Individual Magazine Advert Analysis - Miss Georgiou

Magazine adverts can be very important in relation to the promotion of an artist's album/single. I have created an individual magazine album advert in order to seek attention from different media formats to ensure that the album has the recognition it deserves in order to become successful. By creating a magazine advert, it allows a further more mass audience to witness the advert and be aware of the artist's album release. This increases the sales of the artists album and also reaches out to intrigue and attract a different audience. 

There are many reasons as to why I have chosen to use particular aspects for my advert, mostly of which to ensure conventionality to the soul genre. Deciding how the elements of the advert are illustrated is important in attracting the target audience, as well as representing my artist in the appropriate and intended way.

There is a strong colour theme of black, white and red within my advert which not only complies with the genre of soul, but also connotes representations of my artist in which I want her to come across like. The black and white applied as a filter to the advert is very reflective and demonstrates how the artist is very reflective of the past. This gives the audience a glimpse as to what to find on the album and helps to infer how the songs included are based on her past and experiences that she has faced. Black and white, being very monotone in colour also releases a saddened atmosphere and represents the artist as a conventional soul artist for the content of the songs are based on negative experiences normally associated with love or heartbreak. The black and white helps to reinforce the fact that these experiences are in the past and that the negativity is also in the past with the experiences. I adapted this editing feature by altering the contrast by 70% and brightening the filter by 10%, meaning that the artist's features are more prominent and visible, ensuring she is the main focus when first laying eyes on the advert. There are red aspects within the advert which connote love and passion - illustrating the artist in a way that makes the audience appreciate their efforts in delivering material that is passionate and relatable. This is an attractive quality to an audience as they feel as if the artist is just a normal person like them, who goes through the same or similar experiences to any other person. Red lipstick worn by the artist in my advert is a classic look and is conventional to the genre of soul. It could also arguably suggest maturity and a more 'grown up' look that makes the artist appear more sophisticated. By using the colour on the lips whilst the rest of the image is black and white allows for a link to be created between the image and the text within the advert as there are other red aspects within that are not part of the image. I used a second layer on top of the image for the black and white filter and so used the rubber tool to erase the lips to demonstrate them being the only red feature in the image. I then enhanced the colouring of the red lips by changing the saturation to have a red tint. I did this so that all the red aspects would match to the same colour red, to coordinate together successfully. Having this red theme could also show how the artist has many stories to tell and experiences to share with the audience i relation to love and passion in particular. The red colouring being in contrast to the black and white, is used in my magazine advert to highlight and emphasise particular information within. For example, the artist's name is in white which connotes innocence and purity in relation to the artist, but next to the name is the album name '18' which is in red. This clearly indicates a separation between the artist's name and album name but also shows how the content within the album relates to the connotations of red such as love, passion and maybe even anger in some cases. Also having 'number 1' and 'Hometown Glory' in red helps to emphasise that these are important points to recognise within the advert. The last text that is on the advert is 'Out Now' which is also emphasised through the way it is coloured predominantly red with a white shadow (likewise with the album name). Being the last part of the advert that the audience would read, it needs to be memorable. By colouring it red, it highlights its importance and aids to linger the fact that the album is 'Out Now' for the audience to go and buy and ensures that they are more likely to go out and purchase it. The simplicity of the colouring also conforms to the soul genre as it doesn't distract attention away from the artist or from the information that is displayed within the advert. 

I have made important decisions within my advert to ensure that it conforms to the genre of soul in the most accurate way possible. For example, the image in which I have used is conventional to the soul genre as the artist isn't looking directly into the camera. This represents the artist as having insecurity within herself and a lack of confidence is also illustrated. This is conventional because soul artists tend to be less extravagant as opposed to artists from other genres such as pop. They tend to be less flashy and see themselves as more 'in the background' of the industry, however manage to achieve success due to this quality. Many people go through insecurity and a lacking of confidence including most, if not all of the target audience. This makes Amy more relatable to the audience and they can empathise with the way that she is being represented, also reassuring themselves that not just 'normal', less famous people that go through feelings such as this one, consequently making them feel better about their situation and feelings. Soul artists often write songs based on personal experiences that are very reflective of negative times in their life, making them emotive, but relatable. Having a close up image is symbolised the way that the artist is willing to be exposed in a motive to demonstrate their true emotions through the content of their material. The artist appears more genuine in this light and the close up nature of the image makes the content more personal to the audience. Having a close up means that the artist is willing to accept the flaws that they may have and/or feels that they want tot he artist to be more familiar with them. The black and white nature of the advert is a further convention that also helps to convey this exposed, relatable type of representation that is more explained in reference to the colours in which I have used for my advert. Typically conventional of the soul genre is having a simplistic advert, holding a limited amount of information within the content. The target audience for our artist, Amy, doesn't exceed the age of 35 - making the majority being the young generation. Younger people tend to be more lazy than older in relation to reading any sort of elaborated text. If something is more simpler, they are more likely to wait and read it as they know it won't take long and that they are able to remember it. Therefore, by having a simplistic advert not only complies with soul genre conventions, but also attracts the target audience in a way that will make people recognise and take notice of the advert more closely, ensuring the audience only acknowledge the information relevant to what they need such as when the album is out and what track my be featured on it.

