompanied with an image to represent the paper and the area which is why I selected the Portishead logo. To the right of the title is a competition for a 'months worth of petrol' which forms a part of the skybox/ears. This part of the front page will be linked with the poster. On the right will be a series of links to articles inside to gauge interest accompanied with a small image. At the bottom right is a piece of advertisement which will be mentioned about in more depth in another post. There will be one main picture on the front page working with a headline as well as part of an article along the bottom of the page. All of this will be in a blue colour scheme.

Pictures for the Newspaper

Criminal Article
Shots
Medium to full body shot of the criminal walking away trying to obscure his face as he walks away from the police station.
High angled shot looking down on a theft replicating a CCTV camera (this will be edited in future).

Locations
Outside Police HQ
Outside my house

Clothing/Props
Hoodie
Joggers

Hero Article
Shots
Full body shot of the injured standing with the person that helped him with their dog
A shot looking up where the accident took place

Location
The coast of Portishead

Clothing/Props
Casual/practical  clothing e.g. jeans, trainers, jumper
Dog with lead
Pair of crutches
Cast

Local Newspaper Articles

One of the two main articles that would feature within my local newspaper will be a negative and a positive article. Along with this there will be several minor articles that will be mentioned as being inside the newspaper. I have done this as the readers from my research expect a mixture of good and bad news within the newspapers they read. The negative article will be based on a criminal act within the community of someone who done repeated theft. The picture associated with this article will be of the criminal wearing a tracksuit with a bad looking hoodie, as well as not looking very attractive which is something I noticed during my research stage that the criminals featured don't look overly attractive therefore making you feel negatively upon them. I will also try to mess up their hair to achieve this. The location for this will likely be by the police headquarters in Portishead this is so I can get a shot with the criminal walking out of the headquarters with the head quarters in the background. I think this would be a suitable location as it is relevant to the article. To accompany this picture  I will produce a long shot of the criminal as though he was caught on CCTV. To do this I will take a long shot that I will gather from above so that it is like a CCTV shot and I will try to manipulate the image so it looks grainy as if it was a CCTV camera that took the image. This article will be featured on the front page of the newspaper.
The other main article that I will produce will be a positive article as I mentioned before and will be based upon a story about someone who saved someone's life after they had an accident on the coast of Portishead after they slipped and fell of a rock and broke a bone in their leg as well as having  multiple other minor injuries meanwhile the tide was quickly coming in. After the accident  they were found by a dog walker walking along the coast taking his dog for a walk and then found him and helped him out. For the picture which would accompany the article the location would be where the accident would have happened on the coast of Portishead by some hazardous rock. The costume I will use for this would be a pair of crutches that I have I will also try to make the appearance of a cast underneath their trousers to emphasize the injury. The person who saved him will also be standing next to him with the dog that he was walking at the time. The shot This article will be the main article that will feature on the second page of my newspaper.

Bristol Post Wallace & Gromit Link

During the summer there was great scheme for Bristol which raises money for charity as well as promoting tourism for the city. What was introduced was a wide variety of Gromit, from Wallace & Gromit, models which were spread all over the city with a very different appearance to each one. Examples of such are from a buzz light year Gromit to a union jack Gromit. With the models spread all over the city many people go around looking for them therefore promoting tourism for the city and then after the summer they will be sold off for charity. The Bristol Post utilizes this interest in the city with them working in synergy with the new tourist attraction. One thing the Bristol Post does to work with the scheme is create a variable title appearance for each edition of the newspaper in the various styles linked with each model. On top of that, Gromit does take a big presence on the front cover of the newspaper showing that they are proud to be working in conjunction with the idea as well as showing there is an interest from the readers of the newspaper. Inside the newspaper there are also some articles linked with this topic on several things such as the process of planning and creating a model Gromit. This shows that local people are have a strong interest in this scheme and that due to this, the Bristol Post are building on a good story. One of the main features that encourages readers to purchase the newspaper is the part within the newspaper that shows several pictures of the public by the dogs that they sent in this encourages people to get the newspaper so they can see people they know within the newspaper. What this also proves is the point that local newspapers are more likely to publish positive stories in their newspapers than the national press although, it is not reliant on it.

