In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Conventions are significant in media products as they set a certain expectation for what audiences should expect from a product. Adhering to conventions can lead to recognisable elements for some audiences and challenging conventions creates less restriction for filmmakers to create products.
For my Indie music video I researched into plenty of conventions of both the genre and real media form. Upon beginning this project my first task was to decide the type of media I wanted to create and by watching both short films, trailers and music videos created by A-level students themselves - I decided to go ahead with creating a music video as one of my final products.
I began by researching the different types of music videos and came across the three main types of music videos; narrative, concept and performance. I looked more into these three types of videos and began looking at examples of music videos that fit into the three categories. I ended up deciding to take on a narrative based music video after some audience feedback and further research so my final decision was to create a narrative-based music video.
Main Product - Music Video
I began by researching the different types of music videos and came across the three main types of music videos; narrative, concept and performance. I looked more into these three types of videos and began looking at examples of music videos that fit into the three categories. I ended up deciding to take on a narrative based music video after some audience feedback and further research so my final decision was to create a narrative-based music video.
I also did research into two music videos that were non-genre specific which was 'We Don't Talk Anymore' by Charlie Puth and 'This Is What You Came For' by Rihanna ft Calvin Harris.
I looked at both of these music videos and analysed key elements such as camera, editing, sound and Mise-en-scene and the way in which music videos use them without tying them to a certain genre.
After looking at music videos I found out that music videos (and more specially those that are based around a narrative) tend to have a lot many conventions such as:
- fast paced with a lot of shots corresponding with the music
- intertextuality, referencing to other films, movies etc
- narrative tends to be linear
- mimic other TV genre, e.g horror, romance
- the story can contradict lyrics for effect
- the artist is part of the story line or completely separate.
- can feature the title of the song.
Throughout my research I looked at many examples of music videos in almost every stage of my research. This varied from licenced music videos by record companies and examples of music videos by other A-level media students. The reason for this is because YouTube is a huge platform for online content that is accessible from all around the world for people to view and share content. It is free to use and upload, and many people with a big following can even use it as a source of income. This means that anyone can have the opportunity to use this platform to share products and gain attention from other users. You can view content from the website or app, but one of the main benefits is that many social media platforms allow you to access Youtube through their apps or embedd videos through cross-media convergence. This is significant to me as I can use Youtube to upload my content and share it across my social medias with ease - using it as a primary source of marketing. This is why I decided to use Youtube to upload not only my final cut of my music video but also any rough cuts and audience feedback for easy access.
As well as looking at conventions of music videos from different genres I also l analyzed music videos of the Indie genre to see the way genre was portrayed through camera, editing, sound and Mise-en-scene. The Indie music videos I analysed were 'Roses' by the Chainsmokers, 'Somebody Else' by The 1975 and 'Wild' by Troye Sivan.
Here was some conventions I found many music videos in the Indie genre follow:
- Narrative: can be non-linear, many breaks in narrative as Indie genre is all about defying expectations. Montage effects can be used in order to intertwine two narratives.
- Camera: variety of shots, close-ups are used for symbolism or to show significance. Canted, handheld, out-of-focus are also used to express spontaneity and carelessness.
- Editing: shots are edited in time with the music, montage effect is very common and images fading into images.
- Sound: the original Indie genre is based around a simplistic approach to music. It has a unique sound that is associated with the genre usually consists of instruments such as strings or piano which is very similar to folk music. Contemporary or modern Indie music is heavily influenced by pop but still keeps tones of original indie music.
- Mise-en-scene: Lighting used can vary from light to dark depending on the environments, various coloured lighting such as blue and red are very common in the Indie Genre as well as the use of filters. Actors may not follow stereotypical roles as the Indie genre is based on defying expectations. Costume is based around urban and hipster fashion as well as having retro influences. Props that are very common in the indie genre are Polaroids and camcorders and anything that pays homage to the past.
Ancillary 1 - Digipak
I also looked into conventions for my ancillaries. I began by looking at conventional templates for both as well as doing my own analyses. Because I had already decided on an genre, my research was focused on products from the Indie genre.
