Question 2

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

I think my media product represents particular social groups in a variety of ways. Firstly, the music genre of my magazine as a heavy metal music magazine is very appropriate and appealing towards teenagers and young adults and is a very popular genre at the moment. 

I think this helps to highlight the interest many people within this age range have for this genre. Additionally, I think the outfits and accessories I used on my models for my images were important, as many young adults and teenagers are fashion conscious today despite their individual style. 

Alternative fashion, stood with guitar. 

Long hair, typical band tee, leather jacket, cameos and chains

Head band, Guitar, dark tee and combats

Prosthetic horns and skull mask

I also feel that the theme I used throughout my magazine relates to the style that my audience would admire and prefer.  My images all have a simplistic appeal yet they have the ability to look bold, look eye-catching and effective due to the contrast of the model against the white space and some images have a contrasting, busy background to represent their lives. I feel this nature helps to reflect the social group I appealed to whilst corresponding with my primary research, in which audience said they preferred a concise and cool appearance throughout the product, yet the contrasting images and layout can also be appealing. The contrast of colours makes the pages come to life, as the (lack of) brightness and contrast edits have helped portray my target audience.

Colour curves

Furthermore, when producing my media product, I also took into thought what sort of layout my target audience would prefer. For example I placed the double page spread in a quite alternative way, as I felt this would attract my target group and make them want to look at more of the magazine. When creating my magazine, I also aimed to my piece looking over-crowded, so included a minimal amount of white space, by gradating a white pattern on the black background, to ensure that my product gave off a professional and presentable appearance, yet also appealing to my target audience. 

Screen shot of the gradient on my DPS

I also feel that the articles and content of my interview will help to represent particular social groups and make them attract to the magazine due to the descriptive style I wrote it in. By taking into consideration my target audience opinions I will help my magazine appeal to them as well as being relevant. Where most magazines use the male gaze, I don't. I don't even use women in my magazine, because this eliminates the illusion women create. This is because the majority of my audience is male and are looking for music related information and articles, instead of women.