What I Gained from my Research

I gained quite a lot of useful information that I gathered from the questionnaire. In summary I will now adopt a blue and white colour scheme due to the link the colour has to the town as well a being one of the main two colours being suggested within the survey. I was thinking about a red colour scheme as it is not as common as a blue colour scheme for newspapers however, I decided upon a blue colour scheme as there is a maritime link Portishead town has as it's a coastal town. While there was an obvious link between the colour and the town I could not think of link to the town which would justify the use of the colour.
Another point I received from the questionnaire is for a mixture of stories based on the local community with not only negative articles. From this feedback I have received I will make sure that there will be mixture of positive and negative articles in my local newspaper. I'm thinking of doing a criminal act from a youth for my negative story within my newspaper while I'll include at least one positive story in the newspaper which would be on the second page. This will accompany several other stories that won't feature in as much detail.
The font that I will be using for the main body text within my newspaper will be times new roman, due to the fact that is easier to read than the other alternatives which is paramount for the product. It is also a similar font to the font that the professionals use on newspapers published today. This text will be set at font size 12 as this is the common size for newspapers' body text. I will also alter the text size for headers depending on how important they are with size 14 for sub-headers and either size 24 or 36 for the main headline on the front cover.
The final point I will mention from my questionnaire is the title of the newspaper which, will now be named 'Portishead Post' which was the preferred option chosen from the survey that I sent out. I like the name of the newspaper as it is obvious what the name represents with the area and what it is within the title. The other aspect I like about the title is simple point but both words within the title begin with the letters 'Po' which seems to have more meaning a looks better to the eye.

Questionnaire Results

During the summer I conducted a survey to add to the research that I have already conducted, from this I would be able to understand what other people/audience want from the newspaper. I've received feedback from a total of 12 people of variable ages. Here is some of the information about them:

Following up from that I tried to make the information gathered from the previous questions useful by asking them whether they read local newspapers. When checking up one their answers it is noticeable that the younger participants were less interested than the older participants of the survey in reading their local newspaper, which is what I expected.

After asking about some information about themselves I started to ask some questions that would aid with my research. The first question that I gave them to answer was 'What is your preferred name for a local newspaper in the region of Portishead?' for this I gave them several suggestions they could select for their preferred name of the newspaper and if they had a better idea I gave the option of letting them gave their suggestions. Here are the results:

When you look at the results the preferred name for my newspaper would be 'Portishead Post' with the big majority. The one other suggestion that was given was just 'The Post' which is quite similar to the most popular choice. From this information it helps gauge my judgement on what the name for my newspaper will be with it now likely being called 'Portishead Post' from the feedback I have received.
The next question I wanted them to answer was for them to pass their judgement on their preferred colour scheme for not only the newspaper but, will also feature on the poster that will accompany it and this was the response:

The answers given from the question were predominately of either the colour red or blue with a couple of alternatives given but, the likely outcome would be either red or blue. The decision upon this may depend on several reasons such as the relevance of the colour to the area which is why I am leaning towards blue as it is a town linked  with the sea.
The final question I gave to them was 'What do you look for in a newspaper and why?' this question was posed to observe several aspect. One of which is what they expect/want from a local newspaper but, also helping with what sort of stories that would feature within a local newspaper being reinforced with a reason why.

This was the most detailed response I received and the overview of the responses are that in local newspapers there should be just as much good news as bad which national press may lean towards for dramatic effect. The articles are also very community focused with achievements and events of its local community feature that maybe overlooked.

