Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social group for my magazine was Indie. I compared two images that obtain similarities. These similarities are things like: · The positioning of the model; they are both situated sitting on a floor with their legs positioned identically. Also they are both backed up against a wall. This would signify that, in my magazines case, the person is being questioned and would therefore, have her ‘back against the wall’. · The clothing; they are both dressed in way that would be classed as ‘indie fashion’. This is a more obscure dress sense and tends to be a bit different as indie is all about being individual and different; therefore indie people express that through the way they dress. They prefer to steer away from the common fashion; jeans, polo shirt, plimsolls, and obtain their own fashion which they like but other people may find strange. · Make-up; there is not much make-up involved in either photo, apart from a great use of red lipstick. Red is the colour of love, danger, lust, war and anger; all of which you could argue indie is involved with. It also a way to stand out and, once again, indie is all about being something different and an individual, therefore standing out. Also the red lipstick adds a level of romance and seduction to the photo. · Angle of the camera; the camera angles are fairly similar. There is a bit of differentiation as the first picture is a straight shot and the second shot has a bit of a raised angle; however the amount of the model which is included in the shot is almost identical. The only small differences that occur in these photos are the fact that one is in a public hallway and another is in a private household. Also the slight differ of the camera angle creates a little bit of contrast. I believe I have reinforced the stereotype of indie being a genre for younger people, as the model I have used is a teenage girl. I have represented the female gender to be a bit teasing and flirty; most of this is portrayed through the red lipstick. I believe I have made a working class image, the fact it’s in a hallway of a public college shows this. Also the costume shows she is working class as you would not expect a stereotypical middle class or upper class teenage female to wear such clothes. I believe my magazine to have a pro-consumerist stance, as the reader is most likely to dress like this and be able to relate to this sort of fashion and conventional stereotype.

Finished Double Page Spread

Finished Contents Page

Full analysis of one music magazine

NME has been the best-selling music magazine in Britain since the 1970s, and with a current readership of 411,000, it is still going strong. It has the most-viewed website of any music magazine in Europe. With 1.3 million unique users generating over 13 million page impressions, www.nme.com is the U.K's premier music content website.
All the little things that make up NME contribute to the target audience. For example; the website at the present moment consists of announcements of festival line-up's and news on when the tickets will go on sale. This shows that people who read NME will enjoy attending festivals and are therefore more likely to be younger. It is a weekly published magazine, therefore would be a regular feature in a persons life, although to spend time reading a magazine every week, you need spare time. Who has spare time? Students. Also, the pricing strategy is low enough for a student, being priced at £2.20 makes it affordable for any student per week. The sort of things NME will adverise will also relate to younger people's lives, for example, NME has worked successfully with advertising brands such as; McDonald's, Rizla, Strongbow, iPod, Lynx, Levi's and the list goes on. However all these brands and companies are included in a young person/student's lifestyle. McDonald's; students are seen as lazy and unable to cook, therefore fast food is perfect. Rizla; younger people are all seen to smoke far more than healthy as it is an act out against society, which all younger people want to do, obviously. Strongbow; all young people are thought to drink excessively, especially students at University. iPod; these are definitely aimed at the younger generation as old people don't seem to get on with technology. All of these products and brands that are advertised in NME are included in a stereotypical lifestyle of their target audience, a young person. Also they advertise other brands for the older part of their target audience, as their target audience is 17 - 30 males. They do this by advertising; ING Direct, HSBC, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Specsavers.

Initial ideas for your own music magazine

My original target audience was mainly male’s, aged between 15 and 25. They would mostly come from a working class background and would be working class themselves, most likely employed in a small café, or McDonalds, or Tesco etc. Fairly unimportant jobs, e.g. working on tills, shelf-stacker. Most likely to be in full or part time education, at high school/college/university; therefore mainly aimed at students. I wanted it to be at a price affordable every week for a student. Therefore I believe £2.99 was the right price. I believe it comes under the ‘Genre Specific’ category as it only really revolves around the ‘indie’ and ‘dubstep’ genre. I would expect my magazine to be sold in big supermarkets, like Tesco, and also smaller newsagents and off-license stores, for example; McColls.

NME Feature Article Analysis

The colour scheme is blue, black, white and red. This is because these are easy colours to use as they can be used in contrast to each other and make things stand out. They’ve used four colours so they do not go over board and look like a piece of art a six year old child has made. They have used a pull quote to point out a key quote from a band member which would usually relate to the audience, in this case it is about teenagers constantly having sex on their mind, which is a stereotype they have been fitted with. This is backed up by the posters of women not wearing very many clothes on the wall behind them. On the side it gives you things that the magazine have suggested for you, it’s almost like a ‘if you like The Teenagers, then you might like these…’ section. Also the fashion of the boys would allow the target audience to relate to them, as that is the sort of clothing that is fashionable at the present moment. The picture used is of the three boys laying back, relating to the stereotype of teenagers being lazy.

Institutional Data 'Music Magazine'

NME MEDIA KIT:
Key Facts
Price: £2.20
Frequency: Weekly
Circulation: 56,284
Readership: 411,000
Launch Date: 1952
Male/Female: 73%/27%
Average Age: 25
ABC1: 73%
Target Market: Men 17-30

NME, or The New Music Press, is a trusted and well-known brand and has been around for 59 years. It is categorised as a music tabloid. It is published weekly and has a readership of 411,000 people. This has grown rapidly over the years, as people became more familiarised with the brand. It has a very loyal readership, many of them with subscriptions to the magazine. In the 1970s it became Britain’s best-selling music magazine. As you can see it is mainly aimed at men in their mid-20s. You can tell this by looking at some of the articles included in NME and also due to the imagery used on the front cover. However, over the years it has changed its image and its format. For example; in the 1970s it was more of a newspaper set-out and was more aimed at the punk-rockers, due to the outburst of punk at that time. NME is now based mainly around the indie genre, but also includes artists from other genres in articles.