The generic conventions of a Digipak are:
- A colour scheme throughout the Digipak
- Band/Artist's name
- Title of Album
- A Tracklist
- Title of album and artist along the spine
- Album art on the inside cover
- Album art on the CD
The conventions of Indie Digipaks I found, based on my analyses of Digipaks from 'The 1975', 'Badlands'by Halsey and 'The Balcony' by Catfish And The Bottlemen, were:
- Front cover is either album art photography
- Designs tend to consist of drawings or illustrations
- Artist seperate from the Digipak
- Simple, minimalist design
- Complimenting colours
- Colour scheme only consisting of a few colours
- Capitalized font
Ancillary 2 - Magazine Album Advert
After looking into what magazine adverts are and the conventions of a magazine album advert, these were the conventions I found:
- Name of artist/band
- Name of album they are releasing
- A main image that will usually be the same as the album cover to ensure brand identity and further promote the Digipak.
- Band/artist logo or title
- Release date - the release date of the album will always be on the magazine advert because that is its purpose; to inform audiences when they can buy the album. Or if there isn’t a date it will say ‘Out Now’Includes the single...’ Sometimes the magazine advert will say something along the lines of ‘includes the single...’ or ‘Featuring...’this is usually one of their best known songs, again to further promote the artist
- Record label logo - the record label that the artist belongs to will have its logo on the advert usually at the bottom and fairly small compared to everything else.
- Artist and Label websites - again like the record label, the website of the record label and the artist website will be on the magazine advert, usually small and near the bottom.
- Reviews - on magazine adverts there will be sometimes a rating or review from different companies to show how others rate the album.
- Available at...’ - on some of the magazine adverts it will say ‘available now on iTunes’ or ‘available at hmv’,this is to show the audience how easily available the album is.
However after looking at some Indie magazine adverts such as those by Ed Sheeran, Arcade Fire and Lana Del Rey, I found that Indie album adverts in magazines tend to differ from conventional pop adverts in many ways. One of the main differences with Indie album adverts is their simplicity in design and elimination of some of the typical conventions.
These were the typical conventions of Indie album adverts in magazines that I found:
- Name of artist/band
- Name of album
- Magazine art is similar or relates to the artwork on the album
- Release date
- Information about the album such as 'brand new album' or 'out now'. Phrases tend to be very short and limited.
- Overall simple design
- Elimination of typical conventions such as institutional information or websites.
- Only including critical information
As it is difficult to present my ancillaries in their truest form I uploaded digital version on Blogger.
The reason for this is that Blogger is easily accessible for anyone to view, and because it is one of the largest blogging platforms on the internet it is easy to gain attraction from other users. My ancillaries were also made digitally so it was quicker and easier for me to simply upload them to blogger in their original format. This is also useful for when I was collecting audience feedback as my ancillaries were on my blog so all I needed to do was to send a link for people to view and feedback to me. I did also print out hard copies and try to mimic my ancillaries in their form but I also kept a digital version on my blog just so I could access it at any given time.
Conventions used, developed or challenged?
Music Video
In terms of my media form, I followed most of the conventions of typical music videos. Because music videos can be of a vast majority of genres, there is really not a certain restriction when it comes to music videos through camera and mise-en-scene as many genres tend to do this differently. I did however use shots that are common in music videos such as long shots when my couple are walking through an alley and closeups when they are holding hands to symbolize their relationship. However what distinguishes a music video from any other media form is mostly through the way it is edited and it's narrative. In terms of editing, most of the standard editing conventions you see in many music videos was followed. One example of this is the use of fast paced cuts and editing shots in time with the music. I edited most of my clips in time with the music such as the split screen in the beginning following the beat that starts the song. Editing to typical music video conventions can be shown in my music video through the montage effects such as one I had seen in The 1975's music video 'Somebody Else' when he is drinking. I used the effect of a montage in one of the choruses when they enter a red telephone box. Here I used the effect of a montage like I saw in that included quick fast paced cuts to draw the attention of my target audience. Another example of the use of montage was the shots before the final chorus where actress is laughing at the party scene. I used quick cuts between two continuous clips to create a montage effect that moved from one clip to another. Although I used montage in my music video throughout this one was more significant as it was the last chorus and I used a cross-cutting effect. This was proven to be successful as many commented that this montage effect and the way it was edited in time with each of the chorus beats kept the visuals upbeat and overall made my music video more lively. I also used the editing technique of a split screen such as that used in Charlie Puth's 'We Don't Talk Anymore' as I