Joseph Porter
AS Media
Evaluation
Evaluation Question 2:
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my magazine, I attempted to represent the Young Alternatives, or more specifically band culture social group through many methods such as iconography and character. In order to achieve this, my main artist was a young boy-band that resembled many common characteristics of this social group.
Clothing
Due to the nature of shots when taking photographs of bands, the clothing that they are wearing is very important when representing the styles of the artists and representing their social group. Many bands have their own unique style based on their genre, however, they are all common in that their outfits are uniform in order to represent their connection as a band.
In my magazine, I showed this by dressing my main artists in matching black / white formal outfits, I made them
formal to show their classy nature, which I reference frequently in my article, keeping a consistent storyline. I also made their outfits matching colours, yet again keeping consistent to my storyline whilst representing them as one uniform group. I positioned the group so that the outfit colours alternate and therefore create a contrast between the characters of the band, their classy nature is something that is seen to be aspired to within Young Alternatives seen in bands such as The Killers. Additionally, my band has tattoos which is another feature seen in Alternative bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, and show an edgy , rebellious side to the artist. However, later on during the shots of my band in the studio, I allowed them to wear more casually clothing to show how they feel at home when playing music and have more of a relaxed attitude.
SHOT TYPE
A common shot type within bands is a long shot, this is because it allows the magazine to fit all members of a band on the front cover and represents the band's mise en scene entirely and therefore much more effectively, this is show a lot with magazines such as Q and Kerrang! I've used this within my magazine to show all the features of my band such as the tattoos and to allow them to cover the width of the page. I have consistently used this throughout my magazine with one close-up on the DPS to highlight my band's expression.
The shot angle is positioned at the artist's torso or midriff looking up towards the artist, this is often used in magazines and suggests that the band is important to the Young Alternatives, as they usually aspire to be like them and connotes that they would look up to them. The band is often split across the page, with an equal number of artists on each side of the cover.
EXPRESSION
The expression of bands are commonly unique depending on the article about them or the agenda of the particular magazine, however, each member often has the same expression, representing each band as a unit and suggesting that they share similar opinions and emotions. The most common expression I found during my research was a blank faced stare with a default expression, this gave the band a "hard" look that connotes a dissatisfaction with the way things are run and therefore provides a conflict, intriguing the reader.
This blank expression was paired with a direction of gaze which was seen in nearly every magazine cover I researched, this brought the reader in by creating a connection between them and the main artist. I used this within my magazine to ensure that most band members looked directly at the camera, this was not achieved by two members, which ran yet again with the article, suggesting conflicting due to the differing actions.
ACCESSORIES
Due to my magazine's link with music, the props and accessories that I used mainly consistented of instruments commonly used by the artists within my genre such as bass guitars, drums and piano. I used these within my DPS to give my artist a true musician feeling and connote this effectively to the reader by showing them passinately playing the instruments. This is important in order to represent my magazine as a music magazine specifically as opose to fashion or lifestyle. This is common within music magazines as seen by Muse who are all holding their instrument of choice.
Additionally, I used clothing props such as designers hats, tattoo sleeves and over-ear headphones in order to convey my artists as individualists who have their own unique style and can be rebellious to the norms this feeling is converyed in other magazines in the genre and is a popular style within Young Alternatives. The headphones gave my artist a feeling of production that allowed the reader to feel as if they were given an inside view to an upcoming release, relating to the story further and representing the band culture effectively.
LOCATION
In my planning, I needed to decide on a location that connoted a feeling of down to earth and individualist to record labels, this is a common theme within Alternative Young people and also band culture. In order to do this, I chose a small studio that looked congested with instruments, I felt this worked well to connote that the band was attached to their roots.
The small room also represented an inner city feeling as it shows how their studio rent may be high and therefore cannot afford a larger studio, this allows the reader to relate to my artist, a common tactic seen by most magazines.
I also ensured that the studio room was dimly lit when I took the pictures, this allowed me to brighten the picture where necessary later on and made an effect on the band as if they were being lit by a spotlight due to the contrast in light from top to bottom of the image. In practical terms, it allowed me to place part of the article at the top of the page.
