media coursework

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

2. Representation is when a certain person, group of
people, communities, topics, ideas or experiences are show
in a particular way.
The media can often distort the truth when it
comes to the representation of something/someone, and
how it actually is. This can sometimes be harmful as the
media would have us believe something is one way, when in
reality it can be slightly or completely different. For example
models can be photoshopped to look skinnier than they
actually are which can be harmful to girls who this that they
need to be as skinny as these fake models to be beautiful in
the eyes of society.
What IS representation in media?

3. My model for my magazine cover:
Race: White
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
I chose to represent my model like this
because it is relatable to a large portion of my
target audience and if the reader can relate to
the cover they are more likely to think that the
magazine would be interesting to them and
are more likely to read it.
WHO has been show in the text?

4. Clothes:
My model is also wearing a tight fitting dress that hugs her figure, which could be
worn casually (but more than often would not be) it shows that she is classy and
could maybe considered as upper-class, but since that isn’t really the target audience
of the magazine it isn’t meant to reflect what my audience should be like, I chose to
make my model wear the dress as it looks nice and would make my magazine cover
look a bit less casual.
Hair:
Her hair is let down to give a more casual and “free” look, she is also blonde which is
a hair colour a lot of people view as attractive, although its down it isn’t messy, which
again shows pride in how she looks, and shows that she is maybe of a higher class
and well looked after.
Make-up:
My model is wearing minimal make up, which is supposed to add to her confidence
factor, (that you can feel confident without wearing a ton of make up) which isn’t
how a lot of women are portrayed in the media (such as in magazine covers for
example)
Pose: My model is portrayed to have a bit of an attitude (by putting her hand on her
hips and striking a “sassy” pose) This is a attribute a lot of teenagers could relate to
as it is a quality that teenagers are stereotypically portrayed to have.
HOW are they being portrayed?

5. Expression:
My model also have an “innocent” look on her face, (but she also has a confident look) which makes her also come across as
angelic and elegant while still displaying a rebellious pose.
Language:
For the language on my cover I chose to not use slang words or swear words etc, because
I didn’t want it to take away from the “classy” feel on my magazine, even though that would probably be a lot more
relatable and appealing to my audience I did’t want my magazine to be taken less seriously and more casual.
Layout:
I wanted my layout to be as simple as I could make it to give it a cleaner look, and also to make it as easy to understand as
possible, for example I chose to leave a bit of white space (the background) which made everything else stand out so must
against it, this ensured that the background wouldn’t draw attention away for my model or any of the writing on the cover
etc.
I chose to move everything around the model (which is why she is even in front of the title of the magazine)
I did this by overlapping as little over my model as I possibly could. (all the information on the front cover was placed around
her)
crop:
I chose to crop the image the way I did to ensure that absolutely nothing made the image I was using
was the only focus (I ensured this by editing the backdrop out of the image, as it was a slightly off white before and looked
unprofessional
. Effects:
I didn’t put any effects on my cover, as I felt it took away from the fact that my model wasn’t wearing any make up and
going for the “naturally beautiful” look, I changed the exposure (when I actually took the picture for my cover) by turning
the studio lights up, and then once it was in photoshop I edited it to turn the brightness of the image up just so it was a little
bit more clear, and easier to actually see my model.
How does how they’re being portrayed show/ make up their
identity?

6. I think my audience will find aspects of my magazine relatable, but maybe
not all of the elements of my magazine will 100% reflect how I think my
target audience are, but to me it was important to have parts of my
model that were unique and don’t blend in (the outfit she wore) as the
whole point of her being on the front of my cover is that there is
something different about her. This also gives my target audience
inspiration when they are reading it as they can see that they have
something to aim for. The information I used on my front cover (such as
the sticker which talks about winning Justin Beiber tickets) is relevant to
my audience as my audience is the same audience that Justin targets his
music at, I also talked about twitter on my front cover which is a social
networking site that a large majority of target audience will be on, this will
make them want to read about it.
HOW do the AUDIENCE interpret my magazine?