Magazine Advert - Miss Miller

The key purpose of a magazine advert is to promote an artist’s album in order to reach a wider target audience of people who both read the magazine as well as listen to the music. It aims to act as a constant reminder of the upcoming album by appearing over a wide media spectrum. It is also used to link in with other advertisements of the album such as record labels or websites to create more marketing for the artist. Finally, it may also be used to link in with any articles within the magazine on the artist such as an interview or published scandal; this can be seen to benefit the magazine as well. The advert is specifically used, however, to develop a presentation of the artist that will appeal to a target audience for the genre; this is achieved by the portrayal of the conventions for the genre alongside features they may relate to the audience. The software that was used in the creation of this advert was adobe photoshop, this was specifically useful for its ability to distort colours in a way the I could develop a thematic use of bright colours and neon effects in order to replicate the conventions of the dance genre. After taking numerous images throughout the process of production for the music video itself, I was able to differentiate between by planned use of an office setting within the advert and a new found use of a simple close up with added effects and strobe lighting. The use of an office setting was seen to be too subversive to the dance genre apposed to the conventional use of strobe/neon lighting. The close up was made to be my final product. 

My main inspiration for this magazine advert is Example with his album 'Won't go Quietly'. Example is seen to use multiple close ups within his magazine advert. He uses them to show his light-hearted and fun personality. This is shown within my magazine advert as a close up was used with colourful effects and an added strobe lighting in order to show the artist to be closely linked to the conventional party atmosphere and club setting. The target audience may also aspire to be as closely involved with the atmosphere as the artist is shown to be.

Layout/design 

The design and layout within the advert focuses mostly around the strobe lighting added in the top left of the advert. Both the artist himself alongside the artist name is seen to overlap the  strobe lighting. Ways in which I created this over lap is through the use of layering on photoshop as I dragged the 'Khaliq' font layer over the edge of the strobe light to make it seem as though the light is shining towards his name and face. This creates a connotation showing the artist and his music to revolve specifically around the dance conventions and the club party atmosphere conveyed through the use of colours and strobe lighting. This is very conventional to the genre as it simply shows the artist and his music to be solely based upon the party atmosphere, the club setting and the urban nightlife. This would appeal greatly towards the target audience of older teenagers and younger adults as they are often the main participants in the city nightlife, attending clubs and bars at the weekend; they would then aspire to feel as involved and linked to the party lifestyle as the artist is shown to be, they could also relate the key feature of strobe lighting to the environment that they distinctly enjoy. 



Colours 

The colours used within the advert consist of a luminous neon blue seen within the strobe lighting and the effects upon the word 'lights' in the album title; there is also a use of purple and blue colours incorporated into the effects that are added to the image of the artist himself. These colours were created through identical effects added on photoshop to the font in the word 'lights' the strobe light and the artist himself; the effects consisted of a posterise effect with intensity rated at '4' and a change in colour balance used to intensify the blue colour of each layer. The use of colours have connotations towards the dance genre. The blue neon lighting has connotations towards the lighting within a blue and the vibrant atmosphere that it creates, this atmosphere is created by dance music and is focused upon within the genre. Also, similar posterised effects used upon the strobe lighting and the artist himself elaborates upon the presentation of 'Khaliq' being a conventional dance artist by linking him towards the connotations created through the strobe lighting; this being a link towards a club informant, the venue in which dane music is mostly played. The advert itself is created in reference to the younger target audience of the dance genre, consisting of young adults and teenagers ranging from 15-25. It appeals to this audience due to the conventions connotations towards a club setting through the use of strobe lighting alongside the use of bright colours and neon effects building upon the vibrant and exciting party atmosphere that artist my aim to portray through his music. The audience would enjoy the references to a club environment with them being the key age group to attend these venues; plus, they would enjoy the vibrant colours used to portray the artists vibrant lifestyle as they would aspire to live such a fulfilling exciting life at such a young age. 