thought it was an interesting way to introduce a music video, Puth's music video uses this technique throughout, I only used it in the beginning of y music video to show shots of their journey such as train tickets and buses. I also followed another convention in the use of titles. Many music videos tend to introduce music videos with a title of the song and occaisionally the name of the artist. I incorporated this in my music video with my title of 'Good Grief' in the beginning whilst the song began. Although I followed many conventions of a music video through editing, I both conformed and subverted expectations of narrative. I conformed to the convention of the artist typically being separate from a narrative and not usually in the visuals (one example is the narrative of The Chainsmoker's music video 'Roses' where the artist is not present) as I didn't have an artist singing the song throughout the music video and instead used a narrative of a couple's teenage years. However I did subvert a convention of narrative as typical music videos tend to play on a narrative that is linear and straightforward whereas my narrative is non-linear as it is based around the idea of an analepsis, which we can see in the end where someone is viewing the story through a computer screen. I decided not to follow all the conventions of a narrative as I didn't want my music video to come across as generic and I wanted to defy some expectations and shock my target audience.
I also followed many conventions in genre. Firstly I followed a common convention of indie music videos in the narrative which is having a broken or non-linear narrative. I did this in many ways through the use of montage as mentioned above and overall ending on an prolepsis. The idea of having a non-linear narrative came from my research of the music video for 'Somebody Else' by the 1975. Here we see a very odd narrative where the first three minutes does not have any obvious agenda and it is a stage sketch of a man and a lady getting ready and dressed. It is black and white and has an element of film-noir and looks a oldfashioned stage show. The sound is distorted so the audience does not really know what is going on. This beginning does not have any relevance to the song or narrative but plays on expectations of the Indie genre for being unpredicatble. The rest of the narrative is also obscure as we see two narratives of the same situation side by side. We see the artist's drunk interpreatation of what is going on but near the end we see another narrative cross-cut which is what is actually taking place. By having a broken and non-linear narrative it defys expectation and leads to a music video having a 'shock' factor to it, and plays on the concept of the Indie genre not contributing to expected norms. In terms of camera, I also followed conventions seen in Indie music videos such as the home video style shots. I got this inspiration from Troy Sivan's 'Wild' music video that featured shots that were filmed on a handheld camcorder. This also meant that the shots were handheld shots but the use of zoom and low quality shots were also in place. I used this technique in my music video throughout but really ephasised the use of them in the chorus part where it the song said 'what's going to be left of the world if you're not in it' in order to emphasise their realtionship as a couple and to portray them as being carefree. I took shots on a handheld camera and also gave them to the male actor in my music video to record candid shots throughout to really capture their realtionship. The shots were handheld and had features of zoom in them as well as being a contrasting quality to the other camera shots. The use of handheld camera shots really emphasise the Indie genre as being carefree and casual and help to illuminate their realtionship as being this too. In my editing process I emphasised this by placing an overlay of a homevideo recording to make it clear to my audience it was a home video. I also used Indie genre conventions in my editing through the editing, I used montage effects as mentioned before to create a break in the narrative but I also used the technique of overlaying the same shots on top of eachother. This was used to highlight two different shifts in time as the same shot is overlayed but is slightly slower. I used this in my party/ drinking scene to highlight the distortion of time such as that used in the 'Somebody Else' music video when he is drinking. I also used the technique of reversing shots to again distort time. All of this editing is used to create a non-linear narrative which is a principle of the Indie Genre.
I also followed Indie conventions in Mise-en-scene. In terms of casting I went with a interracial couple, both of ethnic minorities which is not very common in mainstream music videos however this fits well with the Indie genre for being the genre that deflects from mainstream ideas. The locations were varied but I also included the location of a indoor market which is very niche and fitting to the Indie genre. The costumes used were also reminiscent of Indie fashion which is basic clothing that can have retro or grunge elements to it (We can also see this in Troye Sivan's music video where denim and plain colours are a staple) as my actress wore a denim jacket and tights and my actor wore a plain black hoodie. Lastly lighting conventions were followed as my music video had many natural lighting when they were outdoors but the party scene is slightly darker. I also used a filter that was blue-toned on top of my clips as the Indie genre is all about the aesthetics of imagery and this was inspired again by The 1975's music video. Overall my music video followed majority conventions of genre and used the basic conventions of my media form.
