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

The genre I was planning to base my whole magazine around was pop. This meant the group or single artist I was planning to create had to be fun, bubbly and very outgoing, with a variation or costumes, tones and language. The pop culture uses soft instruments like pianos and guitars; however the instrument that is presented the most and makes a song/album by artists in the pop culture is the voice. The language in my article is very informal and I have included a few pull out quotes from the artists themselves. I have tried to portray the artist as very active and fun to be around. The reason for which I have portrayed the artist to be stereotypical to the genre is because to most young people out there, the pop industry has a high status when it comes to where people stand how they show themselves off to the world; having individuality and that sense of an enjoyable vibe to them. In the article itself, I chose language of which I thought would present the quality and personality. Instead of just advertising the personality and qualities of the artist, I also characterised the interviewer so they wouldn’t seem so dead and typical when asking the questions, but got involved with the conversation flow. The magazine is aimed at the social group C1 – E. This means I will be attracting those who are students, or young adults ranging from 16 – 21. These would be people who have a strong interest in Pop or R ‘n’ B music and the latest news/ gossip about the industry and the artists themselves. My model in my media product (Jeea Bakshi) is a young female, who is in character of an artist who was not a big deal before but has recently won the queen of pop title over. She is also the main feature in my magazine and the article. I would say her appearance could’ve have suited the genre more clearly and some of the pictures could’ve been lighter, but the ideas were there. Her appearance doesn't quite match that of the genre as much as it should. The clothes and all the characteristics should be fun and original; my model didn't represent this. When taking the pictures, I didn't take into consideration of the makeup or any other features which should be used when taking a photo-shoot. This meant the pictures for my magazine were not suited to the articles in it and wouldn't have drawn in many readers or beat the stereotype of the social group have a range of different poses and variations of body language in my pictures, of which some don’t necessarily match the genre or social group. Some of my pictures are very original, for example, the picture of the hands playing the piano and a picture of my model writing in her lyrics book on the bed, with lights hanging of the top of the bed; the lighting was quite good here too, dim but very vibrant as well. In some pictures, my models is also being interactive with the readers by having direct eye contact with them , making them just that bit more interested in the magazine/article. The different poses in each image show some kind of attitude and bring out 'female power' which is commonly not recognised in my social group unless they are big names in the industry, such as Beyoncé or J-Lo. The reason I have chosen female models and a female artist as my main model, is because 'female power' is slowly rising to the top again in the social group and so I decided to represent this through my media product. An essential part of trying to appeal different in the social group is by the props used. For example props that have been used are, guitar, piano, lyrics book etc. In my magazine, I have made sure that social groups can easily recognise the media product and let them know what the magazine will be about before reading it in my contents page. In one of my other pictures, you will see my other models (Tia, Jessica, Fereshta and Jemini) holding different props, which is a big giveaway of what type of magazine it is. Props like these have been used in order to emphasis the topic and the genre of the music within my magazine. I have also added a constant house style all the way through to ensure the magazine looks professional. The colours I have used are, Purple, Teal, and Black and White for the text, however I may change the picture on the front cover to a lighter picture and keep the text black all the way through, just as it is on my article and the subtext in the contents page. The reason I have used a range of different colours is to not just appeal to one gender but both, although I do admit my pictures don't exactly match this request. In my article, I have added a few pull out quotes of which are in bold and the text is teal. The logic behind this was for the quotes to appeal to the readers, audience and the critics. The lexis used for the article is mainly informal compared to the rest of the magazine, such as the contents page. I found that the more informal the article was, the more realistic it was. The lexis used is more appropriate and fit for my social group to read and understand. I feel as if the informal register makes the reader understand and interpret what they are reading, and feel like they are a part of the interview and the whole topic. After researching quite a bit of information on how other people have presented their magazines and structured the layout, I came to a conclusion of which brought me to the idea of being original with the social group. I managed to establish the fact that each individual artist/band has their own style, way of writing/composing music and way of living. I tried to interpret this within my magazine, although, like I expressed earlier, the lighting and some of the poses weren't of the right fit to my magazine. This is why I got opinions from my friends about what they thought and they mostly critiqued the photos and how they didn't fully match my genre/social group but looked more indie or rock. I took this into consideration and decided to change some of the photos and effects of them.