Radio Advert Planning and Product

By completing my research into conventions of radio adverts, I found out that the average length is usually between 30-60 seconds long - therefore I made sure to keep within this time frame for my own ancillary.

The initial idea for my advert was to layer different voices, of different ages and genders of people who each talked about a different genre that appears in my local newspaper. I then wanted to layer the voices over a royalty free soundtrack and include narratives at both the beginning and end - where the name of the newspaper is mentioned.

My original script for the participants in my radio advert (below) and have included a brief character profile about each person to show how I used different ages to contrast. I intended on doing this in order to show inclusion and to show that my newspaper can be read and enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age or gender.

Script:

Narrative (Myself, 17 y/o Female): interested in what's going on in your area?

Ollie S (18 y/o Male): Transport updates worth having in mind.

Ruby M (17 y/o female): Local political campaigns and how you can make a difference.

Cameron T (12 y/o Male): Discounts on newly released films at our local cinema!

Cath T (47 y/o Female): New classes and programmes I can take part in at the local gym or town hall.

Amy S (23 y/o Female): Charity fundraisers in the area and our town achievements.

Rose Y (30 y/o Female): The new lock side marina cafe, now opening!

Andrew H (80 y/o Male): The up and coming annual flower show!

Narrative: Portishead Print, the local newspaper with everything you could possibly need.

Sit back and enjoy a cuppa alongside the latest edition of our town's number 1 newspaper, the Portishead Print!

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I later decided to remove the line by 'Andrew H' as conventionally, radio adverts run for a period of time and do not include events that will pass by.

I recorded the voice clips using QuickTime audio recording on Mac, through a regular headphone microphone. I then imported all the clips into iMovie on Mac and downloaded a royalty free soundtrack from www.bensound.com named 'Buddy' before uploading to YouTube.com. When deciding which backing track to use in this product, I looked for an upbeat and friendly tune that would appeal to all audiences and would be recognisable. Before my final decision I narrowed it down to either,

• Ukelele
• Sunny
• Buddy
• Going Higher 

and finally decided to go with 'Buddy.' All from BenSound.

The completed ancillary task is below.

Billboard Planning and Final Ancillary

First Draft

Key amendments I needed to make to my first draft include:

• Limiting the white space in certain areas by enlarging text
• Make sure all column widths are the same
• Add page number to the inside page
• Take more relevant images for some stories
• Re-design front cover by limiting text included and adding more advertisements.

Newspaper Layouts

Final newspaper from Lucy Taylor

Font Planning and Masthead Design

The Bath Chronicle - one of my main style models - is something I decided to mould my own local newspaper on.

It is conventional that the text body uses a different font that the headlines and the masthead. The adverts are from different companies in themselves so include different fonts too.

Masthead

For my masthead, I wanted to produce something that would stand out and be recognisable to customers. It was important to me to use a bold and clear, as well as being visually pleasing, font for this. I chose to follow a marine colour scheme of blues, greys and greens for the overall graphology of the newspaper to tie in with the botanical and seaside reputation of the town.

The fonts I narrowed my choice down to were the following:

These were the four designs I thought would be the most conventional and look the best on my front cover. I ended up choosing the second version here (Didot) as it is a serif font, which makes the paper look classic and traditional - something that my targeted audience would enjoy. I did not like the other fonts as they were either too bold and modern for what I was aiming for, or they would've filled up too little room on the page. White space on the page was something I wanted to avoid.

This was the final design of my Masthead (including dates, weblink and prices). The reason I decided to have my text flush left was so I could fit the extra information, in smaller text, in the white space at the side. This is more conventional for where the dates etc. usually are placed on the front page. Overall I was very happy with this and felt it met conventional standards.

Headlines

Conventional headline fonts are usually kept bold and clear, but can appear in multiple different colours depending on the style of the newspaper. As I wanted to keep my style of newspaper traditional and something that would appeal to the older generations, I chose to keep with mostly black writing in the same font for the headlines of my stories. 

Below are the options I narrowed it down to:

I ended up using the Bell MT font for the majority of my headlines. This was because I felt it fit with my masthead - which was also a serif font. I also thought this was the best option out of the four as it wasn't too thick, unclear, clustered or complicated. 

Own Newspaper Images

Initial images with outtakes, without modifications

1. Folk hall (Town hall) for Zumba article

I ended up going with image 1 as i feel the main focus of the hall was more centred in the photograph and there are less distractions and wasted space around it. All the colouration was evenly spread and the shot was clearer in the first take.

