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

2. As previously stated. My magazine features mainly male figures. This is due to
the main genre of music featured in my magazine as it is very much male
dominated. The males featured in my magazine are young, trendy, talented
musicians. I tried to portray this stereotypical ‘indie boyband’ social group
through costumes, facial expressions, props and language. However, there
are also girls featured in my magazine(although not as many), and their
appearances also fall into this ‘indie’ social group.
My market analysis really helped me when it came to planning my characters
and their personalities, likes, dislikes. For example when I was analysing the
front cover of Jake Bugg, this really helped as he was the style of character I
was wanting in my magazine. I was able to analyse his expressions, costumes
and even the use of backgrounds to help me understand his character. I could
then use this information and apply it to my work when I was deciding how to
write my article and take my pictures. Every key detail helps the audience to
understand the social group being portrayed.

3. Use of costumes
Before doing each shoot with Tom (character on front cover,
double page spread and contents page) I really thought through
and discussed with him what outfit to wear. Tom was posing as
a 19 year old indie/rock musician, who has a laidback
personality and enjoys casual/up to date fashion. However, I
needed to portray this to the reader through how Tom dressed.
After looking into existing musicians in the indie/rock genre and
using my knowledge of musicians I already knew, I decided I
wanted Tom to dress quite simple, yet cool looking. He wore a
navy blue Fred Perry jumper and plain jeans. By doing this Tom’s
laidback personality would shine through, as we would be able
to see he doesn’t put too much effort into his outfit. However,
the Fred Perry logo to my target audience is a cool, fashionable
brand which would therefore portray his interest in casual, up
to date fashion, fitting his social group.

4. Tom wore his hair scruffy/curly as this
is a very popular hair style amongst
the indie boy band fashion. This helps
to represent a particular social group,
as people often relate this hair style
to ‘cool/indie boy band’. However if
Tom was to wear his hair straight and
across his face, this would portray a
total different genre/style of music.
That is why little things such as hair
style is so important when taking the
pictures for my magazine, as I wanted
to make it clear which social group my
magazine is about. So as soon as
someone see’s the picture of Tom on
the magazine, they know straight
away what genre of music it is.

5. Use of props
Guitar – a guitar was essential for Tom to use. Although Tom is a solo act, he also
produces his own music. This shows his social group as most people in the indie genre
write and produce their own music. By having a guitar people can instantly tell he plays
his own music and doesn’t do it all electronically. This helps people to identify what
social group he is in as they can identify by the guitar he plays his own music and
therefore he would not fall into the ‘dance, r&b etc’ social group. The guitar used for the
female on my contents page allowed me to show her rebellious side. Most girls are
stereotyped as being into hair/makeup/pink, but by doing this I could show she was of a
different social group and stereotype to this.
Mixer/Headphones - the mixer and headphones allowed me to show Toms ‘cool’ side.
Many people in the teenage social group who are musicians tend to produce their own
music. This is because as a teenager you are at your most creative age. So by putting the
mixer in people could really sense the individuality and creative side to the social group.

6. Use of language/text
As the musicians featured in my magazine were mostly of the teenage age. It was really
important for me to get the language right. If I was to use formal, sensible and elaborated
language, it would not fit the social group I was trying to portray. It helped me, being a
teenager my self to know what sort of language to use in my magazine. For example, slang is
a very popular use of language within the teenage social group. I also had to go against
standard grammar to try and show Toms accent within the interview. By doing this people of
the teenage group would feel more of a connection with the article as it would feel as if they
were almost talking to him.
Using text such as ‘chance to win Leeds fest tickets inside’ really helps to represent the
particular social groups in my magazine, as many of the acts in my magazine would be likely
to play at a festival like that. Leeds fest is targeted to mainly elder teenagers/you twenties.
Therefore this really helps to represent the teenage social group I was representing.
informal/slang