Magazine Advert Analysis - Miss Geogiou **

A magazine album advert is the advertisement of an artists album. The purpose of this is to promote the album through synergy e.g magazines to create more marketing. This may even form more support from other companies that could push the sales further for the album.The use of this allows the artist to showcase who they are and introduce themselves to a wider audience through the readers of the magazine as well as the target audience. Overall it produces more advertisement for the artist because they have more ways promoting themselves. The two adverts I will be analysing are for the artists Birdy & Lana Del Rey.   

Birdy

The first artist's magazine album advert I will be analysing is my chosen artist for my music video, Birdy. 
The artist is represented as simplistic through the use of dull colours in her costume and what she's wearing looks ordinary. This is conventional to the indie genre as indie artists often portray themselves as "normal" which makes them relatable to the audience. Also, it promotes the artist as we see her through a long shot which shows us her whole body which conveys her as exposing herself to the audience, so it gives an image of her saying " This is me ". In addition to her costume, the red jumper connotes love and passion, which are generally the themes in her music. However, the red jumper could connote her as being in danger as red usually symbolises danger, this links in with her themes of love and how they could sometimes be intense and dangerous. Moreover, her pink skirt represents her as innocent, girly and sensitive as pink is usually associated with girly girls who have these traits. Also the pink skirt connotes her as being friendly and approachable with a warmth and softness because it's not a dark colour. The setting of the advert looks to be an old room due to the mould on the green wall and dark flooring. This portrays her as old fashioned even though she is young, so it makes her stand out from other artists. Also, the use of a house makes her relatable to the audience as it does not look glamorous and expensive as celebrities homes should look like, which conveys her as ordinary. There are no signs of voyeuristic treatment to Birdy in this advert, this is because she is wearing a jumper over a long shirt dress up to her knees. This represents her as mature and lady like due to her posture and chose of costume, therefore portrays the indie genre, as artists in this genre usually are covered up and not seen in revealing clothes like pop artists. Birdy has an eye covered by her hair in the advert, this shows only half her face and creates a sense of enigma. The use of this could convey her as being mysterious and slowly coming out which is convenient as this is her debuting magazine advert. The colour scheme for the magazine advert is a mouldy green, dark brown, white and beige which is seen throughout. These colours are associated with dullness, ordinariness and nature. This portrays her as natural and ordinary which is conventional to the indie genre because they rely on realism to convey what's going on or happened in their life so that the audience can relate to them. Furthermore, the colours connote agony and grief because of the darkness to them, which represents her as an emotional person who may be grieving especially through her facial expressions being idle. 
The way in which the magazine advert is laid out is the writing is aligned to the left, whilst she is positioned on the right. This keeps the magazine neutral as we see both things on an equal level, so she is seen but also not focused on. This is because indie artists don't really care for the stardom fame and being in the public eye because they're usually introverts and keep themselves to themselves. However, Birdy keeps it neutral so that the audience do see who she is, but the focus is not all on her. When it comes to typography, like the other elements it is quite dull. The big font at the top states her name is capitals in a font that looks quite old fashioned, in the colour that's off white, portrays her as unique. This is because you'd expect to see bright colours and vibrancy in her advert due to her age of 19, however she keeps it simple and dim which makes her stand out from other artists her age. The use of this capitalised typography, illustrates her name and makes the reader aware of who she is through the size but not the colour. Again, making her stand out from artists because of the use of colour not standing out, implying her music does not belong to the mainstream world. Another typography "The Debut Album 'Birdy' Out now' is coloured the same as the title, in an off white colour. The purpose of this is to connect the two together and further promote her as an artist because it is her debut album. Even though it is smaller than the title, the reader can still establish the statement and recognise clearly that it is her debut album, which may intrigue them to check her out due to the use of colours standing out from the rest of the typography. In reference to the rest of the typography, they are in a simple font in the colour white for example, "Tuesday 11 September". The purpose of this is to distinguish the important details written and also to promote her live performance and website. The use of the white typography could connote her as being pure which links in with her debuting as a new artist, which draws readers attention with no adjectives introducing her because she's allowing them to make their own judgement of her music if they come to her tour. This may create a relationship between her and the audience as it conveys her as a type to not judge a book by its cover, which some may like about her and make them engage with her music. 
The style of language is straightforward and informative in the Birdy magazine advert, having no adjectives to describe the artist and her debut album. The reason to this is because it gives the audience the information they need without looking "cheesy". Also, because the language is clear and informative, it promotes the artist's concert and album because it has the details about them on it and nothing else but her name. By not having any adjectives describe Birdy but just have her name on the magazine advert, it creates enigma as the audience do not get informed any information about her but her name, album and concert. Therefore, this promotes the artist due to the mystery created around the debuting artist, as the audience will be intrigued to find out more about her since the advert doesn't give much away. Also, it conforms the convention of the indie genre of relying on realism instead of escapism to promote the artist. This is because it gives the impression that the artist just wants to be real with the audience by having her name as the only information there and image of her. Therefore, portraying realism as we see her as ordinary through the language used and image which doesn't have any extravagance to it, and just shows her. This could portray her as genuine, authentic and not stuck up, as she showcases her self without boasting her self up, which could make the audience admire her because she goes against the stereotype of celebrities being 'up themselves'.

