Thursday, 7 May 2015

DRAFT EVALUATION QUESTION 2


How does your media product represent popular social groups?

Original magazine represents indie/alternative groups. The task was to produce a music magazine which effectively and successfully appeals to an intended audience; I decided to focus on indie/alternative members of the public within a 16-24 age range and aimed to represent these individuals’ interests clearly throughout the product. I created a realistic artist profile for an indie solo artist who I named Jack Wolf and whose image and personality portrayed throughout Original intentionally plays well with the indie genre of music as I needed to appeal to listeners in order to satisfy them and as a result increase potential sales and customer base, etc. Each convention of the magazine is based around aiming to represent an indie style and followers of this genre of music. Styling was a key part of the representation of indie groups. I used UK Tribes and my audience profiles created during the research stage of the task to ensure the styling of my artist (smart, colourful shirt/plain black baggy T-shirt paired with black skinny jeans) and the overall look of the magazine was fitting with preferences of this group to effectively appeal and engage my target audience.

Urban groups are also represented to some extent within Original through the use of creative and edgy aspects of the mise en scene on the image featured on the right sided page of the double page spread. The rough, messy looking outside background setting of the image achieves a bold and edgy appearance of the page overall. The product makes a statement through the use of vintage looking images, fonts and creative page layouts to present drama in an artist format.

Another social group represented within my magazine includes young alts. I identified this group using the UK Tribes website which states this group consists of ‘people who want out of the mainstream music genre and that members share interests for everything alternative.’ I feel this group would enjoy the ‘On Location’ section mentioned on the contents page as my research on young alts shows their interests include festivals and music themed events. As it says members have interest in everything alternative, I feel this has been catered for through my double page spread design due to the artistic play with text alignment, arrangement and page layout. The stylish and the typically unconventional appearance of the page may entice people inside of this group to develop an interest and read the interview as a result.

Indie scene-setters are amongst many social groups I feel I have successfully represented inside Original as they are known for their desire to seek new music, and are willing to explore various forms of media to find it. As the double page spread presents an interview with an artist about his new album approaching its release, this is an example of new music which would interest this social group into purchasing a copy of original to find out more. As the styling of this group is mainly skinny jeans and vintage wear, this is something I kept in line with when deciding on the appropriate styling for my artist, Jack Wolf. In each of the images of the male solo artist, he is captured wearing black skinny jeans and he is also presented wearing a vintage style floral shirt on the front cover, contents and double spread pages within Original.

Creative individuals are also represented by my media product as a result of my use of styling, photography and combination of conventions when designing the pages. This social group unite fashion, art, music and photography; all of which are dominant features of my magazine. They are likely to find colour schemes, images and stylish fonts featured inside Original aesthetically pleasing and effective as a whole product.

My media product clearly represents both male and female individuals aged between 16-24; one of the ways I have ensured this is through my relevant creation of an artist profile, as the male is aged 19 (in the middle of the age range) and therefore is made to be more relatable and engaging for the target audience as a result of being of a similar age. The photography used within my magazine is modern and stylish which helps this product appeal to this age group. The fashion worn by models featured within my magazine appears vintage yet the audience are able to recognise it is not outdated in an unappealing way, many of the readers would also be likely to dress similar to this themselves as it represents a typical indie style. Also, the listing of featured bands/artists on the front cover page contributes towards representing this group effectively as this would be likely to engage and interest those within the target age range due to being bands indie fans are likely to have heard of/listen to regularly.

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