Monday, 13 December 2010
Monday 13th December
Charlotte - Myself and Holly are going over the ancillary tasks to make sure they are to a standard we are happy with. During the week we took the photos we needed for our newspaper and are editing them today to put into our newspaper. I have started our evaluation and have so far evaluated our research and planning process. Holly is finishing our advertisements for our newspaper which included one for a jewellers and another for a hair salon. We have also placed a money off coupon within our newspaper.
Monday 6th December
Holly - We have finished both ancillary tasks aswell as almost finishing the newspaper. There were some last minute changes we decided we need to make, like cutting stories that weren't as interesting as we could have made them or replaced them with. Today myself and Charlotte are going to take the images to put in the main newspaper.
Charlotte - I am going to make a start on the evaluation of our whole project. I am also going to update our research and planning as this is an important factor for our newspaper.
Charlotte - I am going to make a start on the evaluation of our whole project. I am also going to update our research and planning as this is an important factor for our newspaper.
Friday 3rd December
Charlotte - Were running abit behind in terms of completing all parts of our project and have run over the deadline. Today I am going to take the time to update our blog as weve fallen behind with writing down where we are. I am also going to finish our advertisement for the newspaper as we pushed that to the side while we got on with the actual newspaper.
Holly - Today I am finishing the newspaper. All of the articles are practically in place, the only thing we will add later are the images which we have to take ourselves. The website also needs a few finishing touches however this can wait until we have completed more important matters.
Holly - Today I am finishing the newspaper. All of the articles are practically in place, the only thing we will add later are the images which we have to take ourselves. The website also needs a few finishing touches however this can wait until we have completed more important matters.
Monday, 6 December 2010
Monday 29th November
We both took the first part of lesson to brainstorm ideas on advertising. Advertisements are very important in any newspaper, be it local or national. They are messages which are constructed to inform or influence the audience that recieve or read them. Advertising has a fundamental role in the production of all newspapers and needs to be placed where the target audience will see them. We needed to include advertisments about things locally, be it a new buisness that has opened up or that is popular already, places and events that are going to happen, or anything else exciting or worth knowing about in the town.
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Friday 26th November
Holly - Both myself and Charlotte have updated all 3 parts of our project throughout the week when possible. We have pushed the advert to the side as this ancillary task will be the quickest to complete. Charlotte is continuing with the website, while I continue with the front page and inside page of our newspaper. I have now put all the definate articles in place, it's just a case of getting the photos taken and put on there aswell as brainstorming ideas for advertisements to put in the paper.
Charlotte - Have filled both of the 2 linked pages on our website - Community and Events, the website is well on it's way to being finished. The homepage after being thoroughly improved, has made us more confident in getting a better mark than we had originally thought.
Charlotte - Have filled both of the 2 linked pages on our website - Community and Events, the website is well on it's way to being finished. The homepage after being thoroughly improved, has made us more confident in getting a better mark than we had originally thought.
Monday 22nd November
Charlotte - Continued juggling all 3 parts of our project. I improved our website greatly by updating and adding articles, and adding a background to our website. In addition to this I discovered you could add html codes to freewebs, something Holly and myself initially thought wasn't possible. I added the html code for scrolling text, placing some local headlines and shortened news in the box. I then improved the events and community page by adding some more articles.
Holly - Continued with the front page of our newspaper. In order to understand the conventions of both a local and a national newspaper and the differences between them, we did an analysis of both 'The Sun' and 'The Herald and Post's' front page and second page as this is the brief for our project.
The Sun - Front Page
The name 'The Sun' is big and bold, with the colour scheme working well to make it stand out, as the red is a contrast to it's background. Below the title is an advert of a trip abroad for just £9.50, in which you collect tokens and are eligable to win a holiday. This is even bigger than the title as this is one of the key elements that will attract it's audience to purchase the newspaper. The main headline for the newspaper is longer than usual as conventionally, the titles consist of a few words and an image with a small paragraph of the story, then continuing on the next page which encourages the reader to buy the paper and read more. The words used in the main title of a newspaper are usually controversial and worded in a way that sometimes leads the audience to assume something else. Above the main article is the phrase 'Footie exclusive'. This language will attract the reader to want to know the latest 'gossip'. There is a column on the left of a smaller story with an image, however is still important, which is a typical convention of a newspaper.
The Sun - Second Page
There are several stories on the second page, mainly at either side of the page, however the most important article is situated in the middle of the page and is in bold with the words in a bigger font in comparison to the other stories. There is alot of information crammed into the paper aswell as images, however some of the smaller stories are overlooked by the audience as they are less important. There is a contact number featured at the bottom, showing that they value the audiences feedback and any news they have, with a cash incentive for any contributions put forward. There is a large weather map at the bottom of the paper with the latest forecast.
The Herald and Post - Front Page
Coincidentally, the layout of the Herald and Post was very similar to The Sun, in the sense that the title is big and bold across the front at the top with again an advert to win a holiday abroad for just £10.00 below the title. This grabs the audiences interest and encourages them to read the newspaper. The location, date and the newspapers website is stated clearly just beneath the title giving readers the opportunity to access more information about the Luton and Dunstable community. The title of the main article is shorter than that of The Sun, but gives a general overview of the story featured in just a few short words. Unlike The Sun the main article features a photograph, in this case of a care home that is closing down. There is a small paragraph on the story which is then continued on page 3. The other stories that are equally as important as the main article are on the right side of the newspaper along with images relating to the stories and page numbers to make it accessible to the audience. There is also 2 phone numbers towards to bottom of the newspaper, giving the readers an opportunity to both advertise and call in with any local news or stories. An advertisement for a local indian restaurant is featured at the bottom of the newspaper, stating its deals. Putting an advert on the front of the newspaper will increase their custom and let their buisness become well known. The Herald and Post front page is alot more colourful than The Sun, however both seem to have a colour scheme of red black and white, with the red usually highlighting the important information. There is also more going on and crammed in on the front page.
The Herald and Post - Second Page
There is a lot going on within the second page however it is less colourful than the front page. In comparison to The Sun the second page has alot more advertising, with a few stories on the side around the most important story, which is situated in the middle of the page however the title is smaller than the article on the front. The adverts are all one colour with as minimal information as possible in order to fit more on the page. The headlines for the smaller stories at the side of the paper are in bold drawing attention to them as these are usually overlooked.
After taking into account both the layouts and the similar and different conventions of a national and a local newspaper, we have finalized a layout and how and why we are going to place everything on our front and second page. We are going to have our main featured article in the middle of the newspaper with the headline short, to the point and bold in order to immediately attract our audience. We will have the smaller stories and offers featured in the newspaper at the bottom of the front page. Our adverts will be on the second page in order to keep the front page simple and not too cluttered. We will also offer the audience opportunities to advertise or put forward any local news or stories by providing a number for them to ring. We are going to set up a basic layout and work and improve it over the next couple of weeks.
Holly - Continued with the front page of our newspaper. In order to understand the conventions of both a local and a national newspaper and the differences between them, we did an analysis of both 'The Sun' and 'The Herald and Post's' front page and second page as this is the brief for our project.
The Sun - Front Page
The name 'The Sun' is big and bold, with the colour scheme working well to make it stand out, as the red is a contrast to it's background. Below the title is an advert of a trip abroad for just £9.50, in which you collect tokens and are eligable to win a holiday. This is even bigger than the title as this is one of the key elements that will attract it's audience to purchase the newspaper. The main headline for the newspaper is longer than usual as conventionally, the titles consist of a few words and an image with a small paragraph of the story, then continuing on the next page which encourages the reader to buy the paper and read more. The words used in the main title of a newspaper are usually controversial and worded in a way that sometimes leads the audience to assume something else. Above the main article is the phrase 'Footie exclusive'. This language will attract the reader to want to know the latest 'gossip'. There is a column on the left of a smaller story with an image, however is still important, which is a typical convention of a newspaper.
The Sun - Second Page
There are several stories on the second page, mainly at either side of the page, however the most important article is situated in the middle of the page and is in bold with the words in a bigger font in comparison to the other stories. There is alot of information crammed into the paper aswell as images, however some of the smaller stories are overlooked by the audience as they are less important. There is a contact number featured at the bottom, showing that they value the audiences feedback and any news they have, with a cash incentive for any contributions put forward. There is a large weather map at the bottom of the paper with the latest forecast.
The Herald and Post - Front Page
Coincidentally, the layout of the Herald and Post was very similar to The Sun, in the sense that the title is big and bold across the front at the top with again an advert to win a holiday abroad for just £10.00 below the title. This grabs the audiences interest and encourages them to read the newspaper. The location, date and the newspapers website is stated clearly just beneath the title giving readers the opportunity to access more information about the Luton and Dunstable community. The title of the main article is shorter than that of The Sun, but gives a general overview of the story featured in just a few short words. Unlike The Sun the main article features a photograph, in this case of a care home that is closing down. There is a small paragraph on the story which is then continued on page 3. The other stories that are equally as important as the main article are on the right side of the newspaper along with images relating to the stories and page numbers to make it accessible to the audience. There is also 2 phone numbers towards to bottom of the newspaper, giving the readers an opportunity to both advertise and call in with any local news or stories. An advertisement for a local indian restaurant is featured at the bottom of the newspaper, stating its deals. Putting an advert on the front of the newspaper will increase their custom and let their buisness become well known. The Herald and Post front page is alot more colourful than The Sun, however both seem to have a colour scheme of red black and white, with the red usually highlighting the important information. There is also more going on and crammed in on the front page.
The Herald and Post - Second Page
There is a lot going on within the second page however it is less colourful than the front page. In comparison to The Sun the second page has alot more advertising, with a few stories on the side around the most important story, which is situated in the middle of the page however the title is smaller than the article on the front. The adverts are all one colour with as minimal information as possible in order to fit more on the page. The headlines for the smaller stories at the side of the paper are in bold drawing attention to them as these are usually overlooked.
After taking into account both the layouts and the similar and different conventions of a national and a local newspaper, we have finalized a layout and how and why we are going to place everything on our front and second page. We are going to have our main featured article in the middle of the newspaper with the headline short, to the point and bold in order to immediately attract our audience. We will have the smaller stories and offers featured in the newspaper at the bottom of the front page. Our adverts will be on the second page in order to keep the front page simple and not too cluttered. We will also offer the audience opportunities to advertise or put forward any local news or stories by providing a number for them to ring. We are going to set up a basic layout and work and improve it over the next couple of weeks.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Friday 19th November
Myself and charlotte spend the lesson photo shopping the pictures of my front door, and trying to put text onto the mock newspaper, but found it difficult as we both have insufficiant knowledge of using text on photoshop.
Holly- Updated the blog and had input with charlottes editing of the photo.
Charlotte- Cropped and edited out the door bell on the picture, and also attempted to add text to the newspaper, even though the first attempt was in successful, we will seek further help from our teacher, and get the end result we're looking for.
Holly- Updated the blog and had input with charlottes editing of the photo.
Charlotte- Cropped and edited out the door bell on the picture, and also attempted to add text to the newspaper, even though the first attempt was in successful, we will seek further help from our teacher, and get the end result we're looking for.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Monday 15th November
The begining of the double lesson we used to start the lay out of the front page of our newspaper on the schools computers.
We then borrowed a camera from the phography department and took pictures of my front door with the mock news paper stuck out of the letter box for editing during our next
We then borrowed a camera from the phography department and took pictures of my front door with the mock news paper stuck out of the letter box for editing during our next
timetabled media lesson, as thats the next time we are both available. 
Monday, 15 November 2010
Monday 15th November
Charlotte - We are carrying on with our second ancillary task - the poster to advertise our newspaper. We have decided to use Microsoft publisher as The fireworks programme was too difficult to use, and we are pushed for time. I am updating the blog, aswell as going back to our website to finish, while Holly starts the structure of our advertisement.
Holly - I am creating a logo for our advertisement aswell as a basic structure for it. We are each doing an ancillary task in order to complete our project quicker.
Holly - I am creating a logo for our advertisement aswell as a basic structure for it. We are each doing an ancillary task in order to complete our project quicker.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Tuesday 9th November
Holly - I spend the double lesson catching up with our blog. Through focusing on the ancillary tasks we fell behind with updating our blog, but as the first ancillary task has been handed in, (not fully completed yet, as we want to re - edit the layout and content of the articles and pictures before the final hand in of the completed project) we felt we really needed to catch up with the blog before we forgot what tasks we completed on which days.
Charlotte - I spent the lesson researching into newspaper layouts in preparation for when we put the material we already have all together in the form of our 'finished article'.
(Pictures of local and global newspapers and inside pages.)
In order to be prepared for our actual project - the newspaper, we needed to think about a target audience, as this was something we hadn't taken into consideration. We didn't want to make the newspaper aimed at youths, as it isn't typical for a large majority of that particular audience to be interested/read the local newspaper. So we decided to aim our newspaper for young adults, around aged 18 and over as the features in our newspaper will attract this age group.
We had to think about what sort of articles we were going to include in our newspaper. Headlines are what draws us into reading a certain article - they have to attract their audience. Their key function is to convey the 'gist' of a story in a few words. If the headline is strong, the this will not only attract the reader, but will also more importantly make them want to purchase it.
Charlotte - I spent the lesson researching into newspaper layouts in preparation for when we put the material we already have all together in the form of our 'finished article'.
(Pictures of local and global newspapers and inside pages.)
In order to be prepared for our actual project - the newspaper, we needed to think about a target audience, as this was something we hadn't taken into consideration. We didn't want to make the newspaper aimed at youths, as it isn't typical for a large majority of that particular audience to be interested/read the local newspaper. So we decided to aim our newspaper for young adults, around aged 18 and over as the features in our newspaper will attract this age group.
We had to think about what sort of articles we were going to include in our newspaper. Headlines are what draws us into reading a certain article - they have to attract their audience. Their key function is to convey the 'gist' of a story in a few words. If the headline is strong, the this will not only attract the reader, but will also more importantly make them want to purchase it.
Friday 22nd October
Charlotte - Today is the last day of term, so me and Holly got some research done as we both are unable to do anything during the holidays. I researched into the possible photoshop programmes to find the best software to superimpose our newspaper title - 'Dunstable Times' onto the already existing newspaper to get the best match in colour and to make the plain paper look of the same quality as the real newspaper. As I have a broader knowledge of photoshop software than Holly does due to taking A level Photography and have used the programme before. We agreed that I could use my skills to improve the poster and make it look it's best.
Holly - Having brainstormed poster ideas - I came up with the idea of our newspaper sticking out of a letter box with the title clearly showing, and the launch date of the newspaper at the bottom in light writing against a dark background. We agreed that using normal A4 or A3 plain paper with our title printed onto it, it wouldn't look convincing enough as a real newspaper, so I came up with the idea of getting a real newspaper, rolled up and covering the existing title with plain paper so we can superimpose our title onto the newspaper.
Holly - Having brainstormed poster ideas - I came up with the idea of our newspaper sticking out of a letter box with the title clearly showing, and the launch date of the newspaper at the bottom in light writing against a dark background. We agreed that using normal A4 or A3 plain paper with our title printed onto it, it wouldn't look convincing enough as a real newspaper, so I came up with the idea of getting a real newspaper, rolled up and covering the existing title with plain paper so we can superimpose our title onto the newspaper.
Monday 18th October
Today is the deadline for our first ancillary task. We explained to our teacher that due to initial complications with the programming for the website, we have provided a basic website temporarily, and are intending to go back and complete it to a professional standard. We print screened all the pages of the website and attatched them all to a word document to hand in, and will attatch a copy to one of our blog posts to make the blog a little more interesting, and to visually show our progress.
Friday 15th October
Charlotte - Finished the articles on the websites' home page and hyperlinked events page. We have written the sufficient amount for the articles, but once we have the 2nd ancillary task completed and the newspaper itself fully underway, we will go back and review all of the work all of the work contributed to this project and ensure everything has been completed to its full potential.