Radio Advert (Tescos)

The second advert I have analysed is an advert from the supermarket Tescos from a year ago. In the advert is has a very different accent in comparison with the Nando's advert with a very standard english accent used which could give the impression that Tescos want to give out the perception that they are friendly and are like us therefore understanding the interests of its audience this is despite Tescos being a huge global company. The main part of the radio advert is sped up which includes many groceries that they have priced dropped. The reason for the the change of speed is to give the audience the interpretation of the price cuts as almost being countless in size or amount, so much so that they had to speed up how fast it is spoken to emulate how much is cut in price. As a listener to the radio advert you almost get lost in what is trying to be said forgetting what is on offer this is what makes it seem like a huge amount of offers being introduced despite potentially forgetting what is actually on offer that is not really the point in the advert. The person also carries on saying the offers and does not stop until the advert is fully over showing that they can't fit everything on a 30 second advert. The advert overall serves it purpose as people always like to save money on their weekly shops as it is something that yo have to pay for while in comparison a Nando's it advertises in a different way instead of offering what its audience wants it tries to attract through humour. Here is a link to the advert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLvBRCyNHJs

Questionnaire

Forming a part of my research for the project was through a questionnaire that I made to gather information on what to do and how. This questionnaire would also be given out so that presumed target audience for local newspapers of middle aged people take a big part in answering the questions as they are the main readers of local newspapers however, I will also use some younger people to take part to gain a wider insight into how a local newspaper should work. Here is the link to my questionnaire:
http://stellarsurvey.com/s.aspx?u=6D1D7298-EB59-4FF2-9FCB-56AAF35F64B9&

Radio Advert (Nando's)

Due to the fact that newspaper radio adverts are not very common I have decided to to analyse alternative radio adverts to help give a general indication of what a radio advert should be like. The first advert I looked at is an advert from Nando's in 2009. The first thing you notice from the advert is the accent and the way the person conducting the advert is speaking. In this case he has a sort of Portuguese accent which helps show what sort of thing they represent in this case what style of food which is a Portuguese cuisine. Another attribute of the advert is that it is quite humorous in its methods to attract customers by doing this that advert offers a source of memorability when you hear it which would be the thing that attracts the customers with the attraction of their interest. The advert tries to be humorous in its repetition and confusion that it creates with the repetition of the words 'You Happy We Happy'. Despite the humorous approach it does have a point to it with it being very customer-centric with its whatever makes their customers happy they are happy approach, with the way to eat in particular advertised. Here is the link to the advert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz1t82yCN3A

Poster Newspaper Advertisement

Despite the advert originating from Poland it is still a newspaper adverts which can help show several aspects of the newspaper advertisment with the point of them being to try and gain a part of the market in this case the growing technological market with a heavy promotion on accessing the news from multiple devices. This advertisement is clearly used to gain control of the new amerging market which is what a self-promotional advert does; strengthening their control of the market. One thing the advertisement does well is to show what this newspaper may be like in style with the people within the advertisement in business wear in combination with the colour scheme of blacks,whites, and greys which gives the impression that the newspaper is very fromal catering towards the working business people demographic. The fact that it highlights technology and its intergration dedicating a whole poster to it shows how important this area is now and would justify an inclusion within my poster  of at least a website reference.

Newspaper Promotional Poster

One of the few newspaper advertisement posters is Metro which is a free national paper with this advert in place to help promote itself to gain a greater audience. While promoting itself the end product that I will be making will not have to promote itself and can promote other things. Moving on to the poster one thing you notice is the synergy in place that works well with the newspaper. What I mean by this is that the colour scheme and the font on the poster is relevant/same as what is used on the newspaper therefore helping to reinforce the identity. The logo is also featured on the poster ensuring the reader knows exactly what the advertisement is associated with which would be a feature within my newspaper poster along with the synergy with the newspaper. To the bottom right of the page is a reference to their website this is a likely inclusion to gauge interest as well as being an important inclusion with the higher amount of use and reliability on technology. Within the advert itself the Metro is represented as almost a guilty pleasure with the newspaper hidden behind a magazine this makes the reader intrigued why it is worth reading as well as creating a sense of community as he is secretly reading it.

Crime Articles in Local Newspapers

Within all newspapers crime seems to be a mainstay as it is a subject that all be can pay attention to as it intrigues them how people can behave in disgusting ways as well as giving them an insight in to the ways that people behave not only in your country but your community as well. I found an example of a crime story to look into as it is one of the main stories that feature within all newspapers. There however there is a difference between the articles on crime in a national and local newspaper, with a national newspaper only focussing on the extreme crime happenings like murder while the local newspaper also considers the minor criminal acts in comparison such as theft. I found a good example of this in the 'Kentish Gazette' where there is a criminal act reported about a small theft on a shed in which '£3,000' worth of equipement was stolen. Not only is it small in comparison to national stories the criminal is yet to be caught this example shows exactly how the stories differ with the smaller criminal acts included in the local newspapers as the readers of the national newspapers want to know about the big news of the day while local papers deal with events concerning the community which could also affect them.

