Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product

represent a particular social group?

Age/Gender• Rock is quite a big genre with many sub-genres which tends to be popular in the UK and the USA among the White

ethnic background. In many professional magazines you will see that the artists featured are predominantly of white ethnic background with very neutral aggressive expressions and dark mise-en-scene representing the heavy and expressive genre. Through my research I found that the rock genre was quite broad in appeal by age but focused on appealing to a younger audience, through using young models and artists as the genre is. This genre is also male dominated as you can see from the professional magazines as it is depicted as quite violent and aggressive subverting from general female attributes which is why I chose to use a female model to subvert from this general stereotype. However I feel my product conforms to the age demographic as I have chosen to use a young model which represents the audience profile my magazine is targeted at and the realistic ages of artists featured in this genre.

• This promotes young talent among the genre and encourages new artists as they are all quite young and inexperienced in relation to other genres with older artists. Also throughout my product all of the models have been of a similar age from 16-18 and represent both genders as this genre is quite even in gender ratio regarding readership and audience because of its many sub-genres it appeals to a broad spectrum of people and shows a diverse mix and subverts because it is heavily male dominated whereas my product features more female artists. I have presented my models as the typical stock type rockers being quite heavily made up in dark clothing and intimidating expressions to represent the genre well and challenge myself aesthetically.

• I also included features that would appeal to the younger audience which includes quizzes, gig guides as younger people enjoy live and electric music as it quite exciting and sociable fitting in with experimentation of the young audience, it also includes posters for those phases people go through where they decorate using their favourite artists which tends to stop as they get older. Also the colour scheme I included is quite contrasting and a lot to take in which is quite unsuitable for an older audience as they tend to prefer minimal and classic colour schemes like Mojo. The off yellow/green shade I also included could be linked to gender as boys are also portrayed as messy and in this genre tend to have messy appearances and represents that demographic better than female as they tend to prefer a more precise and pretty looking colour scheme.

The masthead appears very bold with specs coming from it as if it has been shattered connoting the reckless nature of the rock genre and being of being young in general, this which suits my young audience of the magazine as this may not be aesthetically suited to an older audience as a muted design approach will be used an example of this is Mojo

The model is female which subverts to general rock stereotypes due its higher ration of male artists. The model is in the same age bracket as the targeted audience and will appeal to both genders- male because it may be seen as new and attractive as previously mentioned. Females- as it may encourage more female artists and they may aspire to be like her

It uses quite a typical colour scheme; red, white and black which is because they contrast and compliment each other it may be seen as quite a male related colour scheme as they are quite dark and rich compared to a pink and light colour palette however this works for the genre and could be seen as quite neutral appealing to both genders and all ages although it may be too bright for an older audience.

Here you can also see female models which subverts to stereotypes of rock magazines as you can see on the right all of the featured artist are male apart from the editor which is what I challenged in my product but I also included a male model to show contrast and represent the male audience and artists that ay be seen as quite traditional.

Again on both you can see that the models are of similar age to appeal to the young audience.

Also on both you can see a similarity in mise-en-scene and the editing choices including; black and white as well as coloured.

I chose to use a male model as this would appeal to traditional rock fans as readership is higher for males even though they as a gender are more represented in rock. This may also appeal to female fans as the artist is young. I also chose to keep this quite contrasting focusing on black and white as can be seen in a range of rock DPS’s as this can convey a certain emotion., black-and-white photography can give an air of elegance or realism, using the visual balance of black and white with an accent colour leads to powerful messaging which is why it is typical used in marketing especially in association with a typical rock story centred around; drugs, pain, heartbreak ect. This can also be quite bleak for the female audience but still can get a mixed gender audience.

By adding the concert date this also conveys association to a young audience because people usually attend concerts with artists of similar ages and tend to do this because they have more energy for things like moshpit’s and crowd surfing. Whilst older audience may prefer a bigger story.

Ethnicity: • I chose to stick to quite a conventional depiction of the rock genre by featuring a

typical selection of white/Caucasian artists which can be seen in all different types of British Rock magazines and on all of mine. I chose to do this so that my magazine wouldn’t look out of place on the shelf and can be easily identified to the genre, another reason is because many of the artists seen today are of this ethnic background and it still gets a broad readership profile regardless of its limited ethnic representation.

Region/class

• I created my magazine on the bases of no set region simply because I thought this would minimise the readership profile drastically compared to having quite an open magazine which can be read by all different groups of people. Similarly with class I didn’t want it to have a narrow readership market as this would hinder its ability to keep up with professional magazines like Kerrang and Metal Hammer which are quite open including artists from different classes making it diverse and easy to read for all demographics. I have kept this consistently by keeping all my pages vague in any stereotypes regarding region and class to maximise my readership profile whilst making the design suitable for my target audience. Some people from the demographic may turn to rock music because it is quite energetic and inclusive so it appeals to people who may not fit into a specific demographic or society which I why I have left some demographics out of representation because it links to the genre and what it stands for.

Design/Layout• As my target audience was young people I went for the quite chaotic and

bold design as this draws attention and suits the audience better than an older target audience for example who may like the very minimal and classic design like Mojo. As my target audience was similar to that of Kerrang I decided to use that as my inspiration as can be seen on my front cover with the bold masthead and focus on the main image of the artist, similarly my contents page which follows the old layout of Kerrang’s contents pages having the images and text split but being very informative. With my double page spread I went for the very striking image taking up a big proportion of the page with a black and white theme, and columned text conforming to conventions of professional magazines. By using design aspects from successful magazines with the same target audience it has increased m ability to understand aspects that appeal to my audience better and incorporate these into my magazine.

Language• Language: with language I also thought about what would create the biggest readership

profile which is why I went for a formal/informal tone I wanted it to be easy to understand for all groups which is why I didn’t include any slang or colloquialism to increase the readership spectrum as this would affect the ability for an older generation to understand it or a slightly younger one. I had to use formal language as it is still a product that is going to be sold to people and must be understood by the readers. The Language I used was Standard English this prevents the product form being linked to any specific demographic regarding; region, class and sexuality as I want a broad readership profile to compete with other mainstream magazines. However I have not included any overcomplicated language so my product is targeted well at my intended audience and can be understood. The language is also concise into columns which conforms to conventions of rock and most magazines making it easier for my audience to understand, as well as the inclusions of numbers on the pages and contents page so people can navigate to their favourite sections easily.

• I have also included features that would entice my audience and persuade them to read my magazine.

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