The document discusses how the author's media product, a magazine called "EDM", represents a particular social group. Specifically, it targets later teens and people in their mid-twenties, mainly males, who listen to dance music. This age group of 18-29 typically attends nightclubs and festivals featuring this music. The target audience is classified as socioeconomic classes B and C, as the festivals are expensive. The magazine aims to appeal to this group through photos of models wearing expensive brands, interviews using informal language, and promotions like festival tickets.

1. How does your media product
represent a particular social group?
Name: Tom Owen
Candidate number:3103
Center number:64135
Unit G321

2. Representation means the action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state
of being so represented. Magazines often try to represent certain social groups in order to
appeal to a chosen target audience. I decided in my Audience Profile that I wanted my
magazine to appeal to later teens, to people in their mid twenties, mainly males due to the
nature of the hard genre of dance music, however the magazine could also be appealing to
some females. The age of my target audience (according to Hartley) is 18-29.. This is due to
the fact that this is the sort of age groups that visit nightclubs, where the type of dance
music that my magazine represents is played. My target audience would be in either class
B/C, in terms of socio-economic classes, due to the festivals and gigs of this genre of music
being expensive, therefore they are usually only ever attended by people from these socio-
economic classes.

3. Firstly, the photo, which I decided to use, was slightly different to the main image used
on the cover of Mixmag. I decided that in order to convey the style and wealth of my
model, I would have to use a photo, which clearly displayed the expensive brands,
which were being worn by him, such as Trap star and Stone Island. However, I did
decide to repeat the fact that the model in Mixmag didn’t carry any props such as
musical instruments. This is because those in the EDM and DJ genre don’t require
musical instruments, like those possibly in the Rock genre such as a guitar. Therefore,
like in Mixmag’s main image, a prop wasn’t necessary.
In order to help my image look more professional, I applied a sharpen filter, which
sharpened the image and also made the edges much sharper too. I decided to use a
pose, which my model made, which clearly displayed the stone island jumper, which
he wore and also clearly displayed the Nike hat, which he wore. My model’s taste in
clothing was an important element I wanted to include as this can be used to make
rapports between the model and the reader building a ‘personal relationship’ (Katz).
My model was suitable as stereotypically, white males dominate the EDM genre, and
therefore it seemed appropriate to use a white British male as my model.

4. However my magazine differed slightly from others because most EDM magazines
such as Mixmag, use much older producer’s as their models. This was something,
which I was not able to repeat as I wanted my magazine to appeal to a younger
audience.
In regards to the facial expressions used by the artist on the front cover, I decided that
it was appropriate that he wore a hat, as it conveys how he cares more about his
music, rather than worrying about how he is dressed. I decided to have my artist
facing downwards, as it clearly displayed the brand of his hat and also because it also
connotes more about his music rather than what people may think of him. I believed
the fact that my artist was a male was more inviting for female audiences, which links
to Diana Saco’s Female Gaze theory, which states how men can make a magazine more
appealing for female audiences. The while male also being quite attractive is pleasing
for a female audience. My artist’s facial expression differs from those used in other
magazines, as he is much more serious than artists used in other EDM magazines such
as Mixmag. This conveys how he cares more about music than fans and fame, which is
a clear reason for any target audience to find him as an appealing artist. My artist uses
a similar facial expression throughout the magazine, for every main image.

5. The shot type, which I decided to use for my front cover, was a medium close up. The
connotations behind this could be how the artist is equal to the target audience,
which makes him more relatable and therefore, more appealing to potential
audiences. For the contents page, I decided to use a large picture, which was taken
using a long shot. This is important as it included the whole outfit of the artist and this
therefore made it clear that the brands that he was wearing were expensive and
popular. This makes him extremely relevant to the stereotypical DJ’s and producers,
who make a lot of money and usually have a lot of interest in big brands of clothing.
For my DPS, I decided to use another long shot to once again include the whole body
of the artist, which was important because a long shot is usually used in Mixmag,
which is my magazine of inspiration.
For my first image, I used high key lighting to make the face and clothing brands of the
artist stand out more. Also, it contributed to the feel of a studio taken picture, which
links to Mixmag, as many of the main images used in this magazine are known to be
taken in studios with professional high key lighting. Furthermore, for the second
image, I used natural lighting on a cloudy day, to give the picture a slightly darker
appearance to the first image. I also used contrast, shadow effects and highlights to
make the image look even darker as usually when DJ’s are on set it is in a nightclub
which is dark.

6. Furthermore, it also made the red colours on my artists ‘Trap Star’ coat pop out of the
screen and stand out, this is important for my magazine to be eye-catching.
Lastly, for my DPS image, I used natural dark night and the flash from a professional
camera to take the image. This is important as it also made certain features pop out in
the photo to make it stand out against the dark background and therefore makes it
easier to convey the brands that my artist is wearing, such as Trap star and Stone
Island. Although the costume, which I used, was not conventional smart clothing, it
was still smart to an extent. This connotes how although my artist focuses more on
their music than their clothing, they still have class.

7. The language that I used in the DPS of the magazine is informal at certain points. This is
important because it is not only entertaining for the audience, it also adds an extent of
realism to my magazine and it conveys that the interviews are completely real, due to the
use of the casual language, which is frequently used in normal conversations. One example
is the verbal code “sick”, as well as connectives like “like”. Overall this adds an element of
realism to the interview and depicts how the artist is extremely relaxed with talking casually
to the interviewer. Throughout my magazine, I have heavily focused on male artists, rather
than females as it links to ‘John Berger’s media theory’, which suggests that ‘men act,
women appear’. This conveys that increased stories of men in a magazine will help to
attract women readers.
In my editorial, I used perfect English, which is important, as this is the stereotypical
language, which is used by British white males, due to its formal nature. This is also vital as
it clearly links to the idea that the vast majority of famous DJ’s are white males, therefore
this formal language conveys a clear link to this stereotype. Lastly it was also vital that good
English was used as the editorial is meant to be a formal message to help create the image
of the magazine being polite and professional.

8. In order to help make “EDM” appealing to my target audience, I made clear links
throughout the magazine to the Internet, as well as social media. I made sure to
include the social media links of my magazine, but also of the main artists who are
mentioned throughout the magazine. This is important because people reading the
magazine will therefore be attracted to “EDM’s” main website and this will
consequently increase overall awareness regarding the magazine. Furthermore,
“EDM” used a puff promotion of offering tickets to Reading festival, for the winner.
This is vital because Reading festival attracts thousands of fans that are in the age
range of my target audience. Consequently, I feel that the use of Reading tickets, as a
puff promotion will help to attract more consumers who are in my target age range
and in the socio-economic group of C/B, as it is only people in these social groups that
can afford to go to big festivals like Reading.

9. Overall, I believe that my magazine does in fact represent a certain social group, while
also using similar conventions to similar genres of magazine such as Mixmag. This
socio-economic group is B/C classes, due to the cost of the festivals and events being
advertised being too expensive for certain lower socio-economic classes. I wanted the
magazine to be an accurate representation of the entire EDM producing and DJ’ing
genre. However, the fact that I used no examples of female Dj’s may affect this
intention.