Advert Ideas

The adverts I have decided I will be using in my local newspaper are: promotion to 'win £1000 worth of Apple products' if app is downloaded, conservatory fittings company, indoor furniture company, and outdoor furniture company. After doing immense research into the real adverts used in local newspapers, I discovered these were the most common. I decided to use realistic adverts because it can help reinforce the realism of my production.

To promote the Bristol Bulletin application and Apple products prize, I created an image of an iPhone held in hand, with it displaying a portion of my inside page. To create this image I heavily used Adobe Photoshop. I began by removing the background, I did this not just because it looks aesthetically pleasing, but it also reflects the actual convention of ears used in local newspapers. I also used Photoshop, in order for it to look like the iPhone was displaying my inside page.

Through thoroughly researching local newspapers, and what advert they all typically have, I discovered that nearly all of them have some form of home improvement advertisements. This is the main reason I decided I will definitely be using a conservatory fittings company in my piece, as I want it to look realistic as possible. To create this advert, I took inspiration from existing conservatory advertisements, I discovered that a common convention is to feature images of a conservatory at different angles. After making adjustments on Adobe Photoshop to make the images of higher quality, I imported the images onto Adobe InDesign, to make the advertisement.

Images

After deciding on what stories and adverts I will be using in my local newspaper, I created a plan on what, and where to take my images.

This is a list of the stories and adverts I will be using, with a description of the image I will be using to present them:

-'Suspension Bridge is closing down' - I will go to an easily accessible area to take a wide shot image of the Suspension Bridge and its surroundings.

- 'Homeless man becomes a global successful musician' - For this image I will either go to a location which I know has many homeless people and ask their permission to take an image. Or ask one of my friends to pretend to be homeless, with the use of 'mise-en-scene' to make it look as realistic as possible.

- 'Criminal Pair' - I will take a high angle shot from above, to make it look as if it was photographed from a CCTV camera.

- Furniture advert - I will take an image of my furniture, and then manipulate it.

- Conservatory advert - I will take an image of my conservatory, and then manipulate it.

- Property for sale advert - I will take images of the location

Photographing the Suspension Bridge, was much more difficult than I anticipated. I went a variety of areas, in order to take a successful image, but I was mostly dissatisfied with the results. I also faced challenges such as making sure weather visibility was clear, as some of my images had a lot of noise. After carefully critiquing my own images, I whittled down to just 5 different options.

They were all taken in a location much further from the bridge, but I knew I would be able to crop down my images and not sacrifice quality, as I used a camera with a high megapixel count. After further critiquing my images, I settled with the second image, this is because I believe it to have much more clarity compared to the other images, and it also was the most easy to crop. After cropping the image to just the Suspension Bridge, I was very happy with the results.
 

Taking an image to represent my homeless man story was much more easier than I anticipated. I went to Bristol Bear Pit, where I met a homeless man, and after asking his permission, he allowed me to photograph him sitting down playing his guitar. I am very happy with the result of this image, as it is not only authentic to the real representation, but it also fits my story article perfectly, as he was playing an instrument. Having an image of a real homeless man, also made it easier for me, as I did not have to ask my friend to dress up. I am also very pleased with this image, as it is a very successful close-mid shot, this is a shot type that is often used in newspapers.

For my criminal pair story, my plan was to take a photo of a large crowd in a busy shop. This proved to be very difficult, as on many occasions I could not get higher enough to take a high-angle shot. However, after many attempts I managed to take the perfect image. I was on the second floor of Cabot Circus Shopping Centre in Bristol, and I took the image of a shop below.

As I knew this story was not going to be a main story, I decided to crop the image to a very small size. I then began the manipulate the image to the style I was happy with. To do this, I used Adobe Photoshop, in this application I was able to grey-scale my image, to make it look as if it was taken from a CCTV camera, and I was able to change the shape. I changed the shape to a circle, I gained this influence from the 'Bristol Post', on many of their small articles, they include images in different shapes. This is done as it makes the layout look more attractive.

 For my flat property advert images, my plan was take a panoramic image of Bristol City Centre. This proved to be fairly simple, as all I had to do was go up a very large car park and take images.

The three images I took were all very similar, so I just decided on the image I felt had a higher quality.

For my conservatory advert, I took two images of my conservatory from different angles. I was influenced from an advert I saw in the 'Bath Chronicles', they had a wide range of angles of the same home extension to show its detail.

I was not pleased with the images I had taken, as the moss and other factors made the conservatory look very unattractive. To rectify the images, instead of taking new ones, I edited my two images on Adobe Photoshop. I removed the unappealing green-tone in the gutters, by using the paint tool to change it to the surrounding colour, which made my images look significantly better. I then increased the brightness and made other adjustments, in order to make it a much more captivating to the readers.

