Evaluation1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Front cover: The Front cover that I designed has followed the original plan that I created but with more detail put in my original design follows that that is used in most music magazines that are out today. The Masthead is located at the top of the page and consists of green and black colours. The beginning of the words The and Drop are green and the rest black this just makes it more interesting to look at rather than just one colour. The text used has a modern Young hip Graffiti edge to it that links to the style of music that the magazine consists of. It is in large bold text, which is used in most magazines for the masthead. It is centralised and at the top of the page as well so it is the first thing that is read by the reader. The P at the end of the word Drop has a long straight tail to it with an arrow at the bottom this represents and stands for the Base Drop which is a term and music technique used in the genre of music covered by this magazine. The arrow also points and directs the reader to the main headline on what is in the magazine.

The Picture used is of the Musician being George Goodwill and is central of the page leaving space above the head for the Masthead but with a little of it overlaying. This adds layers to the front cover that come out at the reader adding depth and follows the convention of other music magazines that makes multiple overlapping layers to make it more interesting to the eye. The picture has a green outline to and a slight green tint to the picture. One the lasers represent the lights and strobes used in nightclubs/ parties where this genre of music is played and two it follows the colour theme of green, black and white so it flows across the page.

The cover-line is simply the name of the Musician George Goodwill the Text is in the same green and the Black rectangle it overlays is slightly transparent. I found that having the rectangle slightly transparent and being able to see the image through it slightly had a more original look than a solid black colour, its also a slight contrast to the rest of the other solid black areas on the front page. It follows the conventions of it overlapping the main image and also at a slight angle just so it interrupts the other horizontal text on the page making it less dull. I changed the angle of the text compared to the original design as the image of George is leaning to the left (looking at it) so tilting the text to go with him rather than against had a much more professional and smooth appearance.

Contents page:

The contents page that I designed followed my plan rather closely, this plan follows the conventions found that the text for the page numbers are usually found down the left of the page and usually has a larger image on the right side/ column. The title Contents is at the top and central of the page which is the same as most other magazines, it also uses the same font and colours as the Title on the front page. However the central T is also in Green and the tail is extended down the centre of the page to separate the two columns, this was an idea I personally came up with and I think it works really well and is original to other musician magazines which usually have a separate line to split the page or nothing at all. The pages are numbered and laid down the sides followed by a short title on what will be on that page, without giving much away so they have to go to that page to find out more. The colour scheme of the page again is green, black and white and flows with the front cover with most magazine always using the same2-4 colours throughout the magazine. The contents page also has a bunch of pictures throughout that link to the subheadings and gives a small preview into what will be in the rest of the magazine these pictures fills the page and is more inter3sting that just text and keeps the reader interested and wanting to keep read through. It also has the image of the beats Competition to entice readers to enter into it. The Top of the page in the upper left of the page (looking at the page) has a logo to represent the magazine which is just a simple green solid filled circle with a black down arrow representing the title of the magazine The Drop and it means whenever readers see this logo they can identify what it represents and who it is for. The image used is again of the main musician and is at the far right, I used this image as it looks like he is thinking and can relate the reader thinking about what page to go to, to read I also put him at the same level that the page title to his double page spread is at so it directs his eye line and the readers to his interview, which is the main story.

Double page spread: My double page spread as shown consists of the left side having 3 pictures of my interviewee (George Goodwill) with his logo above him. Ive edited them so that they appear to be standing behind and next to each other. It adds depth to the page and sets up 3 columns which I can use on the other side as seen with the text. The text from the interview is laid out in 3 columns as well so that it matches the page and has a pleasing aesthetic look to it. Using this younger musician as a main story usually goes against that of magazines that usually focus on the already big and older musicians, so having a younger face shown throughout the magazine is a difference to that expected. The title is of the musicians name and is at the top of the right side of the page above the text and is in bold black text so that it stands out. The logo mirrors this by being at the top of the left side of the page above the 3 images of the musician. The DPS (double page spread) again follows the colour scheme by having white, black and green, having the colour scheme flow throughout the magazine however each page uses the colour scheme in a different way so they are all distinctive to themselves but are still related through the means of the images and text styles.The image is contains two of the musician looking directly at the audience this is used with many other magazines so the reader can relate and feel in contact with the musician themselves, the other picture of the musician is looking across to the text to draw their eyes to the interview and gives them a psychological urge to read it.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Front cover: the title on the front cover I designed uses text that has a graffiti and hip look which can be related and connects with the young teenage audience the magazine is aimed for. The title also consists of green and black the green and black can be identified as colours similar in night clubs as they are usually dark with green strobe lights, and usually attending these clubs are teenagers/ early 20s. The Musician used on the front cover has headphones and is dressed in smart/casual attire (Shirt, Jeans, headphones) this appearance can be related and associated with the teenager community again especially when guys are going on a night out or to a party giving the impression that this magazine is based around this social group. The outline of the Musician on the front cover contains a green laser like glow and shadows, again this can be seen and have the appearance of being in a nightclub and usually found in these social areas are teenagers or early 20s students. The front cover has a young fresh and fun party appearance to it and by having the young musician on the front cover also can show that its portraying the younger adult group of people.