The ways in which the advert promotes the indie music genre is through the use of costume, colours and setting. In summary, the costumes promotes the indie genre as it is quirky, tedious and simplistic which conveys the indie genre due to artists looking ordinary because they want the audience to be able to relate to them. Additionally the colour scheme is quite dark and shallow through the use of setting, which conveys the colours mouldy green, brown and cream. The use for this promotes the genre as indie genres are expected to be located in greenery, streets or houses to convey the realism through these locations so the audience can relate to the artist. 
The advert promotes the artist through the use of typography, positioning and camera shots. The ways the typography promotes the artist is evident through the capital title stating her name 'birdy' and the writing stating that it is her debut album. The use of this promotes the artist because it stands out from the other writing through different colours and also the title is at the top aligned next to her head which emphasises who she is. Furthermore, it promotes the artist through her positioning and camera shot. This is evident as we see a long shot of Birdy positioned on the right next to the typography. The long shot shows her from head to toe which allows readers to see her fully and convey that she has nothing to hide. 
The ways in which the advert attracts to the audience is through the use of typography and artists body language. The typography attracts the audience as it stands out from the setting and her name is seen in a large, bold font which attracts the audience to keep her name in their minds. Also, her body language attracts the audience because she is stood still and her hair is covering half her face. The use of this creates enigma due to her not posing and also the half face implies there more to come from her which makes the audience intrigued in her and want to listen to her to understand more about her.

Lana Del Rey

The second magazine advert that I'm going to be analysing is Lana Del Rey's tour poster. I chose Lana Del Rey to analyse because of her similarities with Birdy in the themes of love in their music, but also because she too belongs to the Indie genre. Unlike Birdy, Lana Del Rey is represented as glamorous and simplistic with through her costume and make up. Lana is seen wearing a cream plain shirt, reddish lipstick and hoop ear rings in the advert, which shows that Lana takes pride in her appearance. This is different to Birdy as she is seen with minimal make up on and no jewellery. It could be argued that this is because both are not the same age and Lana is older and socially allowed to wear make up, where as Birdy is seen as young and young girls are encouraged not to wear as much make up. Another representation on Lana is that she is powerful, through the use of cinematography. A slight low angle is evident showing Lana standing and looking straight into the camera. The use of this portrays her as powerful, confident and implies that she is dominant in her genre or better than her competition. Also, she is represented as aggressive and fierce through her reddish lipstick and posture. The reddish lipstick connotes her as passionate and involved in relationships, but like Birdy's advert it could also connote her as dangerous or the relationships she encounters are dangerous. The similarity between Lana and Birdy using red in their adverts, conveys their music well as they both usually have themes of love and relationships. Lana is seen in an outdoor environment as we see a blue sky and trees behind her in the advert. The use of the blue sky connotes peacefulness, serenity and happiness, and could imply that she feels happy when she is on the road and performing the fans, which may help build a relationship between her and the audience. The colours used in this advert are pink, white, blue and black. The blue, red and white tones give an American feel to the poster, especially the vintage like filter used. This illustrates her as proud to be an American and also shows that is quite old fashioned through the filter. This is similar to Birdy's poster, but instead of using costume to show she's old fashioned, Lana uses the colours in the font and filter. Moreover, the American theme through the colours mirrors the type of music videos that are included in the Born To Die album (the poster is the same image as the album), for example in National Anthem music video she plays the first lady. The choice of image is the same image of her Born To Die album. The purpose of this is to further promote the album more so it gets more sales and it also could suggest that she is consistent as she's repeating the imagery of her album on her post.

