Individual magazine advert - Miss Miller

Individual Magazine Advert

The purpose of a magazine advert is to promote an artist and their album that they are about to release, and to provide an audience with an article about the artist in which the artist is usually asked questions which allow the audience to find out more about the artist's life outside of the music industry. The use of a magazine advert creates exposure for the artist and makes a wider audience aware about the release of their album due to the fact that it is not just her fans who will see the advert, but also the avid readers of the magazine, which has the potential to boost the sales of the album. This is also helped by the fact that magazines are often sold in all local and major convenient stores, therefore it is likely that a larger numbers of people will see it which creates more exposure for the artist. A magazine advert promotes an artist because it provides the audience with an image of the artist, allowing them to clearly see what they look like which also means that the audience are more likely to remember the artist. The advert also promotes the music video due to the fact that if the audience listen to and like the song, they will be more likely to go onto YouTube in order to listen to the song again which is where they will be able to see the music video which usually shows the audience the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of a song. Furthermore, the use of a music video helps to make listening to a song more interesting for the audience because they are given a story to relate the lyrics to, which may help them to remember the song better. The software that we used to create the magazine advert was Photoshop CS6 due to the fact that it included different features such as a variety of fonts, colours and cropping techniques that we could use to create and improve our magazine advert, for example, we had the ability to enhance our photos easily by changing the brightness and contrast of the images, and we could also change the positioning of the photo in relation to the writing. Photoshop allowed us to create an advert that was similar to those produced by actual artists due to the fact that we could experiment with different layouts, styles of writing and change the positioning of everything within the advert. I came up with the idea for my advert through researching other magazine adverts from other indie artists such as Ed Sheeran and Gabrielle Aplin due to the fact that I wanted to see if there were any similarities between the two in order to decide which conventions of the indie genre could be used in my advert, for example, the use of a close up image implies a more personal feel to the advert due to the fact that the audience can clearly see how the artist is feeling which is conventional because indie artists often write their own songs which are based on real life experiences that the audience may be able to relate to. I also came up with my magazine advert by analysing another magazine advert for the same artist, for example, the way she used a handwritten style font for her album 'English rain' helped to give the advert more of a personal feel in the sense that indie artists are often perceived as writing their own songs that are based on real life experiences that the audience will be able to relate to and may cause the audience to feel closer to the artist in the sense that they are getting to know more about her through the lyrics of her songs. I was inspired by Ed Sheeran's magazine advert to use a close up image of my artist due to the fact that I felt a clear image of her face would help me when introducing her into the music industry and when allowing the audience to see clearly what her facial expressions are which I felt was conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs are often emotional because they are written by the artist and are based on real life experiences that the audience can relate to. I feel as though my individual magazine advert looks very similar to how I had planned for my advert to look, except for the use of a black and white image as opposed to a coloured one which I decided to change while I was creating the advert due to difficulties with the brightness of the image, and the use of black and white made the writing easier to read. Having said that, I feel as though the colours compliment the emotions of the album more which is made evident by including the song names "salvation" and "home" which suggest they have a deeper meaning and are relevant to the artist. I also feel as though the colours black and white are more conventional to the indie genre in the sense that the colours black and white are often associated with the past, and the indie genre is often perceived as being old fashioned and as not fitting into the mainstream.

When planning my magazine advert, I had decided I wanted to use soft colours such as pale blue and purple because I felt as though they would help to give my advert more of an emotional feel to it, which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie artists often write their own music about real life experiences. However, after beginning to create my advert on Photoshop I realised that it would be difficult for me to use light colours like I had wanted to due to the fact that the image itself was quite dark because by the time the picture had been taken after filming, the outside lighting had become too dark, therefore I had to experiment with the brightness of the image, however, this made the image too bright and her facial features were lost which defeated the point of using a close up image of the artist due to the fact that I wanted the audience to be able to see clearly what the artist looked like and how she was feeling. I decided instead to make the image of the artist black and white, this is because I realised by using such block colours it would make it easier for the writing to stand out, but also the use of the colours black and white is arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is perceived as being old fashioned and as not fitting into the mainstream, which is often associated with bright colours such as pink. The colours black and white imply going back in time and are associated with the past, therefore I hope the audience will be able to recognise the advert and artist as being part of the indie genre of music.

