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

 Although local newspapers are different from national newspapers they have a lot of similarities with national newspapers. The layout and structure of national newspapers have a lot influences in local newspapers. For an example both national and local newspapers feature a pugs section of the newspaper on the front cover that shows the date the newspaper was published and how much it costs. I have included a Pug section in my newspaper on the front cover, the price and date that the newspaper was published are all combined into a section below the masthead. I decided to include this convention because it would attract more customers as the pug provides them with information that they need to know about the newspaper before buying it, furthermore I've presented it in a simple manner so that it doesn’t confuse the customers.  Every newspapers have banner headlines that go across the front cover, this is done so that the headline can attract audience’s attention towards the main story, I have added this unto my front cover by writing the banner headline"Future Talents", I have linked the headline with my main image as the word “Future Talents” links in with my main image as it has a picture of football team together. The use of a banner headline would attract the attention of my target audience as I am linking the title and image this immediately gives the audience an idea of what the story going to be about.  One convention I didn’t use was a by line, the by line is the name of the writer of the article which is usually shown just before the start of a story, although it is sometimes shown at the end of the story, perhaps I should have included my name in order to gain recognition for my work.  Including local stories is a key convention of a local newspaper, my newspaper was predominantly football related because my I based it upon local football stories, for example I included a story related to a local school football success and their hopes for their players. This would definitely attract my target audience as from the local community especially football fans because they will find stories that are related to the local area quite interesting. However if I was to redo by newspaper again I would’ve included a story which is not related to football such as the current financial situation in the local area and interesting stories to attract more than just my target audience.  Lastly photographs is a key convention that are present in every forms of newspapers as an image can captivate a story in many ways in which words cannot, for an example if The Sun newspaper was writing a story about the latest celebrity scandal an image would better explain the story as words can never be trusted. I feel my use of images would get the attention and attract my target audience because the images best describes the story.  I learned a lot about newspaper types as it can be either a tabloid or a broadsheet. One of the things I learned during my research is that tabloids use a lot more images, exaggeration, pun words and informal language as you’re likely to find a story related to gossip or celebrity scandals in tabloid type newspaper, in addition to tabloid journalists use these features to make a story more appealing. Local newspapers are normally judging from my analysis of the South London Press use an exaggerated language to describe a story a man’s desire to lift his house from the ground by using balloons; of course this story has been over exaggerated due to the language being used. This story wouldn't be considered news in a broadsheet newspaper as it isn't very factual. Broadsheets are a lot more factual, they also focus on important news. But instead of sticking to the usual convention of a local newspaper I chose to make my local newspaper a broadsheet although my target audience are more tabloid friendly but I’m hoping to attract other audiences notably the 30+ age range who are more mature and would be more interested in high quality products such as broadsheet newspapers as opposed to a simple tabloid.

 I included a key convention of all billboards and that is the name of the brand which in this case is "The Football Insider" brand signifier a crucial as they are the main way an audience can recognize a brand. I placed the title in the centre of the billboard, with colourful and very large writing so that the audience can immediately recognize the newspaper I also used modern writing which is unique and is can be easily remembered. Getting your audience to remember your product is one of the key functions of a billboard and is best done through a the name of the local newspaper.  A convention that is evident in all billboard adverts is giving your audience the ability to find out more about your product and on my billboard I stated that they can follow us on facebook by liking the name ‘The Football Insider’. I included this convention in my billboard because your newspaper needs to be accessible to everyone by any means possible and that means targeting your audience through media technology such as Facebook; this is a cheap way of advertising my newspaper and also attracting more customers.

 The first convention of the radio advert I included is sticking to a single theme advert where most radio adverts are based on. I presented the theme by stating my newspaper was the best in the local community. They rest of the advert also focuses on the positives the newspaper can bring. I found it very helpfully to focus on one theme in a radio advert because a radio advert only last for a limited amount of time so you need to get your message across quickly and not confusing your audience by over complicated the message and the theme you are trying to convey. As well sticking to a single theme, I also included another convention of radio adverts by using someone who has clear and monotone voice to speak on the advert, this done so that the audience can understand the advert.  The third radio advert convention I used is in the middle of the advert where I speak directly to the listeners with the use of 2nd person language for example "well fortunately for you there is a newspaper that still keeps its values in terms of football reporting". Talking to the audience directly normalise the radio advert and makes it seem like you're having a conversation with your audience, this will dramatically increase the chances that individual will pay attention to the advert and in turn increases the chances that the radio advert will appeal to your target audience.  I also included another basic convention that is normally used a in radio adverts that states it should last for seconds, ‘The Football Insider is approximately 30 seconds long. The reason I followed this convention was that I wanted to get my message across quickly without boring the listeners as a long advert is ineffective.