I wanted to attract the audience age range of 16-25 year olds, the age range is for mostly students of college or university, so the readers are interested in the young music genre that involves festivals, gigs and fashion with lifestyle. The type of reader stereo-typically aimed for is an 'indie kid' or someone who is not interested in the mainstream music and fashion style that everyone else follows.
My main image is of Sophie who has very similar representation to the real magazine model, as shown in the image above, both girls have the blank expression which shows carelessness and confidence in their self image. Both are long shots that contain the 'indie' clothing and long hair that appears effortless, the type of style that the readers will appeal for, and they would look a both images with the same interpretation of the confident indie girls that they can admire or look up to as role models. By using longshots rather than close-up's, it gives the model a physical appearance for her body not her character, also allowing the model to cover emotion and appear to have confidence in their own skin.
The difference being that the real magazine cover girl is looking directly at the camera whilst Sophie is acting more laid back for the cover, as that's the type of mood I wanted to portray for her. However, both images are youthful, and attract the specific audience stereo-type that I intended for. Both girls seem confident with their style but also the gender issue of girls being in their own control not displayed as sex objects that appeal to male readers, because my magazine is for both genders so this wouldn't really fit the aim of the model. They are there to inspire role models for the female readers but also be attractive to the male readers.
The clothing represents the subculture of 'Indie' of both models, Mine being showing a typical shoe brand that is attractive for the subculture, but the rest of the image is no branding whereas the other real model dosent show any particular brand name shown, that's because 'Indie kids' appreciate individuality rather than mainstream branding. The representation of my target audience is fashionable, unique and opinionated with an attitude that isn't negative to the eye of mainstream adults but happy in their own skin., with beauty and confidence. The promotion of converse may be a controversial argument about the front cover image but there is no particular aim for the advertisement of any clothing on the image. However the bands are advertised on the cover, but no particular brand names or advertising of any kind on the cover, the advertisements settle under the content like 'Fashion','Events' and 'Music' etc.
The use of bands that are under the 'alternative' or 'indie' genre allows the audience to be able to see the front cover and connect with the bands, perhaps ones that they havent heard of before, because 'indie' people want to explore new bands that add to their style by portraying this through their music. I think that if I advertised mainstream music that appeared in the 'charts' or 'top 40' then the magazine would be much less successful as it would undermine the individuality of the readers needs and become aimed at a different audience altogether, so by advertising less well-known and 'indie' bands, then the readers that I aimed for are more likely to buy the magazine.
I feel the content of the magazine also is aimed specifically at the 'Indie' culture as it allows fashion to be a important section, and self-image is very important to most stereo-type groups and with fashion pages, the readers can browse at clothes that suit their style and advertises the shops they choose to go into. I think that the typical 'Indie' reader would take alot of pride in their style, as I feel that they are stereo-typically one of the most dress-sense consious groups under all groups (such as goths, emos, mainstream, skaters, chav... etc) and so a large fashion section is vital in 'Buzz'.
Also content that is applied to the needs of the 'Indie' culture is so that the readers are constantly satisified with what they are reading, and the content is relevant to them because of age group and because of their style.
Given that you are discussing the representation of 'indie' females, I think you could explore the idea of objectification further. I think the lack of direct address in yours undermines the objectification which often happens, though the use of a longshot rather than a closeup emphasises her physical appearnace as a body rather than as a character. Can you think a bit more about this issue?
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