Contents page: The contents page again uses the same font so it carries on the Graffiti feel to it usually done by the younger adult generation. The black and white hazy transition between the two colours used can be seen as spot lights shining down on a dark stage or club floor/room bringing up the same point about the young adult group that mainly attend these social events. The advert for the Beats earphones displayed is an add usually aimed towards the you adult social group that like to listen to lots of modern music at a high quality, by having Adds that aim towards the same audience as the magazine itself it represents the teenager and young adult group more effectively as they link together. Double page spread: The double page spread has 3 strong images of a young musician, looking cool and chilled which relates to how teenagers try to look and act in society nowadays. The logo at the top again has a Graffiti style and the clan logo kind of feel which teenagers usually scribble or use to mark their areas.

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I believe that the Bauer Media group would be an institution that would be interested in distributing my magazine. The Bauer Media group has over 300 magazines distributed over 15 countries the two main music magazines they publish are Kerrang and Q. Kerrang does also aim towards the teenager target audience but this magazine focuses on new young bands that have come up where as my magazine focuses on a completely different genre of music. This institution doesnt currently have a magazine that bases around the genre of Dubstep and House music so it would fit into a place in the market for them and especially since its a niche market it offers them more opportunity to expand their readers. It can offer a new group of people to talk to and learn what they like to be involved in this genre of music and also learn about the many huge events held with this style of music. The Teenage audience is also a very strong buyer of music magazines as they usually listen to a lot of it so they want to be up to date with all the latest tunes and hits that are found and played at parties and nightclubs/events.

4. Who would be the audience be for you media product?

The main audience for this magazine would be the people who listen to and love the Genre of Dubstep and electro house music; usually these people are of the younger adult generation and teenagers. Age wise this would include male or females from 16-24 that usually go out on nights or have parties and enjoy the upbeat tempo and dance style of this music. There are still people of older age that listen to this music and will buy this magazine however the majority of buyers/audience would be the younger generation of adults. From my market research and findings this also supports who would buy my magazine and what I used to create the magazine so that it would ensure that the audience I was aiming for was involved and listened to in the creating of the product. The research showed that the majority of people interested in a product like mine would be any gender aged 16-24.

5. How did you attract/ address your audience?To attract my audience I made sure that I listened to and used the findings that I received during the audience research part of the development of my media magazine product, by doing this I involved everything they wanted and also included what they would expect and like to see in a magazine of this genre. This made sure that they would be happy with the contents and improve the chance of it being successful and them paying the set price for the magazine. The layout and feel to the magazine relates to the audience so they can feel like they are connected with the magazine and they know what to expect from whats inside. In the making of the magazine I used the language that my audience would probably use on a day to day basis again so they can relate and understand the magazine to a level in which they feel involved and apart of the community and makers of the magazine, the layout is also simple and effective in that it relates to other magazines that use a similar and well known format. On the Front cover of my magazine I Included a competition heading that informed readers straight away about a possible chance of being able to win a pair of Beats earphones, this could entice them to buy the magazine and read further in to find the competition since the prize is of high cost and high quality. The image I used on the front cover of my magazine of the musician is open to the viewers and he is looking directly to them giving them a sense of connection and that they are being looked at and drawn towards the magazine

On the contents page I used the competition again but with an image of the prize so that it again got my readers attention. It uses a familiar layout to magazines and means that the reader isnt confused or is put off by a new form of layout. I including many pictures and simple headlines to tell them what is on each page as I found out during my research they dont like a lot of information to read they prefer it to be straight to the point.

6. What have you learnt about technology from the process of constructing this product?

During the course of this project I have managed to learn the vast amount of picture editing Photoshop can do at a high quality and effectively and it only took a little bity of learning from online sources and self-teaching to understand the basics and uses the tools to come out with some professional looking media product. By doing it on computer the transportation of files and information and items being used is much easier, time efficient and reliable rather than hand crafting it with a lot of paper based sources. Technology such as a high quality camera that I used allows for professional looking images and the ability to take as many needed and quickly and it is all saved in one place that can be moved to a computer in minutes. Anybody can turn a few images and text into a media product as long as they have the software and the patience to self-teach.

7. How do you feel you have learnt from the progression of the preliminary task to the full product?

From the preliminary which was to create a front cover for a college magazine in about 2 hours to the media product I have created and finished now I believe I have learnt many new techniques and the abilities of tools and what they do. I have also learnt that there many different aspects in creating a magazine such as Depth, colour schemes, positioning and the percentage and coverage of text to images. I have also been opened up to the fact that if you want a high quality looking page then you have to put time and effort into it and get feedback from others on what you have done every now and then because others approval is always reassuring to your work as you go along.

I learnt that planning in advance of what you are doing is a great advantage in the long run and it means all your ideas are there already down in basic form and it motivates you to create the whole thing. It gives you a kind of prototype to look at and then uncover anything that doesnt work or could be added or removed.

In the preliminary task we didnt do any audience research and this meant I created the front page to look like how I wanted it to look rather than what people reading it would like. By doing the audience research for the full product It gave me the chance to actually ask potential readers and get their input on what they wold like to see, and what would grab their attention.