Planning Individual Magazine Advert - Miss Georgiou*

A magazine advert is important for an artist as it is a form of synergy which further promotes the artist to a wider audience. Also, the magazine advert contains information that tells the reader why they should buy it and what is included in the album. A magazine advert is important when presenting an artist as well as promoting them, as it showcases their personality and style through the typography, colour and language used etc. Magazine adverts are effective as it gives the artist another platform for them to promote themselves, especially when their debuting as it attracts a wider audience, who will be intrigued to see what the artist is about. Therefore, having a magazine advert further promotes the artist and their albums which increases their sales and gains them more profit. I will be creating a magazine advert and it'll be conveying the indie genre conventions since I am making a indie music video. Also, having a magazine advert for my artist is essential as the target audience is 17-25 year olds and they are prone to buy magazines, so the use of a magazine advert will promote my artist to her audience. Planning is important in order to create an effective magazine advert, as it gives you an idea on what to include your product and also outlines the problems that you wouldn't be able to do if you wasn't to plan. Planning the magazine advert will act as a guide and also give me inspirations to include in my final advert, so that it is conventional and successful as possible. 

My magazine advert will be for my artist, Sharna Rae and it will be promoting her debut album 'Illuminate' that features the hit song 'Wings' which is a Birdy song. Firstly, the layout and design of the magazine includes the artist walking away to the right, holding her guitar through a field. The typography of her name and the single is aligned to the left, whereas the album title is positioned at the bottom in the centre of the grass below the artist. I took this inspiration from the Birdy magazine advert, as the layout was similar by having the artist aligned to the right and the typography on the left. The artist will be shot from a long shot which will show her from head to toe and the setting that she's in e.g field. Long shots are conventional to the indie genre as they help establish the setting that the artist is in and portray the narrative from a full frame. So, I decided that a long shot will be essential to showcase the artist as the audience will be able to see her facial expressions and body language as well as the setting that will disclose the content of the album. The use of this particular element of cinematography within my advert will be essential when appealing to my target audience because it shows the artist fully, and displays her name in bold which grabs the audiences attention. Therefore, the layout and design on my magazine advert will appeal to the audience as they can see the artist clearly on the right, and the typography aligned to the left which keeps the magazine neutral and portrays the artist as neutral which the audience may admire about her. This gives them the impression that the artist is not fussed about fame but does want to get her music across, as the unbiased layout conveys her at the same level as the typography, implying that she's all about the music and is genuine. This may appeal to the audience, as they will feel like she is genuine and not big headed through the fair layout, making them admire her honesty and want to listen to her music as they believe she is real. 

My chosen image is of the artist walking whilst holding her guitar in a field. The reason why I chose this, is because the setting of a field connotes well being and prosperity which reflects part of the debut single "wings" by portraying the artist as free and independent. I was inspired by Gabrielle Aplin's digipak, to have the image of the artist walking away, as in her digipak there's an image of her holding balloons and walking along a beach. This inspired me to have the image of my artist walking, as it portrays her as being on a journey which intrigues the audience to figure out where she's going. Also It portrays her as determined and focus on herself, as she's focused on where she's going not caring about her surroundings.   The use of this setting helps convey the single and album title "Illuminate" as the artist is alone which could suggest she's in the spot light and is illuminated. Also the field shows her as free and having "wings" because of the wide space she's in suggests that she is not restricted and is able to do what she likes. This foreshadows the album as being quite heartfelt, and personal as the images include the artist and the setting connotes what may be included in the album e.g a sense of being restricted and finally being free. Furthermore, this choice of image allows the showcase the artist and her talent which promotes her as being extra talented. This is because we can see her from a long shot holding the iconography; guitar which displays that she is not only talented vocally but instrumentally too. The use of this helps the audience gain more knowledge about the artist on what she can do other than sing, so that they can get to know her as an artist. This will appeal to the audience as they get to see what else she can do, which may make them feel like they know her more in depth. The reason why I've chosen the elements of setting and iconography to be included in the magazine advert, is because it foreshadows what setting and iconography will be included in the music video. This creates a link between the debut music video of "Wings" because within my music video, the artist will be seen in a field playing a guitar, therefore the use of this showcases these elements within the magazine advert and gives the audience a tease of what is going to be included in the video. Appealing to the audience, this creates suspense and buzz around the album, as the audience discuss what they think will be included in the album and seen in the music video due to the clues given through the magazine advert. 

