Newspaper Article - "Local Journalist Returns Home"

This is the first section of the story which is featured on the front page. I did not continue it onto the inside pages of the newspaper as I wanted some variation in stories. The headline is "Emily has returned"to make it more personal to the paper as the character is a former journalist for the Nomad. This also helps to give the impression that the paper has been following her story for a little while.

As you may have noticed, I have attempted to link in real life events and current issues into the article to make it have more verisimilitude. I do not mean to offend or bring up bad memories to anybody who is actually involved in the recent uprising or has been captive.

"Ex-Nomad journo [shortened to fit layout], Emily McHenreid has returned from Africa, where she was being held captive by an organised group of criminals. McHenreid was attempting to investigate into the recent Libya uprising against Gadaffi and his forces. Whilst researching in Tripoli, a group of criminals dragged her into a stolen vehicle, the owner of which had been shot dead just two hours previously. She states “I had woken up in a small cell, mouth gagged and hands bound. Barley any light entered the cell and I had no inkling of where I was or if I would escape."

The photo shoot has not yet been done but is currently being organised. I have the props and costume, the location and a model lined up. The location is Bristol Airport, I felt that this would be appropriate as the journalist had been in another country; she had to get back somehow. The props include a bandage and some luggage. The bandage demonstrated that she has been through a bad experience in which she was treated badly. The luggage again demonstrates that she has been out of the country, additionally, it may give the impression that the photo was taken spontaneously as soon as she returned, and that the photographer was in a big group of press people, a bit like paparazzi. However, I may choose not to take this photo as the story is continued on another page which is not seen. For the front page I may take an unrelated photo linking to another story within the Nomad (which will not be seen either) to make the paper appear less fabricated.

I feel that having quotes in my articles was a very important convention to conform to as it adds to the realism of the piece and adds more primary information/evidence for the reader. I also felt it important to add in any information for the journalist's experiences, the law experts and about the conditions in Libya again, to create more realism. I did not want to have a cold lonely journalist so I added a part about her family being relived to create less brutality in the piece (this part is not seen on any of the pages however because I chose not to continue the story inside).

Newspaper Articles

Recently I've begun constructing my media product, and I've finished writing the stories and I have placed them onto my photoshop layouts. Firstly I looked at real newspaper articles and how their narrative progressed as well as looking at narrative theory and the triangle method. I then came up with some generic stories and began to plan them. All of them began with an introduction and a summary of the event, followed by any other relevant information. Finally I concluded the article and sometimes added a line asking the readers to go to the website to find out more. Obviously this website doesn't exist but I want to make my newspaper as realistic/professional as I can. I also cut some of the stories from the paper when I realised that I only needed three pages and not four. However, I moved some of the stories around as I needed to alter some of the layout, especially on the debates page. The stories I have removed are

• The charity event story. This was because I felt it was weaker than the others as it was more of an account with no real narrative structure. 
• The news in brief story on science advances. This was because I didn't really know where I was going with it or what I would even write about. Additionally, unless I linked it to Bristol in some way, for example the research was carried out at a local university, then it wouldn't be relevant to the paper as it is not supposed to be a national type paper.

I have kept all of the others as I think that these were the strongest and were more relevant to the paper. I will be putting up the stories ASAP (if I put them in this post they may make it too long).

Todorov's Narrative Theory

This theory has a circular, sequential structure. There are five main stages that can, supposedly, be applied to any media texts. These five stages are;

Equilibrium - A state of balance and calm, usually placed at the beginning of a narrative, for example the first equilibrium in The Godfather is when he is at the top of the game and in control. This aspect of narrative usually cannot be applied to newspaper articles except in accounts of events.

Disequilibrium/ Disruption -  When the established equilibrium is disturbed in some way, usually as a result of the antagonist or 'bad guy' wanting something which clashes with the wants/needs/morals of the protagonist or 'good guy'. This stage can be applied to all media forms with a narrative: films, books, games, even newspaper articles. In fact, most newspaper articles begin with a disequilibrium, for example reporting a theft.

Recognition -  The main characters/protagonist/people recognise that there has been a disequilibrium. This can be applied in most kinds of media, although newspaper articles can be described as being mostly recognition of a disruption, as it needs to report it to the audience.

Attempt to restore equilibrium -  This one is self explanatory. The main protagonists attempt to get rid of the disruption in order for their lives to get back to relative normality. This is a common convention in most media products, for example, a movie may have a big fight scene in which the protagonists and antagonists go against each other more directly. In an article, this doesn't always happen. It only happens if the problem has a resolution to gain or if the people involved attempt to get rid of the disruption. This often doesn't happen as the people haven't yet attempted this yet, or if the newspaper gets disinterested/has other news tat takes precedence.

New Equilibrium - This is when the equilibrium is generally restored, however there may be some changes, for example, in The Godfather the son takes over as the head of the gang at the end. This again, isn't always in a newspaper article for the reasons listed above. Without going through one of the stages, the narrative cannot then progress to the next stage.

Equipment List

Microphone for recording the voice over
for the radio ad subsidiary

Paper

Printer

Mac and Various Applications (Including Safari, In Design, Photoshop and Garageband)

Digital Camera

A scanner

Deadline xP

The deadline for rough drafts is the 10th October.

Adverts - Plasterer

Here I will show you how I constructed the plasterer advert.

1. Open up the image and a new file. Edit the image until just the plaster spatula remains and copy and paste it into the new file, then position and re-size. Create a new layer and fill in a white background.

2. Select the pen tool and draw several blue (window > colour) lines around the edge of the canvas, each one with its own layer.

3. Create a new layer and add text. And that's it;

I may change this and move the info below the first line down a little, for a larger plain space that could be 'filled in'. I also feel that the first line fits in with the newspaper as people often buy them to update on local news. I like this as it works on different levels.

Adverts - Firework Display

Here I will show you the long and gruelling  process I went through to create my fireworks advert.

1. Create a new document and fill in a black background using the paint bucket tool.

2. Create a new layer and select the pen tool. In the options bar, make certain that you're working with paths. Then, using the pen tool create a curved path by clicking two points, and on the second point, without taking your finger off of the click, drag to create a curve. It should end up looking like this;

3. Select the brush tool and select a white or coloured foreground colour, depending on what colour firework you'd like (I chose purple). The press F5 and under 'shape dynamics', select fade in the drop down list by control and set the number beside this to 200px. Close this box.

4. Go back to the pen tool and right click on the canvas. Select 'stroke path' and then select the brush and click 'ok'. After this, hit ESC twice and your first burst should appear. Then repeat step 2-4 until you have enough strokes.

5. Right click on the burst layer and select blending options. Add drop shadow and outer glow. This should add a glowing effect the the burst streaks.

6. Create a new layer and place it beneath the burst streaks layer. Select the brush tool and select a default brush head (this should override previous settings). Press F5 again and set the hardness to 0% and the size around 190px. Set the foreground colour to white or whatever colour your fireworks are. Click in the centre of the burst streaks.

7. Create a new layer above the streaks and select a smaller brush (50-100px, hardness 0%). Create a smaller circle in the centre of the burst streaks.

8. Select the brush tool and set it up; 

                                    

9.  Create a new layer and draw sparks around the centre of the firework. Add outer glow in the blending options.

10. Create another new layer and add sparks leading up to the firework, using the stroke path method should help with this.

11. Create another new layer and add text. Include the event title, and any other additional details. 

Taadaa!