Final Designs

These are my final designs that I have created for my newspaper front cover and second page. Whilst making them I took into consideration all of my questionnaire results and the feedback that I received. For my front cover I decided to go with what the feedback told me and kept it all very simple, I took away the small article that was meant to be at the top and replaced it with a coupon instead, not only does this interest the audience as it means that they get a free newspaper, it also keeps most of the attention drawn to the main headline as there is only one other article on the cover to read about. For my second page I also took into consideration the feedback that I received  so I kept it neat and ordered and the main article from the front cover about a Hextable student was carried on the next page, this interests the audience as from reading half of the article on the front cover it makes them want to know what happened next, so by having it on the second page it means they'll be able to find the rest of the story easily. There wasn't much that the audience told me to change, other than instead of having an advertisement next to the information and number for texting in news stories, it should be a picture linked to the information, such as a phone or a person texting in to the number, and so that's what I changed it to. I included the newspaper website in the top of the page as sometimes it is easier for the audience to access the news online, rather than through the newspaper.

Audience Theories

Desensitisation:
This is the idea that the more violence we see, the less shocked we are by it in real life.
I have had to use this for the picture on the front cover of my newspaper for the story 'HIT BY TEENAGE DRIVER'. I used a picture of only the car that had been in the accident, from the picture you can see the damages that were created upon impact with the child that had been hit, because of desensitisation I would not have been able to publish a picture of the actual accident or of the injured child as it would be too shocking for the audience to see as it is something that they would not be used to seeing.

Cultivation Theories:
This theory tries to prove that we form views and opinions about people over time as a result of exposure to media, and thus people become stereotyped.
I can apply this theory to both main stories on the front cover of my newspaper, but in different ways for both. For the story 'HIT BY TEENAGE DRIVER' I used the common stereotype that teenagers are too young to be able to drive and are also bad drivers, the audience reading this would not be surprised that the driver was a teenager and had hit a child whilst driving

Website Planning

Plans for my website:

I asked people what they thought were the main features that should be included on a home page for a newspaper. My results were:

• Date
• Logo
• Headlines
• A button to log in
• Search bar for specific stories
• Advertisements
• Pictures from the articles
• A drop down menu
• Articles about the local area
• Weather reports
• A simple layout

So when I create my website I know that I will have to include these main elements as the audience find that this list is what is most important in a website design and layout

I then asked people and done a tally to decide which page I should create for my hyperlinked page. The most popular page was the weather.

Research on Narrative Theories

Vladimir Propp:
Propp is a Russian critic who proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles.
Propp's character roles:
 • The Hero (seeks something)
 • The Villain (opposes the hero)
 • The Donor (helps the hero by providing a magic object)
 • The Dispatcher (sends hero on his way)
 • The False Hero (falsely assuming the role of the hero)
 • The Helper (gives support to hero)
 • The Princess (reward for the hero, also needs protection from villain)
 • Her Father (gives the hero his reward for completing quest)

I was able to somewhat apply the majority of this theory to one of the main stories for my newspaper, although there is not a straightforward hero, villain, etc.. I was able to apply it and show it in a sense. I chose the 'Passing Hextable student saves elderly lady from house fire' story.
Propp's character roles applied:
 • The Hero - Ben Jones, the Hextable School student
 • The Villain - The fire
 • The Donor - The fire brigade
 • The Helper - Firemen
 • The Princess - Elderly lady (was not the reward for the hero but did need protection from the 'villain')
 • Her Father - The local council (not the actual father of the 'princess', but it giving the 'hero' a reward)


Tzvetan Todorov:
Todorove is a Bulgarian literary theorist who suggests that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is 'normal' and protagonist's happy, this is then disrupted by a force which has to be fought against in order to return to a state of new equilibrium.
EQUILIBRIUM
           \/
DISEQUILIBRIUM
           \/
NEW EQUILIBRIUM

I was also able to apply this theory to the same story.
The student was walking to meet a friend which would be classed as his 'normal' day and here the protagonist is happy.
           \/
The force that disrupts this normal and happy everyday life would be the fire, the student knows that there is something wrong and that he would have to fight against it.
           \/
Once the fire has been fought and the elderly lady is saved, there is now a new state of equilibrium where once again the protagonist is happy and life returns back to a 'normal' state.