Digipak
For my Digipak I followed all the typical conventions you would usually see on a Digipak. The first convention I followed was following a colour scheme, which is a feature of almost every Digipak. Although I did follow a colour scheme, it wasn't as extensive as typical Digipaks and only consisted of three colours: mustard, white and black. On the front cover, the background was mustard, the hand drawing and album title was black and the flowers were white and black. On the inside, both sides were white however the inside cover had flowers that were white, black and mustard. The disc holder was white and the actual CD was mustard with white and black flowers. The backcover followed the same colour patterns as the front, having a mustard background, black font and white and black flowers. I tried to incorporate similar colours throughout and keep it consistent. It also followed other common conventions such as the band's name (Tree Whistle), the title of the album (The Underground),a tracklist on the back, the name of album and band along the spine, album art on the inside cover and on the CD. All of which are common conventions of Digipaks such as the one I looked at below:
I also followed all of the Indie genre conventions for my Digipak. One Indie Digipak convention is the use of drawings or illustrations as albumart. This can be seen in Catfish and The Bottlemen's album 'The balcony' where the main imagery on the cover are illustrations of a crocodile or two people. I used this method of drawings and illustration outlines throughout my Digipak as my main album art consists of an illustration outline of two hands as well as various illustrations of flowers and floral designs. Overall my design is very simple, consisting of only a few colours in it's colour scheme and has a minimalistic look to it. Although I only had three colours, they were very complimentary and gave the Digipak an indie aesthetic and I was able to see the ways some colours are more complementary and aesthetically work best through looking at Halsey's album cover in my research that featured blush and blue tones alongside earthy tones. The colours black and white are well used colours in any colour scheme however I feel by adding mustard it really emphasised my genre and yellow or mustard tones are uncommon in Digipaks so it really illuminates the idea that the Indie genre is independent and niche as well as yellow being a staple colour in Indie fashion. The idea of a simple colour scheme was inspired by The 1975's album cover that was only black and white, and although it was only two, maybe three colours - They worked really well to give the album cover a professional look. The artist is also separate from my Digipak which I did purposefully as I feature no artist in my music video and not many Indie album covers feature artists as they focus more on creating the image of the artist without the artist actually being there through photography and illustrations. Lastly my font choice was also inspired by the Catfish and Bottlemen Digipak as it was capitalised and nicely spaced as well as the title and band name being combined under one text which again played nicely with the overall simple yet effective design.
Magazine Advert
I also followed many conventions of a typical magazine advert, such as the template below:
In my magazine advert I included the name of band and album which was 'Tree Whistle' and 'The Underground'. I also included my main imagery from my Digipak to promote brand identity which is a common convention of magazine adverts such as Lana Del Rey's album advert cross promoting the same sort of imagery across her album cover and advert. I also followed the convention of a release date which is crucial in a magazine advert to let the audience know when the album is released. As well as this I included a slogan such as 'The Brand New Album' to let the audience know what exactly is being released. Therefore I kept the crucial elements of a magazine advert such as the imagery relating to the band, the band name and album name, release date and slogan however eliminated other conventional elements such as a magazine review, website and institutional logo as I wanted to keep a simple and minimalistic design that was not too overcrowded with information.
In terms of following genre conventions for my advert, there was no elimination or subversion in any convention. Indie magazine adverts tend to follow a very simplistic design, which is created through the same imagery used for my Digipak. I used the same idea of hand illustrations and placed the flower outlines on the wrists of the hands for some variation so it didn't look too much like my Digipak. The font used for my advert is similar to the Digipak however the added text such as 'The Brand New Album' and the release date is a different font. I chose to do this again for a bit of variety and the font throughout my ancillaries is capitalised and simple. I have talked about my image design choices linking to the Indie genre in the previous section when talking about my Digipak, however apart from follows my magazine advert follows the Indie genre through it's simple design and elimination of unnecessary information.
