Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Through research in my STAs, I found that different magazines use different sorts of language, colour schemes etc. In order to attract the correct target audience/social group and I used these findings in my preliminary task as well as, my main task.

For example, in my preliminary task we made it clear that the magazine was targeted at college students through the headlines used and the model. We had a male model who was dressed in a ‘cool’ style, held a basket ball in one hand and books in the other in order to depict that he is a typical school boy. The headlines and straplines we used definitely showed that our magazine was aimed at college students as they were mainly speaking about revision, exams and fashion tips in order to entice readers as well as help any struggles that they may have as these headlines clearly represent the social group and the life of college students.

For my main task, my music magazine was based on the genre of RnB and was aimed at teenagers. To represent my genre, my model wore much darker colours such as burgundy and black and was posed in a very confident way with a pout and this may be a look that would attract teenagers to the magazine and encourage them to buy the magazine or it may just stand out to them on the shelf. Also, my cover may easily attract females as they may feel like the models appearance is similar to theirs luring them to pick up the magazine. Through my STAs I found that the camera shot of the model was either a mid shot or a close up therefore, I chose to use a mid-shot in my magazine. I also found that RnB magazines tend to use darker colours and the colour scheme that I went with was maroon, black and white as I felt that these was bold and ‘cool’ colours. Moreover, the masthead I used on my magazine was ‘THE BEAT’ and this again shouts RnB to a teen and may stand out to the on the shelf attracting the correct social group.