Concert Poster Analysis:I have looked at a variety of different concert posters from various genres, this is because I wanted to see the difference between these genres and how they are represented to the

audience. I also looked at two Jason Mraz’s concert posters because he is our chosen musician, therefore we want to follow similar codes and conventions of his posters to

target the correct audience.

By Tayla Powell

I LOVE this tour poster mainly because of the eccentric colour scheme, based on a beach theme and the way in which it has been illustrated, rather then following the typical conventions of a music poster. The most predominate colour is orange and yellow which

symbolises an energetic, yet happy personality. This instantly indicates a soul artist due to the bright colour scheme. His name is

placed in the right hand corner of the composition and makes up the sun, with birds (doves) flying around it. I admire the use of doves in

the poster because it represents peace and tranquillity, and juxtaposes against the energetic background, which is effective. In

addition, the photo of Jason Mraz is the main focal point of the composition and is half reality and half animated which I absolutely love! This is mainly because it symbolises not only power but also innocence. This makes Jason Mraz’s concert poster stand out from other similar artists such as The Script and James Morrison, which I

like because the dramatic use of colours and beach theme brings out his fun, happy-go-lucky and down to earth personality. Furthermore, in the bottom right hand corner of the frame is an advertisements of

Jason’s album, the white album cover catches the eye against the bright colours. The use of colours and animation, sketch like photo is

something I would like to incorporate into my concert poster because I can see the ‘summer’ themed link between my plans for my music video and this. I love how it is different from the other

posters I am going to look at. I have access to Illustrator is I did want to re-create a poster similar which I may have to experiment with.

SOUL/POP:

SOUL/POP:This is Jason Mraz’s most recent tour poster. This poster is based on a strict colour scheme of red, white and grey. The colour red against the

white and grey is very powerful creating a strong brand image, which he was not previously representing in the prior tour poster. Even though this poster is quite simple and plan, I think it is effective because it is part of the reason why it is eye-catching, plus it is purposely made to look old

fashioned and the overall photo looks scratched and worn. We can see the huge difference from the former poster and this one, due to the link

between his music. His previous music was chirpy and joyful, however in the modern day his songs have became more meaningful and slow,

therefore we an see the connection in the posters which is something I need to take on board when making my poster. I LOVE that Jason is

holding an acoustic guitar, this fits in with his genre really well, plus it gives him a down to earth appeal. The pose Jason is pulling is quite natural as if he is on stage performing live, this pose is much similar to The Script’s tour poster as they are holding the same pose and have noticed a predominate

trend in natural poses on stage for this genre. Even though I want my character to be different, this fits correctly into the genre, I will take this

on board. Additionally, his poster does not contain important information of the concert, only the name. I don’t like this because it doesn’t make it

very evident to the audience on prices, dates, times and so on. Therefore I believe this is a huge disadvantage to this poster, plus the use of a black

and white image done make Jason stand out like his previous poster. Although, I feel that the various size and colours of the information above is important, for example the artists name is the largest, and underlined,

catching the readers eye and making them aware of who the poster is advertising.

ALTERNATIVE ROCK:This tour poster follows more usual conventions of a concert

poster. The Script concert poster looks very sophisticated, classy and professional due to the colour scheme of blacks, whites and gold, which gives the band a higher-class image, therefore is an indication of an alternative rock band. In this concert photo, the

name of the band is most predominating with lights in the background, brightening up the photo overall, this looks like the image was taken at a live performance. I love how the main band member, Danny O’donnohuge is posed which looks natural. I like the way in which the band seem relaxed, rather then posing for the camera. I love the whole composition of this poster because it’s unique and engaging. This poster has a lot more information based on the concert rather than Jason Mraz’s poster, which is

quite minimal. The information takes up half of the compositional frame and gives the audience information on dates, times, ticket prices, ticket websites etc. Although the

details of the tour are small and at the bottom of the poster, they are still clearly visible due to the contrast of the white writing on

the black box. The white writing against the black background works well together. In addition the album is placed in the centre left hand side of the composition, which makes it much easier to

see than Jason Mraz’s album.

COUNTRY:Taylor Swift concert photo sums up her character, basically

because the photo taken is very natural and we can obviously see that see is live on stage. In addition, Taylor is creating a heart

with her hands; this represents Taylor as a loving, friendly and down to earth woman, which I love. Even though her image is

represented as a young joyful girl, there is a slight representation of sophistication and class from her glittery silver dress. I

absolutely LOVE this because it shows two sides to her music. The colour scheme is clearly purple although the splash of gold

stands out against the background and is the main focal point of this image. The mixture of classy colours gives it an indication of pop/country music; this is because the colour isn’t as bright to appeal to all pop audiences. The gold instantly gives a powerful

and strong appeal. The variation of colour keeps the information looking interesting. In addition, I admire how the writing in the centre of the page looks as if its hand written, looking as if she

has written it herself. Furthermore, similar to the other posters I have looked at; we can evidently see important information

around the edges of the poster. In my opinion, I actually prefer if all the important information about the tour at the bottom of the

compositional frame so it is all placed together, rather than having it all separated, like Taylor Swifts poster, although it does make it distinct which I like. I like the fact that the album cover is shown at the bottom of the frame, promoting the album as well

as the tour dates, these details are put across to the audience effectively. This is something that will need to be done when I am

creating my music poster.

