Last Thoughts For My Front Page

The image to the right is my final idea for my front page.
It would be conventional for me to use a celebrity on my front page, as local newspapers do try to hang on loosely to the outside community as much as possible so that they still have connections and can appeal to a larger audience. However my newspaper differs to it as I have removed the tacky celebrity story, which I think would make my newspaper seem as though it is too involved in the outside world. I also believe that it would not appeal to the audience I want and some readers may just purchase my newspaper for the celebrity stories rather then the local news. I hope to attract an older audience, that of young adults of demographic A to D1, both female and male. This gives me a chance to aim at a larger audience then that of my past AS coursework where I had to choose a specific target audience. I have also changed it so that I have only a small part of my main cover story on the actual cover, I have decided to let it leak onto the inside page as I believe this will encourage my readers to purchase the newspaper because they wont know what the stories ending is till they buy it. By replacing the column, that was originally for sports and other local news to be a short story and an advert for the community gym, I think this helps make the layout of my newspaper seem as though it is more formal and it also mirrors the set out of The Evening Post and Chronicle, which are my two main researched newspapers. Placing a slogan and logo in my masthead helps to make my newspaper have individuality and more attraction to my readers, as they will be able to spot it out whilst looking through the newspaper stand. I have also switched the position of the advert banner around, by placing it above the masthead rather then the bottom of the front cover as I believe this will convey its importance, however I do not want my advert banner to become more highlighted rather then my masthead. To counter this I will make sure that I make my masthead "Portishead Post" larger and more bold then the advert banner.

Media Lesson Planning Front Page

In my Media lesson today, I spent majority of my time creating a new front page for my newspaper, through doing this I learnt how to use Guide Lines, which are used for newspapers. This is the amount of columns I will have and how much space I get for each one. I also learn that the space between each column is called a "gutter"this neatly helps to separate each story and picture so that they don't combine. When making my plan, I decided to do a little bit of research on how much space the columns take up, usually the right side column uses about 25% of the newspaper and is a much larger writing space then that of the left column which is about 17%, mainly because the cover image takes up more space.

My First Pictures.

For my front cover image, as I have written in a previous post, I have taken a picture of the Portishead Sea Front in the daylight.

I had a debate with myself about this image, as I did like it when I got the first shot, but then I realised it is dull and doesn't really tell the reader anything about the story, apart from the location. I believe that if I put two young males in the picture, looking worried or confused then this will make the picture more captivating as the readers will wonder what has happened to them and why are they in that location.

For the short local stories I will use the two pictures that are below:

 The image to the left is Antonio's pizzeria. It will be the picture I use for the story, "Welcoming Hearty Italian Restaurant Reopened". However when I get the prober photo done in a week or two I will be able to ask the shop owner, Antonio, to stand outside as if he is reopening to customers.

This is the story, "Dropping The Pounds And Gaining Better Bodies". In my final newspaper I will not be using this picture as this is not really the gym owner, this is one of the staff which work there. I have also decided that I don't like the positions in which they are as it looks as though I have caught the staff member off guard  when really I want him in a open posture to suggest that he is friendly and wanting new members joining. 

The Evening Posts Change In Name.

Interestingly, I found that through more recent research that The Evening Post is now The Post. This is because less people are purchasing newspapers because of new technologies, such as websites and mobile phones, where they can asses the same information more quickly and for free. This causes newspapers to lose customer interest, as readers have to wait for a week to get the latest news, when they could easily log on to a computer and get the news pretty much straight away.

As I was studying the Evening Post, right before it turned into The Post, in April 2012 I found that even then they stop just doing one story on the inside page, now they spread out their main story across to page three. This causes slight problems for the making of my newspaper as I will only be making a page two and will have to keep the story to one page rather then The (Evening) Post which uses two. I believe that they do this so that the readers get a more insight picture and can see more clearer. It also grabs the attention of the reader as it differs to other newspapers which only use the inside page to explain their main story.

The image below is an annotation of The Evening Post showing how the story on the second page leaks onto the third page, which makes it similar to a double page spread which is seen in magazines.

Inside Page Layout Idea!

As you can see in my previous post into inside page research I have been strongly influenced by the Mercury rather than The Times this is because I believe that it is a more traditional layout and I feel that it will appeal to my readers more.