This is a final audience testing I did for any final feedback. I asked a variety of people of different genders and groups as well as my own media teacher for some critical analysis.
Below is a representation of all of the audience feedback I have collected throughout my coursework, I have combined all of the data from various audience feedback sessions and tasks to produce the data below.
First of all the chart below represents my target audience and the different age groups my music video and ancillaries appealed to in my audience testing stages.
age
Create your own infographics
The next chart shows data collected that shows the gender appeal of my music video:
Create your own infographics
The next chart shows data collected that shows the gender appeal of my music video:
gender
Create bar charts
The data below represents the proportion of people that were able to identify my genre in both my music video and ancillaries.
Create bar charts
The data below represents the proportion of people that were able to identify my genre in both my music video and ancillaries.
genre
Create your own infographics
The data below also shows the overall consensus on the clarity of my narrative in my music video:
Create your own infographics
The data below also shows the overall consensus on the clarity of my narrative in my music video:
narrative
Create your own infographics
Overall the final audience feedback and summary of feedback as a whole came back very positive and showed that my music video and ancillaries really appealed to my target audience, the genre of indie was easily identifiable, my narrative was clear and the appeal to both genders was almost equal. Therefore I can conclude that I have been very successful in the creation of my media products.
Create your own infographics
Overall the final audience feedback and summary of feedback as a whole came back very positive and showed that my music video and ancillaries really appealed to my target audience, the genre of indie was easily identifiable, my narrative was clear and the appeal to both genders was almost equal. Therefore I can conclude that I have been very successful in the creation of my media products.
I wanted to get some audience feedback before my final music video so I uploaded the latest rough cut to my blog . I sent the message below to some of my peers, friends and anyone that I knew to give me any criticism on my music video. I sent the same message around to people across a variety of social medias such as facebook and twitter as well as iMessage.
I got a lot of replies and an overall positive response. Below are two of the feedback responses that was most useful to me:
(Via iMessage)
(Via twitter direct message)
Based on this small collection of audience feedback, I decided that I will need to do some final alterations such as neatening some of my edits, stabilizing shots and going over my ending.
After creating my final Ancillaries I decided to get some final feedback on the outcome. I held a small discussion group of 4 people and passed around the hardcopy version of each ancillary. After letting everyone have a look at the outcome, I asked everyone a few questions and we discussed the outcome together. I noted down answers to the questions and anything else discussed that was useful to me.
Here were the main questions asked:
What is your favourite part of the products?
Is there anything you would improve?
Do you think it fits into the genre of Indie?
How effective is the Digipak?
Do you think the imagery used is appropriate for the type of media?
Does it look authentic?
Here were the main questions asked:
What is your favourite part of the products?
- 'I would say my favourite part is the drawing of the hands because it's original'.
- 'My favourite part are the theme of flowers throughout'.
- 'I really like the colours because they are unique'.
- 'I think the whole think looks really professional'.
Is there anything you would improve?
- 'No, not really I think you've pretty much got everything you need'.
- 'I would've maybe added some more art on the inside cover of the Digpak but I can see why you've kept it simple'.
- 'No nothing at all'.
- 'No, it's perfect.'
Do you think it fits into the genre of Indie?
- 'Yeah it does because it's really unique'.
- 'Yes I think it does'.
- 'It definitely looks very indie'.
- 'Yeah because that's the genre I associated with it looking at it for the first time'.
How effective is the Digipak?
- 'Really effective, I can see the look you were going for and you have achieved it.'
- 'It is a bit simple but yeah I think that's a good thing'.
- 'Yeah it is effective and looks real'.
- 'It's got a really good appeal to it.'
Do you think the imagery used is appropriate for the type of media?
- 'I think you took a risk with using illustrated drawings rather than a photo of the artist but I think it's genre appropriate'.
- 'Yes definitely, I love the hands and the flowers'.
- 'Yeah it's appropriate'.
- 'I really like the whole look of it.'
Does it look authentic?
- 'Yeah it looks like a typical indie cover and advert'.
- 'Yeah it's something I would expect to see in a store or magazine'.
- 'You've got really strong products'.
- 'It's really authentic'.