I feel as though the image used in my final individual magazine advert is pretty similar to my planned magazine advert. From the beginning I had wanted to use a close up image of the artist due to the fact that I felt this would allow the audience to see clearly how the artist was feeling and what she looked like which was beneficial because I was introducing her into the music industry. Furthermore, the use of a close up is also conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs are often based on real life experiences that an audience can make an emotional connection to and because of this, they will want to listen to the song again. The magazine advert for Ed Sheeran also used a close up which meant that the audience could see clearly what he looked like which is beneficial due to the fact that he is known for his ginger hair, which the audience will recognise when they see his image. Furthermore, the use of a candid shot of him laughing clearly portrays him as being happy which may draw the audience in to want to listen to his music because the image implies that his music is going to make them feel happy too. Deciding how I wanted the image to look on the advert was quite challenging for me in the sense that I wanted to keep the image in colour, due to the fact that I felt this would help to make the advert appear more natural, however, by keeping the image in colour I realised it would have been difficult for the audience to read the writing because the colours of the font were similar to the background colour. Therefore, I decided to make the image black and white instead, due to the fact that I felt I could then use white writing which would stand out on a black background and the audience would have been able to read the key information from the advert. However, even after changing the colour of the image I still felt as though the writing, especially the artist name was difficult to read. I therefore had to experiment with the brightness and lighting of the image, for example, by making the image darker the writing was able to stand out even more. The use of a darker image is arguably conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie songs often have a deeper meaning behind them. I feel as though my choice of image effectively promotes my artist because she is the centre of the advert and the audience can see clearly what she looks like, therefore they are more likely to remember who she is. This will also appeal to the target audience because they will be keen to know more about the artist, and the use of a close up implies that the advert and album are personal to her.

I wanted the writing on my advert to be placed around the image of the artist due to the fact that this included the artist name, the name of the album and the names of some of the songs that feature on the album which needed to be near the image because they are all relate to and about the artist which the image will help the audience to understand. The name of the artist can be seen in the space beside her face because I wanted the audience to have no doubt that she was the artist and because I felt that this layout would help them to remember what she looks like if ever they hear her name again, or to remember her name if they see her image anywhere else in the media. Furthermore, the writing on the album all appears underneath the image of the artist, for example, the release date of the album which could imply that she is the most important aspect of the advert. The writing is laid out in the way that their eyes will move when they are reading the advert, they will start by seeing the image of her face and then the writing which I feel makes the advert easier to look at and helps to ensure that the audience take in all of the necessary information. Also, the design and layout of my magazine advert looks similar to the way you would expect the front cover of a book to look like, which is purposeful because celebrities including artists often release autobiographies or biographies about themselves in order to tell the audience more about themselves. I wanted the audience to feel as though the artist is allowing them to get to know them more because books are often used by artists to explain their life stories through the use of their music, which may entice the audience into buying the album because they will be keen to know more about the artist and learn things that they may not already know. Furthermore, this may also help an artist to come across as being more relatable due to the fact that indie artists often write their songs themselves which suggests that their songs are going to based on real life experiences that help to give their music a deeper meaning and allows the audience to make an emotional connection with the song. This design and layout will be especially beneficial to someone like my artist who is new to the music industry, and therefore had yet to build up a loyal fan base who she could target her music at and rely on to always buy her new music. It is important for an artist to establish who their target audience is, due to the fact that without them an artist will be unable to sell their music and will fail to breakthrough within the music industry. This design and layout will appeal to the target audience because they will feel as though they are going to get to know more about the artist which is beneficial to them as they will be interested to know more about their personal life. Furthermore, the design and layout helps to promote the artist effectively because it tells the audience all of the necessary and important information that they need to know about the artist and the release of the new album, which helps to make the audience aware and increases the artists chances of having their album sell.

After searching through the various fonts on the Photoshop application I felt as though they did not compliment the feminine and personal style that I was hoping to achieve with my magazine advert. In the end I had to download different fonts from a website called 'dafont' which contained hundreds of different styles within different headings, for example, the two main styles that I decided I was going to use on my magazine advert were calligraphy and handwritten due to the fact that I felt these styles would help to give my magazine advert more of a personal feel because it would look as though the artist had written it herself which is conventional to the indie genre because indie artists are known for writing their own songs that are often based on real life experiences and allow the audience to get to know more about them. I was inspired to use this style of font after analysing Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert for her album 'English rain' due to the fact that the writing appeared more feminine because of the way it curved and looked neatly written which implied that the artist had taken the time herself to write the BLAH herself. I feel as though my choice of typography promotes my artist as being feminine and the advert and being more personal to her which will appeal to the audience who may feel as though she has written her songs herself and indie artists often base their music on real life experiences, therefore the audience will feel like they are going to get to know more about her through listening to her music.
The style of language that I have used on the advert is mainly quite informative, for example, the words 'out now' will clearly tell the audience that the album is currently available to buy which may encourage them to search for the album is shops or online if they want to buy it. The reason I decided upon 'out now' instead of making up a date was because these words imply that the audience do not have to wait any longer, which is beneficial to the artist due to the fact that in time, the audience may forget about the release of the album which could lead to a decline in sales. I also used persuasive language in order to try to encourage the audience to buy the album, for example, I have included a positive review of the album at the bottom of the advert due to the fact that an audience can sometimes be influenced by public opinion and a bad review may discourage an audience from buying an album because they will not want to feel as though they are wasting their money. This is arguably conventional to the music genre as a whole due to the fact that the industry will want to make as much money as it possibly can, which can only be done if they have an audience who wants to buy what they have to sell, which in this case is the music. A record label will feel less inclined to work with an artist who is not very successful and is less likely to make them a profit. A positive review is also conventional due to the fact that the praise of an album can act as an ego boost for an artist who is always at risk of failure in this large and ever changing industry, and they will want to show the audience what other people think about the product due to the fact that some people make decisions based on the opinions of other people. I feel as though the language that I have used on my advert promotes the artist effectively because the audience are made aware of all of the key information regarding the release of the album which has the potential to create more exposure for the artist. This will also appeal to the target audience because those who want to buy the album will know when they can and what songs are on the album, which, if they like those songs will make them more inclined to want to buy the entire album.