Whether a person has been found  guilty for the criminal activity affects the way the article is written even if they are a suspect it changes the way you can approach an article with stronger language and a more definitive view on what happened if someone was convicted. The writer if writing about a convict is likely to show the criminal in an as strongly opinioned article as possible this often includes imagery making the criminals look bad, as you can see from another article from the 'Kentish Gazette' on a couple of convicted criminals for 'robbery' and 'violence'. The imagery in this example makes them look very bad showing negative body language and appearance that brings a negative view. The language is also changed with quotes such as 'Drunk's racist tirade lands him in jail' and 'poured out torrent of racial abuse'. In comparison the language used for a suspect is a lot more unopinionated as in the eyes of law they are not yet guilty.

Alternate Area the 'Kentish Gazette' Analysis

First impressions of the front page of this in comparison to the other newspapers I have analysed is the basic format in comparison to the Post with a low amount of text featured with quite a lot of imagery. This could be due to the story of the edition I looked at which seems to be a very strong headline which could figure as a very big deal within the local community therefore the reason for dominating the page with the headline 'SCUMBAGS'. Again there is the similarity with the advertisement at the bottom of the page which seems to be the most populare thing to do. The website is also featured within the front page but not nearly as heavily advertised as the Post does which could be due to the the size of the community in which it covers therefore needing to try harder to appeal to its audience. The skybox is featured on the front page similar to other example of newspapers I have anlysed although in a slightly altered position just beneath the head banner or the flag as it is also known as. There is also an inside section to the right hand side which helps readers get an insight into the features when they look at the page which is something other newspapers do.

Old Edition (Sep 22, 2011) of the 'Bristol Post' Comparison and Analysis





I am using this example of an older edition to analyse and compare the older editions of the newspaper to how the newspaper has changed in appearance now. The most obvious changes compared to the modern editions is the branding of the newspaper with an obvious revamp done to the brand to try and reinvent itself. This is done through the change in it name formerly known as the 'Evening Post' now the 'Bristol Post' and the disappearance of its former logo. There are some aspects that bring its similarities such as the skyboxes at the top of the page just a little altered featuring additional content in this example a 'Entertainment guide' and a 'Motors supplement'. Advertisment is also pushed to the bottom right side of the front page like it is today trying to limit the advertisements intrusion. One of the key aspects you notice is the advertisement differnce for technology and in specific their website. In the newer additions of the newspaper the website is clealry shown within the front page with a statement in the bar claiming to have 'south west website of the year' which they are clearly proud of and hope that it appeals to their audience. In comparison to the older edition where the website makes no appearance on the front cover of the newspaper which is a big difference and change in focus compared to the older copies.

Modern Alternate Local Newspaper 'Somerset Times' Analysis

One of the first aspects you notice when you look at the front cover is the advertising that runs along the bottom of the page. This seems to be a mainstay in local magazines with adverting running along the bottom of the page for the additional income needed to afford to publish the newspaper. The advertisements are likely to be placed around the bottom of the page due to the content being the first thing you read on the page which is limits the detraction of the reader. Another aspect similar to the post is the head banner at the top which consists of the data some additional info to the right with a bar running along underneath the title. The issue number and the price is normally within this banner and within the example within the bar is some references with page numbers of content. The colours of the newpaper also shares its similarities to the Bristol Post with its similar colour scheme with blue the main additional colour used which is important as it needs to be simplistic and neutral. The website is also advertised on the front page at the bottom this shows that most newspapers will advertise and have an external website for an extra source of information. The content is very much focussed on the events of the community with several stories such as 'arson' which relates to the local area with 'child counselling' featuring as the main story this strengthens the link with the concerns of the family and how they will be effected due to certain events meeting the interests of the audience of a local newspaper.

