Research and planning: Drafts of adverts

Drafts of adverts

After identifying the details associated with our music video and advert, such as the artist name, album title, key singles and generic conventions associated with the advert, we created drafts of our advert. This allowed us to make numerous changes after receiving feedback from our target audience, making the final advert effective and suitable to meet the target audiences standards, encouraging them to build tension and awareness of the albums existence, allowing them to buy it as a result. We identified the importance of a advert, which is the fact that it is exposed to a mass audience and is used to encouraged them to buy the product. Therefore, we understand that the presentation of it and use of conventions are vital in ensuring the album and artist's success.


Draft 1: 

Analyse your use of conventions using PEER

• I have included an image of the main artist who is not facing the camera, instead she is looking away wearing all black which is captured through a medium close up shot. This is conventional as it makes the artist look mysterious and unknown to the audience. 
• Low key lighting and dark colours including reds and blacks have been used on the advert to reflect the dark and mysterious atmosphere and mood. This is conventional as it encourages the audience to want to find our more, making them want to buy the album. 
• The mysterious nature is further reinforced through the typography which differs and contrasts with the dark colours as it is white promoting the artists innocence and vulnerability. This is also conventional as it is expected for the typography to reflect the mood and the artists persona through the colours and shapes. 
• The overall layout is neat and consistent as the information is spaced out revolving the main image. This is conventional as it draws in the audience to the advert. The layout is also simple as it only includes simple information. 
• The information I have included on the advert includes the name of the artist in the top left corner, key singles, the album name, the release date, the artist name, and a parental advisory lyrics label. I have only included relevant information on the advert to  make the audience aware of the details, however, I have prevented over complicating the advert to avoid confusion or misunderstanding. 
• The language I have used is simple and lacks formality as I want the audience to be  able to relate to the album and artist and be able to understand that it is aimed at them which is conventional as the information should reflect the audience and their social class. 
• There are no sub images added to avoid confusion. 
• Adorno and popular culture- The advert follows hegemony through the information, as the advert generally follows conventions to appeal to a mass audience, however, the image of the artist resits conventions as the female artist is dresses as a character and does not look relatable to the target audience or like a role model. According to Adorno's popular culture theory, the advert is targeted at 'The masses' as the genres within the album include alternative R&B, hip hop and electronic which is not appealing to the 'bourgeoisie', also, the advert reflects this through its modern and urban look. 
• Through this advert, NYX is promoting her differing ideologies and values as she is dressed against conventions which is supported by her body language. 

Audience feedback- Luke- 20

• What do you like about it?

- Includes most the literal information
- Like the typography of the album name
- Like the typography of the artist name

• What did you not like about it? 

- The artist looks lost in the image
- The lighting is not effective

• How can it be improved?

- The shape of the advert should not be square, therefore, should be looked at.

- Lighting needs to be improved

- The layout needs to be improved

Draft  2

Analyse your use of conventions using PEER

• I have included an image of the main artist who is not facing the camera, instead she is looking away wearing all black which is captured through a medium shot. This is conventional as it makes the artist look mysterious and  unknown to the audience. 
• Low key lighting and dark colours including black and purple have been used on the advert with a blurry effect overpowering it, to reflect the dark and mysterious atmosphere and mood. This is conventional as it encourages the audience to want to find our more, making them want to buy the album. 
• The mysterious nature is further reinforced through the typography which is in black, bold font. This is also conventional as it is expected for the typography to reflect the mood and the artists persona through the colours and shapes. 
• The overall layout is neat and consistent as the information is spaced out revolving the main image. This is conventional as it draws in the audience to the advert. The layout is also simple as it only includes simple yet relevant information. 
• The information I have included on the advert includes the name of the artist in the top right corner under the main title, key singles, the album name, the release date, the artist name, and download availabilities. I have included little information to ensure I do not confuse the audience, and to promote the most important information to them. 
• The language I have used is simple and lacks formality as I want the audience to be  able to relate to the album and artist and be able to understand that it is aimed at them which is conventional as the information should reflect the audience and their social class. 
• There are no sub images added to avoid confusion. 
• Adorno and popular culture- The advert follows hegemony through the information, as the advert generally follows conventions to appeal to a mass audience, however, the image of the artist resits conventions as the female artist is dresses as a character and does not look relatable to the target audience or like a role model. According to Adorno's popular culture theory, the advert is targeted at 'The masses' as the genres within the album include alternative R&B, hip hop and electronic which is not appealing to the 'bourgeoisie', also, the advert reflects this through its modern and urban look. 
• Through this advert, NYX is promoting her differing ideologies and values as she is dressed against conventions which is supported by her body language. 

Audience feedback- Gemma: 21 

• What do you like about it?

- Includes most the relevant information
- Like the typography 
- Like the colour scheme 

• What did you not like about it? 

- The artist looks lost in the image
- The The filter used on the artist distorts star status

• How can it be improved?

- Clearer image of the artist 
- Name of the artist should be clearer 
- The layout  should be organised better


Draft 3:

Audience feedback- James: 20

Strengths:

- Image is photo shopped well
- All the key information has been included and clearly laid out 
- Looks consistent with the digipak 
- Background works well with the main image

Weaknesses:

- Add (") around the key singles

- The typography other than the title and artist name needs work 

- The background should have more effects. 


Draft 4:

Audience feedback: Linda- 21

Strengths:

- All the key information has been included
- The layout is neat and works well 
- Looks consistent with the digipak 

Weaknesses:

- The typography for the date needs to be changed
- The typography for the 'Available to download' also needs to be changed.

- The background should be darker to reinforce the dark atmosphere. 
- Try to make the edges around the main image smoother. 

Conclusion: 

Overall, the drafting process has been extremely beneficial for my group and I as we have managed to create our final advert as a result of the feedback we have received along the way. This feedback has encouraged us to make the key changes that are necessary in order to make our final advert conventional to the genre and consistent with our music video and digipak. Some of the main changes we made were changing the main image in order to make it as effective as possible and promote the star image of the artist in an efficient way. Moreover, we also changed the background making it more mysterious, rather than overtly dark taking the attention away from the artist. Other minor changes included the typography and the information included on the advert. Without drafting it would have put us at a disadvantage as we would not have any feedback to work from, resulting in us creating an advert that could potentially lack reflecting it's genre and potential target audience.