Star Quality - Richard Dyer

"A star is an image constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) from a range of materials - e.g. advertising and magazines, as well as films and music." Richard Dyer

 Richard Dyer's theory states that icons and celebrities are created through institutions for financial gain. These celebrities are targeted at one specific group/audience. The persona of the star created is not a real person but instead a fictional character making it so the star is not restricted to only music. Many often branch out to creating fashion trends and even popular phrases aimed towards their consumers.
Dyer's theory is can be broken down into 5 parts:

• The making of a 'star'
• Constructions
• Audience and institutions
• Hegemony / cultural beliefs
• Character and personality

McFly

 McFly's debut single was '5 Colours in Her Hair', which was released 29 March 2004 and entered the UK Single's Chart at no. 1 in April 2004 and stayed there a following week. This success was helped by them opening up for the band Busted on their tour in 2004.

5 Colours in Her Hair single artwork

McFly's debut album's cover

These classically feature all the band members, this was commonly done when bands were starting out as people are not too familiar with the members and this makes the band more recognisable and makes the image of the band stick in people's heads.

The font in both are identical, just different colours, this acts as the band's logo and makes their album and single artwork easier to identify.

2010

May 2011

McFly have kept themselves in the media to keep up their 'star image'. This involves magazine articles, interviews and social media but also on their own website.

McFly's image and target audience has developed over the years. When they first started out they were aimed at a younger audience of predominantly young female girls. As the band grew up and evolved so did their sound and therefore audience. More recently their music, although still aimed mostly aimed at females, their target audience has become older. A lot of McFly's original fans have grown up with the band and are still fans.

Our 'star' and music video is going to be aimed at what is McFly's fan base nowadays. For our digi-pack and magazine article will take the more refined format like McFly's later style. It is going to be more unisex rather than pink like their earlier magazine covers/articles. This is because we aren't aiming at such a young 'teeny-bopper' audience but an older audience which are more likely to understand the narrative of our music video.