This is a sample of my inside page:

Inside Story:

My inside page main story will be a continuous of the story which is on the front, "Two Local Teens Stuck In The Mud". However in my layout for my front page I have written that I will be putting the whole story on the front, I have now decided to only put the story inside and just leave the front cover with a picture of the sea front and a cover line. I believe that this would increase interest in my newspaper, as they will only see part of the story on the front which results in them needing to purchase the newspaper to read the rest of the story which is on the inside page. To get my pictures for my inside page I will need borrow a camera from Sixthform. The picture in the inside page will differ from the front cover, even though they are the same story. I would like to either take a picture of the Portishead Fire station/Police station from outside, hopefully a time where firemen are hanging about outside, or I would like to have a picture of two young men standing on the sea front, after the incident. This would provide the reader with a sense that everything ended up fine, which is in contrast to the front cover, where the shocking headline and photo will be. 

Other Parts:
In my past post of my idea for my inside page layout I have said that will not be doing a advert banner along the bottom, however I feel that this is a regular structure of a newspaper inside page, so I will do to. This advert will differ from the one on front cover, I may do it on the Italian restaurant doing "2 for 1" similar to that of the Evening Post.

Inside Page Idea

The two newspaper inside covers where hard to find so I ended up buying a local papers and using them. However I did not use the same newspapers as of my cover research. The two inside pages I studied where The Times and Mercury, both local Portishead papers.

The Mercury is the standard layout for a second page, but The Times is full of announcements and advertising which is not conventional for a inside page. As you can see by my past research into these inside pages, they're are both very different, this is the may reason why I decided to annotate them, so that I could get a full idea of how you can present it, other then just having it full of stories or as the contents page.

For my inside page I would like to the adopt a similar layout to that of Mercury, by keeping it conventional, having a main story inside. I will also have a small byline for announcements, mirroring The Times, for local families, wishing to say "Happy Birthday" or respecting the loss of a loved one. This helps the newspaper tab into the local community and will evoke sympathy and compassion for the families. It also suggests that my newspaper cares about its citizens which will conclude to the readers purchasing my newspaper because they want to be part of the caring community, some readers might also just buy the newspaper because their family announcement is in there or someone they know maybe. Also this is another way in which the newspaper can gain profit, as people have to pay to have their announcements put in.
Through writing this post I have thought of putting one of the bylines as the contents so that readers know which page to go to for the latest news, instead of flicking through until they find what is on the font cover or what interests them. As I researched I also discovered that the Mercury have a advert banner, similar to that on the Evening Posts front cover. I am not too certain whether I will mirror this layout as I have already used a advert banner for my front cover and I don't want to be too repetitive as it will get boring to my readers and result in a lack of sales because of this.

What adverts should I do?

In my research into adverts on a newspaper front cover, I found that they usually promote large companies which are in some cases, are in the area in which the newspaper is sold but also companies which are seen nationally.

As you can see the image on the right is a layout for my future newspaper. I have come up with having my advert as a banner, along the bottom of my newspaper, this is similar to that of the Evening Post, however it has it's advert banner along the top, above the masthead. By making my adverts more discreet I think this will re-ensure that all attention is upon the news on my front cover, rather then adverts.




In my research I have also found that the adverts on the front cover are usually in the readers interests rather then the companies though of gaining profits. They use bargains to appeal to the customers, this could also attract readers as this maybe the main reason they purchase the newspaper, to get the deals.
This is shown in my research of the Evening Post, which is the image to the left. In this advert they are publicising the deal of getting "2 for 1" whilst eating out at a specific restaurant, which suggests that there is more advantage for the customer as they are getting money off a meal, which will now be half price. In a previous post I have gone more in to detail about this advert.

These are two other adverts by the Evening Post, similar to the advert above, they both are in the customers favour. However these two do have a slight contrast as they are "Win" adverts, which mean that the customer who buys the newspaper is in chance of getting s free PS3 or McFly guitar, this could also cause readers to buy the newspaper simply because of their chance in winning something expensive and getting it for free. This also tells us what the Evening Posts target audience could be, because they are promoting PS3 purchases, this suggests that the readers are top gamers which want the newest gadgets to play their games on. The audience could also be great music fans, or listen to chart hits because of the free gaining of a fresh guitar, held by one of the members of the band. A long with that, one of the adverts is promoting two, the free guitar and "2 for 1" eating which is a great plug for the newspaper and will get audiences purchasing it.

Through my research into newspaper adverts I have decided to use a banner and to have mine as a bargain advert. Preferable for a new, local shop in Portishead,such as Waitrose or Lidl as they have newly opened over the years I think this will give me leverage over my competitors as readers will be interested in exploring the new shops. Also as these are grocery shops, this will give the customers more means to buy the newspaper as most families go on a weekly food shop and will be able to use the deal. I think that my advert will be for £20 off when shopping in Waitrose as I believe this will target my audience and will look right within my newspaper.