Logo

After thoroughly researching local newspapers, I discovered a large majority of them include a logo, that is significant to their location, in their masthead. The logo's were mostly black cartoon-esque visuals of buildings or other figures, that the location was historically known for. I will be using a logo in my newspaper, as it will make my final piece look as realistic as possible, and as attractive as possible.

As I decided in the beginning of my planning that I will be setting out my local newspaper in Bristol, I decided to conduct some research on the icons that Bristol is historically known for. An advantage of mine was that I have lived in Bristol my entire life, so I am very familiar with what the residents of Bristol deem to be iconic. Some of my ideas were, SS Great Britain, the Suspension Bridge, and Cabot Tower.

I decided I will be using the Suspension Bridge. This is because I believe people who see the logo will immediately know who and what the newspaper is representing. Whereas, the other 2 are not as easily as identifiable to be related to Bristol.

My idea was to draw out an image of the bridge and then scan it in, this was the result:
 I was dissatisfied with the results, as the black was much more washed out than anticipated.

 My plan was to improve the image quality by manipulating it in Adobe Photoshop. I contrasted the image, made the brightness much lower and cropped it, the results were much better. However, I was still not totally happy with it. It still looked very amateur, and not the quality you would expect to see in a real local newspaper.

So, I believed my only method of improvement was to not digitally enhance my image, but to adjust the physical copy. I went over the lines I drew with a thick felt tip marker, and then scanned the image in. The result was a much higher improvement, it looked much more professional and realistic. I am much more happy with my masthead logo now as it is now easily recognisable to what I was attempting to show.

Story planning

I have created a mind-map illustrating my different story ideas, which I may include in my newspaper. I have attempted to come up with a variety of ideas, that from my research, I feel would be appropriate to include into a local newspaper, 

The stories I will be using in my newspaper are - 

- 'HOMELESS MAN BECOMES A GLOBAL SUCCESSFUL MUSICIAN'

- 'SUSPENSION BRIDGE IS CLOSING DOWN'

- 'SCHOOL CHILDREN HOST A FUNDRAISER EVENT'

- 'PAIR OF CRIMINALS, TRAVELLING THE COUNTRY'

Stories

'Is This Really The End of Brunel's Suspension Bridge?'
After many years of faults, and unreliable reports. Bristol City Council, has finally announced to close the beloved suspension bridge, permanently.
It was first announced in 2011, that the Council, deemed the bridge to be ‘unsafe for the amount of traffic that travels through it daily’. After this report was published, the council spent over 2 years, reinforcing the existing structure, whilst also attempting to develop more support. With such a unique and complex formation, their plans to rebuild, ended unsuccessfully.
The council is fully aware, that many people rely on the bridge, in order to get in and out of the city. So they have announced they are looking to create a new bridge, in the same location. They will demolish and develop a brand new design.

'From Living in Bristol’s Bear Pit, To Living in a Lavish Apartment in Chelsea, London!'

From Aug 2014 to March 2015 Erik Payseur was living in a 2-man tent in Bristol’s Bear Pit. Whether it be night or day, cold or hot, Erik was always there busking for money. 

He was made homeless in 2014, due to his deranged partner committing suicide. Not being able to afford rent, Erik lost his house and become redundant. He believed he was destined for misfortune. His life was turned upside-down on new years eve. Lyor Cohen the founder of ‘300 Entertainment’ record label, was in Bristol, as one of his artist, Rejjie Snow, He came across Erik singing a cover of Archy Marshall’s song ‘Out Getting Ribs’. We spoke to Lyor and he said ‘I decided to go for a walk in Bristol, as I had never been there before and what I found was something magical. Erik, was sat there singing . I was so taken back by his vocals, as I can honestly say I had never heard anything like that. I knew immediately. I has to sign him.’

This was the turning point in Erik’s life. Just two weeks later, Lyor and the other members of ‘300 Entertainment’. helped house Erik. He was now living in a shared flat in South London. He was introduced to the other artists and he became close friends with a singer named Jamie Isaac, 4 months after their initial meeting, they recorded a single together named ‘Last Drip’.  It was a national success, just two days after the release, it was announced it was the ‘Number 1 Single Downloaded’ song of the month. Erik’s sudden fortune, enabled him, to buy his own property, in one of the most affluent parts of the country. Erik, is now recording his first full length LP, in Metropolis Studios.

'Know This Couple?'

POLICE are looking for this couple in connection to a string of petty thefts. They were captured  on CCTV months ago, stealing goods from WHSmith, and last week Smiggle, a children's toy shop in Cabot Circus, recorded the devious couple purloining expensive toys. They have been described as both being white and in their late 40s.

Crimestoppers: 0800 666 222

'We Need Your Books!'

Over 1000 books were damaged in the fire that happened at Bristol Sea Mill’s library on Tuesday afternoon. The fire was ignited after a librarian, used a faulty coffee machine, which triggered a fuse to explode. 