Overall, I feel as though my magazine advert is conventional to the indie genre which is purposeful due to the fact that I wanted the advert to be recognisable within the indie genre. I wanted the colours and image to represent the type of music that the audience can expect to hear on the album, for example, the continuous use of the colours blue and grey could imply sadness which will help me to give the album more of an emotional feel and give the audience the impression that the songs are going to have a deeper meaning to them which may cause them to feel more inclined to want to watch the music video for the song due to the fact that these videos often show the audience what the message behind the lyrics are, and they make the song more interesting for them to listen to because they have visuals that they can connect the lyrics to. Furthermore, I think that through the use of a close up image the advert is made to feel more personal to the artist due to the fact that the audience can clearly see what she looks like and how she is feeling. I also feel as though the image also looks more realistic due to the fact that she does not look staged but like she has been caught of guard. The use of the colours black and white help to represent the artist as being more of an emotional person due to the fact that they give an old fashioned feel to the advert, like she is sharing a memory with them which is conventional to the indie genre due to the fact that indie is often perceived as being vintage and as not fitting into the mainstream. The audience will be more inclined to want to listen to her music again if they feel as though they can relate to the experiences that she is singing about.

In conclusion, I wanted my magazine advert to be easily recognisable as part of the indie genre of music, therefore I feel as though most of the conventions that I have included in my advert conform to the indie genre, for example, the use of the colours black and white are often associated with the past, which is conventional to the indie genre because it is often perceived as being old fashioned and as not fitting into the mainstream. This will also give the audience the impression that they can expect the album to include emotional and narrative based songs because indie artists usually sing about past experiences that are most memorable to them and that allow the audience to get to know more about them which the audience may prefer due to the fact that they will want to know more about their favourite artists in order to feel closer to their favourite artists and to be able to see them as more realistic.
I feel that the colour blue for the font further suggests that her songs will be emotional because the colour blue often connotes the idea of sadness and the fact that most of the font is blue implies that the lyrics of her songs will have a deeper meaning to them, which is conventional because indie artists often write their own music themselves. Also, the feminine looking styles of writing and the close up of the artist help me to make the advert feel more personal to the artist which is conventional in the sense that the indie genre is known for being realistic and relatable due to the fact that indie artists often base their music on real life experiences that they have been through. The use of a close up of the artist will appeal to the target audience because they will have a clear view of what the artist looks like and how she is feeling which is beneficial to them due to the fact that as an audience they will want to feel closer to the artist by getting to know more about her through her music, this is especially so in the indie genre which is often perceived as being more personal because indie artists write their own music which is often based on real life experiences that the audience will be able to relate to. Furthermore, by including written information on the advert, including the release date of the album that is being promoted, the audience will be made aware of when they will be able to buy the album which could appeal to them because they may begin to save up some money in order to buy the album. For example, the album can be bought for a special occasion, such as Christmas, where they can buy the album as a present for themselves or for someone else. Furthermore, my magazine advert clearly includes all of the key information regarding the artist and the release of her album, for example, the name of the artist, the name of the album and the release date of the album which I feel is the most important information that the audience will need to know in the build up to the release of the album so that they can then go and buy the album when it is being sold, which has the potential to result in more sales for the artist when the album is released because more people will have saved up the money to buy it. Furthermore, the audience may look up the individual songs mentioned on the advert on YouTube where they will be able to watch the music videos for the songs and they can decide whether or not they like her music, if they do there is the possibility that they will recommend the music to other people which may help to expose the artist and her music.
The main struggle that I faced when using Photoshop was ensuring that the written information on the advert could be seen over the image of the artist which I realised depended on the brightness of the image. After experimenting with the colours, I decided to give my advert a black and white theme to it rather than keeping the image in colour like I had planned to do due to the fact that these are more solid colours and all other colours can be seen over the top of them, therefore I had more choice of the colour font I could use. Furthermore, I also struggled with finding a font that I felt complimented the advert, however, in order to overcome this struggle I had to go onto the website 'dafont' to download different types of fonts that I felt were more conventional to the indie genre such as typewriter and handwritten which were styles that I was inspired to use after analysing Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert for her album 'English rain' as I felt that these styles helped her advert to appear more vintage and personal which is conventional as the indie genre is often perceived as being more old fashioned, and indie artists are known for writing their own music which is based on real life experiences.