Magazine Advert analyses

Magazine advert analyses

19/09/15

Magazine adverts are forms of promotion in order to persuade and inform the viewer of the specific product. Singers use magazine adverts to effectively promote their new albums or tour dates, the genre causes the advert to possess certain imagery, a pop singer may feature an array of colours, while a rock band may simply show black and white images.

I will be analysing some pop genre adverts in order to gain ideas for our advert, I will also search for common conventions within the advert so that we can then use them to be effective with our target audience of adolescents.

Coldplay

20/09/15

The camerawork used within the magazine advert is used purposely so that we a forced to memorise the faces of the artists, it is a promotional technique (Goodwin). It is a long shot because it makes the celebrities seem distant yet near, this is similar to Dyer's "present and non present" first paradox. The fact that the camera cuts off two members shows the viewer how they are not as important as the members whom are in plain sight, showing us that the member in the foreground is the most important.

All members are wearing black outfits which represent darkness as well as formality, their mixture of smart and casual clothing proves how ordinary they are, but the setting, which seems to look like a set of some kind, proves how extraordinary they are, which is Dyer's second theory. The lack of light at the bottom shows us how important the people are who possess it, connoting that the band are "hogging the spotlight".

The sans serif font shows us that the text is not very formal, continuing to give us both casual and smaert connotations, like the attire of the stars did. The band's title is in capital letters showing us that they are more important than any of the other pieces of text, as the rest is in lower case.

The reason for the band being at the top of the poster is because we, as viewers, naturally start at the top of a page and work our way down, with this advert we see the bandmembers first so that we remember what they look like. They take up one third of the page as well which showsthat they are not completely self centered due to their small gap. One other third is taken up by darkness which shows us how the band at the top is seperated from the business text at the bottom. Thus promoting their skill not their lust for fame and money.

Ed Sheeran

21/09/15

Maroon 5

Synergy (facial iconography)

22/09/15

Their album also includes no people on it, proving that they do not care for their image.

Camerawork

This is an unusual magazine advert as it does not feature any people on it which shows how the members of the group do not worry about their image and iconography, therefore rebelling against Dyer's star theory. The close-up on the pieces of paper is simply to let us see what is said on them, it forces us to read them as we have no other features to look at. This is a forceful promotion as we memorise the names of the songs that they have made. The close-up could also represent how close we get to the bands' personal life due to the lyrics of these songs.

Mise en scene

The props used are clearly pieces of paper with the names of their songs written upon them. The pieces of paper are in fact cut up maps which is purposely done in order to promote the song which is titled 'Maps'. They are sacttered everywhere, which could represent the mind of the band as they try to think of new songs. The lighting seems quite dull and mostly focuses on their main single 'Maps' which makes us look at that rather than anything else on the page. It is a somewhat promotional technique (Goodwin).

Typography

Though there are many different types of font, all are actually sans serif but range from smart to casual. The main writing that is situated around the picture looks much smarter due to the boldness and simplicity whereas the writing on the pieces of paper are scruffy and hand drawn which shows an aspect of relevance to a normal audience as we all have unique handwriting and relate to the simple fact that we all write things down (Dyer's ordinary theory).

Layout

The band name is at the top and the biggest font because it is the most important, it wants to catch our eye, the picture takes up half of the page and is in the centre, acting as the most important piece of the advert. We naturally want to seach through each note to see what it says on every one, this is another clever technique used in order to recognise them in the future and put a band name to the song. And the ratings are at the bottom in order to top off how impressed we are with the smart colours and fonts. Ofcourse the 5 star is situated in the middle to catch our attention, and it does as we now link successful music (the 5 stars) to the name (Maroon 5).

Olly Murs

Camerawork

The long shot lets us see the whole of Olly so that we recognise his image in the future (Goodwin's promotional theory).

Mise en scene

The casual clothing shows how normal Olly Murs appears to be. It is a promotional technique in order to create a sense of normality for his fans (Goodwin promotional theory).
His casual attire is also part of his iconography and makes him seem ordinary (Dyer's second paradox).

Editing

The fact that Olly has been duplicated and placed in a line shows us that he is important and that he has a lot to express (Dyer's star theory).
He appears with a greyscale filter because it could hint at his older musical genre for his album.

Typography

The serif font shows us that Olly takes his songs seriously as serif is quite formal and smart. He is shown as grand and untouchable due to the grand font (Dyer's first paradox)

Layout

Murs takes up slightly more than half of the whole poster which also shows how important he is.
His name takes up a large portion of the top as viewers naturally look at the top of the advert, and this makes us memorise his name (Goodwin's promotional theory).

Drake & Wretch 32

23/09/15

24/09/15

Noel's High Flying Birds & Bruno Mars

25/09/15

Camerawork

Both mid shots force us to memorise the stars' image = Goodwin's promotional theory.

Mise en scene

Both wear smart/casual clothing in order to seem ordinary and extraordinary = Dyer's 2nd paradox.
Both posters are in normal unrecognisable places = present = Dyer's 1st paradox.

Typography

Both use sans serif font, but Mars' is more professional while Noel's font is less professional to remind us of his urban roots, the fonts represent their song styles.

Layout

Both posters have the names of the stars in large fonts to show their importance.
Their image takes up half of the poster to embed their image in our minds = Goodwin's promotional technique.

Robin Thicke & Chris Brown

Conclusion

26/09/15

26/09/15

All magazine advert share similar conventions in order to make the audience buy the advertised album. The points which are repeated throughout the many adverts are:

Mid shots are used in order to force the viewer to acknowledge the artist's image, which is a successful promotional technique.
It also shows us their ordinary clothing in order to make them seem like us and we then gain a bond with the artist.
Black, white and red are common colours used within the adverts due to their connotations. Black is morbid while white is the opposite and it represents purity, and red represents class as it mimics classic neon lights. All colours are also eye catching.
The artist's image is also priority within the advert as they are the star, so they are the centre piece - Dyer's Star theory
Another typical convention when analysing the adverts was the fact that the artist's name always appears at the top so that we automatically sight who's advert it is first.

When it finally comes to making our magazine advert, I hope that we are able to incorporate all of the conventions mentioned above because it is clearly a successful technique for the artists, so it would be popular for us to use the conventions within our advert. These conventions also suggest that the audience appreciates the adverts as well as recognises the repetitiveness of how they share similar aspects, meaning tthat if we were going to repeat the conventions, our audience would continue to be happy with them. But we will have to include unique features to make our advert special so that we can stand out when compared with other ads, because being unique makes us different from other artists, something which all artists do to become famous, according to Neale. So in order to stand out, we will need to think very carefully about the mise en scene, camera work, typography as well as the overall layout of it. If we stick to conventions as well as bring our own unique aspects to the advert, our advert will emerge successful.