On Friday 18th Nov (9AM - 1PM), there will be a fundraiser event, located in Sea Mills park. It will entail cake sales, face painting and music, with all the money raised going directly to help reconstruct the library. There will also be opportunities, to donate books and other non-financial aids.

Layout

This is a post which will present my planning ideas for my front cover and inside page. I have created two of each, and I will be explaining which is my preferred option.

FRONT COVER

1

This is my first idea. I do not entirely like this option as it is very boring, and seems quite out of date. And what I noticed from researching local newspapers, is that they all seem to have quite a creative design.

2

 This is my preferred front page layout design. This is because it seems a lot more modern in comparison to my other idea. Having a sleek design can increase more people to purchase my product and can attract younger readers. It also makes it more attractive to look at. I gained inspiration of having a large advert banner from the 'Bristol Post'. Having features, that are common in local newspapers, will hopefully make my final piece as realistic as possible.

INSIDE PAGE 

1

This is my first idea for my inside page. I do not like this design as it is very boring. All the articles are the same or similar size, placed in similar places, this method of designing is known as 'tomb-stoning', and doesn't look very appealing.

2

  

This is my favourite option for my inside page, as it features enough article text to please the readers, but not too much to become a broadsheet. It also has enough room to include promotions and adverts. Having a large advert banner at the bottom of the inside page is something i noticed to be very frequent in local newspapers. Including conventions from local newspapers will make my final piece look as professional as possible.

Planning - Masthead Name Ideas

To make sure I have a range of masthead name ideas, I created a mind map to help me. This allowed me too develop and create new ideas, easier.

I chose these 6 potential masthead names as they all contain words, which have heavy connotations to newspapers. - such as 'Daily', 'Report', and 'Bulletin' . I gained these influences throughout my research, of local newspapers. I believe having a masthead with one of these nouns, will make my final product look as realistic as possible. Another reason why I created these 6 words, is they all contain a location that the news is concerning. This was a feature I saw being used very frequently with local newspapers. As I was already aware my newspaper would be based on Bristol, I made sure to include it into my names. I also attempted to vary my chooses and use words which have connotations to Bristol, or they have a very significant meaning to Bristol. - such as 'Avon'.

Ancillaries

A2 Media Studies - Local Newspaper - Ancillary - Radio Advertisements from rumelrahman

After spending lots of time researching billboards and posters advertising newspapers (online and physical) I have discovered the common features they all contain. Billboards are large outdoor advertisements, that are displayed on the side of large buildings or displayed near high-traffic areas, such as busy roads.

This is an example of a billboard near a road, promoting a (The Sun) newspaper. It is featured with colours that are frequently used in their newspaper, this is done so the reader can relate the colours and quickly know what the ad is regarding. This particular billboard uses a pun for humour, when researching billboards, I discovered the majority of them have witty slogans, or clever word plays, this is done to create a memorable impression on the reader. And as they are displayed near the side of buildings and roads, they are usually read very quickly, due to this the text is usually in a contrasting font compared to the background, which makes it stand out from a far. For my billboard I will make sure to use a witty slogan, and colours that stand out.

 The editors for this 'The Times' billboard, has had a very different approach to designing it compared to The Sun's billboard. The Sun billboard is very minimalistic as it doesn't contain important information regarding the newspaper, except for its logo, where as The Times billboard features information such as where to find the newspaper and which platform it can be shown on. The image on the The Times billboard is of an eagle with its wings spread, in the centre. This image may have been used as eagles have connotations of power and dominance, which The Times may seem them self as. Birds in general also have connotations of the all-seeing and all-knowing, which maybe a message The Times is trying to convey.

As I am going to be creating a realistic billboard for my paper, I will be using some of the features I have discovered in my research. 

Story Structure - Inverted Pyramid Model

A2 Media Studies - Local Newspaper - Story Structure - Inverted Pyramid Model from rumelrahman

The inverted pyramid model is used for a number of reasons. As the first paragraph gives the most important information of the article, readers will be able to know immediately what the text entails. Another reason it is used, is for the readers pleasure. Separating each part of the story into segments allows readers to scan-read the text and find bits which intrigues them the most. Another important reason this model is used very often, is because the majority of articles written need to be shortened and having the least important and relevant information at the bottom, allows them to quickly cut bits off that is not needed.

Positioning of Stories

From my in-depth research into how newspapers position their stories I have noticed a number of conventions. One very important convention is ordering their most important stories to least important stories. A convention which is done to immediately grab the readers attention. However, a number of tabloid newspapers such as The Sun and The Daily Mail often get criticism for having not so important stories as their main article, and 'important' stories somewhere within the paper. On the front page the main story will usually have a brief description on what it entails, and a few opening paragraphs, which is then followed by jump-line in order for readers to quickly navigate to their chosen article if wished to carry on reading.

