How does my music magazine represent particular social groups?

Question 2:

My music magazine represents the social group of teenage young adult age (15-25). This is shown by a range of features such as props and costume which clearly portray my target audience. My target audience is aimed at male and females who are interested in hip-hop, rnb and grime as my music magazine is a hip-hop magazine. Some of their interests are going out with their friends, parties, festivals .

Mise en scene

The use of mise en scene has helped portray my particular social group. The layout of my magazine, mainly my front cover has been specific to attract my target audience.  For example in my audience surevy my results showed my target audience preferred bold and bright colours with pages spread out and simple with less text. Therefore I decided to use less writing especially on my front cover as it would look more interesting to younger people as they may not want to read a lot.

Props and costume

The use of costume helped portray a  stereotypical representation of my social groups. For example a lot of models wore black hoodies and jumpers. This was to show a stereotypical teenager as a typical stereotypes are that they always wear hoodies, hang around in gangs and cause trouble. I wanted to use these costumes so it could make my audience feel they can relate to my models and magazine more. With the use of costume I wanted to present quite a serious/tough attitude. This is because the genre of hip-hop is seen as intimidating so I wanted to present that as clear as possible.

Lighting and Location

In my images the lighting is bright on my models faces to clearly show there faces but I hanged the majority of them to black and white. I wanted my images to be darker than the surrounding text to show a contrast. This is because my genre is hip-hop and rnb and in other magazines with the same genre they use similar style pictures such as vibe magazine.

Use of language

The use of language I use in my article is mainly informal. This because stereotypically teenagers speak informally therefore I felt that they would be able to relate more to the article and find it interesting to read.

Camera angles

I used a variety of camera angles in my photography, I did this because I felt that it would look more appealing towards the readers and want them to find more information out about the picture by continuing on reading.

Close up

Two-shot

Low angle shot

Mid-shot

Type of pose

The body language and poses of my models are very serious and 'gang like'.  This is because the majority of my images were of a group together which can also represent my social group as they like too spend time and be with their friends meaning the images can represent the idea of friendship. Also some of the poses were presents quite tough and serious such as arms folded or standing upright. This is because I wanted it to relate back to my genre.

Mode of address

The majority of my images have direct eye contact to the reader. I think this is a positive as it will draw the attention of the audience to look at them. Also in a couple photos the models are pointing forwards as if they are pointing at the reader. This would intrigue  my social group as younger people tend to look at the images more rather that the text so when they see the pose it may make them feel more included within the magazine.

What attitudes come across in my magazine?

In my magazine the attitude that comes across is that young people just want to have fun and explore new music. Also they want to go to festivals and parties. Which is stereotypical for teenagers as mainly older people tend to summarise teenagers like that. In addition my magazine shows the informality of younger generations but the seriousness of hip hop and how it is really important and passionate to artists. I believe that I have created a stereotypical representation of my social group and genre. Vibe magazine is a similar style to mine as we share the same genre. It also has similar articles, colour scheme and style of images.