Planning Magazine Advert - Miss Miller

Magazine adverts play an important role when contributing to the promotion of an artist's album as a wider range of audience will be made aware of the album and the artist which also helps the audience to identify the face of the artist. This is effective as it creates convergence dues to the fact different companies have come together which is beneficial for both the artist and their record labels as well as the magazine itself. I will be creating a magazine advert for my artist's album on Photoshop, which is effective as this tool is necessary in order to promote represent the artist and promote their album in a way the public would find appealing. In addition, magazine adverts also contribute to the promotion of an artist's album through the use of the close ups of the artist in order for the public to identify the artists face to their music. This can promote the artist and their new songs that they are releasing, or songs that they may be re-releasing. Our group will be creating our own magazine advert for our own artist to try and release their own song and to be appealing to our target audience. Below is my first draft.

When creating my first draft of a magazine advert I decided to emphasise and exaggerate the albums name, the artists name and also the song titles by putting them in the colour red in order to show the importance of what is in these colours and to bring forward the concept of the connotations of the colour red which can be both love/passion and death which shows how both elements are incorporated within the album and the music within it. In addition to this the image of the artist shows that her lips are in the colour red which shows a relation of the connotations of love/passion between the artist and her music as it could represent her being passionate about her music and the album that is being promoted within the magazine advert. I also included the colour black to emphasise the boldness making it stand out to the audience and makes it more eye catching and prominent. The colour black subverts the indie genre and follows the conventions of the rock genre more however, this causes the artist to become different and unique making them more interesting to the audience. Overall I have subverted to conventions of the indie genre with the colours as I wanted to create a statement through individuality and uniqueness in which the target audience can admire.

The typography used within my magazine advert consists of a handwritten quote of a song from the artist "I will love you til' the end of time". This is effective in building a personal relationship between the artist and the audience as it is almost as though the artist is quoting her lyrics to the audience personally by writing them this personal message on the album advertisement. Furthermore the artists name will be written in an italic style font as shown in my draft in order to build a relation of the connotation of the artists sophistication as well as the sophistication of her music.

The image I chose to use within my magazine advert draft is a central close up of the artist's face. This is effective as it causes her to become the main focus of the ad which keeps the audience from getting distracted from anything irrelevant to the artist and the album. Within the images the artist will also portray Lana's signature retro style by wearing a 70's hairstyle- shown in the image of a beehive- and also with her makeup look with added red lips to emphasise beauty and connotations of love and danger, linking further to the name of the album 'Born To Die'. 

The layout of my magazine advert is simple -simplicity is conventional to the indie genre. The advert only shows the artist and a blank background which is effective in highlighting her importance and the fact that she feels as though her image and music is what matters most. This links to the image of the artist looking straight down at the camera lense, which shows the power and confidence that she has in herself and her music.

The language within my magazine advert gets straight to the point as it is quite short and colloquial for example the release date is shortened and only the 'hit songs' of the album are quoted as opposed to the whole list. This is effective as it makes it easier for fans to read and remember without getting distracted or even bored by too much writing. Due to the fact that the most popular songs are covered it makes the album stronger by highlighting the artist's talent how well she has done through the success and popularism of the songs being stated.

I found this planning useful as the use of Photoshop will be helpful for me to experiment to make an eye catching advert for the audience and to be able to promote the artist. Also from this, our group will know what type of pictures to take of our artist as they are already planned which overall, makes the process quicker and more efficient. I feel as though I am more aware of the pictures I need to take for my advert and the idea that they would need to create a representation and conform in some way to the indie genre. In addition, I fundamentally have a visual aspect of what I want the advert to look like which gives me an idea of the image I want to portray of the artist to the audience. I want the audience to be able to relate to the artist therefore pictures of the artist will involve the audience and allow them to gain an understanding of the artist.