1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions or real media
products?

2. Masthead/ LogoMy newspaper masthead has used the conventions of real newspapers by inserting
a masculine font style (Arial Black) this makes the masthead big and bold in
order to stand out from the newspaper front cover. Also, by presenting the
masthead in a masculine fashion it would represent the newspaper itself as
being conservative and with the black font colour, it portrays seriousness and
introduces the mode of address by hinting it’s for the A/B/C1 Class readers.
Lastly, using Arial Black for my masthead as it is used throughout other local
newspapers such as the Harrow Observer because it help’s the audience to
interpret that this is a source to consume factual information.
However, my masthead has challenged the conventions of real newspapers by
taking the word ‘The’ and rotating 90 degrees anti clockwise in order to be
next to the ‘Scoop’ I have implemented this within my newspaper because it
makes the newspaper itself more unique and the audience can therefore
identify with which newspaper they pick up because my newspaper
differentiates from other newspapers for example there is no ‘The’ used is
Islington Gazette and on ‘The Sun’, ‘The’ is not tilted. I have done this
because this may attract the audiences attention giving them an incentive to
pick the newspaper up.
In addition, I have developed some conventions or real newspapers by inserting a
logo next to the masthead, by analysing that some newspapers have a logo
next to them, I have developed it by choosing the logo that represents Brent
and inserted it next to the masthead in order to help it’s audience to identify
with the newspaper so for example if my newspaper was in a shop next other
newspaper and 2/3 of my newspaper was covered, just by the audience
seeing the logo they are able to identify and associate this logo with ‘The
Wembley Scoop’ also using the logo helps anchor the masthead by providing
more strength of the masthead due to it’s strong logo and also it brings
proximity so by using the Brent logo it brings the Brent Community together
and it helps by highlighting ‘Wembley’ in red so therefore the audience who
live in the area can identify with it.
Lastly, I have used, developed and challenged conventions of real newspapers by
making some letters capital and some lower case, unlike some local
newspapers whereby all the letters are capital (challenged), ‘coo’ were lower
case in order for ‘Wembley’ to fit in between the ‘S’ and ‘P’ making the
masthead look more organised and meeting conventions of a real newspaper
which I have used because it looks realistic therefore it will make the
newspaper look more appealing. Developing conventions I have decreased
the font size of ‘Wembley’ in order for the red font colour to stand out from
the all Black part of the masthead giving it that binary opposite of Dark &
Bright.

3. Mise-En-Scene/ People/ Costume
Throughout my newspaper and website I have used mixture of images that consist
of either people or objects. This is useful because it gives the newspaper
range so it gives the audience ‘choice’ and a chance to read about humans
and other aspects of interest such as technology in my case, throughout my
website I have used pictures of humans and objects such as the picture of
the Blackberry phone. I used conventions of a real local newspaper as they
to provide a wide variety of human and non-human pictures such as the
Islington Gazette, it’s website consists of a story about a human which is the
splash however a cover story, we see the image is of a building, this makes
the newspaper neither to humanising nor dehumanising by providing a
composition of balanced human and non-human images.
In addition, I have used conventions shown on local newspapers across my
newspaper and website, I have used a range of camera shots to address the
audience about the type of story and what they need to interpret. For
example, on the inside page of my newspaper consist of a medium shot of
the criminal clearly displaying her jail number and on the background the
height measurements that are seen in prisons, also it gives us an opportunity
to observe her body language and appearance, her sharp muscular face and
the way she puts her chin up, shows the audience an aggressor in addition
using iconography for example the height measurement and jail card, the
audience can recognise that she is in jail. Also, there is a close up of the
victim before and after, a before and after photo is displayed because it
makes it easier for the audience to interpret how the victim was before the
tragic incident and how the victim was after giving the audience a chance to
assess the consequence of the criminal’s actions.
Furthermore, I have used and developed the conventions of a real local newspaper
by providing a range of tight and loose framing. For example the medium
shot of the image which belongs to my splash consist of little room
symbolising to the audience that she has no where to escape and no room
to move. Similarly to the way the image is used in the splash story of the
Islington Gazette, because it’s a close up therefore it may symbolise to the
audience that he has no room to escape and he has to answer to the £90M
charge, also it gives the audience an opportunity to assess the individuals
emotions to help build a bigger picture within the audience’s head.

4. Mise-En-Scene/ People/ CostumeI have used conventions of a real local newspaper by adding a dominant picture
which the wife in jail, this image anchors the headline as well as the copy and
because it’s the largest picture taking the most space of the newspaper it will
certainly grab the audience’s attention and would be more likely that they will
read on. Also focusing on the headline image it uses binary effects because
it’s a composition of bright and dark colours being used which gives it another
reason to make the headline story stand out other than possessing the large
and bold headline. We can see of an example in Islington Gazette as the
image that is associated with the splash takes up most of the room in
comparison with other images therefore remains the dominant picture so it
grabs the readers attention. However, against Islington Gazette I have
challenged it’s conventions because I used a medium shot with props and
iconography such as the jail card and the height measurement background to
symbolise a prison, however the image in Islington gazette is a close up of a
man in a suit, this makes it slightly unambiguous because we do not know
why he is in a suit. However within my inside page I have used close up
camera shots to expose the victims condition to the audiences, a before and
after image, this makes the audience feel involved and due to it being a
negative story, it’s actually good for the audience.
Also, focusing on my inside page; I have developed and challenged conventions of
a local newspaper by providing a triadic composition whereby it stresses
about the dynamics and interplaying with 3 main elements, the 3 main
elements are the 3 different types of pictures that possess 3 different dynamic
and meanings to it. This makes it more eye catching for the audience as it
gives them an opportunity to consume more visual information rather than
textual information making it more easier for the audience to interpret and
creating more excitement and the story will consequently be more appealing.
In contrast to the example of another newspaper, Islington Gazette’s splash
does not consist of a triadic composition therefore would make it less
appealing to the audience never the less it could give more room for texts.
Coming back to my inside page, there is no spaces in between the 3 images
therefore suggesting to the audience that those 3 images should be seen as 1
so therefore interplaying with the 3 pictures provided giving the copy around it
and the headline more emphasis and anchor.

5. Font & Style
When it comes to font and style I have used the
conventions of a real local newspaper because the
masthead and the main headline is usually the
biggest in size and style (Arial Black) to attract the
attention of the audience, as the newspaper wants
the audience to first establish which newspaper it
is and then to read the main headline.
Furthermore, the copy is a much smaller size and
usually different font style (Times Roman)
because the audience want as much information
in the front cover as possible about the main
headline story so therefore to meet the satisfaction
of the audience the newspaper must make the
copy a much smaller size in order to get the most
out of the headline story, also it makes the
newspaper look more presentable in terms of a
range of font style and size used throughout the
front cover making the newspaper look attractive.
Lastly, the cover stories within the plugbox are set
out in a much smaller font size but still using the
same style to address fluidity throughout the
newspaper. The small cover stories with smaller
fonts illustrate the lack of news values in contrast
to the splash and portrays it’s lack of importance
to the newspaper, this gives the audience a hint to
read the cover stories after reading the main
headline story.

6. Written ContentI have used and developed conventions of a local newspaper by
presenting tabloid language throughout my newspaper
production and website. E.G: ‘Wife Given Life After Murdering
Husband’ because it’s short and witty headline it attracts the
readers attention and gives the demographic a reason to read
on. Also the copy provides clear, accurate and factual
information which helps the audience interpret the story that is
given to them. For example, ‘Mr. Rahman was found dead..
3:21am.. Friday 23 January.. Found barbed wires with
bloodstains as well as a gun’. By proving clear, time accurate
and factual information it helps the audience to build up a
clear picture in their heads giving them a sense of involvement
and excitement. Examples of tabloid language found on
Islington Gazette, ’£90M parking find challenge’ due to the
short and catchy headlines, it builds up enigma and urges the
audience to ask questions which makes them feel more
involved within the story.
However, analysing the website, I have challenged the conventions
of local newspaper websites because as we can see on the
website of Islington Gazette, there’s a splash story providing
the main headline story and a little bit about the story
underneath the headline to give the audience a taste of what
the story is going to be like, however I have just added the
headline to the splash story making the story on the website
itself unambiguous in terms of HOW did she kill her husband,
and why? For all that information the audience must click on
the story so they can be navigated to a separate page
providing full details of the main headline story, this slight
unambiguity builds up excitement and enigma for the
audience because they are not given any details other than
the headline of the main story on the homepage of my
website.

