1. QUESTION 2
How does your media product represent different social groups.
Representationisthe wayinwhichthe mediaportraysparticulargroups,communities,experiences,
ideas,ortopicsfrom a particularideological orvalue perspective.
Hereticus istargetedata specificsocial group,knownas‘metalheads’.Heavymetal fanshave
createda "subculture of alienation"withitsownstandardsforachievingauthenticitywithinthe
group(Journal Qualitative,Issue Volume 16,December,1993. Pages423-443).Real magazinesthat
target the same audience share commonfeatureswithmymagazine.The lookof the aggressive,
outsiderwhoisunconventional anddisregardingof negative opinionsisrepresentedinthe images
usedforthe mainimage anddouble page spread.Thesessymboliccodeshelpcreate
representationsthatattractthese social groups.
The social group that Hereticusrepresentsis,almost,anti-modernfashionandestablishment.A
disregardof outsideropiniononphysical appearance isdemonstratedbythe imagesused.Suchas
the aggressionrepresentedinthe DPSmainimage andthe coverimage.The relaxed,informal and
occasionallyvulgarvocabularyenforcesthisrepresentation.The DPSmainimage model iswearinga
grungy,dark jumper.Thiswould appeal tothose whoinfluencetheirchoice of clothing,butare not
entirelydressingasthe ‘stars’of the genre do.The shottype and anglescreate a reinforcementthat
the modelsare strongfiguresandthat theyare leadersof asocial group,in thiscase the metal
subculture.The angleswere specificallychosensothatthe readerwouldbe lookingatthe model,
and feelingrelatable due tothe casual nature of the image.
2. The lightingissimilarformostphotos,whichisartificial.Itcreatesthe focusonthe individual and
not theirsurroundings;the modelinthe photobecomesthe focusof the consumer.Thiscreates
entertainmentforthe readerwiththe aestheticenjoyment(Katz’susesandgratifications -
Entertainment).Thislackof natural lightanduse of shadow highlightsthe featuresthatare
importantto the social groupand subculture.The lightinghighlightswhatcharacteristicsthose in
the social group are lookingfor.
3. The double page usesartificial lightingandaccentuatesall these featuresandcharacteristicsaspart
of the whole.Thisimpliesthe notionthatthe model doesnotwishtohide anyaspectof their
character, andthisappealsto the social group.The mise enscene feature of costume involvedis
bothsimple plain,butyetveryexpressive andaccuratelyrepresentsthe social group.Itisinstantly
recognisable tothe targetaudience andallowstoassistwithidentifyingwithothersandgaininga
sense of belonging(Katz’susesandgratifications,IntegrationandSocial Interaction).
The front coverof ‘Hereticus’attractsanaudience throughitsuse of attentiongrabbingfont,anda
powerful mainimage.Whenareaderwouldfurtherexamineall of the sublinesof the magazine,
theywouldbe furtherdrawninto purchasingit.Anaudience couldbe reacheddigitally,due tothe
online presence of ‘Hereticus’whichisexhibitedbysocial mediaidentsbeingpresentedonthe front
cover.
A personal wayinwhichrepresentationisachievedinHereticusisthroughthe use of the editorial on
the contentspage.It usesinformal,verbalcodesthataddressthe readerina colloquial mannerto
create a sense of ease. Suchan informal approachworkswiththe audience of Hereticus,astheydo
not place muchimportance onformality.
