2. This tour poster for John Mayer uses quite earthy
colours on it which might connote what the music
itself may be like, really down to earth and natural
not like a lot of the computer generated music we
hear these days. The main image on the poster is
looking down towards the floor. This could be as he is
lost in the music and not realizing that we are even
looking at him. It also gives quite a deep emotional
feeling to it so this may be a visual representation of
his music. The poster is set out in a very standard way
with the main masthead at the top, image in the
middle and dates at the bottom, this will be for the
convenience of the viewer. All though it isn't a real
picture of John Mayer you can still make out his style
as you can still see key iconic things such as his long
hair and sunglasses. This is very stereotypical of his
genre and even pulls on the strings of the hippy
generation which re-enforces the connotation of his
music being real and natural. Also the font is all out
of line with scratches and scuffs on it giving it a real
authentic handmade feel again this show him staying
away from the computer generated look. Also as the
text is all askew it makes the artist look very edgy and
different
3. You can see how high key lighting on the mid shot of the
artist is used on the front cover. Them main reason for
this is so you can see the artist clearly because she's a
new artist so she needs to be the main focal point to
make her recognisable to the public. The other reason is
because she is an attractive person so if you can see her
clearly on the front it will enhance the male gaze (Laura
Mulvey) making the male population more interested in
the album. Also because she is represented in a nice way
it will also enhance the ideal self/partner (Carl Rogers) as
man will want to be with her and women will want to be
her. The Location where the picture is took is very suited
as it is outside and the album is called ‘Stay Out’. The fact
that is also half white and half rough brick could
represent how we all have our good and bad sides just
like the artist who might not be as sweet and innocent as
first perceived. Her facial expression is very serious. This
could connote that this album might be very serious and
the songs in it might have a lot of depth and meaning to
them and that is why the have chosen a serious
expression and location rather than a much more fun and
light approach. Also because this is one of her early
albums she is the main focus of the front cover. The
reason for this is because this will then get her image
across to her
4. demographic and make her much more recognisable to
an audience. For this album there isn't anything genre
codes that stand out massively apart from her clothing.
Her clothing is rather stereotypical in terms of her genre
of indie acoustic. She is wearing a baggy alternative look
jumper which her audience will be able to see and relate
to as this will be the same type of clothing they will wear.
This makes the artist seem more inspirational to her
target audience as they will view her as being similar to
them and a reachable goal. The album name for this one
is ‘Stay Out’. The connotations of especially when you
combine it with the music video is literally just staying
out, like on a night out for example. This will be a very
relatable topic for her target audience as they will all be
of a similar age to her (18-25) and they will fully endorse
the staying out lifestyle and it will have been something
they will have done repeatedly in their lives so they will
be able to fully relate to the album name and song. For
the fonts they have used sans serif fonts that are quite
different from normal style fonts you may see. This
connotes that the artist is going to be a little bit different
and quite quirky compared to normal artist you may
come across. But the font is also quite elegant and
flowing at the same time, this is to represent the girly
side of the artist as well.
5. The low key lighting, along with the solemn expression,
black and white effect and the actual name of the album
on the poster all lead down to path of quite a dark and
unhappy connotations about the album this poster is
advertising. On top of this with song names such as lust
and death only reinforces the negativity which surrounds
this poster. On top if the the actual photography for the
poster is rather reminiscent of a mug shot picture which
is taken before you go into jail, just another arrow
pointing to the negative connotations of this poster.
Juxtaposed to all the darkness on this poster there is a
brilliant white bold sans serif font which really stands
out. The denotation of this is is bright and eye catching
for on lookers but the connotation of this could be that
not everything is dark and bad about this there is still
some good. Lana also fits in the ideal self/partner
category as her female audience will see her and want to
be her as she is represented as a strong attractive female
and for the same reasons her male audience will see her
and want to be with her. Another thing about Lana in the
picture would be the indirect mode of address which
connotes her being in deep thought which in tern could
be representing her music being deep and meaningful.
6. High key lighting is used on the artist on this
poster to make him stand out so as a on looker
you know its about him and he should be the
main focus but as it s a rather busy poster
without the high key light he may have become
lost in the background. Also very similar to the
John Mayer poster I have already talked about
lots of earth browns and sea blues have been
used to make up this poster giving strong
connotations of his music be natural and down
to earth and not digitally processed. The setting
of the picture is him on stage with his acoustic
guitar and live band. This is very important
because for an artist like him because it further
reinforces him being a natural artist not auto
tuned and computer generated and for his genre
and style of music this is their unique selling
point which is why is is so reinforced on there
posters. His indirect mode of address and body
language connotes him being lost in the music
and atmosphere at his performance which is a
positive thing to try and get across to people as it
will make it seem like it’s a brilliant atmosphere
and show when you go and see Jason Mraz.
7. His clothing is very simple of just jeans and a
checked shirt which although they are rather
stereotypical of people that listen to his genre of
music they are very simple and plain. The reason
for this is because he doesn't need big showy off
outfits unlike artists like Lady GaGa because with
him its all about the music not material
possessions. Another thing about this poster is
he uses great use of iconography by having the
acoustic central in the image. The reason for this
is because as soon as anyone sees an acoustic
guitar irrelevant of whether they know who
Jason Mraz is or not they will straight away know
the vibe of his music and will be able to tell
whether they would be interested in reading the
poster in more detail. Also as I mentioned about
the John Mayer poster the font has scratches and
scuffs on it giving it a real authentic handmade
feel again this show him, once again, staying
away from the computer generated look.
8. High key lighting is used once again on the
artist to make sure you recognize that he is the
main focus of the piece as the poster is for him
and his tour dates. Once again very natural
colours and even location on this one with him
being in a field is used as a visual
representation of his music connoting it is
natural, pure and unhampered with by
computers. The reason we are seeing this a lot
is because I am doing music posters for indie
acoustic as that is what my artist is going to be
so they are all in the same genre and the music
being natural is a big emphasis and
stereotypical theme seen in this genre. Even
the masthead on this poster has gone for a
hand drawn natural look as you can still even
seen the guidelines on the text as if its still in
its raw form like his music. His style is a very
alternative one as he has long ginger
dreadlocks and a denim shirts. This will appeal
to his audience as they will like his style as it is
something them would aspire to look like but
also they will love his attitude of now caring
what anyone else thinks, he’ll look like he
wants.