I like this poster mainly because of the way in which it has been illustrated, rather then following the typical

conventions of a music poster. I like this because it allows plenty of blank space throughout the poster, for

information and details that audiences want. This poster follows a strict colour scheme of only white, black, pink

and blue, which gives her a girly image, therefore gives us an indication of a pop genre. This is effective because only the main sections are shaded in these colours, therefore

makes it eye-catching. I feel that the size of the artists name is effective because it is the largest text and bold,

making them aware of whom the poster is advertising and promoting. There is a vast amount of blank space,

although I like this because I feel it is one of the reasons why it is so eye catching. The information below is easy to

read on top of a white background, especially the black writing as it is most evident and simply puts across the details to the audience effectively. I would love to re-

create a poster like this, mainly because it does not follow typical conventions of a music poster, therefore making

my character unique.

POP:

This Coldplay poster is very simple and follows typical conventions of a music poster. Although, as Coldplay are such a well known band, I like how they don’t have to use a photo

of themselves. In addition, this poster, like many of the others I have looked at follows a strict colour scheme of blacks and yellow/gold; this gives Coldplay a classy yet

powerful image. I like how large and bold the title is, this works really well because the white writing juxtaposes

against the black background. This is the main focal point of the poster and allows the audiences to know who the poster

is promoting. Similar to the previous poster, there is a vast amount of blank space, although I like this because I feel it is one of the reasons why it is so eye catching. I LOVE how they have had their main photo of a light bulb instead of a picture of the band members, it is in relation to their most famous

song which is quite mysterious, plus it is against black background which gives an indication of a rock genre. In

addition, I like how the sub title ‘lights will guide you home’ is written in a unique way so it looks like lights. I admire this

because it is not following typical conventions of a music poster. At the bottom of the page is information of the tour, I like how the writing is gold instead of white because if it was

white it would take away the attention from the title. Unconventionally, they are not advertising their album,

instead advertising their official page.

ROCK:

This Rhianna concert poster is very simple, although it follows typical conventions of an R’n’B music poster, due to the

element of sophistication through the use of a strict colour scheme of red, white and black which creates a classy image. The use of red is only used as her hair colour; this is striking, eye catching and is the main focal point I look at when I see

this poster. This is what draws my attention to the poster and gives Rhianna her own identity and image because her

appearance is so unique. To me, this poster is very plain in comparison to prior concert posters I have looked at, although I LOVE how a picture of the artist takes up the majority of the page and underneath the image is her name in the largest and

boldest writing, the white writing on the black box is really effective. However, there is not much blank space throughout the poster as information about the concert has fulfilled this which I admire. The information below is easy to read on top

of a black background, especially the white writing as it is most evident and simply puts across the details to the

audience effectively. I feel it would be fairly easy to re-create a poster like this, simply because the conventions of a typical

tour poster are used throughout this, therefore would be easy to re-create. Although due to following traditional concert posters I would not like to re0create this mainly because I

would like a unique and diverse poster which I feel this is not presenting. In addition, considering it is an R ‘n’ B artist I feel it

would not suit the audience I am hoping to target (soul/pop audiences).

R&B:

DANCE/ELECTRO:This is Basshunters concert poster, this is typical for dance/electro music and this poster follows typical conventions of this genre music poster. The use of

bright, eccentric colour scheme and strobe lighting is typical to see when at one of his concerts because his

music is very ‘club-land’ and Ibiza style. The strobe lights all disappear into the background behind

Basshunter drawing your eye through the image and onto him and also fitting with the dance genre.

Although, I am not a huge fan of this poster because the details on this poster is very busy and takes away my attention from the name of the artists. His body

language suggests he is very confident and portrays a sexual persona, suggesting he is a ‘ladies man’. If I saw

this advert it would definitely attract my attention because of the bright lights and colours that have been

used, although it would not be appropriate to advertise my genre because it would be targeting the completely wrong audience. In addition to this, it isn’t one of my favourite music posters, mainly because the

colour scheme is quite dark which gives the whole perception of Basshunter a mysterious and

unwelcoming vibe which is something I do not want to advertise my musician as.

HIP-HOP/RAP: This hip-hop/rap concert poster of SnoopDogg represents a typical hip-hop poster due to the fierce

colour scheme of only yellow, black and white. I don’t really like this ad; I believe it suits the hip hop/rap

representation well although it wouldn’t be appropriate for my soul/pop genre. Although, I feel that the size of

the artists name is effective because it is the largest text and bold, however the yellow name title at the top of

the page isn’t very eye-catching and striking as the other posters I have looked at, this is because the yellow

writing blends in with the yellow hue and saturation of the image, therefore took me sometime to figure out

who this poster was advertising. Nevertheless, this isn’t a busy composition which I admire as it allows the

audience to focus on the image and who it is promoting. His body language is brought across as confident, yet

slightly cocky with a bad boy attitude. I don’t like how he is represented in a dominating and intimidating way, I

aim to represent my artists as relaxed in a cool and calm atmosphere. Similar to my analysis of Rhianna’s concert

poster, it would be easy to re-create due to following stereotypical conventions, although I think this poster is quite boring and will not suit my genre and character I

am hoping to create.

In conclusion, taking into account that these are different genres and represented to various audiences, I admire the use of bright and eccentric colour scheme Jason Mraz’s poster includes. In addition to this, I love how both Jason Mraz’s and Katy Perry’s have been illustrated, rather then following the typical conventions of a music poster. This is diverse and unique, therefore is something I am definitely going to experiment with. I like this because it allows plenty of blank space throughout the poster, for information and details that audiences want. Consequently, I felt that Snoopdogg and Basshunters posters were too dark and dismal for the genre I am going with, this represents more frantic and violent themed songs, rather than the cool and calm atmosphere I am hoping to create. The Script poster is some of the favourites because of the way the artists is naturally posed rather than other posters like Rhianna which is posed. In addition, I love the strict colour scheme of The Script poster because it makes their band image look classy yet down to earth. Although, I feel the energetic colour similar to Jason Mraz’s first poster would be more appropriate to my chosen genre.

CONCLUSION: