Title: Structure, Layout and Design

Aims:

• To understand how news articles are structured.

• To consider the way texts are designed and set out.

• To understand how layout and design can have a significant impact on the way readers engage with texts.

In question 2a, you will be expected to be able to talk about the presentational features of a media or non-fiction text. These could include:

headings, strap lines, sub-headings, photographs, captions, font and formatting etc). You need to use PEE(EL) to answer this sort of question

effectively.

What do we mean by Structure?

Structure refers to the order in which the detail is presented to the reader. To assess this you need to think about why a writer starts in a particular place and the way the ideas are

sequenced and linked after this.

Newspaper reports usually answer at least five different questions. These are called the five Ws:

Who is the story about?What is the story about?

Where did the story take place?When did the story happen?

Why is the story news?

A* TIP

Identify the five W’s in the opening of this news article

Polar bear twins enjoy their brave new world as mum looks on

Their first steps are tentative as they emerge into the public eye for the first time.

To start with, these two polar bear cubs seem painfully shy, sheltered beneath the massive bulk of their mother, Olinka. The three-month-old twin males, born in November at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, come out and take turns to examine their strange new surroundings.

Identify the five W’s in the opening of this news article

Polar bear twins enjoy their brave new world as mum looks on

Their first steps are tentative as they emerge into the public eye for the first time.

To start with, these two polar bear cubs seem painfully shy, sheltered beneath the massive bulk of their mother, Olinka. The three-month-old twin males, born in November at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, come out and take turns to examine their strange new surroundings.

WHO

Identify the five W’s in the opening of this news article

Polar bear twins enjoy their brave new world as mum looks on

Their first steps are tentative as they emerge into the public eye for the first time.

To start with, these two polar bear cubs seem painfully shy, sheltered beneath the massive bulk of their mother, Olinka. The three-month-old twin males, born in November at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, come out and take turns to examine their strange new surroundings.

WHAT

Identify the five W’s in the opening of this news article

Polar bear twins enjoy their brave new world as mum looks on

Their first steps are tentative as they emerge into the public eye for the first time.

To start with, these two polar bear cubs seem painfully shy, sheltered beneath the massive bulk of their mother, Olinka. The three-month-old twin males, born in November at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, come out and take turns to examine their strange new surroundings.

WHERE

Identify the five W’s in the opening of this news article

Polar bear twins enjoy their brave new world as mum looks on

Their first steps are tentative as they emerge into the public eye for the first time.

To start with, these two polar bear cubs seem painfully shy, sheltered beneath the massive bulk of their mother, Olinka. The three-month-old twin males, born in November at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, come out and take turns to examine their strange new surroundings.

WHEN

Identify the five W’s in the opening of this news article

Polar bear twins enjoy their brave new world as mum looks on

Their first steps are tentative as they emerge into the public eye for the first time.

To start with, these two polar bear cubs seem painfully shy, sheltered beneath the massive bulk of their mother, Olinka. The three-month-old twin males, born in November at the Schoenbrunn Zoo in Vienna, come out and take turns to examine their strange new surroundings.

WHY

Read the article “More high winds set to hit the UK”. Complete the tasks below:

1. Identify the 5 W’s

2. Write a summary of the main points of the article

3. How have sub-headings been used?

4. How does the placement of the images support the structure of the text?

5. How has the content of the article been pieced together to build a clear picture of what is happening?

Layout and Design

All media texts are constructed, usually by a team of people. One key person in this process is the designer. They have to decide on the use of images, fonts, colour and layout.

The layout is very important and is often built around an understanding of audience psychology. Basically, producers of media texts need to be sure that when people read a text they get the right information and walk away with the intended message firmly planted in their head.

Look at the web page on the next slide…

Break the page down into sections.

Give each section a title and then explain why it has been included, why it is positioned where it is on the page and what the designer has done to ensure that it is noticed by the reader.

Some terms to help you:

Position section menu drop-downlogo navigation hyperlinks sub-headings

Bullets spacing borders colour

IT’S TIME TO CALL THE:

To write about layout and design effectively you can not simply rely on PEE. This is because you will not necessarily have a quote to include as your evidence. What you need to do is this:

Review – explain what you see using technical terms

Analyse – explain why the particular feature of the text has been included, positioned, made to stand out etc

Comment – explain how this effects the reader.

Towards the top of the main centralised section of the webpage a drop down menu has been included. A feature that allows choice and interactivity – it has been made clear through the use of a bold white sub-heading and the menu is boxed in its own section. This is effective as it is made clearly visible and allows the reader to easily interact with the website.

Answer the following question…

How does the layout of the BBC Bitesize webpage encourage the reader to interact with it?

Time limit 1

5 minutes

Title: Representation

Examination:In the exam, question 2 (both parts) expects that you are able to show how ideas are represented. This lesson should consolidate your learning on how meaning is conveyed both in terms of presentational features and language devices. For both part a and b you will need to identify the target audience in order to explain the effect on the reader.

‘What is Representation?’

• What is the text representing? – an individual, a group, a place or something more abstract like an idea (e.g.: global warming)

• How is it being represented? – fairly, balanced, biased, misrepresented, stereotyped, positively or negatively

• How has media language been used to create this representation? – images, signs, camera angles, mise-en-scene, sound, text, language devices such as direct address and headlines in newspapers etc

You are going to complete a detailed analysis of an ad campaign. The campaign was created by the NSPCC in order to raise awareness of child abuse and their ‘ChildLine’ service…

Firstly – please read through and annotate the two ads.

You should focus on the following features:

• Framing – camera distance and angle• Mise-en-scene – what has been included – what is

interesting about them, what meaning is created?• Text – Language used, interpret the meaning…how are the

images and text connected?• Text – Font style, size etc• Layout and positioning• Use of colour

Secondly, answer the questions below in as much detail as possible.• Through framing and mise-en-scene how have the children been

represented as victims of child abuse?• What is the message behind the ads? To do this effectively, explain

how the images and Strapline (the main piece of text) are connected.• Who is the target audience for these ads? How are they being

appealed to?• How is the issue of child abuse being represented? Be as detailed as

possible, making explicit reference to features of the ads.Extension: How would you change these ads so that they were aimed

towards the people committing the abuse?

Homework – Getting prepared for the exam!

Create a revision sheet – you might want to include some of the following information:

• What is a fact / opinion?

• How do you identify audience and purpose?

• How do you locate the key points in the text?

• What is meant by structure? How are media texts structured?

• What are language devices? How do you recognise them and what do each of them do?

• What do media texts do visually to engage the reader?

• What should you look for to help identify the tone of the text?