The document discusses how a media product represents social groups. Specifically, it analyzes the representation of young black males in a magazine aimed at teens and young adults. Several shot types are used on the cover and contents pages, including eye-level shots and medium close-ups, to create personal relationships and emphasize important features. Most covers of similar magazines feature males, so a male model was chosen. The layout and images are designed to be relatable to the target 16-26 age range, with informal text and a youthful model. The double page spread features an image representing a young male from a deprived social group, shown next to graffiti to provide context. The goal is to create a sense of aspiration and relatability

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

2. Shot Types
First of all, my front cover and contents were eye-line shots. This
meant that direct mode of address was used between the model and
the audience, and therefore creates personal relationships with the
target audience of teens/young adults (uses and grats). The daring
& challenging facial expression and the way he is looking down his
nose reinforces the hegemonic stereotype of the young black male
to be challenging and aggressive; however the main target audience
is the young black male so this is preferred by them.

3. Secondly, two of my shots, front cover and contents, were
medium close ups which meant that the reader was able to
establish the importance of the feature involved, both
images taking up the entirety of the space. My double page
spread is a long shot of the model, the model being on the
left hand side of the page with the background continuing
throughout the rest of the spread.

4. Generically in my research of XXL and The Source
magazine there was a majority of males on the cover, I
decided to go with this convention as my target audience
was young males, 16-26.

5. The way I positioned the image on the double page spread
was more stereotypical of this genre of magazine; the
image being to the left and with the text on the right. I
decided to do this because this generally works well with
the magazines that I have researched, I think that the
anchor text grabs the attention well with the bright and bold
lettering contributing to surveillance of the image and then
the article.

6. Mise en Scene
On the front cover the model is wearing
casual clothes; a red tartan tee with a black
jacket and on the contents a black and
white tee, both on white backgrounds,
which corresponds to the house style; I felt
this worked well because it meant that
teenagers can relate because the wouldn’t
feel the need to dress smart. On my double
page spread I used a train bridge with red
& black graffiti to match the genre and
house style as well as the model wearing a
predominantly black tee and black
joggers. I decided against the stereotypical
negatives when I came to props, e.g.
smoking or drinking.

7. Layout
A simple layout that is representative of
my target audience, 16-26 year olds.
There is no over crowding and is not text
heavy so isn’t overwhelming in any sense
and will not be uncomforting for the
reader who may skip a page with heavy
text or that is overcrowded. The structure
is organised so nothing is missed easily,
the text included is fairly informal so the
target audience will not lose attention
without the loss of the professionalism.

8. Images
The model I used in my production is of
a youthful age, this means that the
audience is more likely to feel obligated
to relate; so using the audience to mirror
the appearance of the model there is an
element of personal integration so it
becomes relatable for the audience.

9. The double page spread image is representing a young male
from a more rough area with the graffiti on the wall he is
leaning on. Graffiti is generally associated with deprived
social groups so using this will give the reader an idea of
where the model either grew up or an area that was used as
inspiration for their music.

10. Ideology
As a final representation my product did the following; the
prioritised reception theory is the ability to relate between
the audience and their age to the artist featured. This ability
plus aspiration would create a personal relationship that
entices the fan and potentially creates a fan base the teenage
artists are representing other youths which makes the
audience want to read about their potential. This was done
by the shot positioning (close shots including direct mode of
address and confident poses) as well as the informality of the
text(equal language codes with the audience like XXL who
grab their audience through relating). Through this they
would get the message how I intended them to receive it.