Monday 11th October
Holly - Only a couple of the pictures we want for the website have been put on. The particular story about the guiding cenenary needs pictures of the flower bed that's been planted in Priory Gardens and of the guides celebrating the organisations 100th birthday. I haven't been able to get the photographs yet as I need to write letters to the parents of the girls for being able to legally use the pictures within this project and due to focusing on the project, simply haven't had time.
Friday 1st October
Together during our double media lesson on Friday, as the school system won't allow us in the freewebs website, myself and charlotte went to my house to use my laptop, as we felt we were wasting our time staying in school.
We named the appropriate tabs on the homepage, wrote first draft article tasters for the homepage, (which will be re - written and put in the final copy of the newspaper), wrote a list of pictures we needed to take ourselves to put on the website that relate to our headlines and attempted to insert hyperlinks into the HTML boxes provided so we could have moving scroll boxes and a weatherbox, but the website we are using isn't compatible with the particular HTML codes we were trying to use.
(Pictures of all web pages and list pictures needed for pages)
We named the appropriate tabs on the homepage, wrote first draft article tasters for the homepage, (which will be re - written and put in the final copy of the newspaper), wrote a list of pictures we needed to take ourselves to put on the website that relate to our headlines and attempted to insert hyperlinks into the HTML boxes provided so we could have moving scroll boxes and a weatherbox, but the website we are using isn't compatible with the particular HTML codes we were trying to use.
(Pictures of all web pages and list pictures needed for pages)
Friday, 5 November 2010
Friday 24th September
After researching into the website 'Freewebs', to make sure it had the basic structure required to build a news website (as using Dreamweaver, we were expected to create tabs, newsboxes,templates and everything else from scratch).
Charlotte - We got going on our Freewebs website and were relieved as it was alot easier to use, giving us more time to focus on the articles and content within the website itself. We got a basic template with a colour scheme that looked professional and suited its genre. We came up with the name 'Dunstable Times' although this is temporary as it is a working title, brainstorming for an official name, however this was not a priority.
Charlotte - We got going on our Freewebs website and were relieved as it was alot easier to use, giving us more time to focus on the articles and content within the website itself. We got a basic template with a colour scheme that looked professional and suited its genre. We came up with the name 'Dunstable Times' although this is temporary as it is a working title, brainstorming for an official name, however this was not a priority.
Friday 17th September
Holly - After a lot of discussion, myself and Charlotte felt we could not continue using the Dreamweaver programme to complete our project work, as we had a limited time until our deadline, as we simply didn't know how to use the software.
Charlotte - We decided the Dreamweaver programme was difficult to carry out from scratch and we felt we were just wasting time trying to create it when we appeared to be getting no where. So we decided to use the website builder 'Freewebs' as it was more accessible and alot easier to use. We both knew what to do and how to use it. Although it was the easier option, it was our best chance of creating a functional website.
Charlotte - We decided the Dreamweaver programme was difficult to carry out from scratch and we felt we were just wasting time trying to create it when we appeared to be getting no where. So we decided to use the website builder 'Freewebs' as it was more accessible and alot easier to use. We both knew what to do and how to use it. Although it was the easier option, it was our best chance of creating a functional website.
Monday 13th September
Due to other commitments we could not meet up from the 7th September - 13th September to do our website. It also didn't help that we can't access the Dreamweaver programme used to create our website from home, as we always had to be in school to use it.
Tuesday 7th September
Charlotte - With alot of help from David we managed to get the boxes and html codes in the right places and the homepage started to come together.
Holly - We encountered some problems with the colour schemes and images to put on the website and as a background we couldn't agree on what would portray the feel of a real, professional news website. Eventually we decided to leave the image side of things and get on with structuring and writing the articles. Coming up with a name for the newspaper was difficult, however we settled on 'Dunstable Times'.
Holly - We encountered some problems with the colour schemes and images to put on the website and as a background we couldn't agree on what would portray the feel of a real, professional news website. Eventually we decided to leave the image side of things and get on with structuring and writing the articles. Coming up with a name for the newspaper was difficult, however we settled on 'Dunstable Times'.