7. Layout NewspaperI have used conventions of a local newspaper by placing the masthead at the top so
the audience can clearly establish which newspaper they are picking up and
also allows the audience to build a picture of the newspaper through it’s
unique masthead. As it’s at the top, it shows superiority in contrast to other
aspects within the newspaper such as the headline story or the copy. Next, I
have used conventions of a local newspaper by placing a dominant image
within the newspaper to anchor the splash and gives the audience a clear
idea of the story and as the image and the copy are side by side it
juxtaposition. Also using conventions of a local newspaper by providing cover
stories to engage in a variety of readers interest, giving the audience a range
of stories to read about, this makes the newspaper more appealing to it’s
demographic. Lastly, it uses a strict rule of ‘Masthead, Headline, The Copy’
so the headline is always under the masthead and the copy is always under
the headline. This rule makes my newspaper look more realistic and
organised, so it can look appealing to the audience. In relation, the masthead
is always larger than the main headline and the main headline is always
larger than the copy, these conventions are crucial in order to make my
newspaper look more realistic
I have developed conventions of local newspapers by attaching the dominant photo
of the splash to the right hand side of the copy, in contrast Islington gazette
had inserted it’s associated image for the splash in the middle, I attached it
on the right hand side because it gives the image a chance to increase in
size and to anchor the copy and the headline and also it gives the copy some
room, in contrast to the Islington gazette whereby it’s harder for the image to
anchor the text due to it’s small size. Lastly, developing the conventions I
have placed the plug-box with all the support stories on the right hand side in
contrast to Islington Gazette whereby it puts it support story around the
splash. I moved the plug-box towards one size so that the rest of the space
can be occupied by the splash because it is the more superior story, however
looking at Islington gazette, we are not sure which is the superior story
because the images used are practically the same size making more difficult
for the audience to interpret.
I have challenged the layout conventions of local newspaper by placing a logo next
to the masthead to help anchor the masthead and make it standout, also it
gives the audience a chance to associate the logo with the newspaper itself.
Also in contrast to the Islington Gazette, I do not add the full story of the
splash on front cover, after a brief factual information I insert ‘Continued’ this
builds up excitement for the audience and gives them a chance to build some
enigma, to ask questions about the splash. Lastly, looking at the font; I have
used capital and lower case letters for my main headline in contrast to
islington gazette using all lower cases, I have used capital letters in order for
the headline to stand out and emphasise it’s seriousness and superiority
among other cover stories throughout the front cover.

8. Layout Website
In contrast to the newspaper, the website consist of a masthead banner across
the top of the page but to the corner, however I have challenged the
conventions of Islington Gazette by making my masthead banner larger
than the masthead banner on Islington Gazette, this is done because I
want the audience to be aware of the website they are visiting and help
establish the image of the newspaper.
Also, using conventions of local newspaper I have added navigation links within
the website, this gives the audience an opportunity to navigate
throughout the website, giving them a choice of reading whichever story
that interests them.
Using conventions of local newspapers I have added lots of pictures throughout
my website, to give the audience visual information and because the
image helps anchor the story it is associated with, it helps the audience
to build a clearer picture of the story and makes the newspaper itself
extremely appealing. However I have challenged the conventions by
making the pictures of the cover story the same size as the splash, this
takes superiority off the splash and spreads it amongst the cover stories
to which does not occur on the newspaper front cover. I feel as if I have
made a mistake there because I should have made the splash on the
website look more superior by decreasing the sizes of my cover stories,
now my audience may be confused as to which story is the splash.
I have used conventions of local newspaper by adding various sources of
advertisement and other interactive activities such as facebook and
twitter like the Islington Gazette, this gives the audience a chance to
participate and make the demographic feel more involved by the website
being more interactive.
Lastly, I have challenged the conventions of local newspaper by not adding
videos because I feel visual information should come from images rather
than videos, however consisting of a video is useful within a website
because it helps the audience to interpret a clearer image of what the
story is about so therefore it is more likely that the audience may be
more confused within my website because it does not consist of any
videos to give them a clearer image of the stories provided within the
newspaper website.