- 'I would've the same sort of design yeah'.
- 'I think it's good and will help emphasise the appeal of the artist.'
- 'I think it will help with the image yeah'.
- 'It might come across as either repetitive or show consistency'.
I also prnted my ancillaries so I could have hardcopies of them to get an idea of how realistic they look. I printed the magazine advert on shiny card paper that mimics the glossy pages of a magazine and printed the digipak on thick photo card to mimic cardboard cd cases. I decided to create a hardcopy on card rather than a plastic casing because it is unconventional of typical cd cases which relates to the genre of indie as being unconventional and straying away from mainstream ideas.
Digipak:
Album Magazine Advert:
To create my magazine advert these are the steps that I followed.
Firstly I opened up the outline of the hands and flowers out into photoshop. I also opened up the photoshop file of the Digipak so I could copy some layers.
The first thing I did was create a new document that was roughly A4 size. Then I colour matched it to the same mustard colour used for my Digipak and filled it in using the paint bucket tool
I then brought in the design of the hands and I created two layers of the hand artwork, one being flipped vertically. I then positioned them coming from each side of the poster. I made sure the hands themselves met in a central composition and so they looked as if they were almost reaching for each other.
Then I copied the title layer from the Digipak document and added it into this document. I positioned it in the corner similar to where it was on my Digipak.
Then I added the reference to a new album by writing out 'THE BRAND NEW ALBUM' using a text box. I made the font bold and capitalized so it stood out to follow a common convention of album adverts.
Then below the hands I added the date of the album release in a similar style font below the hands. I spaced out each charecter similar to the title as I wanted to create variety and draw attention to the title. I also made sure this was bigger than the other text.
I thought the design was a bit plain so I added in one flower to begin with to see where it would look good, I played around with it and decided to place it so the hands looked like they were coming out of the flowers.
I also did the same with the other hand and added another flower design to add some consistency.
I wanted to add some more flowers but didn't want to overcrowd the hands so I placed some near the album title.
After this I was finally happy with my advert for the album and think it looked very authentic. I kept to common conventions such as release date, album art, band title and reference to an album release however excluded some elements such as institution logo and website as I wanted to follow a simple design due to my genre. I also wanted to keep it simple so it was more similar to my album cover.
For the design of my advert I wanted to follow a conventional advert design. This includes imagery from the album cover, the artist name and title of the album. They also have an album release date and information about the institution and other promotional details like a website.
For my main imagery on my advert I want to include the album art from the cover and encorporate the same colour scheme of mustard, black and white.
I also wiat to encorpoarate the smae imagery on my album cover which is the outlie of the hands and the theme of flowers. I won't follow the exact design on the album cover and will play around with the positioning of hands and flowers.
Although I am planning on following the template of a conventional magazine advert, I will change my dsign up a little bit and include the title of the album and the artist together as I did on my album cover. This is in order to keep some consistency within the image of my band and follow stereotypical conventions of the indie genre and many indie covers also combine artists and album names.
I will also include a line that indicates that it is an album advert such as 'New Album' or 'The Brand New Album' which is s typical convention of magazine adverts such as this one by coldplay. I will also include a date of release which is crucial information for my audience.
Overall I will be following many typical conventions of a magazine advert however I will exclude some elements of the conventional design and intend to keep my design as simple and minimalist as possible following a similar design to my album cover.
Background info
Born to Die is the second studio album by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey. Her major label debut, it was released on January 27, 2012 by Interscope Records, Polydor Records and Stranger Records. Del Rey collaborated with producers including Patrik Berger, Jeff Bhasker, Chris Braide, Emile Haynie, Justin Parker, Rick Nowels, Robopop and Al Shux to achieve her desired sound. Their efforts resulted in a primarily baroque poprecord, which sees additional influences from alternative hip hop, indie pop and trip hop music. The cover for Born to Die was photographed by Nicole Nodland, while Del Rey and David Bowden oversaw the overall direction for its packaging. On behalf of Complex, Dale Eisinger ranked the cover eighth on the magazine's list of "The 50 Best Pop Album Covers of the Past Five Years", commending its usage of the typeface Steelfish and speaking favorably of the "ominous" feeling it evoked, which she credited to "the shadows or whatever the shapes in the background are [and] how properly Lana can affect her detached and still-flawless persona to a simple gaze". Its track listing was announced on January 9, 2012, while the record itself was released on January 31 in the United States; it became her major-label debut after securing a distribution arrangement with Interscope Records.