Monday 6th September
We started to create our homepage, using the basic techniques to make it look like a professional news website. Although it started coming together, we found it extremely difficult as our knowledge of html codes were minimal, especially where to put them. We did some research on some help websites that allowed you to use some provided codes to create certain effects; however it became extremely frustrating as none of the codes seemed to be compatible with our website. Our classmate David who specializes in I.T had far more knowledge than us and helped us where he could, but he also had personal projects to be getting on with so we tried to do it ourselves to the best of our ability.
(Picture of home page of website)
(Picture of home page of website)
Monday, 27 September 2010
Friday 3rd September
First media lesson back at the beginning of term, we ran through everything that had been planned and discusses over the summer holidays, and began our first ancillary task- Our website.
With the help of our class mate David Hewitt, we made the basic homepage for our website. He taught us how to use codes to creat text boxes, change font colour/ style/ size, how to resize boxes and insert images and position them.
Any other skills we needed (for example how to insert a scrolling text box) David was happy to show us how and made sure we knew how to do it for the future.
With the help of our class mate David Hewitt, we made the basic homepage for our website. He taught us how to use codes to creat text boxes, change font colour/ style/ size, how to resize boxes and insert images and position them.
Any other skills we needed (for example how to insert a scrolling text box) David was happy to show us how and made sure we knew how to do it for the future.
Sunday 19th August
Due to both project members having prior arrangements with family holidays and work etc, we were unable to continue with planning work until the beginning or term- Friday 3rd September.
Wednesday 11th August
- We have drawn out a couple of possible layout ideas for our website homepage, and hyperlinked pages that cast off from the main home screen.
- Discussed story headlines that would be relevant to news readers today, making sure not to duplicate stories that are currently in the papers.
- Writing mock articles to compare to existing published articles to make sure our material sounds genuine.
- Brainstorming a name for our local paper.
- Designing potential advertisments to have within the first overleaf page in the paper (adverts featured in most newspapers, 'Cash for Gold', Fast Food Outlets and Take Away Services, Car Garages and Second Hand Car Dealers)
- Discussed story headlines that would be relevant to news readers today, making sure not to duplicate stories that are currently in the papers.
- Writing mock articles to compare to existing published articles to make sure our material sounds genuine.
- Brainstorming a name for our local paper.
- Designing potential advertisments to have within the first overleaf page in the paper (adverts featured in most newspapers, 'Cash for Gold', Fast Food Outlets and Take Away Services, Car Garages and Second Hand Car Dealers)
Wednesday 4th August
Myself and Charlott discussed which ancillary tasks would be best to accompany our main piece on the overall project.
We weighed up the pro's and con's to doing a website or a radio advertisment, as at this point we have already agreed the first ancillary task would be a poster advertising the newspaper.
We came to the conclusion that a radio advert may come across in an amateur sounding way, as when we researched into the process of creating a radio advertisment, it requires a lot of time and professional skill to put together an advert worthy of being put on air.
On the other side of the discussion, we agreed that a website would work more towards our favour , as creating a website with hyperlinks is a difficult task, this gives us more to talk about in the exam with skills we have learnt through out the project.
We weighed up the pro's and con's to doing a website or a radio advertisment, as at this point we have already agreed the first ancillary task would be a poster advertising the newspaper.
We came to the conclusion that a radio advert may come across in an amateur sounding way, as when we researched into the process of creating a radio advertisment, it requires a lot of time and professional skill to put together an advert worthy of being put on air.
On the other side of the discussion, we agreed that a website would work more towards our favour , as creating a website with hyperlinks is a difficult task, this gives us more to talk about in the exam with skills we have learnt through out the project.
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Initial ideas for planning
Key elements to our newspaper
- Possible name for newspaper
- Researching into potential story lines
- looking through previously submitted ALevel assignments online from past years
- Compare local and national news paper layouts
- Possible images to include along side articles
Research and brainstorming is ongoing.
- Possible name for newspaper
- Researching into potential story lines
- looking through previously submitted ALevel assignments online from past years
- Compare local and national news paper layouts
- Possible images to include along side articles
Research and brainstorming is ongoing.
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