North Somerset Times Cover

The image to the left features an annotated cover of the North Somerset Times. The main story featured involves talking about how recent cost issues have caused Gordano School to put their pitch floodlights out on a night time. Also this story could be interpreted as boring and dull, the fact that it is centred around a local school illuminates the fact that the paper is locally based and therefore triggering the interest of local people. Similarly to The Post, the colour scheme featured seems to evolve around the patriotic colour palette of red, white and blue. This also illustrates the fact that the paper is British and gives an insight as to where the paper is based. However, unlike The Post, the colour scheme is not as clear or apparent seeing as the advertisements featured tend not to comply with it as much. The layout of the advertisements also seem to differentiate from the Post. Although both papers feature the use of multiple adverts forming some sort of banner, the Times seems to feature more than the Post and the adverts featured are much larger and located within the bottom third of the page. However, i don't feel that the layout of advertisements on the Times works as effectively as the layout of the Post as the adverts seem to dominate too much space on the page, and the use of primary colours draws attention away from the main story and cause distraction from its content. Also, the isolated advert located next to the nameplate appears out of place and does't fit well into the layout due to the different colours used and the adverts location. Yet the technique of featuring advertisements for local businesses works effectively as it helps illuminate the fact that the newspaper is locally based which could help the paper appeal to local readers. 

Unlike The Post, the nameplate featured on this paper appears to be split into two sections. A smaller much less bold nameplate is included above a much larger, shorter one. The nameplate is possibly split so that they could provoke the reader to shorten 'Nailsea, Clevedon & Portishead Times' to just the 'Times' which is much shorter and more catchy. The use of slang and abbreviation in this technique may also be a way to appeal to younger audiences which incorporate slang and abbreviations into their everyday language. Beneath the nameplate, the paper features the use of bar lines that act as banners to help split up the page. The bold use of blue and red help the bar lines stand out and links them into the colour scheme effectively. The fact that the paper features text inside each of these bar lines helps give the reader information about the paper such as the date and time so that the reader feels well informed and up to date with information. Unlike the post, a list of the main stories included within the paper is also featured to help give the reader an insight as to the papers content which could possibly trigger their interest.

The front page stories seem to be split into two sections. Although there are two separate stories featured, at an initial glance, the reader may be influenced to believed that there is just one due to the use of the larger bolder headline which is placed along the width of the page, despite one half of the width being occupied by a different story. This may confused the reader which could potentially disappoint as the story is not what they expected. However, the stories use columns and margins to help differentiate between the two stories as well as the use of a red border around one of the stories which shows the reader that the story is separate. The headline itself is enlarged and in bold which suggests the texts importance despite not being capitalised. Similarly to the post, the utilisation of jump lines at the end of each story informs the reader of where the story continues and creates potential interest as the reader may feel interested in the beginning of the story and will therefore buy the paper to continue reading.  A variance in text styles helps differentiate between the introduction between the introduction and the rest of the story which will make the introduction stand out amongst the rest of the story. This could grab the readers attention and persuade them to read on.
Along the bottom of the page, a bar line acts as a banner which helps frame the page effectively. It adopts to the newspapers colour scheme effectively which also helps link the whole page together to make it flow well. Inside the bar line, the newspaper promotes its advetising and gives the reader information about how to advertise inside of the paper. This is helpful for local businesses and also increases the likelihood of sponsors to help fund the newspaper.

Overall, i feel that the layout of this page works quite effectively as it follows a colour scheme, and features jump lines and information about the newspapers content which helps trigger the readers interest which persuades them to buy the paper. It also advertises local businesses which help attract local readers and gives them an insight about their local news. However, the colour scheme is not as clear as The Post's colour scheme due to the variety of different colours featured within the adverts. The adverts also take up a large amount of space and make the page appear significantly more busy and less attractive. Lastly, the use of one large headline heading two different stories could be misleading and confusing for the reader. Therefore i feel this cover is much less effective than The Post's cover.

The Evening Post Cover

The image to the left shows Bristol's Evening Post's front page prior to them changing their name to just 'The Post.' The main story featured on the front page is the opening of the local shopping centre "Cabot Circus.' From just looking at the front page, a clear colour scheme is initiated of red white and blue. This instantly gives patriarchal connotations illuminating that the paper is english. An interesting technique that has been done is the use of colours in the images and the adverts which link into the newspapers traditional colour scheme. This helps link the whole page together giving the paper a better flow. The use of banner ads along the top of the paper give a reader a clearer idea about the contents of the newspaper and the fact that they mention both sport and dining out in these advertisements helps ensure that they appeal to wide audience and they are approaching and appealing to different interests.

