This document discusses how a media product represents social groups through its portrayal of indie rock artists. It analyzes techniques used in photoshoots for the product's cover, including close-up shots meant to portray the artists as down-to-earth and relatable, facial expressions and posture suggesting passion and focus on music, clothing styles associated with bands like Kasabian, and high-key lighting making the artists stand out as friendly and approachable figures. The goal is to represent the artists' values of modesty and passion for their genre while still coming across as characters fans can personally connect with.

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

2. Beliefs and Values - Artists
Much like many other indie rock artists within the industry, my models
hold very modest and non-pretentious values. They would want to come
across as being passionate and totally familiar with the genre at hand,
whilst also coming across as down-to-earth characters who the target
audience would be able to relate with. They would also want to portray
an air of slight arrogance and mysteriousness, due to the fact that this
kind of attitude is so strongly associated with the genre and is seen
commonly in artists such as; Noel and Liam Gallagher, Alex Turner etc.
In order to portray these values I used the following techniques:

3. Dominant Image
This is a comparison between my front cover’s dominant
image and an NME front cover with Kasabian on the front.
I chose to compare this image because of the obvious
similarities between itself and my image.

4. Shot Size and Camera Angles
Both images are close up shots, suggesting that the models are close
to the reader which ultimately matches the values and beliefs by
implying that the artists are down to earth, relatable characters.
The camera angle used is also eye level. Again, this implies a sense of
equality between the reader and the models. Due to the fact that the
reader and model are on the same level suggests that neither is
psychologically higher or lower than the other.
An example of a close up, eye
level shot.

5. Posture and Facial Expressions
Both sets of models are in similar positions, standing within very close proximity of each
other, which could put forward the idea that the rock genre can bring people together.
Both models are in are pulling Millum’s ‘practical’ facial expression as they are almost
frowning and have closed mouths. This facial expression puts forward a sense of
arrogance which is strongly associated with the genre. This expression also often is
associated with the fact that there is a job at hand, suggesting that the artists are
passionate and purely concentrating on their music (the job at hand).
A minor difference between my dominant image and the Kasabian one is that, on mine,
both artists are in indirect mode of address. Where-as on the Kasabian dominant image,
only one artist is in indirect mode of address and the other is in direct mode of address.
Indirect mode of address puts forward a strong sense of arrogance which (as mentioned
previously) has connotations with the genre. This mode could also put forward the idea
that the artists are looking away from the readers, suggesting that they are mysterious
and have a strong cutting edge factor. Although only one artist is in indirect mode of
address on the Kasabian picture, the sense of arrogance and mysteriousness is still put
across in similar ways in both images.

6. Clothing
When organising my photo shoot, Kasabian were the artists that I wanted to make my models look the most like. To do
this I researched the band and looked up images of their clothing choices, their hairstyles etc. I then made my models
wear similar items of clothing, such as; leather jackets, black jeans, desert boots, etc. This will also strongly appeal to
the male section of my multi generational target audience as these types of clothes can be worn by many different
generations of male rock fans; from 16-17 teenagers to 40-50 year old men. This means that the clothes don’t give off
a pretentious look as this style of clothing would tend to not include any brand symbol. This ultimately makes the artists
seem more down-to-earth as they are wearing the sort of clothes that aren’t to extravagant and could probably be
afforded by most members of the target audience. Also, people would probably not see this style of clothing as a
stereotype as it can be worn by multiple generations of male rock fans. A common stereotype for clothes associated
with rock are things such as; Adidas Trainers, Fred Perry jackets, etc. This was mainly introduced by Oasis in the
1990s however this clothing style soon became associated with chavs and football hooligans which made it seem
unattractive therefore I decided not to use it.
A comparison between the visual
appearance of Kasabian and my two
models during the photo shoot.

7. Lighting
Despite one of the images being done in black and white and the other being
done in colour, both use high key lighting. Having high key lighting usually
tends to involve having a white background which means that the models will
always stand out. This means that, in both images, the artists stand out to the
reader. This implies the significance of the artists as they will, straight away,
stand out to viewers. High key lighting also connotes strongly with happiness
and friendliness therefore, by using it, I have shown that the artists are friendly,
relatable people to the target audience.
An example of high key
Lighting.