Question 2

How does the media product represent a particular social group?

I wanted my product to be aimed a certain social group aim my media product at 15-25 year olds, mainly females which had to be evident in my magazine. When researching magazines to see which kind of magazine I wished to create I decided I wanted to appeal to a pop audience so I had to portray that social group in my magazine. Looking at other magazines gave me inspiration in what images I should include and how to lay the magazine out. I used different aspects of different magazines to create my own front cover.  

                                       

I came across this image when looking for poses for my artist for the cover page.

I liked this image of Drake because it was simple yet effective. As he is looking into the camera it suggests a good relationship with the audience which I liked. I also thought he looked cool, chilled and relaxed, although you can not see a whole lot of his outfit, it is also plain but appears well dressed which I feel my targeted social group would relate to. For the actual layout of the magazine I was not really fussed on this I felt there wasn't enough information on the page and other than the masthead and the picture nothing really stood out. So I looked at other magazines and came across an edition of Q's which I liked the layout of.

 I liked this layout because I thought that it was much more informative and I thought the page was much more bold and eye-catching. I liked how there were sell lines on either side of the image too, I thought this kind of layout would appeal to my audience as it is eye-catching and informative as one of the main purposes of a magazine is to inform and entertain which is exactly what I intended to do with my magazine.

I decided I would try and replicate the image of Drake for my magazine with my model for my pop audience. The model in the photograph is a male within my target audience's age range. From my research I found out that my target audience would prefer a single male artist. My artist is wearing a casual t-shirt under a jacket with black skinny jeans and casual shoes, although this outfit is nothing special it relates to the social group of the younger generation and is exactly what is in fashion these days. This image would attract my target audience and social group as although simple, he is dressed stylish and from the research they like a male artist on the front cover. By dressing the artist like the social group it means the audience would have trust in the magazine and it shows understanding of what they like. I decided to use red like Q too as although they are an indie/rock magazine I felt it would work well too with my pop magazine, I added yellow and blue too as I felt it stood out and looked good and are mainstream colours to reflect my main stream audience. The model represents he social group as the facial expressions imitate the "typical teenager" not really smiling, a little moody on times. The seriousness/ moodiness though represents the tough decisions and events that happen during the teenager/ young adult life so I feel that my picture represents the social group quite accurately.

The images in my contents page reflects the different aspects of pop music, the different artist, duets and bands that are out there. I have decided to keep the same artist for the cover page, contents page and article as it shows how the magazine links together and helps the audience make connection between what they see on the cover page, to the contents page and then to the article. I used numerous artists for my contents page to get a range. I have my main artist at the top of the page and also decided I wanted his article quite early on in the magazine. Next I have a female duo wearing again really the stereotypical teenage/ young adult outfit again simple but it looks stylish representing the social group. My individual artist and the pose shows a different personality, obviously people are all different and poses show a little bit of the characteristics of a person. Then the boy band against a wall dresses in again simple but branded clothing representing the social group. All my artists are within my target audience range again and I feel they all represent this social group rather well.  On the page I have also included social media and a website, which reflects the young technophiles I am targeting with this magazine representing the social group as the internet and new technology is part of their day to day lives now. By using male models it would hopefully attract the female audience gaining profit, obviously including females too as the aim of the magazine was to be mainly female but a magazine that males are easily able to read also.

From this article the best representation of the social group would me the images. I chose having three images as it reflects different personalities, everyone has different personalities but it is stereotypical for teens and young adults to flip between them quickly. My article shows a relaxed, joking side, a happy general side and also a more serious side to the artist. All of these reflect with in the article with the topics that have been spoken about like deaths within the family resulting in problems in school and general life and what they did to be the successful artist they are today. The artist is now in different clothes with just a plain branded jumper on, again casual but stylish which would appeal to my target audience.
I have also included the web address at the bottom of the page to promote the online side to show that this magazine is multi- media platform brand. I have also included all the conventional things for a magazine like page numbers, drop caps, pull quote and also the masthead in small font at the bottom of the page to show promotion of the magazine and to remind readers this is the magazine they are reading and to also show professionalism and realism to appeal to my audience.

Overall, I feel like I have represented the social group accurately within my media product as I researched magazines to make sure what I included in my magazine fitted well.