Q2: How does your magazine represent particular social groups?

My media magazine represents particular social groups primarily through the use of images, and the subsequent effects added to these photographs. Whilst most of the framing and construction of the images came from when I originally took the pictures, the final touches were added upon editing them in Photo shop, whether this was changing the color or cropping the image down, every stage of the production of the images was vital to ensuring it addressed a certain social group. Of course however, overall, the genre of music for the entire magazine is essentially the same, it is just a case of each artists represented having their own social traits.

To the left here is my original image for the front cover photo. In this image the rock star "Raymond Torres" is displayed, the framing of the image displays him in the middle and the camera is looking up from a low angle, hence positioning him in a dominant frame. His Rolling Stones shirt immediately connotes the rock star look, and due to his youthful appearance he is quite reminiscent on real life artists such as Dave Grohl or others, it is obvious he is not a boy band member or classical singer etc. 

As well as this, the nature of the shirt and the American flag further gives the impression he is a typical American rock star, he is not wearing anything particularly crazy to suggest he is anything other than a classical, rather generic rock star. His age shows that he is most likely going to be more in tune with younger audiences of people. The colour of the image is quite bright as well, which suggests this is also a part of his character and he definitely does not belong to groups such as Goths or Emo's etc.  

This image on the right is from the contents page, and depicts a slightly different social connotation. due to the bright, sunny nature of this image, along with the relatively laid back and indie costumes of the two artists, it can be assumed the two belong to a rather chilled out social grouping. Again, they do not look like they belong to anything hardcore, but the low angle camera positioning and their stance, in particular Matt's hand gesture, show that they are not a pop group or anything child friendly. 

They look like an alternative, skater rock band to an extent, due to there dominant position, but also their obvious young appearance. For this reason they appeal to more poppy, younger audience of alternative rock listeners, probably relative to bands such as The All American Rejects or Sum 41 or MGMT, but not bands such as MCR or Mcfly who are aimed at even younger audiences.

This image to the left is also from the contents page and shows the "rock chick" of the magazine. Here the colours are different from others and are darker, however also have a high vibrancy rate and thus is rather bright despite having dark connotations. The facial expression as well as the comical use of guitar hero props and her in a box connotes a punk rock concept. 

The use of colours around the plastic buttons also adds depth to the playful nature of the image, and gives the impression she is something of a free spirit. Whilst the guitars obviously show she is a musician of that genre, her positioning and actions give the impression she is more radical and indie than the other artists.

This image to the left is one very similar to my own front cover in terms of how it has been taken and what this thus represents the artist as. They are not just similar in the framing and modeling however, both models, admittedly Grolh looking a little better, represent the same type of look and thus social culture. They are both wearing similar clothing and are indicative in a sense of that hard American rock culture. The mise-en-scene of this image clearly represents a famous rock star in a position that displays his demand for respect, as constructed through the low angle framing of the shot as he looks down on the camera. This is what I emulated in my own front cover image as it was integral to creating that superior look for the artist.

As in this image, my model looks quite modern, is wearing clothes iconic of this era of music, really quite casual wear but for this reason able to influence a greater audience of young readers. I also chose the image to have attractive connotations about it, the model is purposely framed in a way to appear not just cool to the audience but also to an extent attractive.

The image to the right shows the final band I used on the contents page, here the colours are more pale and pasted than in other images, and this hence connotes a more grungy feel. Thus the band members look more reminiscent of a trashy social class- dirty rock, they do not have the features of a clean looking band at all. Their disgruntled appearance and costume variety is indicate of their name "Post Party" which really speaks volumes about their social stature in music. They are aimed to appealing rock listeners interested in more hard core, grungy music, and those following a similar rough lifestyle.