Freindly Fires
The genre of the band is evident from the style of the people in the advertisement. They are the band and they are wearing clothes that connote the indie/alternative genre that they belong to for example the chequered shirt with dark, thick-rimmed sunglasses. This is quite a popular look amongst people within this genre. The advertisement also tells us that ‘Friendly Fires’ is a British band as it was nominated for the mercury prize, which is for the best album from Britain.
The rule of thirds is used in the advertisement. The band are situated along the bottom line and the title and quotation along the top. The rule of thirds is when you put the important elements of the print text in certain places in the frame. If you were to split the page equally into three sections along the length and width of the page, you would put the most important elements along those imaginary lines. There are bright colours in the advertisement and it is very well lit. Although you may expect dull colours from an indie/alternative rock band like there album covers, dull colours would not be so good for advertising. The whole point of advertising is to get people to buy the product that is being advertised, so you want bright colours in an advertisement to draw people’s attention to it. Once you have their attention it does not matter if you have a dull album cover as you would have already convinced them to buy the product. The mise-en-scene in the advertisement is the clothes that the band are wearing and these denote the genre of the band. The background that the band are sitting in front of is a painting of an idyllic location, they are sitting on a beach with water and palm trees in the background. This represents the perfect lifestyle. The band are relaxing on the beach drinking cocktails and reading whilst sunbathing, showing that they are on holiday. This could suggest that there album is quite a happy, relaxing one. The fact that the background is clearly a painting shows that the picture was taken in a studio; probably near where they live. This shows the band is fairly new and hasn’t had much success yet so they cannot afford to go to a location like the one that is drawn in the background for the album cover. The advertisement contains the use of a quotation, which is ‘The band of the summer’ then underneath that is written who said that which is ‘The Observer’. They use this to show that people have enjoyed the album, it is used as proof that the album is good. The say who said the quotation just to show that it was actually a credible source not just anyone who said it, this adds to the authenticity. At the bottom of the advertisement it says ‘The Mercury Prize Nominated Album’ this is to add even more credibility and authenticity to the quotation and to the album. The fact that the advertisement has the quotation and the fact that the album was nominated for the Mercury Prize shows that the band are still trying to make it in the music industry and are still trying to persuade people to go and buy there album. If it was an advertisement for a band or artist that had already made it and were popular and famous they wouldn’t need to put these sorts of things on there as everybody already knows if they like them or not, so there is no need to try and sell them to the public through use of quotations. The reference to popular culture is the style of clothes that the band are wearing and the style of there hair. The style of the band is popular in there genre, wearing those clothes and having their hair how they do make them more accessible to the fans of that genre.
The advertisement does add to the meta-narrative of the band as it features them and shows a different side to them that their target audience may not know about as the advertisement is very different to the bands album cover. This advertisement shows the band relaxing, so it connotes that they are quite relaxed guys and nothing really bothers them. The fact that the band are sitting in front of a constructed scene of paradise could show that they are trying to achieve the perfect lifestyle, and they will have lots of money so they will be able to afford to go to these paradises or maybe even live there. However, as it is constructed it shows that they are not there yet. There is an ideological discourse behind this advertisement, and it is capitalism, and achieving the 'American dream'. We can tell this as although they are sitting in front of a fake paradise, that is what they want to achieve and to have this they will need fame and fortune.
The rule of thirds is used in the advertisement. The band are situated along the bottom line and the title and quotation along the top. The rule of thirds is when you put the important elements of the print text in certain places in the frame. If you were to split the page equally into three sections along the length and width of the page, you would put the most important elements along those imaginary lines. There are bright colours in the advertisement and it is very well lit. Although you may expect dull colours from an indie/alternative rock band like there album covers, dull colours would not be so good for advertising. The whole point of advertising is to get people to buy the product that is being advertised, so you want bright colours in an advertisement to draw people’s attention to it. Once you have their attention it does not matter if you have a dull album cover as you would have already convinced them to buy the product. The mise-en-scene in the advertisement is the clothes that the band are wearing and these denote the genre of the band. The background that the band are sitting in front of is a painting of an idyllic location, they are sitting on a beach with water and palm trees in the background. This represents the perfect lifestyle. The band are relaxing on the beach drinking cocktails and reading whilst sunbathing, showing that they are on holiday. This could suggest that there album is quite a happy, relaxing one. The fact that the background is clearly a painting shows that the picture was taken in a studio; probably near where they live. This shows the band is fairly new and hasn’t had much success yet so they cannot afford to go to a location like the one that is drawn in the background for the album cover. The advertisement contains the use of a quotation, which is ‘The band of the summer’ then underneath that is written who said that which is ‘The Observer’. They use this to show that people have enjoyed the album, it is used as proof that the album is good. The say who said the quotation just to show that it was actually a credible source not just anyone who said it, this adds to the authenticity. At the bottom of the advertisement it says ‘The Mercury Prize Nominated Album’ this is to add even more credibility and authenticity to the quotation and to the album. The fact that the advertisement has the quotation and the fact that the album was nominated for the Mercury Prize shows that the band are still trying to make it in the music industry and are still trying to persuade people to go and buy there album. If it was an advertisement for a band or artist that had already made it and were popular and famous they wouldn’t need to put these sorts of things on there as everybody already knows if they like them or not, so there is no need to try and sell them to the public through use of quotations. The reference to popular culture is the style of clothes that the band are wearing and the style of there hair. The style of the band is popular in there genre, wearing those clothes and having their hair how they do make them more accessible to the fans of that genre.
The advertisement does add to the meta-narrative of the band as it features them and shows a different side to them that their target audience may not know about as the advertisement is very different to the bands album cover. This advertisement shows the band relaxing, so it connotes that they are quite relaxed guys and nothing really bothers them. The fact that the band are sitting in front of a constructed scene of paradise could show that they are trying to achieve the perfect lifestyle, and they will have lots of money so they will be able to afford to go to these paradises or maybe even live there. However, as it is constructed it shows that they are not there yet. There is an ideological discourse behind this advertisement, and it is capitalism, and achieving the 'American dream'. We can tell this as although they are sitting in front of a fake paradise, that is what they want to achieve and to have this they will need fame and fortune.
some interesting observations, however you miss the ironic element - sitting on beach in a shirt? It's all quite tongue in cheek and is designed to be comical.
ReplyDeleteAlso - use semiotics more thoroughly, connotations, add up to meaning, reinforce/challenge myths...?
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