Main image
The main image is Lana Del Rey, who is the artist of the album which is a common feature of magazine adverts as it helps with the promotion of the artist's image. Here Lana has delicate hair and makeup which promotes the idea of innocence along with her wearing white. However this is contrasted by the red lipstick she is wearing which is suggesting promiscuity. The whole look of her pays homage to the 1960s which is a feature of her image as she is known as being an indie and slightly old fashioned artist in both her dress and music. The image also has a blue toned filter applied to it which again gives the image a vintage and outdated look. the image is in central composition which draws attention to the artist. It is also the same image from her album cover.
Layout
The layout follows conventions of other magazine adverts where we see the artist in central composition and the name of the artist directly above them. We have the name of the album just underneath where her shirt is. Directly below this is information on release such as dates and features.
Overall the layout of this is very simple and conventional and very simple to read and follow. The ratio of image to text focuses heavily on the image which again draws attention to the artist and image of the artist.
Title/font
Both titles on the advert are the same size and font and are both capitalised. This makes the important information on the advert stand out. The only difference between the titles is their colour, the name of the artist is white - contrasting with the blue background and the name of the album is blue - contrasting with the white shirt. Both follow the same colour scheme which is blue and white which keeps some consistency within the advert. The colours relate to the main image which is Lana outdoors and link to the colour of the clouds in the sky.
The other font here is information on release dates and features which is in a smaller and different font. This attracts less attention to this information and draws more attention to the image of the artist and album. This is also blue which contrasts with the white background and fits in with the colour scheme.
Colour scheme
The colour scheme consists of many colours that compliment each other. We have the blue colour complimenting the white, the orange complimenting the red and the black which is highlighting shadows in the actual photograph. These colours also add to the theme and image of the artist as they as quite archaic colours to use for contemporary music. All of these colours work together to create a vintage look to the artist and help promote the indie music Lana is well known for.
The second advert I analysed was Ed Sheehan's concert/CD advert.
Background info
Main image
The main image consists of a black and white image of Ed Sheeran holding a cat. It is on a white background which draws attention to the main subject of the photo which is Ed. The imagery of him holding a cat relates to his image as a songwriter as he is a very well known cat lover and eunthusiast. It portrays him as a caring individual and shows his diversity in his music as it is quite a carefree image and isn't serious. The cat in the image is actually his own rescued cat which makes the image more personal, which again may be a reason why it is also black and white. The black and white also highlights a sense of nostalgia which is a common theme in his music.
Title
Layout
The layout of the advert is very simple, with the main image of Ed in central composition and his name positioned directly above. Extra information on his tour is positioned below his name and positioned to the right hand side to add extra information.
The date of the tour is in the bottom left hand corner which doesn't follow the conventional advert design but instead draws attention more to the main image. Overall the ratio of text to background is heavily balanced on the background side so we see less text and more of the image. By having an advert more focused on an image of an artist is makes it more authentic and less commercialised which adds to Ed's humble image.
The layout of the advert is very simple, with the main image of Ed in central composition and his name positioned directly above. Extra information on his tour is positioned below his name and positioned to the right hand side to add extra information.
The date of the tour is in the bottom left hand corner which doesn't follow the conventional advert design but instead draws attention more to the main image. Overall the ratio of text to background is heavily balanced on the background side so we see less text and more of the image. By having an advert more focused on an image of an artist is makes it more authentic and less commercialised which adds to Ed's humble image.
Font
The other font on this advert is the dates of his concert. It is capitalised which draws attention to it and in a consistent font. The sizing however varies and we see the date in a bigger font than the location info. This again adds more emphasis to the important details of the poster. The colour of the font is also black which contrasts the background and therefore draws more attention.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme for this advert is very simple and all in greyscale. We see more of a contrast in the black and white image and more of an emphasis to black and white tones. As mentioned before, by having a black and white or greyscale theme in a advert highlights a personal element to the artist and music and emphasises a common theme in Ed's music which is nostalgia and memories.