Here is the first two pages of the same edition of the newspaper to help show what my second page could look like. The stories you notice immediately when you look at the first few pages is the minor stories and headlines to what you may be accustomed to with the national or even a bigger regional newspaper.

Modern Local Newspaper 'The Bristol Post' Analysis

This is an example of one of the Newspapers I have analysed for my research. It is called 'The Bristol Post' and is one of the biggest newspapers in the west of England. This is a modern addition of the newspaper which means it brings brings certain new conventions to the previous older copies.The certain features that have changed is some of the branding as well as a more heavily advertised technological association with the newspaper with, the website being heavily advertised as the 'best website in the west'. This is likely due the more technological reliance of recent times. This is something that would have to feature within the local newpaper that I create. Another one of the conventions I noticed on the cover is the advertisement to the bottom right of the page. The is the primary source of income for a local nespaper which is why there is some advertisement at the front as that would require a premium therefore giving them more money. Skyboxes/Ears are another standard convention for the Posts newpapers. These are advertisements at the the top of the page which advertise several things inside the newspaper. Examples of these are offers such as for petrol, advertisements and contents. This creates more links from the front page to what is inside and is a common thing to do within local newspapers. Additional contents within the newspaper is also given a big proportion of the front cover this advertises the addtional inclusives I could use this as well to advertise the poster that would need to be done as well.

The picture above is an example of the first couple of pages within the same edition of the post as the example above. This is to help contribute to the creation of the second page of the newspaper that I will have to make to go alongside the front cover. The way the Bristol Post have done this they have designed it so that the second page is done as a double page spread in conjunction with the third page. This is a different format compared to some of the other newspapers and how they set it out and I will be only doing the second page. The way it is layed out on the double page spread is interesting with many stories provided on the double page all very well seperated out with stories starting on one side and leading on to the other. The two stories with pictures are placed to the centre of the spread with additional articles to both sides, weather to the left and the advertisement to the bottom right side. The colour is also another noticeable change from the front cover with a change in blue made that covers the top of the page.The stories covered include a Z list celebrity opening a baby unit politcs, youth actions arson/attacks and Joanna Yeates after her murder.

General Newspaper Analysis

Newspapers

1.    What are the conventional features of a local newspaper front cover?

Some of the standard local newspaper conventions are the following:

• Title for the newspaper at the top left or centre

• Some adverts do appear around the bottom of the front page

• Headline story in bold

•  Other ways of contact advertised like their website

•  One main picture

• A person or group of people normally feature on the front page

•  Pictures may relate to a different story compared to the main story on front page

• More than just one story featured
 
• Two main colours to accompany the white background you get on the paper

 

2.    Who are the different audiences?

The dominate audience who read the local newspapers seem to be people of a certain age who, pay attention to the community they living in and the happenings going on. This is generally older people around the age of 40+ as they are generally quite settled within the community and perhaps have their own family which may also be affected by the events of the community.

 

3.    Why do they read local press?

They read the local press due to the interest with the community around them as any stories may affect them or their family. Due them generally being more likely to have settled down at this time they feel more like a long term part of the community than another time which they may have felt separate from the community and less likely to show an interest in what is happening around them. The youth is generally considered quite ignorant of these kinds of things with the community.

 

4.    Which groups are typically portrayed in local papers?

The main groups portrayed in local newspapers are members of the community who have done a particular good deed. The people portrayed are similar to its audience with the majority of features of featuring similar people with family also playing a huge part within the regional/local newspapers. Family loss also is also sometimes being a part showing how it affects the community as a whole and that the loss is not only felt with the family. This is what readers want as it people just like them in the community and it is what its audience wants to read about instead of news that may not concern the area.

 

5.    What are the differences between local and national newspapers?

There is a lot more advertising featured within a local newspaper compared to a national newspaper. This is due to the smaller local newspapers needing additional finance and does this by generating advertising income. The content/ stories are also very different with the national newspapers looking not just at the national news but the world news as well, while the local newspapers focus on the events within the local area specifically which leads to less dramatic headlines and stories. Local newspapers are more likely to cover positive stories such as achievements compared to national which are often negative stories.