The colours that are included in my magazine advert are: Green, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Red and Black. Firstly, the colour green is seen through the grass in the field and also the bush that'll have the typography stating the debut single in it. The colour green connotes nature and growth as well as harmony and freshness which could suggest that the artist is growing up from a teenager to an adult which is a natural process. The green connotes freshness and could symbolise how the artist is fresh to the music industry and debuting her self to the world, therefore representing herself as something new and interesting which grabs the audiences attention.  Also, the green colour could imply that the album will convey themes that are natural and relatable to the audience e.g relationships, because the colour is associated with naturalness, creating a relationship between the artist and the audience due to the nature that is portrayed within in the album and music video. Also, the colour is conventional to the indie genre, especially through the field setting because indie music videos are based on realism, and having naturalistic settings that help convey this and makes the audience be able to relate to what is going on within the video. The typography of the artist name (Sharna Rae) will be in the colour orange. Orange connotes warmth, positivity and happiness which represents the artist as happy through the vibrancy given from the colour. Also, the purpose of having orange as the colour of the artist name is to grab the audiences attention and showcase her name so that it'll be remembered. The orange foreshadows the themes of fun and happiness being included in the album, which may appeal to the target audience of 17 - 25 year old as they're prone to be having fun and experiencing things at this stage of their lives. Next, the colour blue will be seen through the sky as the magazine advert will be shot during the day. Blue connotes tranquillity and peacefulness which represents the artist as calm and content with where she's at. However, blue could also connote sadness as it is the colour that is associated with tears, this implies that there could be some sense of sadness within the album. Which there is in the music video for the single Wings, as it's about a complicated relationship that the artist is in, showcasing her feelings of sadness. In relation to colour, the next colour that will be evident in my magazine advert is yellow. Yellow will be seen through the typography; wings and Illuminate. These are two important words as wings is the name of the single that I will be making a music video to, and Illuminate is the album title for the artist, Sharna Rae. The reason why I chose the colour yellow for these two particular typography is because yellow connotes brightness, enlightenment and happiness due to its bright colour and this represents the album title Illuminate well as yellow acts like a spotlight because it is an intense colour. Furthermore, the colour yellow will represent the artist as being in the spotlight and coming out to the world which appeals to the audience as the vivid colour attracts their attention quickly. It also foreshadows that there is going to be some sense of happiness and joy within in the album which gives more hints to the audience on what is to be included in the album. Contrasting the colour yellow, will be the colour black which will be seen in the typography " Featuring no.1 single" and " Debut Album". The purpose of having black within the typography is so that it makes the rest of typography stand out. However, black can also stand out from my magazine advert as it is the only dark colour that is apparent. Black connotes darkness, mystery and power. These connotations will be apparent within my music video, as the relationship is complicated and the black will foreshadow this as being dark. Also, enigma is created through the black as it makes the audience wonder what darkness is included within the album and makes them want to buy it to find out. Lastly, the colour red will be evident within my magazine advert. Red will be seen through mise en scene make up, of the lipstick that the artist is wearing in the magazine advert. Red connotes love, passion and danger which these connotations will be seen in the music video as the theme is relationships. The red lipstick will help represent the artist as feminine as girls usually wear lipstick to look glamorous. However, the connotation of danger from the colour red will symbolise how love is intense and consuming since her relationship is not a stable one. The use of red will appeal to the audience as they know what red is associated with and it'll make them understand more of whats included in the album e.g red associated with love, which foreshadows a relationship in the album.

Moving onto typography, there will be 2 different types. Firstly, the typography that says "Sharna Rae" which is the artists name will be in a bold capitalised font in the colour orange and will be positioned at the top of the magazine advert. The reason why this particular typography will be in this font is because I think it is the most important as it states the artist's name which the audience need to know first. I was inspired by other indie artist's such as Birdy and Lana Del Rey to have a large font at the top that says the artist name. I think this is vital for indie artists as most of them are usually unknown, so the use of this helps give the audience the name of the artist so that they know who's music belongs to who. I decided to make this particular font just simple and bold and not quirky as some indie artist may have, because like Lana Del Rey's magazine advert, I just want to get her name straight across without no distractions so that it is clear to the audience who my artist is. The typography is subversive for not having a quirky font or personalised font as the name, however it is conventional to the indie genre as to being positioned at the top and being clear on what is being said. The rest of the typography of my magazine advert will be different to the artist's name, by having a smaller sized font which will be in the colours black and yellow. The typography 'Featuring no.1 single" will be black and "wings" will be yellow. Both will be the same font that will be simple and in lower case and it will be seen in the green bush. The typography "Debut album" and "Illuminate" will be same but instead it'll be capitalised. I chose this because I think the album name is more important than the single as the audience need to know the album name more. However, both wings and illuminate will be in yellow which appeals to the audience due to the brightness of the colour. The font for these two typography will be simplistic, as I believe the more straightforward it is the better as Indie artists don't rely on escapism but on realism. Realism will be seen through the fonts through their condenses, whereas pop artists will have flamboyant fonts to appeal their audience to gain escapism.  

