Friday 8 April 2016

Draft Evaluation 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?



From when I started researching for my magazine I knew what style and genre I was going for and I aimed it at certain social groups that typically enjoy the indie/alternative music scene. I decided to make my model roughly off of how Shawn Mendes looks because his clothing would be considered indie although his music is more pop even though the acoustic style is partly indie. I aimed my content at three groups from the website UK Tribes; the 'Hipsters', 'Trendies' and 'Young Alts'. I chose these groups because they all aspire to find the next thing; be different and all enjoy alternative music. The first group is the 'Hipsters' enjoy alternative music and enjoy fashion however they are not on the cutting edge anymore and are more mainstreamThe second group is the Trendies 'Trendies are driven by beautiful things and beautiful people, Trendies love fashion and are always looking for the next big trend!', this group would be interested in my magazine because of the new fashion shown by alternative artists in my magazine. Young Alts are described by the website as 'The Tribe who ‘want out’ of the Mainstream – an experimental Tribe trying anything and everything Alternative from Grunge to Hardcore… Young Alts are a long standing youth Tribe – the entry level Alternatives that simply want to set themselves apart from the Mainstream by looking alternative, listening to alternative music, having alternative views… Even if they are Mainstream in every other sense!'. I am targeting them because my magazine has alternative music which they would be interested in and also has alternative fashion that is relatable to them. From seeing this I saw when making my magazine I had to make my magazine the opposite of mainstream to attract these groups and present my artists in a way that is relatable and interesting to the groups.

The language I used in my magazine is definitely directed towards a younger audience, I used more slang words and abbreviations without it becoming too informal so that the magazine is relatable to the 16-25 year old audience. As a 17 year old myself I know how we speak and any lexical fields that would be associated with the indie music scene are also easy to get the hang of so the magazine represents the target groups well and they will therefore feel a connection.

Shawn Mendes is perfect for what I want because he is different to other artists and would attract the social groups despite his mainstream success. I decided that modelling my artist from how he is portrayed made my artist more relatable and interesting to the target market. I copied Mendes' style by using a parka that would be considered indie and then for the other pictures a simple knitted jumper which is also alternative and would attract the TMG. I represented the target groups with the mise en scene, for example the parka shows roughly what the TMG would wear. The hair cut the model has also represents the groups in a positive light with a neat yet stylish cut.

I have represented my artist Beanboozled in a relatable way to the audience so that he also represents them, the target market are 17-25 and the model fits into that age range perfectly so the audience can connect with him on a more personal level. He is represented as a confident, successful and stylish young man who the audience could aspire to be and even look up to. I did not want to make him too stylish so he was disjointed from the audience I wanted to make him as relatable as possible to the audience.

1 comment:

  1. Charles, you identify WHO your social group is but not HOW you have represented them. USe what you have learnt from Mr Ford's teaching of representation to analyse the mise en scene of your image as well as the langauge choices you have made. To aim for the highest band you should consider the preferred reading, oppositional reading and negotiated reading of your text.

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