How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The image to the left is of Georgina, the guitarist of the band 'Scene of the Broken' which I made up and used for my music magazine. The one to the right is from Kerrang and is Hayley Williams, the lead singer of the band ‘Paramore’.

Hayley’s posture is more upright than Georgina’s; this could mean she is the more confident of the pair, although this may make Georgina more accessible to the audience because she is more of a ‘real person’. It could also be because of the guitar strap she's wearing. Hayley's posture could be so upright because she is being told to pose like that to look more she doesn't care and is a bit aggressive. However I wanted my photograph to look more natural.

The angles of these two shots are both quite similar in they are both medium close ups. I think this is a good shot distance to use because it makes the person seem more familiar and easier to connect with.

The lighting of these shots is fairly high key. This could have been used because it not only lights the person up and emphasises who they are but also it makes them look better in terms of clear skin and shiny hair. The backgrounds of both shots are bland colours. This makes parts of them stand out more, such as their hair, as it contrasts with whats behind them and therefore this makes them look more interesting and exciting.

Both of these people are wearing dark, unremarkable clothes which could be to try and give the impression that they didn’t try too hard. Also it makes them stand out against the background and accents other things about them. Georgina is wearing a band t-shirt which is a common thing for members of other bands to do for photo shoots and gigs. Also the band on the t-shirt 'Taking Back Sunday' is featured somewhere else in my magazine, so this shows a link to them.

The expressions shown here are quite different, Hayley looks like she doesn’t care and Georgina looks like she is amused by something, which makes more sense in context with the whole photograph. I feel that both these expressions work well for people in bands. Looking aggressive and like you don't care is a familiar expression within bands of this genre. looking happy and amused makes someone look accessible and human.

In both of these photographs there seems to be an emphasis on hair because neither of them look like they’ve just gotten out of bed, they’ve clearly straightened their hair and taken a little time over it. This could be to make them seem more attractive. However their hair also looks a little messy which carries on the theme of this type of music being alternative and interesting as oppose to smooth and boring.

I think these representations of young women challenge both the modern and traditional stereotypes of young femininity. A modern stereotype of young women is that they dress provocatively and wear lots of make-up etc. However neither my model or the one she has been compared to dress in this way and only wear a small amount of make-up. This challenges what some people consider the 'norm'. These young women also challenge the traditional stereotype of femininity. They are not traditional in the sense they are not wearing dresses and 'feminine' clothing, and they are in alternative bands, which is more commonly a mans job. I think these challenges to representation link well to the style of my magazine and the genre of music it covers.