Researching Ancillary Tasks - Adverts

Researching Ancillary Tasks - Adverts

In order to decide which ancillary tasks to do, we decided to research examples of them for 3 artists within the indie genre. We decided to focus on 3 artists specifically: Lana Del Rey, The Killers, and Coldplay. We chose these artists as they are well established within the genre whilst having different styles of music, meaning that their products will be both professional and varied.

   Lana Del Rey

The advert for Lana Del Rey's 'Born To Die' album reflects the look of the album it is advertising. Along with the imagery, it features the name of the album, and includes an offer of an extra feature that can be purchased alongside it. Some of her most famous/well liked songs are also mentioned so as to persuade the viewer to buy the album, as they would know those songs and therefore want to own them. The fact that Lana herself is featured on the advert would also persuade people to buy the product, as her potential audience would recognise her image and therefore want to support her.

This advert reflects the indie genre as it has quite a vintage feel to it. The slightly saturated colours and grainy appearance create the feeling of a somewhat old advert, reflecting the indie convention of making things seem vintage. Indeed, the very fact that it is advertising a 7 inch vinyl is part of the vintage side of the indie genre, making the sale more appealing to an indie audience. The advert also seems to feature nature a lot, which again appeals to an indie audience as the genre focuses on nature and natural things. The font used on the advert is very simple, which, again, is a convention of indie music, whilst also making the advert look smart and professional.

The magazine advert represents Lana Del Rey as an artist by having her on the advert. As the audience, our main attention is towards her. This reflects on the way she appears with the coloured lipstick and her loosely curled hair and wearing hooped earrings conveys to the stereotypes of women looking and presenting themselves very well. Mulvey uses the term 'male gaze' to refer that the camera views women from a masculine point of view. Although Lana Del Rey is a huge popular singer, her visual appearance is vital in the music industry. The camera tilts up making Lana Del Rey have some power of her audience. Her facial expression is very submissive and rested.

   The Killers

The advert for The Killers 'Day & Age' album is similar to Lana's in that it shows the same picture as is on their album cover. However, unlike Lana's, it does not feature images of the band. However, they have included their logo, which reflects their brand and therefore makes the advert immediately recognisable to their fans. There is very little text on this advert, which makes the text that is there stand out more. The viewers will quickly see the 'brand new album' text, which should make them want to buy it as it is something new and exciting. This advert also mentions one of their most famous songs which is featured on the album, again drawing people in through a song they recognise. This all makes the viewer of this advert want to buy the new album.

This advert is also a reflection of the indie genre, although it is so in a different way from Lana's. The advert revolves around the art of the album. Art and artsy things are often used in the indie genre, as the genre involves the idea of art and beauty without the technology and professionalism of more 'mainstream' genres like pop and rap. Although the art could have been digitised, it appears quite natural and broken up, looking like a mosaic. This broken up imagery is also reflected in the font, which all seems quite broken and rough. This gives the advert a sense of consistency, meaning that the advert does still look rather put together. However, the advert also seems very welcoming, and the brokenness makes the advert seem less professional and thus less mainstream, reflecting a convention of the indie genre.

   Coldplay

The advert for Coldplay's 'A Head Full Of Dreams' album also reflects the art of the album. Like The Killers', it doesn't feature the artists themselves; however, it also doesn't use a familiar logo that their fans would immediately recognise. The font for the advert is completely different to that on any beforehand, which may be because they have gone through many sounds and evolutions over the years. However, as the advert is inconsistent with other adverts of theirs, this means that a viewer may not make an automatic connection or assumption about the advert. On the other hand, they are such a famous and well established artist that they possibly don't need to do this in order to get people to buy their albums. Instead, their name and identity as a well established band is likely to be enough to sell their product anyway. The advert also doesn't feature a selected already well-known song from the album, although this could be because of the reasons mentioned before.

The Coldplay advert, like The Killers', is also based around the convention of art, although the style is very different to that of the latter. In the centre is a colourful geometric shape, and surrounding it are little images of various things, including planets and birds, with a colourful rainbow border on the outside. The font matches the geometric shape in the middle as the gradient colours are reflected in the font, thus creating consistency. However, this consistency is broken by the seemingly random border on the outside. There is almost too much to look at on the advert, but not so much that it appears crowded or heavy. The randomness of the images also reflects a convention of the genre, which revolves around being different and artsy. There is a pop art feel, which again is a convention of the genre. The imagery also reflects the modern 'aesthetic' style that is common on the internet.