Evaluation - Question 2

My magazine represents a modern urban youth culture which consists of a multicultural social group through the genre of music and the artists of these genres. This means that the artists represent the type of audience they appeal to. My magazine focuses on the genre of indie soul and chart hits, which appeals to people of that subculture.

My magazine appeals to a versatile audience by including artists such as: My Chemical Romance, Baby Shambles, Pixie Lott and The Saturdays. My magazine is heterogeneous as it has different subcultures ranging from rap to indie and soul.

 

Model
The image I have used on my front cover appeals to the audience I am targeting as she is around the same age range. Different social groups are able to look at the images and relate them as the model is being presented as a rebellious and petulant teenager with her lack of clothes and black chipped nail varnish; I thought this would appeal to many readers now as they are going through their teenage years and want to experiment with different fashions and some of them are perceived as quite risqué and shocking which is exactly what my model is doing with her lack of clothes on the front cover.

This is a common convention used in magazines; the model on the front sometimes has a lack of clothing, and wearing a lot of make up. I have challenged this, although my model has a lack of clothing, the use of a prop to cover her up, takes away the stereotypical teenage stars characteristics of them being ‘rock n roll’. My model is wearing minimal make up, I have also decided not to airbrush her. I decided this as I didn’t want to create a false image of my star, and for her then to be spotted in other magazines without make up on and to be looking ‘rough’. As I am targeting a younger audience, I wanted to make sure their feelings where put across in my magazine, as young females especially can feel vulnerable and inferior to celebrities, because they are perceived as perfect I wanted to steer away from this; and this is the main reason for not airbrushing out the stars ‘flaws’.

The trumpet also helps to divert the stereotype young stars may portray, as the saxophone connotes class. I have also used the saxophone, as I did not want to fall under the convention of having a provocative female as the cover star. I have also used the saxophone, as this instrument is sometimes seen to be for upper class people and very posh, I have decided to use this as it will help the different social groups I am appealing to that music is for everyone, and a certain instrument is not for one social group.

The use of my model wearing a wrist band shows that she can appeal to all types of audiences, and social groups. This also relates back to my main theme of the magazine being a festival themed issue. All festivals are diverse and attract many different social groups by the various different artists that play at them. This shows that my magazine is for all social groups and not targeting a specific one. The audience can relate to the star by her attending festivals, and they wonder although she creates and is part of a genre of music, what genre of music does she enjoy, and it will make them want to read on into the double page spread and see what she is really like.

The use of the model wearing lack of clothes will attract a wider audience. Because the front cover star is not only attractive and young the audience will be engrossed into what genre of music the star produces. The look I was aiming to achieve is the mysterious look, although this is not a traditional convention of music magazines, however the stars of this generation are more flamboyant, and that is something I have followed with the styling of my model.

Stars such as Lady GaGa and Beth Dito, are two stars which come into mind, when thinking of mysterious personas. Both emit huge personalities from the way they’re dressed to their make up, and on inspection, they are both very interesting people, and the audience are captivated by just their aura and want to read and find out more about them. This is something I have created in the making of my magazine, where I wanted my model to look intriguing, mysterious yet inviting.

Relating back to my research I have also used the image where my model is on a piano, the picture on the front cover seems very bold and eccentric, which also relates back to my audience research when they said they want the images to be inspired by Lady Ga-Ga who is both eccentric and very bold. I have also created the image which challenged the industry which some people may argue that women should exhibit traditional feminine characteristics; I have challenged this as my model is very boisterous and does not follow the traditions of being courteous and elegant, which may appeal to the audience because they enjoy her act of rebellion.

Stars like Beth Ditto who appeared on the cover of NME wearing no clothes and she was not airbrushed. Ditto is a curvy women, her and NME were questioned for allowing her to appear on the front of an international magazine, just because of her appearance. I thought this would be appealing to my audience as some of them would have read this issue of NME or saw it in some magazine columns.

My model has an edgy and modern hair cut with a short bob being a highly anticipated style throughout the fashion industry; this connotes status and affluence and shows she is in with today’s fashion, with various people supporting the choppy bob from Rihanna who has a more rebellious cut to Kate Nash. This shows the audience that there are different social groups I am targeting with Rihanna being a ‘hip hop’ singer and Kate Nash being an ‘indie pop’ singer, shows the versatility in the magazine.

Bouji Fraparara

The other model which also features on my front cover portrays a romanticised version of the genre country and western with a pop edge incorporated. Country and western is sometimes seen as banal and boring. The prop being used connotes love, and being a rose emphasises this which shows it has a fun and free spirited edge to it. This also shows the diversity in the audience by having a country singer on the front cover of a predominately indie inspired magazine. Both models used are around the same age so they represent their age group in this way.