Evaluation Question 2

How did you represent social groups?

Which social groups are presented in my magazine?

In my magazine, I aimed to portray the indie culture. This group of people could be described as trendsetters and ‘individual’. They are now one of the most prominent groups in the UK. Their social group is one that listens to indie music and who often wear clothes that are fashionable in the main clothing shops such as Topman/Topshop or River Island.

The indie culture listen to artists such as Lana Del Rey and Darwin Deez who

produce indie music. I tried to represent this culture in the images in my magazine by using costume, make-up and props to reflect their culture and in the text of my magazine.

How do my images represent the indie genre?

Here are some examples of how someone of the indie culture would dress. It is commonly known that red or ginger hear is considered more attractive among this culture as this can match their bright, floral and summery clothing or the plain clothing that they wear that is often brought back to fashion from earlier generations such as chinos, brogues and buttoned shirts.

How do my images represent the indie genre?

Lana Del Rey is one artist of the indie genre who follows all of the stereotypical features of the culture. She is an icon among indies and best suits her role by having ginger hair and a unique singing voice that both has meaningful lyrics and isn’t to upbeat which is what many indie artists aim to produce. She wears buttoned shirts which follows the indie fashion statement and wears gold which is a bright, adventurous colour, emphasising the culture’s bright aura. I tried to reflect this in my images.

How do my images represent the indie genre?

I also aimed to use props to reflect the indie genre. I used gold glitter, bangles and a floral accessory for my model to wear in her hair which are all gold and reflect the indie tendency to wear multiple bracelets and headwear. The glitter is a way of symbolising the artist’s uniqueness and the amount of gold in the picture. I also painted her arms a light gold colour to further emphasise this and with all of this combined, the audience would be able to relate to the artist and would admire her for both their common taste in fashion and and her blatant indie aura. In another image, I dressed the model in a large bow to relate to the indie way of wearing many accessories and in another image, the model held a large lollipop which is both a unique idea and is colourful to reflect the audience’s common interests; these are props that an indie audience would enjoy to see in a magazine.

How does my written text represent the indie genre?

As I mentioned earlier, the female part of indie culture is very much associated with floral clothing, heabands and jewellery. The font I used for the title of my double page spread is made of intricate flowers which reflects the genre of the artist’s music who is featured in the article.

The skyline that I used on my double page spread took a lot of consideration and I decided to make it relevant to the indie genre. Festivals are one of the main ways for indies to get together and they like to discover new music through this.

Below, the screen shot on the left is part of the contents page which shows that there are pages devoted to festivals which the indie culture like. They also widely use Twitter

and Facebook to discover new music and follow their favourite bands as they largely enjoy music. The two screenshots below show how I used my magazine to appeal to

the indie audience’s interests.

How does my written text represent the indie genre?

Discovering new music is common among the indie culture as they pride in listening to bands or artists that others don’t and their feeling of individuality is expanded by this. The slogan of my magazine – ‘Discover New Music’ – appeals to the audience and I incorporated this into my magazine logo.

The preview section of my contents page is a list of ten indie bands or artists that the audience would like and so I offered the opportunity for them to listen to their songs. Some of these artists are highlighted in the skyline at the top of my front cover.

How does my written text represent the indie genre?

My contents list was split into three sections and I added a features section so that I could list a number of indie artists that the audience might listen to. The free poster pages offer the indie culture free posters of artists they would be interested in.

The content of my article also signifies that the magazine is of the indie genre as the text used make it clear such as in the screenshot below.

How did I construct these representations in my images?

I used mise en scene, camera angles, make-up, hairstyles and costume to construct my representations. I painted one of my models gold to match her gold costume and glitter which reflects the unique style of the culture. To reflect the gold in this image, I spread a read piece of material over the chairs on which my model lay. The silver sparkles on it and the bright red colour emphasised the gold and shine that the model radiated.

I used a low angle shot to connote meanings of power and emphasise that she is a deity figure to her fans as mentioned in the article.

I also aimed to represent the indie culture’s unique sense of fashion and acessories through this overly large bow. The hand gesture that the model makes represents the indie culture’s rebelliousness and individuality.