A bold and strong nameplate is displayed within the top third of the page layout which combined with a short catchy slogan immediately ensures the reader is introduced to the paper as well as standing out amongst the rest of the page . The nameplate itself seems to consist of the papers logo which is a boat. The use of such an image may be in reference to bristols traditional docking heritage and may have been use to illuminate the fact that the paper is bristol based. Beneath the nameplate, the paper mentions its website which advertises its technological convergence and helps appeal to different audiences such as the younger generations who are much more likely to access the internet. The thin blue banner consisting of general information about the newspaper such as the date and price helps tell the reader how recent the stories are which enables the reader to feel up to date with news.

The use of a full frame photograph helps fill space and dominate the page and the bold blue colour scheme grabs the readers attention as well as linking into the papers actual colour scheme. The fact that the image is a worms eye shot of a local place again helps illuminate that the paper is Bristol based. Captioning the image also helps illustrate the location of the image and gives the reader further information about the image if it is required. The story itself is featured in a small white text box in the bottom third of the page layout. This helps break the image up slightly to ensure that its not too overpowering and may have been strategic to cover an unpleasant part of the image. The black border featured around the edge of the floating text box helps give the box much more definition and ensures that it doesn't get lost within the image.The content of the story is effective to use as a cover story as it refers to a large local event such as the announcement of the name for the newest shopping centre. This story will grabs the attention of local readers and persuade them to read the story. The headline for the story appears to be split into two sections: a small less bold start to the headline aligned on the left side of the page following by a much larger, centre aligned, capitalised headline. This may have been done to split a much longer headline up. The smaller headline seems to introduce the larger headline which consists of alliteration making it flow much more effectively and makes it more catchy.

Columns and margins and also used to split and differentiate between different stories to ensure that the reader is aware that the story doesn't match the main image shown. The use of an enlarged headline helps illuminate the articles importance and differentiates the headline from the article effectively. The use of a simple bar line also helps separate the headline from the article and ensures that there a clear differentiation between the two. A variance in text style such as the use of italics and bold text helps show the reader information about the author without risking any confusion between the information and the actual text. Within the first line of the story, capitalisation of specific words are used to put emphasis on words to show they're importance and make them stand out to the reader. Both of the stories featured use jump lines to give the reader information about where the story is continued and persuades the reader to buy the paper. This is because they audience will read the first part of the story and will want to know more so therefore will buy the full paper in order to read the story.

Overall i feel this newspaper cover works effectively as it utilises techniques such as columns and jump lines effectively as well as featuring engaging images and colour schemes which help give the reader an insight into the papers background and into Bristols heritage.

Initial newspaper research

After some time of debating whether or not to create a music video or newspaper as my main project for my A2 media course, i finally decided on creating a newspaper as i felt that my skills using photoshop and InDesign could advance to higher levels and creating a newspaper would be the best option for doing so. I also hope to include my previous experience with newspaper and journalism such as helping with the school newspaper on several occasions and a trip to the evening post a couple of years ago into my final project. Since my trip back in year 8 and on the occasions i helped the school newspaper, i have been able to grasp basic knowledge of a newspaper structure and format which will help me when creating my own newspaper.

As inspiration for my final product, i have decided to focus mainly on three local newspapers based in and/or around Bristol in hope to find out how the different papers interpret similar stories and look in detail into how the stories are presented. I also hope to look into how each of the papers choose to format their front pages and page 2 to help give me a clearer understanding into what works effectively on each of these pages which will aid me when creating my own front page and page 2 of my own newspaper. I will also look into the different types of stories featured in local magazines to help give me an understanding as to what is normally featured in local magazines which will again aid me when creating my own newspaper.

The first local paper that i have chosen to conduct research into is the North Somerset Times. This free paper is distributed weekly to over 100 different communities in the northern part of somserset. Owned by Archant, the North Somerset Times covers a wide range of different stories ranging from covering the latest school play in a small primary school to much larger community events such as the Portishead carnival. Being a free paper, the newspapers circulation and readership figures are difficult to estimate yet are likely to be high due to the fact that this local paper is usually delivered to homes all over Somerset!

The second local paper that i have chosen to research is The Post. Launched back in 1932 by local interests, the originally Bristol based paper is distributed daily for just 40p. With a circulation 39,944, The Post is an extremely popular newspapers covering a very wide variety of stories about events happening all over Bristol and even around Bristol. The originally named 'Evening Post' changed its name back in April 2012 in order to reflect its recent morning publication back in 2009 in its new central printing unit in Didcot. This is the main paper which i will take inspiration from as i obtained extra knowledge of this paper following a trip to its Temple Way office several years ago.

The third and final local paper that i have chosen to research is the Bristol Observer. Similiarly to the North Somserset Times, the observer is also a free paper distributed weekly in the city of Bristol. Owned by Northcliffe Newspapers Group, the paper was originally known as the Kingswood and Keynsham Observer yet changed its name back in 1981 in order to feature stories from all over Bristol. Like The Post, the Observer often features stories from outside Bristol yet mainly focuses on stories ffrom inside Bristol. With a ciculation of over 167,487, the paper is a very popular free paper and will help me distinguish the difference between free papers such as the Times and the Observer to more costly newspapers such as The Post.