Magazine advert

Individual Magazine Advert

Having a music advert is essential for a music artist in advertising a new album of theirs. It can also be used to advetise upcoming concerts. It is important as with no real advertising, not many people would know that an artist has a new album coming out and they want people to buy their album so that they make money, so for this to happen they must at least make people aware of it and advetising in a magazine is one way in which they can do so. Many people can see it and ask themselves more about the album and is the advert is appealing enough it will make the viewer want to go and buy the album. To create our own magazine adverts, we used photoshop CS6, an app with lots of editing tools which enables us to make our pictures and font attractive and also stand out in high quality. We came up with our ideas for our individual music adverts by researching genre conventions and what had previously been successful by indie artists, for example Ed Sheeran and also went to various locations to take photos and find the best which we felt personally represented our artist. 

In terms of colours, there arent that many in the picture besides the actual image, I used black and white font not only because it is conventional to the indie genre as many videos have been shot in black and white by indie artists, for example Hozier - Take me to church, but also it represents the artist, black to show his troubled emotion and dark feelings, further shown by the black clothes he is wearing and also white font, to show deep down he is an innocent person, which connects the audience with the artist as they feel sympathty for him, he is an innocent man going through dark times.

Many conventions of the genre are present in this advert, one being that the artist is holding and playing his guitar. The guitar is the main instrument of the indie genre and many artists of the genre are seen playing or holding it in their music videos, for example Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher and Bob Dylan. The artist is also wearing normal casual clothing, which many other indie artists do, they won't wear flashy clothes or jewellery to show off like a hip-hop artist would, they seem down to earth and wear any clothes that you might wear yourself. The artist is also in a rural location, playing his guitar and looking across a lake. Indie artists tend to prefer being here as it is true to them and where they come from, for example, Hozier - Take me to church is set around villages and a log fire. Indie artists are never seen playing in an extravagant location because they aren't known to brag, they want to fit in with their audience and act as if they are on their level and one of them and my artist does this by being in a forest, somewhere that many people live by and can freely walk to any time they wish. 

The image used is of the artist sat down playing his guitar looking across a lake. This has many connotations, one being that he is a troubled character (supported by the black typography and his clothing and loneliness) and that he wants to get away from everything and lakes are considered peaceful places, so he has decided to come here to be alone and do what he loves, play music. Here he is in his own company and can forget about all his problems and just sit and chill doing what he loves. Also, a person looking at lakes is meant to connote they are reflecting upon something, which shows that the songs of the album will mainly feature songs about the artists past and what is hurting him. The title "Rock Bottom" also links with the picture to show he has nothing left, not even a house to sit in (supported by our music video narrative) and that all he has is his guitar, his prize possession. Another image used in the advert which is not relevant to connotations is the music label that the album is being produced from, as this is vital information as it is included on all magazine adverts and shows who the artist is signed up with. 

The typography included is in black and white font, which is conventional to indie as many videos of the genre are shot in black and white. The artists name is in big and the letter "N" is used once but in two words, John and Spencer, going through a gap in the middle of both words to add a cool effect. It then shows the album title in big bold letters, which is important as the title is essential information as potential customers will want to know what exactly they might be buying. It is neatly organised in a vertical fashion down the page, then listing three songs that appear on the album, giving the audience a sneak peak of what they will hear when they buy it. This is important as if a popular song is featured in an advert, it may tempt potential customers to buy it as they know it is a well known song. Another piece of vital information given in typography is the release date and without providing it potential customers would be confused and not know when the album comes out. 

The language used features reviews from reputable sources. They are from Daily Maily, AllMusic and Rolling Stone, all well known critics who all give the album 5 stars and postive comments. The comments feature "Amazing", "Album of the year" and "Breathtaking". This is important to have, as potential customers will not only be drawn in to the fact that they album is rated so highly but also where these reviews come from, they are all well known sources who would have reviewed countless albums over many years, so fans will know for a fact if this album is receiving 5 stars from them, then it must be something worth buying and listening to.

I did find difficulties however when using photoshop. Images were hard to cut and I often ended up removing more of the image background than I wanted and had to undo my steps. I noticed that zooming in when using the cutting tool helped more and I was able to cut more accurately and avoid bulging and unrealistic edges on imported images. 

One strength I had when using photoshop was when implanting text on the advert, I found that I had a seemingly endless supply of fonts to choose from and many sizes could be chosen, so I was definitely not limited when it came to finding which type of font best suited my advert.

Ed Sheeran is an indie artist I have definitely taken inspiration from, he is the most successful indie artist in the world and relates to his audience by coming across as down to earth, I show this by being in a rural location and wearing casual clothing. He also is seen in his videos a lot with his guitar, just like our artist is in my music advert.

I believe that my advert conforms to many indie genre conventions, through iconography and setting and costume. I believe it appeals to our young target audience, as younger people like to feel free and we can see that the artist is free and has escaped from reality and is in his own company. Creating this magazine advert will help promote our artists album as it will raise more awareness around it and create more sales for the artist as it is getting more attention. It also comes as a sneak peak and potential customers seeing this will want to view more and know more about the artist.