The style of language in my magazine advert will be like the typography, dull and simplistic. This is because I believe the straight forwardness will be understandable for the target audience of 17-25 and is not time consuming to read and gets straight to the point. The language used are "Featuring no. 1 single" and "debut album". This state the facts about the album and single including and tells the audience exactly what they need to know without over exaggerating it. This links with the ideology of the indie genre relying on realism, except from escapism like pop does as it is plain and straightforward and gets the message across easily. Also, the style of language promotes the artist and the album well as it states that its her debut album, which shows that she is a new artist and this makes the audience intrigued to know what she is about. Also, the language "Featuring No.1 single", clearly states the most successful song that is in the album, and still makes it sound outstanding without using adjectives. This is because it clearly states that it's hit number one in the charts, and through this vagueness, it appeals to the target audience as they tend to be the ones to follow the trends or what's popular in music. The style of language will help build a relationship between the audience and artist, as they will feel the artist is not trying to boost her self up, and is just being honest which connotes her as genuine. Also, the vagueness of this style of language created enigma within the magazine advert, as it doesn't give much away and simply states facts which the audience may take on board and feel intrigued to listen to the album to find out more about it. 

Conventions of the indie genre is apparent in my magazine advert. Firstly, the convention of having an acoustic guitar in the indie genre is evident in my magazine advert. This is seen as the artist is holding the guitar whilst walking away in the field. This is conventional to the indie genre, as artist usually showcase their instrument to show they are instrumentally talented and not only vocally. Also, an acoustic guitar especially is a conventional instrument to the indie genre as it connotes melodic, harmonious and a sweet sounding tone which it does give. Therefore, having a guitar present in my magazine advert is conventional to the indie genre, as there usually is some type of performance through an instrument that artists use to convey their emotions and the narrative. Another convention that I have used in my magazine advert is that it'll be shot in natural lighting so that is shows the artist in a realistic setting. The use of natural lighting is conventional to the indie genre as it further illustrates realism and shows the activities that are going on in their natural form. The natural lighting will portray my artist as honest and genuine as it gives an impression of her not hiding herself from the audience and being true to them. This appeals to the audience as they'll feel like the artist is being genuine with what she's displaying and also it shows her in a recognisable way as they can relate to the setting that she's in, which creates a relationship between the artist and the audience. Another convention that I have included in my magazine advert is a long shot through the use of cinematography. The long shot is used to show the artist from head to toe and the setting that she's in e.g field. The field connotes a sense of freedom and space which could foreshadow the narrative within the wings music video, as it is about a struggling relationship that the artist is in and wants to be open with. This is conventional to the indie genre, as long shots help establish what setting the artist is in and also convey the narrative as well. The use of my long shot will appeal to the audience as they will feel once again, that the artist is being open and honest about her self since we see her in a open environment. Also, the use of the long shot will help convey her body language and facial expressions which will be walking with a neutral face looking down. This suggests that the artist is going through a journey that may be hard but worth it to her, and it is personal since she has her guitar with her which is her personal instrument when conveying her feelings. I believe that my conventions will be clear for my audience, and it showcases the indie genre well because the elements are often used in the indie genre and they can gain knowledge on whats to be included in the album.

I found planning for my magazine advert useful in relation in taking pictures for my actual advert, as it has given me an idea of what i'm going to include and also how i'm going to apply this when using the software photoshop. Also, it's help me going in greater depth into certain elements and why they should be included in my magazine advert to make it conventional to the indie genre. In addition it has assisted me with a draft of what my magazine advert will look like, where the different elements will go e.g typography and it will work as a design that I will work with or even alter when making my actual magazine advert on photoshop. I feel more aware of the pictures that I need to take for my advert, as I know how it'll look like from my draft for example the artist being shot from a long shot and positioned to the right of the frame. The planning of magazine advert will help me direct the artist when telling her where to stand as it'll act as guide for me when doing the photoshoot. Therefore, I feel like i am more prepared for the editing of the magazine advert and the photoshoot for it, as the planning will be my guide when carrying out these events. Planning my individual magazine advert has been helpful, and I will use it in the final creation so that my magazine advert is conventional to the indie genre and promotes the artist.