The layout and design of my advert isn't complex, which matches the simplicity and chilled vibe of the advert. I have the image central so that the artist is the first thing that catches the eye of the audience and initially attracts them to the advert. This intrigues them into stopping and looking at the advert, taking care to read what is within. The first thing that the audience will read on the advert is the artist's name and then the album name which are placed next to each other at the top of the advert. This is where naturally we tend to look first and so this instantly familiarises the audience with who the advert is for and what it is promoting. The artist name and album, 'A M Y 18' does not however cause a distraction from the image of the artist as it doesn't interfere with the main focus of the image and only crosses over the artist's head. I have chosen to place the lasting information at the bottom such as the star rating reviews and what the album features on it. This acts as a way to intrigue the audience and promote the album in a attractive and successful way, also working like a climax to the 'OUT NOW' text featured as the very last thing on the advert. Making this central and at the bottom of the advert ensures that this is the last thing that will be read by the audience, meaning it is more likely to linger on their mind and leaves them reminded of the release of the album and the fact that they can get it now. This helps to make people more aware of the album and is more likely going to aid in increasing the number of purchases the album succeeds.

I have used different typography for different parts of the advert. For example, I have used a simple but classic style font of 'Times New Roman' for the artist's name, album name and 'OUT NOW'. This creates a link between the three aspects of the video, sending out the message that the album '18' by 'Amy' is in fact 'out now'. It also represents the artist in a way that makes them seem not too overcomplicated and complex, as well as the less extravagant appearance that they seem to have. The font is simple but leaves room for interpretation of the artist and so allows the audience to get the feeling of wanting to find out more on the artist as not much is given away. Then, by purchasing the album, they are able to learn more about the artist and the experiences that they have been through. For the mention of 'Hometown Glory' being included on the album, I have made this a different font ('Gadget') to create distinction and separation from the rest of the line in order to create emphasis on the name of the song. The advert describes the song for being the artist's 'number 1 debut single'  (which also stands out in the text from being coloured red, but uses the same font of 'Univers Condensed' as the sentence) and so by emphasising the song name, it creates familiarity with the audience. They are more likely to acknowledge and recognise the song, associating the success with the album and therefore making them want to purchase it. By promoting the album in a way that associates it with something already successful, ensures more sales as the audience believe that the album is likely to be successful too. This is attracting to the audience as it also creates interest within the advert, preventing it from being too simplistic to the extent where it is uninteresting an boring to look at/read. This general simplistic use of typography however, is conventional to the genre of soul as the artist is more elaborative and innovative which is demonstrated through their material, rather than their marketing. The audience feel more engaged and intrigued to find out who and what they are as an artist, seeking what uniqueness they provide to the industry. 

The language used throughout the advert is short and simplistic to match this simplistic soul genre style. For example, by keeping the reviews to uncommented ones, but as star ratings, this still proves the album to be successful and attracting to the audience however, doesn't mean that they have to read a lengthy review in order to find this. The star rating is a good way to create this effect as it allows for a visual and quick idea of how good the album is meant to be, especially when the ratings are from well known media sources, such as 'The Daily Telegraph' and 'Billboard' who are featured in my advert. This promotes the artist in an effective way as it shows it to be successful, consequently making it more attractive to the target audience, making them want to purchase the album.

When using photoshop I found it difficult at first to try and make the image black and white but change the colour of the lips to stay in colour. However, once changing around the layers and using the rubber tool, I found that I could complete the effect that I wanted to create. By zooming in on the image and also changing my brush size, I was able to rub out the black and white lips as accurately as possible, leaving a professional looking finish. The colour of the lips were slightly different to the colour of the red font features throughout. I wanted to ensure that all the reds were at a similar shade to improve the consistency within the advert and so I experimented with different colouring of the saturation, brightness and contrast in order to try and make the lip colour as close to the font colour as possible. Once exploring the different colour editing options available, I found a colour that coordinated with the font to an extent that I was satisfied with. I liked experimenting with the different fonts within Photoshop and the effects in which you can add to them. For example, on the artist's name and album name I added a black-based outer glow which made the name more evident and eye-catching within the advert. It gives the illusion that the text is slightly more forward in the advert, creating the same effect as a highlight would. This is important as it is the main promoting text that is features on the advert. 

I feel like the simplicity of my advert means that it conforms to the soul genre - the genre in which my artist is from. The room for interpretation of the artist is something that can be taken from a simple advert and allows personal interpretation from the audience. The audience also feel the need to find out more about the artist and the type of material in which they create, with the different experiences that they have faced. The representation of the artist as having a lack of self confidence and insecurity is also extremely conventional to the genre of soul as it links to the relatable nature of soul artists and also the negative feelings of which they base most of their material on. I therefore believe that this magazine album advert appeals to the target audience as the simplicity means that they are able to remember key information about the advert. In addition, they can feel empathetic towards the artist as they sing about experiences that audiences members would have likely been through such as heartbreak and insecurity.