Magazine advertisement - first draft

Here is my first draft of my magazine advertisement. To make it, I looked at the advert I deconstructed in a previous post and looked at all the conventions, and I think that I have stuck to those conventions. The name of the artist and the name of the album are the central pieces of text and are the pieces of text that the eye will be drawn to first, and the image is the same that I used for the album cover, so there is relevance between the album cover and the advert, and the audience can establish a link between the two. Other persuasive features are also used such as quotes from well-renowned magazines and phrases such as 'the incredible debut album'. These are both examples of the hypodermic needle effect in action as the advert aims to use its power to persuade the audience into buying the album.

Obviously, I would've liked it to be portrait, but pages didn't allow me to alter the picture so that it looked suitable for a magazine.

Ideology, Audience pleasures, Uses & Gratifications vs Hypodermic Needle Effect, and Memes & Tropes

Ideology: I believe that the genre and the mood of the song affects the visual representation. Currently, most indie videos show the band/artist as being quite cool and that they take pride in being different from anyone else. The song that I have chosen is quite melancholy, so I am trying to create a video that has a deep, gritty narrative whilst trying to make the artist look good at the same time.

Audience pleasures: People watch music videos for a variety of different reasons, mainly for entertainment. My music video is also for entertainment, but as it is set in a rough neighbourhood and the main character (myself) is finding life difficult , I am trying to make it relatable for people who are of similar socio-economic class and who are going through similar situations in life.

Uses & Gratifications Theory vs Hypodermic Needle Effect: The Hypodermic Needle Effect implies that the mass media are so powerful that they can 'shoot' or 'inject' their messages at the audience with a desired effect. The mass media assumes that that the audience are 'passive recievers' of the messages who accept or don't challenge them. The best example of this is Orson Welles' radio broadcast of 'War Of The Worlds', which was interrupted by a 'news bulletin' stating that martians had began an invasion of Earth. Mass hysteria had been caused with about 1 million people that listened to the broadcast believing that the invasion was actually about to commence.

The Uses & Gratifications Theory is the opposite, as it assumes that the audience are actually active receivers; they use the media text to satisfy certain needs e.g. for entertainment, information, advice etc. As I am not looking to 'inject' messages at my audience or use 'power' to influence them in anyway, I won't be taking the Hypodermic Needle Effect into account. but my magazine advertisement may do this in order for people to buy the album. However, I hope that my video will be a good accompaniment for the song I have chosen and I am looking to entertain my audience, and I do feel that it may affect my target audience, as I think that my video is for those who aren't influenced by the power of the media, and use it simply for different purposes.

Memes & Tropes: I will use fairly standard filming techniques and montage editing, something which is typically found in music videos, although I don't think I will use tropes found within my particular genre. Having said that, some of the ideas that are being applied to my video aren't entirely original either, as I have used other videos from other genres to influence my own.

The Streets - Dry Your Eyes

I was searching through Youtube and came across the video for Dry Your Eyes by The Streets. In my opinion, I don't think it's the greatest music video ever made, and it's nothing special in terms of editing, but it is a massive influence for the video that I am making because of the atmosphere that it creates. The lyrics of the song suggest that he has been on the end of a bad break-up, and make up the underlying narrative, while the video itself tries to capture how depressed and lonely he is. There are several long shots of Skinner in desolate locations and his body language suggests this feeling of loneliness, as well as the fact he is the only person in the video and his dog is the only thing that keeps him company.