Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

  How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The magazine I have created represents my specific social group of soft rock with the aid of the props, costumes and idiolect used within the magazine article itself. The psychographics of my social group is A B C1, highlighting that my target audience are typically higher in the social spectrum which can stereotypically mean higher educated and intellectually challenged with their reading choices. These classes are of a wide spectrum and are able to attending gigs as well as concerts due to being middle class and usually having the disposable income to spend on these events. The primary audience of my social group are males that enjoy listening to soft rock and so get pleasure from getting involved with the bands and the musical information behind the music rather than the gossip. I have used the factors of clothing and props as clear signifiers as to the genre of soft rock and attract the audience through relating to the clothing and emotions portrayed through the facial expressions.

I felt that the poses and positions of my model were important and could influence who would be attracted to the magazine. My magazine is firstly aimed at males and secondly aimed at females and so needed to be sexual to capture the male’s attention yet not objectify women due to the percentage being close between the readerships of the magazine. I chose a model that would be confident in front of the camera and so would portray this to the readers that she is a confident person about her music and herself in general, having a little care about others feel. This would inspire and influence the readers to feel that they need not care about others opinion yet only their own.

I chose to use a female model within her late teens that has presented herself in a typical soft rock artist shown in other magazines due to the facial expressions she has held; not smiling and directing her gaze straight at the readers themselves. The stance I have chosen to place Leah in is a close position, playing the part of an up and coming soft rock artist; Leah. Leah was chosen to be the model firstly due to her long back hair which I felt was perfect for my images due to dark colours usually having connotations of rock. Furthermore I felt that this was complimentary with her huge eyes and so caught the reader’s attention instantly due to me having the high contrast for my front cover image as I felt that this would emphasis’ her features compared to her pale skin. These will be the primary factors that will grab my social groups attention due to the cover image being unique to the ,magazine and the artist being a strong signifier of the genre and the music that the readers enjoy listening to because of the dark colours I have chosen. Apart from the clothing and stances I found that for a soft rock magazine the facial expressions were considered just as important, Leah making sure she was not smiling and gave direct eye contact to the audience to draw them in and capture their full attention. An image used within the double page spread captures Leah having her hand near her lips, further highlighting a nervous yet also sexual look for the readers due to the touching of lips having connotations of passion or nervous, being strong emotions which are typically expressed within this genre of music.

When styling Leah I decided to make sure she was wearing makeup especially around the eys being dark colours like blacks and browns to make sure that the artist was portrayed with s sense of mystery and further related to the audience due to the heavy make up. This is due to the females that will read the magazine will typically wear this sort of make up having eyeliner, yet also the primary audience of the males that will read this magazine will find this an attractive feature on Leah. Her eye lashes have been exaggerated to draw the readers into her direct gaze and so allow them to feel a person connection with the artist. This uses the uses and gratification theory when looking at my magazine due to being entertaining and easy to look upon the eye yet also a relationship the artist and magazine itself allowing each issue to feel personal to the reader. This can be seen as an important factor within my magazine due to the social group not only being main streamers yet also some individualists and therefore allowing them to feel special almost and different to the typical music genres and social groups such as young females that listen to pop. Moreover, her mouth is lightly open, almost biting her lip which connotes seduction and passion not only for the artist herself but also for the love of the music. The specific style that I have presented my artist in is paramount in appealing to my specific social group due to rock music being known for the dramatic songs, actions and looks, yet also keeping up to trendy with fashion in some situations yet having its own unique twist. This can be argued as an icon look for rock music having heavy makeup around the eyes and so allowing the social group to be influenced through her styling and clothing.

I felt that I should portray the type of social group that will read the magazine from the outset and so the front cover image was extremely important in grabbing the right type of people. I have chosen to use an extreme close up and place Leah in a low cut top, although the top is unable to be seen I believed this was aiding me in making Leah be portrayed for not only her music but her looks in a sexual manner due to the target audience being predominantly young teenage males and young men. Furthermore an extreme close up has been used to metaphorically highlight that the article with be up close and person with the artist and so having nowhere to hide and express her emotions to the readers. This can be important as it additionally allows the social groups to understand the artists they adore as well as feel they are an important part of their careers as they are allowing them to know their secrets; building trust between the artist and fans.

When using other images of Leah on the contents page I have used a range; long shot and close up this was metaphorical for the readers that they will be getting every angle of Leah and so further highlighting that the magazine will be capturing every angle of the artist. The clothing that Leah has been styled in are typical casual soft rock clothing, being leather jackets, dark leather trousers and a low cut top. I chose to use the fabric of leather due to the connotations being sexual and explicit as well as being edgy which is how the social group will see themselves as they don’t listen to the typical music of pop. The top she is wearing is low cut to highlight that is seen as a sexual icon yet also has class about her and is not too explicit compared to other artists. These particular items of clothing are undoubtedly worn a lot by the soft rock community and are seen as stylish, as well as being easily to access and so allows the females to use her as a style icon and relate to her dress code. I felt that using these types of materials and dark colours were able to give an all round impression of the social group my magazine was aimed at males and females. I felt that the Mise En Scene of clothing was paramount and could easily decipher what magazines were aimed at what social group. This is because of their specific interests and styles differ greatly, having it inappropriate to have a pop artist is explicit low cut clothing or a soft rock artist in a flower, bright pink dress.

The major prop I used was placed on my contents page with the male models holding types of guitars being electric and acoustic highlighting that even though the magazine was soft rock it would also represent and relate to the social group due to them also enjoying rough copy music such as live acoustic. This prop is a major part in appealing to different social groups as I want to allow the audience to get a glimpse of what is inside the magazine before they read any words or even have to think about it due to the images being extremely strong at portraying the genre of the magazine clearly. Another prop I have used within the contents page is a microphone held by one of my male models to make sure the that genre was clear and that there was a range of soft rock presented in the magazine not only acoustic or heavy but live performances and articles with the use of the microphone. This represents my social group as social and enjoying going out to gigs and concerts to see their favourite artists and bands.

Within the double page spread I chose to place flitters on to the images being the colours of red, yellow and green. These colours are vibrant, non gender specific as well as positive connotations of power, passion and wealth. This helped me in relating to the types of readers as well as their emotions they would feel about the artist and the magazine, highlighting their characteristics within the magazine of drama, passion and outgoing personalities.

The housing style is consistent throughout the magazine as well as the images also being consistent in quality and positions to make sure the themes throughout the magazine were continually highlighted to the readers. This allowed me to make sure the magazine was consistent as well as professional and easily recognised. I kept to the colour scheme of red and gold to relate to the genre of the magazine and appeals to the social group that would read the magazine in their spare time. The images were simplistic yet affective, highlighting a serious tone to the magazine yet also a playful side due to the flitters used.  

The magazine article uses the typical lexical field of the social group that listen to soft rock music. This is so the readers are able to relate to the magazine and understand what is trying to be said through the language used. Furthermore, it allows the magazine to feel specific to the social group and so creating a community with the same interesting being part of the uses and gratification theory.  The idiolect used is informal and almost conversational between the interviewer and interviewee highlighting that the artist feels comfortable with their fans and they are able to answer the questions. With the use of expletives it allowed me to highlight the social group that would read this magazine due to the strong language and presents her emotions which is a typical convention of a rock magazine and is seen in many other magazines such as NME and Q. I felt that this type of taboo language was highly appropriate and so allowed the audience to feel involved and allows the magazine to seem rough and imperfect which is what the social group enjoy, a sense of reality.