The lay out of the poster is that everything is positioned in the middle except her signature. The title in white blocked capitals saying Lana Del Rey is placed above the image of her, where as the date, tour name and essential details (website and record labels), are placed at the bottom of the advert and are smaller. The purpose of having her name as the largest typography, is so that the audience do not forget her name due to it standing out. Also the large font accompanies the image of Lana as it establishes that is who she is. In contrast to Birdy's advert where she kept her layout neutral, Lana's layout purpose is to make sure that the audience know that she is as a confident powerful woman in the music industry. All of the typography are different colours; her name is in white, the date is in blue, the tour name is reddish/pink and the rest of typography is black. The use of the typography being different colours, is to further present the american theme and covey Lana as patriotic. The bright coloured typography are seen more as important because they tell the audience who she is, when the tour is and what it is called. This makes the audience want to further investigate about the tour. The rest of the typography is black, one that stands out is her signature. The use of having her signature on the advert, is to give a personal feel to the poster which makes the audience feel that she cares about them. Also, the signature on the poster gives a private vibe to her tour poster and suggests that if the audience go to her shows, they'll get to see the "real" her, making her tour seem intimate between her and her fans. The style of language is simplistic and straightforward, like Birdy's advert it does not include exciting adjectives to describe the poster. This shows that she's not wasting time and if people want to see the real her, they are welcomed to her "Open Road Tour". The tour name itself gives connotations of a journey, and the word open could suggest that she is allowing the audience to join her in her journey, which helps build a relationship between the artist and audience as they feel like Lana can be herself through her music to them. Also, the vagueness from the simplistic language could be argued to be used so that is doesn't take the attention away from the artist, as the text is dull, therefore making the image of the artist more important. This is conventional to the indie genre, as indie artists use their music to express themselves and share their personal experiences, so by having the language as straightforward, it makes the audience intrigued about her and want to find out more about her.

The ways in which the advert promotes the indie genre, is through the pastel colours used in the colours and the filter. These elements give a softness and and purity atmosphere to the advert. Also the colour scheme portraying the american theme portrays the indie genre, as artists from this genre do like to show wants important to them, which in this case Lana is patriotic.

The advert promotes the artist in many ways, especially through typography and positioning. Firstly, the typography promotes the artist because it shows her name off twice (in the title and her signature), this advertises her because it informs the artist what her name is so that they don't forget. Secondly, it promotes her though positioning as she is seen through a mid shot in the centre where she is taking up majority of the space. This reinforces the labels of her being powerful, dominant and confident, and highlights her importance so that the audience don't forget what she looks like.
The ways in which the advert attracts the audience is through positioning, lighting and typography. The positioning of Lana being in the middle makes her centre of attention which in fact draws the audiences attention and see her face clearly so they wont forget it. Also, the typography attracts the audience because it states her name in bold which could portray her as fearless and confident as she's putting herself out there. The use of high key lighting shows the artist clearly so that the audience see her fully and establish who she is. The high key lighting can can portray her as successful and good, this appeals to the audience as they see her as a role model since the high key lighting puts her on pedestal to show her off.

This research will assist me when planning my magazine advert. This is because I've fully acknowledged what is conventional for a magazine advert and why some of the elements are used, for example in both adverts, Large typography of their names were positioned at the top. I learned that the use of this is to draw the audiences attention to the artist and help accompany the image of them by further promoting their name.  An inspiration I may consider taking from this research, is using a mid shot and a long shot to showcase my indie artist. I learned that from the mid shot in the Lana Del Rey advert, is that the mid shot showcases the artists posture and facial expressions, and a long shot shows the artist from head to toe as seen in the Birdy advert shows the audience the whole of the artist. I've also learned that costume is vital when creating a magazine advert. This is because the costume can connote the artists as many things and foreshadow what the artists music is about e.g Birdy wearing a red jumper connotes her love themed music. When making my advert, I will consider wisely what my artist will wear and how it will portray the song as well as the indie genre Another thing I'll take on board when creating my magazine advert, is having my artists name and the most important details e.g album name as the same colour, creating more importance to them so that the audience remember who the artist is and the album name to create more sales. Overall, when planning my magazine advert I will look back on this post and maybe online to gather more inspirations so that my advert will be conventional to the indie genre.