Front Cover Research

Before I started creating my coursework pieces I thoroughly researched each aspect of the task.

I researched local newspapers and their websites, however I found that there was a lack of posters for local newspapers and was only able to research posters for national newspapers.

Front cover research

From the above newspaper front covers you can see some obvious similarities straight away such as the mast head being positioned in the exact same place at the top of the page and it remains the same size colour and font for every paper I collected. this is done to make the newspaper more recognisable to its audience.

Just beneath the mast head, in the folio are the newspapers date, issue number and price. This is positioned in the same place constantly throughout the majority of newspapers in the world as it makes it easy to find.

The front cover always has one major story and is usually positioned in the centre of the page as you can see in the examples above. This main story always has a large headline which is roughly the same size as the mast head. This is done to draw the eye of the reader to the big important news which the paper is using as its main story.

The text for the articles on the front cover is set into a six column format and every page in the newspaper also follows this format.

The articles use fairly basic language but not in a way where it crosses over into the extreme, this is to cater for a wider target audience including all the people within the local area.

On the majority of newspaper I have analysed one of the stories from the front cover always has a kicker sending the story to the inside cover. This seems to be a common aspect of local newspapers, so to make my piece realistic I will aim to do the same.

Two local companies often have advertisements in the top corners either side of the mast head, this helps show that the paper is local but also helps fund the production of the paper itself.

Around each article is a thin faint grey line, this determines where the stories are on the page so there is no confusion when reading.

Brief

For my coursework I decided to work on my own as I thought that I would be able to control what I was producing better and didn’t have to rely on others to complete the work set to them.

This also allows me to design what I am planning to do on my own so the coursework is just how I want it to be.

I was given 5 options of what I could do as potential coursework projects and told to pick 3 of them and develop each until I had decided which I would rather do.

The 3 options that I chose to develop were:

1.       The first two pages of a new local newspaper, together with a poster for the newspaper and two hyperlinked pages from the papers website

2.       A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with a film magazine front cover featuring the film and a poster for the film

3.       A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with a poster of the film and a film magazine review page featuring the film

From these 3 options I’ve chosen to do the first one; the first two pages of a local newspaper, together with a poster for the newspaper and two hyperlinked pages from the papers website.

I chose this option because it is similar to our last coursework task and I enjoyed creating our last coursework (magazine)