Images 

The two images within the magazine advert consist of an image showing strobe lighting alongside a close up of the artist himself. The magazine advert includes half of the artist’s face illuminated in blue and purple alongside white strobe lighting matching the artists face with similar effects. . The layers were placed on photoshop in order to fabricate the effect that the light is shining on the artists face; I did this through cropping the outline of the artists face with the magic wand tool and placing it on top of the strobe lighting with identical effects including a change in the colour balance and added posterise effects. This was made specifically to be highly conventional towards the dance genre. The colours connote a fun party lifestyle that is linked with the artist in the image, plus the strobe lighting emphasises the club setting that distinctly links with the genre. The overall focus is to link the artist with the dance conventions through the use of colours and matching effects added to both the lighting and the image of the artist himself.  The images both allow the audience to relate to the advert. They can relate to the strobe lighting with connotations of a club setting which the young adults are often seen to enjoy. Plus, the use of regular work clothing consisting of a shirt and jumper combined with a blank facial expression builds upon the understated presentation of the artist being ordinary. This is then contrasted with the elaborate use of colours in order to use dyer’s theory to the effect of juxtaposing the ordinary presentation with extravagant connotations in order to create an artist image of which the audience can relate to yet aspire towards.The close up of the artist may allow the audience to build a relationship with him and aspire towards his links with a party lifestyle conveyed through bright luminous colours. By presenting him as both ordinary yet extraordinary it shows the audience that his vibrant lifestyle is achievable, making them want to aspire to be like him and experience his lifestyle through buying his music. 

Typography/Language 

The typography is made to be resemble blocks in a stand out white font; this is also seen to be combined with the use of neon effects in the phrase 'lights' from the album cover 'Urban Lights'. Although font resembling blocks links towards urban connotations, the effects added to the word 'lights' could be seen as the most effective aspect of the typography within the advert. The font itself was found on the photoshop selection labelled 'Bernhard Std Bold Condensed'; it was applied to all font with a white colour to make it stand out. Also, the effects added to the word 'lights' in the title replicated that of the strobe lighting and image of the artist; it included a posterise effect with intensity rated at '4' and a change in the colour balance used to bring out the blue outer-glow added to the font. It results in the visuals matching the content of the album by creating connotations towards the urban nightlife; this being a key conventional element of dance music. The posterising neon effects within the phrase also matches that of the strobe lighting and the image of the artist himself; it links the artist towards the dance conventions and shows the 'urban lights' to be centred around him. This comply's to the urban themes within the genre and the party atmosphere that is conveyed within the music making the advert very conventional. It also would appeal to the target audience as they may enjoy the vibrant aspects of the dance conventions whilst also aspiring to be as involved as the artist himself. Furthermore the use of language in the phrase 'urban lights' has similar effects by complying to dance conventions as it refers to the city nightlife of which the music revolves around whilst also appealing to the young audience as they are often seen to enjoy this nightlife. 

A strength within my use of photoshop was the consistency between all of my ancillary products/slides; I was able to edit images so that they have consistent effects on each, focusing around similar colours and themes. This meant that the artist was automatically linked with certain connotations; vastly helping with my artist presentation. My main weakness was the use of the cropping tool. This was seen within slides 4/5 on my digipak as it took a very long time to make the two slides create a symmetrical image of the artist; this was very time consuming and damaged my efficiency within the production of my ancillaries

The colours within the advert alongside the use of strobe lighting and the positioning of the artist himself builds upon the key dance conventions within the advert. The strobe lighting combined with the blue neon posterised colours added throughout builds connotations towards the party atmosphere and the lighting within a club; this is links with the artist as he is positioned overlapping the lighting with similar posterised effects added to his close up to show his conventional dance presentation by linking him towards the party atmosphere with a club; signified through the connotations wth the strobe lighting. Overall the conventional aspects of the advert alongside the referral to an urban nightlife helps the success of the advert, appealing greatly to our target audience for the album as the age groups of young adults and older teenagers will often aspire to live this party lifestyle whilst also participating in the nightlife itself, with young adults often being the main age group attending these venues. The eye catching originality of the posterised effects will help promote the artists music by showing it as vibrant and conventional to genre, helping appeal to dance fans specifically. However, more importantly, by making the advert relatable through connotations towards a club environment, the advert is appealing to the very large and influential mainstream audience of younger adults and teenagers; meaning that I can allow the artist to  maximise his sales.