The document summarizes how a media product represents particular social groups. Specifically, it discusses a magazine targeted towards men and women aged 17-20. The main cover features a fashionably dressed woman in a roll neck to attract both genders without being revealing. Throughout the magazine, images of both men and women are featured to avoid gender bias. The document also discusses how the magazine's presentation in terms of layout, images and color scheme are designed to have an "indie" feel and appeal to its target audience.

1. QUESTION 2
How does your media
product represent
particular social groups?

2. I targeted my media product to an audience
comprised of men and women aged 17-20. I feel
that I have accomplished the aim of attracting both
men and women to my magazine. I have made the
main feature of my magazine a woman, but have
dressed her so that she isn't seen to be demeaning
to women as has previously been observed with
Miley Cyrus’ and Janet Jackson’s covers for Rolling
Stones magazine, which I feel was a little bit
revealing. She is dressed in a roll-neck, which is a
popular, stylish choice of clothing; I felt it was
essential to have my magazine’s cover girl looking
fashionable. Throughout my magazine, I have
featured three images of men and two of women
suggesting that although the text inside the article
reflects that of a gossip magazine, the layout and
featured artists inside are very hip, modern and indie
and not biased to one gender. My photographs are
quite different and I wanted to convey the message
that my magazine was quite serious and not just a
teen pop magazine. Almost all of my artists are
pulling a straight face, except my couple who are
featured kissing (which again highlights the quirky
elements of my magazine and wouldn’t necessarily
be found in a magazine such as Q or NME, but may
be found in Clash or Fader) and I feel that they will
appeal to single readers as well as those in a
relationship.

3. Ideologies
My female artist on the front cover conforms to
Mulveys theory and attracts the male gaze.
Hannah Keenan (Ruby Thomas) is an attractive girl
who I think will draw the male attention to the
magazine through her sultry red lips and seductive
facial expressions. Through her wardrobe and
styling, she will also appeal to the female
audience; her black roll neck demonstrating a very
simplistic style that many women could follow. I
wanted to present Hannah as a powerful woman,
due to the type of shots that I have used such as
close ups and extreme close ups. I also wanted to
portray her looking serious, yet seductive,
appealing to both men and women and attracting
the male gaze.

4. Mise en Scene
She is dressed in a roll-neck which is a popular, stylish
choice of clothing; so having my magazines cover girl
looking fashionable I felt would make my magazine
have more of a realistic, professional and expensive
feeling. Her hairstyle was chosen as it would be easy
for readers to and suggests to the reader that she is
quite down to earth and that an ‘A-Listers’ style is
simply achievable. I used no props at all which gave
my magazine a very simplistic style which is in keeping
with the overall look of the reference magazines (e.g.,
clash, Indie) I have used. In the images I have used, I
also wanted to break the stereotypical view of
today’s youths as hooligans who take drugs, drink
and smoke.

5. The layout of my magazine is
structured to be very simplistic
and basic, creating a very
‘indie’ feel. When looking at
magazines such as Indie and
Clash, they have very basic
layouts with few buzzwords
and captions. On my front
cover I have virtually no text; I
have my mast head, sell line,
issue date, name of artist
together with a quotation to
entice the reader to see what
she says inside the magazine. I
believe that this simplistic
approach gives my magazine
the unique look that I was
hoping for.
Layout

6. Images
My images are very obscure. The
front cover image really expresses
that my magazine is an indie music
magazine and not just a
contemporary pop magazine. It
show half of the artists face which
displays a unique quality, one
which I haven’t seen in a magazine
yet. On my double page spread,
the positioning of my image is very
obscure and is half of her face on a
slant. I was unsure whether or not I
should have put her face on a slant
and so asked my focus group and
they supported my decision. I felt
that it was more indie to have the
image sliced in half and on a slant,
and feel that this contrasts with the
normal magazine and makes mine
look more unique.

7. Colour scheme
The colour scheme of my front cover
was predominantly black and white
but it had a faded glowing, almost
sepia effect. It distances itself from
the common black and white or
colour enhanced images. My
contents page is quite different to
my front cover, and really expresses
how unique this magazine is
compared to others. My double
page spread is my favourite image
as it is almost a ghostly effect as the
contrast has been dramatically
altered and changed and the lips
have been enhanced and made to
seem a lot redder than they actually
are; creating the effect that this
image and the front cover image
aren’t from the same photo-shoot.