Evaluation

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My magazine "Drum n' Disorderley" is a drum magazine designed to inform, entertain and explain features of drumming to my target audience. This includes new techniques, interviews with famous drummers and infomation on the newest drum hardware. I researched on real media products (other drum magazines) in order to use and then develop their features into my own ideas. By gathering infomation on the different magazines, I was able to understand the requirements and apply them to my work.

For the front cover, I had to consider many features before beginning the construction. The model and the atmosphere he would set, the colour scheme, the masthead and the teasers. I researched each of these to ensure that my magazine would attract my target audience. For my model, he had to look how he acted, and to relate to my target audience, I made him so he was very laidback and relaxed, therefore on the front cover he appears very calm and controlled. I think this will attract my target audience, as it allows them to emphasise with him, and I also believe this is a unique feature or selling point in my magazine.

In terms of colour scheme, I presented a questionnaire to 100 people in a drumming group on FaceBook, and gathered my results. I finalised with the colours red and black, as they are deep, prominant colours which hold a serious motif.
For my contents page, I had to research what would be included, and then what was most important, which meant considering size, font and contrasts to background. I believe that on contents, organisation is important, so my readers can easily navigate to their chosen topic. However, magazines are designed to be "flicked through" casually, so therefore I highlighted the front cover story, and simply labelled page numbers for other stories or infomation.

In terms of my double-page spread, I needed to think of an interesting story. But first, I had to attract my readers, so I considered a large heading, with a catchy explanation. Within the double-page spread, I used the drummer "Axel Stixspinner" who is in a band called "Revolution", to describe how he got into music, and explain a little about his band and what he intends to do. It's original, as his background, present and future were all about creativity. This encouraged me to be imaginative, and this ensured that I would attract my target audience, and that they would enjoy the story.

2) How does your media product represent different social groups?
I think my model idea is a good one, as it not only relates to my target audience, but an audience on a much wider scale. Teenagers. Although the majority of my efforts have been dedicated to attracting my target audience, as my model is laidback and relaxed it relates to all teenagers in a stereotypical way.
Also, playing an instrument (especially, when its played well) is seen as "cool" and my drummer is playing it "cool" so I think it works on many levels.
I have presented my model as controlled, calm and relaxed, which are also good features to have whilst being a drummer. I think my models features, attributes and attitude relate to both drumming and my stereotypical audience.

3) What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?
I believe IPC media would distribute my product successfully, as they are a leading company in the media industry. They also work closely with magazines like "Guitar and Bass" and "NME" which is ideal, as the company know how to handle music magazine distributions. However, as my magazine is a Drum magazine, it isn't causing the company to compete with itself for sales. It simply adds a new branch to the companies marketing and this can be beneficial for all.

4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
My target audience would be anybody interested in drumming, but due to the serious approach, a reccomended age of 15+. As the magazine is quite advanced regarding language and layout, my target audience would be for mature people. I imagined that my stereotypical reader would be around the age of 17, who still lived with his parents. He would be quite lazy, and spent a lot of time hanging with friends, or relaxing at home, either playing drums, or listening to rock music and reading magazines.

However, as my model is laid-back and relaxed, this could appeal to a much wider audience, as these characteristics could be related to, by the general teenage public. This means that although my time and effort has been spent on presenting my magazine to a specific audience, the model's features could attract others who may enjoy the magazine.

5) How did you attract/address your target audience?
I attracted my target audience by considering the following features: Model, Colour scheme, Images, Information presented, Language style and Presentation.

In terms of my model, I attempted to relate him to the stereotypical reader. Cool, relaxed and controlled. Regarding colour scheme, I made a questionnaire so I was confident my chosen colours would attract the right audience. My images needed to be specific and interesting, in order to catch my audiences eye. Information presented, Language style and Presentation all would be revolved around how I would address my target audience. I went for the laid-back and relaxed approach, similar to how I portrayed my model. This allows me to relate the whole theme of my magazine to the same image and presentation

6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Although I was rather familiar with PhotoShop at the beginning of the course, the biggest thing I have learned about technologies and PhotoShop specifically is the amount of variation available. For example, if I wanted to change the colour or brightness of a certain image, I could manipulate the colour, gamma, contrast or use tools such as airbrush to change the way the image looked to the eye. From this, I found I could use many different tools to get exactly where I want to.

Blogger has been a useful tool for me, as it allows me to access and update my blog from anywhere in the world. In addition, I have learned about HTML coding to include pictures, videos, sounds and manipulate my text.

Finally, regarding the music industry, or more specifically my model, creating the right photograph with the right equipment is crucial. A lot of images are taken, whilst only a minor fraction is used. This forces me to improve and adapt each image to capture the best possible shot for my magazine stories.

7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in progression from it to the full product ?
My greatest progression has been making full use of technology available, as previously (and during my preliminary) I was only using basic tools on PhotoShop to edit and create my magazine. However, I learned and progressed further with my knowledge in editing and was able to improve my work dramatically.

To compare the preliminary to the full product, regarding my front cover. I was able to gather more precise and suitable colour schemes and use of images by researching my target audience more successfully (use of internet and social networking sites.) I was also able to manipulate text in terms of fonts and sizes to make different pieces of text stand out more than others. Finally, I made a greater use of my model to impose a certain 'atmosphere' to my magazine. I tried to make my model more than just a picture on the front cover, but to the extent where you could look at my model and know what type of person he is, and how he would talk and act.

Regarding the contents, I simply tried to make it more organised. I believe a good contents page is simple to read and navigate, I made further efforts to improve this. I colour coded my page numbers regarding different stories, and made a special note to high-light my cover story, so readers could get to it faster.