Fashion In The Magazine And A Model example essay topic

Evaluative Report The aims of my production piece were to create a magazine front cover and contents page to suit a specific genre, which was teen girls, using the layout, mise en scene and design to attract my target audience. The purpose of the production piece was to improve the quality of the pre-production piece and take it a step further towards completion. My front cover uses bright but calming blue to symbolises tranquillity but then uses a very bright purple to catch the eyes of the readers. The colour of my front cover is one of the improvements that I have made from the pre-production piece.

The pre-production was in black and white but to make the production more attractive and interesting to the customer I decided to add in bold colours. The font is a relaxing yet sophisticated type, which will reflex the character of my target reader. It has the price in the corner of the magazine that, from my research, my target audience is willing to pay. The title of my magazine is Chic, which symbolises sophistication, class, and style. The font is deep blue which symbolises richness and quality. I have used alternating colours on the captions and the rule of three to attract the reader's focus onto my product.

The biggest caption I have used is 'Exclusive' which will stand out and be the unique selling point of my magazine. I have also used emotive language: 'Her feeling on hurt and betrayal' and alliterations: 'sexiest, most stylish, summer'. The model on the front is very stylish and sexy looking. She is looking at he camera to show she is confidant and determined which is very in keeping with the zeitgeist of the time and reflects the attitude of my target reader. She is wearing combat clothes, which is the fashion of the time, and she has her hand on her hip, which shows attitude.

My contents page also uses cool, soothing colours for the background. The font is deep blue and white which are crisp and fresh. The colour of the production piece is also one of the improvements I have made. This improvement will attract the readers and persuade them to buy the magazine. I have used alternating colours when describing the story and the page number so that the appearance of the page doesn't get too plain. I have explained what is on the front cover and also the best bits of the magazine, giving a wide range of articles to attract a wider audience.

I have used a lot of pictures on the contents page to show all the different features of the magazine. One picture shows the fashion in the magazine and a model has a stylish dress on and looks very elegant which is very persuasive because it says that you can look like the model if you buy the magazine. Another of the pictures shows a model in an exotic destination with a bikini on. This ties in with the front cover, which shows the date on it as 'May 2003' making it a summer magazine. The final picture is of three models showing their different hairstyles, all new looks for the summer to 'stay cool and collectable'.

The typical codes and conventions used for my chosen genre, which is teenage girls, would be: contrasting, eye catching colours. The design and layout would be fun and exciting, it would have to have enough pictures to keep the readers focus. The models would be attractive and yet not intimidating, the reader would have to feel that they could relate in someway to the model and not that they are an unrealistic representation of young people. The articles advertised would have to relate to the readers life and the feelings and experiences they have lived through. All these techniques are used in the code and conventions of my specific genre, teen girls, to attract the greatest possible audience. I think that my magazine would do well in comparison to all the other magazines because it is a reasonably cheap price and I have created a name that people could easily remember.

I have used soft soothing colours and sophisticated font, attractive models and interesting captions. I also used persuasive language and unique selling points. In my research I used a variety of methods. I used the Internet to research previous magazines to build up the typical codes and conventions used in my chosen genre. I used questionnaires to establish such things as the price people are willing to spend, what initially attracts them to the magazine, and how often the buy it to see whether to make a weekly or monthly magazine. I then used a focus group, which is a specific group of my targeted audience to find out which of my designs and layouts would they find most appealing and attractive.

I decoded existing magazines and established the common conventions used to get an idea of the things I should be including in my own magazine. To produce my magazine I used pictures I found in other magazines, cut them out and scanned them into my computer. I then put them into Photoshop and linked them together, created titles, captions, colours, and touched up the pictures so they looked professional. I then printed them off on a colour printer to get the best look. The most problems I had related to the scanner. I found it very hard to line the pictures up perfectly and blend them together so they didn't look just stuck on and unrealistic.

Getting the correct resolution for the pictures was also very hard to do. This has resulted in the images I used not being as blended as I would have liked them to be. The text on the contents page is a bit faint so maybe I could have made that a stronger colour. Also the model on the front cover could have stood out more by being a bit bigger. Although I think my magazine has met my aims in targeting teen girls, I am aware that by using the images I chose such as tall, slim, fashionably attractive female models I am risking alienating a proportion of my audience who, rather than aspiring to this 'ideal' may feel intimidated. This might affect the sales of my magazine if the models and topics are not relating to the wider audience.

However using the images might attract people who wish to live the lifestyle my magazine portrays. Another possible criticism is that it could also alienate black teens, as there are only white females on the front cover. Although the articles would appeal to readers from many different cultures this is not reflected in the choice of images and therefore this could adversely affect sales. Overall I am satisfied with my production piece and feel that with a few minor changes it would be a successful magazine in a competitive market..