Evaluation Question 2

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The presentation of my media product to particular social groups is a vital aspect of producing a product in the fragmented media market today. There is so much competition out there that my magazine has to represent a wide range of social groups instead of narrowing it down to just one. Therefore when planning my initial ideas of my magazine and researching my target market I decided to apply my magazine into the urban genre which allows a wide range of social groups to take an interest in my magazine.

Below I have placed four images that I feel share some similarities and some differences as the image on the front of my magazine does not look very similar to either of the existing images, however I didn't want to copy the image from another magazine. I wanted to dress my model in clothing that Ive never seen before on an urban front cover to stand out from the crowd and have a unique taking on the urban music magazine market. I decided to use a standard branded t-shirt and a smart baseball jacket to compliment the model so he doesn't look 'rough' or out of place. Subsequently I wanted to keep the posture and position of the model simple but dominant with the direction of gaze and the placing of the hands. The hair style of my model was also important as I had to work with his fairly long hair and wanted it to look more stylised and urban. So I decided to use a parting and a quiff in his hair to make him look possibly more attractive to potential customers when buying the magazine.

The images below were my inspiration when taking my image for my front cover. I followed the urban, casual route with clothing and kept the pose of the model simple like the rest of these magazines. The almost aggressive, intimidating facial expression of the model is an important feature to have in an image on a front cover as it draws people in, so I decided to use this element when taking my photos. The magazines below, 2/3 of them ensure the hands aren't just placed by the models side, so I also wanted to ensure my model was doing something with his hands. I instructed him to place them in his back pocket to give off a confident relaxed mood in the photo. The photos when being taken, are usually from eye line so they are medium long shots and the main focus is on the head of the model including some of the torso as well. I ensured that I kept the camera eye line during the photo shoot to follow the style of these magazine covers.

The lighting of the photo is another key feature to include when constructing an image for a front cover. The photo obviously needs to be well lit using some artificial light to boost the contrast of the photo. In order for the photo to work as being dominant, crisp and clear cut the quality of the photo needs to be very high. Using a well equipped camera can help with this and also using a tripod is usually an effective method of keeping the camera still for maximum results. In some photos like the RWD photo of 'Skepta' they have used a reflective red artificial light which links in with the house style of their magazine. However most magazines use natural light for a high quality image as too much artificial light can cause heavy shadows on the background which could draw the attention away from the model. When doing my photo shoot I decided to do it outside in the early hours of the day to ensure the pictures were well lit and high quality.

So it could be said that the social group I was aiming for in my target market wears the types of clothes I have dressed my model in and the urban genre would generally be based around the age of about 16-30 as any age below 16 wouldn't generally read magazines and any age over 30 may be fading out of the urban genre due to the age gap.