Ancillary Research 2: Advert Analysis 3
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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 The image also has a blue toned filter applied to it which again gives the image a vintage and outdated look.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.
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