Q2. HOW DOES YOU MEDIA PRODUCT

REPRESENT PARTICULAR

SOCIAL GROUPS?

My photos vs. Photo Inspiration

WHO? In this text (my

magazine) I have presented a white heterosexual female hard/fusion rock artist who is making milestones in her music career. I decided to present this artist like this because it is a typical representation of someone who we would say “fits the description.”

HOW? I have attempted to show this type

of person by adopting a passive aggressive facial expression which seems to be popular in magazines of this genre as well as making my stance look different by standing in a wide-legged position, with my shoulders back and head held and tipped in a few various manners; making me seem bigger and slightly threatening. Also, I have followed the style of clothing: meaning for one my photo shoots, I wore a plain black dress with ‘gothic style’ stacked boots and a leather jacket. For my other photo shoot, I wore a black printed logo t-shirt and plain black jeans. I followed this style because by using all of these conventions, I could create a believable artist who would fit within the rock genre.

Another convention which has been used is the use of some explicit language: “I don’t give a F*@K about what people think of me!” and “home life was really shit…” I believe using the explicit language added to the effect and representation of my magazine because it grabs the reader’s attention and explicit language is usually associated with genres such as rock and rap music. In the photo shoots, I had not used any props because I felt like they would have complicated the set. In reflection, I wish that I had done so because it would added to the effect and representation of my character and the rock genre.

HOW DOES THE AUDIENCE READ AND INTERPRET THESE DECISIONS?

When the reader reads this article, they tend to interpret the decisions that the magazine producer has made.

In this article, the things that the audience may identify with are:

The rebellious nature of the artist Where she has come from The personal issues she has been through The feeling of escapism when producing or listening to music The love of music The ordinary girl having the chance to make her lucky break The use of explicit language paired with high emotions The style of the artist (including clothing) The genre she is working in

Music artists with a similar effect to my artist

I found that many rock artists have a similar effect on fans and lovers of rock as my artist. Here are a few examples:

(LEFT TO RIGHT)Dave Grohl, Oli Sykes (Bring Me The Horizon) and Pierce the Veil.