The middle proportion will usually feature text which are deemed to be less important, This will include small events.

The back section of a newspaper will include leisure texts such as sports, horoscopes, word-searchers and crossword puzzles, which are merely placed there for readers pleasure.

Local Newspaper Story Conventions

What do these stories have in common?

- Stories 3, 9, 11 and 12 are all negative stories that are reporting crimes which have either happened in the past or they are on-going stories and the local police need the residents assistance.

- Stories 1, 4,10 and 2 are articles that are informing readers on information they deem to be relevant. examples - Road closures, school closures.

 - Stories 5, 7 and 8 are are articles the writers deem to be entertaining to the readers, that are not entirely important.

Number	Headline	Story Summary	Who is interested/why?
1	‘Bomb squad called and Bristol school evacuated after explosive chemical discovered in science lab’	A small amount of picric acid was found in the bottom of a test tube in a school’s store room. Fire, police and the Army’s EOD bomb disposal squad was called to the scene, which cordoned off and evacuated the streets surrounding the school.	Local residents may be interested in knowing further information into the scene, they may also want to know if any new developments have occurred (i.e streets being re-opened). Pupil’s and the pupil’s parents of the school would be interested in knowing if their school is safe, if the area is safe, and finding out any new leads. As this is a fairly serious event, local and/or national government may be interested as they may look to find ways of preventing incidents like this happening again.
2	‘Watch driver filmed 'playing chicken' with cyclist and bus on busy roundabout near Bristol’	A clip displaying a driver performing dangerous manoeuvres (overtaking) on a main road near a roundabout.	As the headline is reasonably witty, a fairly younger audience may be intrigued. Also residents who drive the road maybe interested.
3	‘Man charged following Portishead cricket club burglary’	A man has been charged with stealing alcohol and a till from a cricket club.	As Portishead is directly mentioned in the headline, residents maybe intrigued to read on. People who know the club would be intrigued as it may be shocking news to them.
4	‘Water repairs to affect Yatton High Street’	Due to Wessex Water making repairs to the sewerage network, temporary traffic lights will be put in place on the High Street.	Residents of Yatton who travel to the High Street, as it will affect their traveling. Residents who the sewerage repairs concerns, as they may want to know updates.
5	‘Kayne West and Kim Kardashian are coming to Bristol's Galleries...sort of!’	A new store in Bristol is selling Kim Kardashian and Kayne Scented Drawer Liners.	As the headline names two very famous people in pop culture, a younger audience is going to be drawn in, plus people who may not be a fan, but people who are aware of who they are would be intrigued as it is very shocking two globally known people would visit a small city.

6	‘Shocking: Bristol's iconic Browns serves WORST dessert of the year, says food critic Mark Taylor’	A food critic visited a restaurant in Bristol and deemed the dessert to be the worst dessert he has ever had.	Bristol residents who enjoy going out for meals as it may affect the places they visit. People who have already visited the Browns restaurant will be intrigued as they may personally challenge the article or agree.
7	‘Bristol students forced to cancel chav-themed night over complaints they're mocking working class’	The Bristol University Cheerleading Society cancelled their show after other students complained they were mocking the working class.	Bristol University students will be intrigued by this article and they may actively search for it in order to find extra information on the situation. Undergraduates who are researching uni’s may discover this article upon a quick search.
8	‘Would you pay more than £1m to live in one of Bristol's latest new penthouses?’	New penthouses in Bristol have just been put on the market.	Wealthy individuals who may be looking for property will be intrigued by this news. Other people may be ordinary residents who will be attracted to read the story as the headline is interrogative and engaging.
9	‘Woman wanted by police after Bristol pub assault’	A women was involved in an assault and the police are asking the people of Bristol to help identify her.	People who have connection to the pub may be interested in this story as they may want to know if there is any new info. Residents of Bristol will also be interested in this story as its one that is still present and some people may want to see the picture of the wanted individual for safety.
10	‘How did secondary schools in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset do in GCSEs 2016?’	This article contains information on how each individual school in Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset performed on GCSEs.	Parents who are looking to enrol their children into secondary school, will be interested in this article. Parents whose children just took their GCSEs will be interested, as they can compare their schools performance to others.
11	‘Aerospace engineer from Bristol who rigged up spy cams to film teenage girl having sex is jailed’	A man has pleaded guilty to 6 charges of taking indecent photos of children and a charge of having extreme pornography.	People of Bristol will be intrigued as they may want to make sure they’re safe. And in particular adults with children.
12	‘Burglars take gold and large amount of cash from Bristol home in broad daylight’	A house in Fishponds, was broken into, and the thief sole gold and other valuables.	People who are located near the area will be intrigued as they may want further information on the incident.