Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Front Cover

My artist:

The image on the left is my artist that I have invented she defiantly fits in the social group I am targeting. On the front cover my artist is posed with a relatively serious expression because I wanted to create a photo shoot look however at the same time she looks friendly and welcoming. She is posed with her hand on her chin because I feel that this is a conventional pose. I have dressed her in a white vest top which suits my social group and is plain and simple which gives her an effective look. Everything about her I personally feel is very conventional. I used pink and white colours because I feel they go well together.

Representation of the target audience

My front cover represents my target audience in lots of different ways. Keeping my artist simple looking and natural suits and is also associated with my target audience. I haven't put anything conventional on the front cover object wise like cowboy boots etc because I feel that the front cover doesn't have to be exactly about the genre. If I have aimed it at my target audience they should know the genre straight away. The only thing on the front cover image wise that I have used is a horses head in the banner on the top right hand side. I have done this so that there is at least one thing on the front cover that relates to the genre. In relation to this all of my tag lines have something to do with the genre so it should be easy to identify if not through images then through words. I have used pink lipstick on my artist because I think that It fits in well with the colour scheme on the front page. I chose to curl her hair and place it on the right hand side of her neck because I thought that using the opposite sides would look more appealing to my target audience and would look more conventional (Hair on the right and hand on her chin on the left). All of what is consisted in my image on the front cover is conventional however not 100% as I chose to make my artist a bit more contempory to broaden my audience prospective.

Does the representation challenge or support dominant ideas?

My front cover genuinely supports dominant ideas towards a country and western music magazine and I have tried to show this below images from both mine and the professional are simplistic and generalised.

Double page spreadMy artist on my double page spread again fits my social group I am trying to target. She is wearing natural but simple clothing and is on location in the country side and more specifically in the woods, the fact that the wood behind her is blurry makes her the central focus and makes you very focused on her face, which is the main idea of this image. It is meant to be powerful and meaningful. I decided to take the image at a mid shot to make the image more straight to the point instead of making distracts for the eye for example a tree in the distance, some rubbish on the floor etc with this type of shot you know what your going to get and what you are meant to be focused on. Her white coat is very conventional and fits in nicely with her blonde hair and her outfit matches her surroundings.

Representation of the target audience

My double page spread represents my target audience in a number off different ways, for example how simple she looks back up the ideology that not all country and western fans have to wear the conventional cowboys hat and boots or own horses on a ranch, but be themselves and just have a popular interest. My double page spread doesn't challenge the dominant ideas because I feel that even every single little detail is at least in some way stereotypical with what is conventional for a Country music magazine. Overall I didn’t think that my work would challenge the dominant ideology's because when ever I did any practical work I always referred back to a professional piece of work so I knew that I was going on the right lines and keeping my work looking conventional.

Does the representation challenge or support dominant ideas?

My double page spread supports dominant ideas about my genre and of my social group in different ways, that I have mentioned in my previous slides to do with my front cover.