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

2. The social group that my magazine would attract would carry
certain stereotypes of the Indie/Alternative genre; appreciating
small Indie bands and music not on the charts, socializing at
gigs/festivals, wearing skinny jeans and having messy hair. However
I have purposely made my magazine appeal to not just the
stereotypical Indie/Alternative Rock, adding in an old school street
edge with the photography and typography used throughout, with
the intention of attracting all types of people that follow the Indie
image. The age group would be 17 – 25, male or female and from
working to middle class who appreciate good, different music and
the Indie fashion and music. My magazine has therefore been
directed to attract this range of audience through the use of
photography, artist’s used, content, coverlines and photography.

3. Stereotypes of indie social group;
looks -The type of clothing that the mix of genre audience I am
targeting would be wearing would be; beanies, rolled up skinny jeans,
vans, nike air max’s, tie dye t shirts, denim jackets, band t shirts,
leather jackets etc. This is the sort of old school, retro/indie style that I
am targeting. They normally have messy hair and tattoos.
lifestyle – They enjoy being different and preferring old styles to new
ones, taking fashion and music inspiration from previous eras. General
activities would be going to gigs, festivals, skateboarding, smoking,
playing the guitar, partying etc.

4. How I’ve targeted this social group;
Photography
Photography is a massive part of any magazine, it’s what pulls you in before you’ve
probably even read anything on the page so I knew I had to make my images
readable as an Alternative/Indie/Retro genre if it were to be successful.
To do so I dressed my model up in clothes that were connotations of my genre.
We used; black skinny jeans – Indie
Nike air max’s – Retro
Vintage Hawaiian shirt – Indie/Retro
Vintage pink vest – Indie/Retro
Vintage Levis denim jacket – Indie
Vintage look sunglasses – Indie
Jewellery - Indie
Also as a prop we used a skateboard but I didn’t use these photos for any of my
pages.
The poses I got my model to do I think represented the social group well, she looks
laid back, cool and interesting. Her outfit is unique and represents the style my social
group would be wearing or take inspiration from. Her poses aren’t cheesy or ‘staged’
they look natural and comfortable. She looks around 17 – 19 years old, which the
target audience would be able to relate to well, based on her attire and vibe.
Although there has been no use of direct address, her pose is engaging and
mysterious with the sunglasses for effect, drawing the reader in.

5. Photography (continued)
The mise-en-scene of my photography was pretty simple, I knew from the
beginning I wanted something that reflected the genre and target audience and so
chose to do it outside with a simple brick wall in the background. I think this works
at representing my genre because it’s grungy and unprofessional in a positive way,
going against the norm which reflects my genre and social group of
Indie/Alternative – relating to them directly, encouraging them to buy the
magazine.
I didn’t use any musical instruments as props because the artist I was portraying
doesn’t use any that I could get hold of (being a singer and mixer). Plus I think not
having this convention works well for a front page, it allows you to concentrate on
and relate to the artist more.
Even without any implication of being a music artist through the use of props, I
think my images work well at conveying the Indie/Alternative/Retro style and they
are engaging enough to draw attention from the social group of Indie/Alternative.
The extra images I added that are my own of live bands also attract this social
group because of the artist’s shown. In both images on the contents page the
artists pictured are ones from that genre; The xx and Two Door Cinema Club. This
would target the social group who are interested in this genre, which in turn would
again encourage interest in the magazine from them.

6. How I’ve targeted this social group;
Content
The coverlines of the front page were chosen specifically to target my social group,
using artist names and interests that are common in this genre;
“Festivals; Get the latest news, reviews + 6 pages of this summer’s line-up!” – as
mentioned before this social group stereotypically are the main audience at
festivals and so putting this as a coverline would increase the probability of them
picking the magazine up and having an interest in it.
“All new music from James Blake, Alt-J, Azealia Banks..” – this list of names are all
artists under the Alternative/Indie genre and so obviously they would have an
immediate positive response and want to read the magazine, being able to relate
to it well.

7. The representation I offer doesn’t completely challenge dominant ideas about my social
group, it supports the stereotypes of the genre and social group through use of clothing,
content and style. However, I do think it challenges it slightly with the twist of 80’s retro,
something that perhaps not everyone in the Indie/Alternative social group would like.
Though I think this would be a positive aspect as there isn’t anything out there like this at the
moment. The retro aspect isn’t greatly present in everything I have included in my magazine,
and so it doesn’t greatly effect the change in genre.
My images have a distinct alternative style with a retro vibe which I think comes across well
and targets my social group clearly and directly. The choice of fonts also has a big impact on
the style created, as I chose ones that were simple and stylish, whereas if I had chosen garish
font colours and styles, I wouldn’t be relating to them at all.
The content supports the stereotypes of my social group completely, using Alternative/Indie
genre artists, festival information and tour adverts; all activities/music that they
stereotypically do/listen to in their spare time.
I do however think that I could target my social group more clearly through the use of better
mise-en-scene. If I were to do it again, I would perhaps plan various scenes that have
connotations of that genre such as a skatepark, graffiti wall, or use musical instruments to
imply that they are a music artist. Other than that I think that I have represented my social
group in a relatively stereotypical manner to attract them into buying and reading my music
magazine.