2. Outside of Dyer and Scott Opticians

I chose to use the first photo here as more of the optician front has been captured in the photo and I liked the chiaroscuro lighting that reflects on the windows. I felt this would look great as an accompanying photo to its story. 

I later decided that this image did not seem appropriate as I did not manage to get a photograph of the broken window in time. Therefore I opted not to include an image with this particular story.

3. Cameron Taylor for 'Feline hero?.'

Again, I chose to use the first photo here as it was the only one I felt suitable for the story. This is because of the angle from directly in front and the fact that it is a close, mid-shot and includes everything necessary is why I felt it was the best option.

I also decided to use a photo of a kitten to represent the one rescued in the story.For this I took a picture of a stray cat I came across outdoors.

Asking Cameron Taylor for permission to have his photo taken, to be used in my newspaper.

4. Outside Curzon Cinema, Clevedon

For this image, I only managed to take a single photo of the local cinema. This is because i was happy with the outcome of the first photo. I felt this would be appropriate to use as it captures the name of the cinema clearly, along with its iconic red door front - something that locals would recognise.

5. Hanging baskets image for Portishead in Bloom advert

I decided to use the second photo as i feel like it was the best to fit on an advert. Not too busy or too plain, but enough not to draw attention away from the advert itself. I decided that the other two pictures were not bright enough for an advert about flowers and thought the more colourful the plant looked the more it would attract an audience.

After reviewing final touches to my newspaper, I ended up retaking a more colourful image to use for this advert instead.

6. Own sofa from home for use of sofa advert

I took photos of a sofa to use in the advert from two different angles, from a side angle and front facing angle, to experiment and see which would fit best. I came to the conclusion that the wider angle photo of the front facing angle would look better across the sale banner on the advert. It was what I wanted exactly.

I imported the photo, at a later stage, into PhotoShop, where I removed the background and cut around the edges of the sofa. This is because the background living room wasn't needed, and so the people viewing the advert can get a clearer view of what is for sale.

7. Cath Taylor, 401 marathon runner

I decide to go with the third picture here as I preferred the colouration in the sky and the all round brighter effect. I felt like it would stand out on the page as one of the first thing the reader sees. I also preferred the outside shots compared to the inside one, as it is more conventional to have an outdoor 

image on the front page.

I also chose to include a photo of the Portishead runners, Cath Taylor with Ben Smith, on the inside of the newspaper next to the continuation of the story.

 I decided to go with the first photo as the featured people were more centred and the participants looked more focused than the second shot.

Permission from Cath Taylor to use the image.

8. Car for insurance advert

Image of the car used in the car insurance advert. This was the only photo I ended up using as the other two photos I took were out of focus and unrecognisable. I then decided to remove the background on PhotoShop as a square image would not fit well on the small advert. I also thought removing background distractions would allow the reader to focus on the vehicle.

9. Teeth up-close for dentist advert

I decided on using the first photograph for the dentist advert as you can see the teeth clearer and the front facing angle makes the advert look more professional. This is something you would conventionally find in an advert for dentistry.

Permission from Amy Shields to use the image in the newspaper.

10. Ladies council advert

This is the only photo I managed to get of the ladies council as they were rushed for time and I only managed to capture them at the very end of their annual meeting. However, I was pleased with this image as all faces are in frame and the high level lighting managed to capture and enhance everything I wanted to include.

Below are the emails of permission I received from the ladies council.

I purposely decided to include local politics as this was one of my most requested topics in my audience research. 

11. New lock side cafe advert

I decided to opt for the second photo here as the first was slightly blurry. The second image had the correct angle I needed the boats to be at so i could use the rule of thirds to include everything i needed in the photograph. I also liked the sunset in the background of the boats. I was pleased with this photo.

12. Handyman advert

Here, I decided to use the second photograph as there was everything I needed in the frame. There were no background distractions such as the marking on the skirting board and more of the hand was in shot - which I felt suited the advert better. The second photo included a medium, crane shot which compliments the rest of the advert.

13. Children's tutoring advert

In this final advert I chose to use the first image shown. I preferred the landscape version as it captured all the props, along with the tutor and student, that i needed to include in the advert. The landscape shape also allowed me to use this image in the design I had planned, in order for it to fit visually.

I decided to retake this image also, in order for the viewers to see the models faces. I used powerpoint software to fit the image to a particular shape for the advert.