The first advert analysis I did was Arcade Fire's magazine advert for their album 'Neon Bible'.
Background Info
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band based in Montreal,
Quebec,[1][3] consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne,
along with Win's younger brother William Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim
Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes
former core member Sarah Neufeld, frequent collaborator Owen Pallett, two
additional percussionists, Diol Edmond and Tiwill Duprate, and saxophonists
Matt Bauder and Stuart Bogie.
Founded in 2001 by friends and classmates Win Butler and
Josh Deu, the band came to prominence in 2004 with the release of their
critically acclaimed debut album Funeral. Their second studio album, Neon
Bible, won them the 2008 Meteor Music Award for Best International Album and
the 2008 Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year. Their third studio
album, The Suburbs, was released in 2010 to critical acclaim and commercial
success.[4] It received many accolades, including the 2011 Grammy for Album of
the Year, the 2011 Juno Award for Album of the Year, and the 2011 Brit Award
for Best International Album. In 2013, Arcade Fire released their fourth album,
Reflektor, and scored the feature film Her, for which band members William
Butler and Owen Pallett were nominated in the Best Original Score category at
the 86th Academy Awards. All four of their studio albums have received
nominations for the Best Alternative Music Album Grammy; the band's work has
also been named three times as a shortlist nominee for the Polaris Music Prize:
in 2007 for Neon Bible, in 2011 for The Suburbs and in 2014 for Reflektor,
winning the award for The Suburbs.
Main Image
The main image consists of neon lighting that make up bibles and a border. The neon lights are different colours, the covers of the bible are red and the insides are white and blue. The border around these bibles is made up of white neon lights. The imagery of the bible is significant as it relates to the name of the album which is 'Neon Bible' which is also why neon lights are used - adding to the appeal of the album. The background is black which helps to illuminate the neon and draw more attention to the imagery.
Title
On this magazine advert we have two titles, the band name and the album name. The band name 'Arcade Fire' is also made up of neon lights and being white and capitalised - helps it to stand out. The actual font itself looks quirky and almost handwritten as letters vary in stroke and size which relates to the genre of Indie. 
The name of the album however is not made up of wire which makes it stand out as it is not consistent with the rest of the design and is white which contrasts with the black background. Unlike the band name the font is consistent between letters as they are all capitalised, have the same stroke throughout and are all the same size.
Layout
The main art is centred in the middle, with the neon bible directly centre and framed by a wire border. The name of the band is directly above this and the name of the album directly underneath the art in the centre like a conventional magazine advert. The layout of all of the fonts are centralised and line up in the centre like the album art. The date of the release is the last thing on the advert which is the most important feature of the advert so by having it last creates anticipation.
Font
We have three different types of fonts on this advert. First is the name of the band which is written with wire lighting and is irregular in size and style. The second style of font is the name of the album which is written in capitals and is consistent in size and style, the same font is also used for the release date of the album. The third style of font is underneath the album name where it talks about the tracks on the album and the different features. This is similar to the font that says 'NEON BIBLE' but is smaller and is not capitalised. All the font on the advert is in the colour white which contrasts nicely with the black background and stands out.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme consists of bright and darker colours, we have black and white which are classic colours but we also have neon colours to contrast with that as well. Most of the advert background is black and all the album art is in neon colours making them stand out. The colour white can be seen in the fonts, contrasting against the black background, so we can see consistency with what colours are used where.
Font
We have three different types of fonts on this advert. First is the name of the band which is written with wire lighting and is irregular in size and style. The second style of font is the name of the album which is written in capitals and is consistent in size and style, the same font is also used for the release date of the album. The third style of font is underneath the album name where it talks about the tracks on the album and the different features. This is similar to the font that says 'NEON BIBLE' but is smaller and is not capitalised. All the font on the advert is in the colour white which contrasts nicely with the black background and stands out.
Colour Scheme
The colour scheme consists of bright and darker colours, we have black and white which are classic colours but we also have neon colours to contrast with that as well. Most of the advert background is black and all the album art is in neon colours making them stand out. The colour white can be seen in the fonts, contrasting against the black background, so we can see consistency with what colours are used where.
