EVALUATION QUESTION 2

HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT WITH ANCILLARY TEXTS?

DIGI-PACK

After I had finished my music video, I then proceeded to make my promotional package to accompany the music video. I wanted my digi-pack to reflect and correspond to my music video. Although my music video uses, develops and challenges the genre attracting indie/electro/rock fans. I decided to push myself a little in an area I am not so familiar with - photo manipulation and editing, using photoshop. I created 6 panels for my CD pack instead of the standard 4 panel case. My initial interest and therefore development came from looking and researching other similar artists' artwork that also compliments their music video., such as; Fredrik - Chrome Cavities, The Cads - New Seed and Hurts - Happiness. These artists are similar style of music and helped me make realise how important the link between the music video and the digi-pack are. Hurts - Happiness cover is also one of the covers that influenced and help me complete my front cover panel - in terms of what appeals to a similar target audience and creating something eye catching. 

A strong aspect of my music video is my utilisation of location and choice of costumes to signify the genre more clearly. I realised that these were also my re-occurring motif's that Goodwin talks about in his theory of music videos. Artists often develop a recognisable image or motif across their work, mine being location and costume. This meant in order for my music video and promotional package to be coherent, I needed to reflect the motifs in my digi-pack.

This inspired me to make the first panel as powerful as possible, linking to the characters featuring in the music video. My research into album artwork covers, I noticed that artists not only use powerful images, but eye catching colour schemes as well. For example, 'Hurts' album cover for their album Happiness is grey-scale, making the image even more poignant. The image featured on the front of the album cover links well and is reflected through two of their music videos - 'It's a Wonderful Life' and 'Stay'. They use similar composition of shots - moving image and still image - also the same colour schemes, the grey wash out is used in both of their products. 

Their song 'Stay' was an influence and an intertextual reference for my music video and its ancillary texts. Not only are they a British band, the music to 'Stay' uses the beautiful beaches of Britain, which is what I tried to incorporate into my music video. 



Part of the brief being to 'promote an unsigned band', so marketing was hugely important. Using the strong images of the artists (featured in the picture right) draws more attention to the artwork, using black and white keeps it calm looking but with meaning & purpose. 

This screen shot highlights
The link between my music
video and my digi-pack

This image (Hurts album cover) inspired me to use a slightly washed out colour scheme, attracting attention to the subject of the pictures. It also creates a bigger contrast between the darker tones and the lighter tones. Happiness, the name of Hurts' album contrasts with the expressions on the subjects' faces, which they are clearly not expressing happiness. 
The image that I finally chose for the front cover, was a print screen from the video, to ultimately create a coherent promotional package. This develops the idea of a digi-pack reflecting the music video and creating a package that markets the artist, using motifs in particular in this case, This factor uses the generic forms and conventions of the genre. Another factor which links the two products together is the wash of de-saturation in the music video and the digi-pack, the mise-en-scene is similar between the images I use and the captured in the video.  

The only problem I encountered with having Ava, the female on the front is that it portrays her as the main focus of the video, this is not accurate as they play equal parts, maybe even with the dominance of Nile, the male character, being more prominent in the music video than the female's character, Ava. 

The two motifs I chose to develop throughout all of my products was location and costume. In my music video, it is obvious that the dull colours worn in present day mirror their miserable life present day, and the bright colours represent their exciting enjoyable life in the past. In my digi-pack I wanted a continuous theme throughout and chose to use mainly the dull colours, also influenced by the sound of Kankouran. Using bright colours and pictures in my digi-pack would not be an accurate portrayal of the band as their music is not 'chart-pop', it would therefore be inappropriate to use the captured images.
Using the black and white theme helped my digi-pack become themed and continual. 

Sinead O'Connor -
long black flowing cloak. 



Ava's skirt

 The costumes I chose for my characters are patterned across my work. The long flowing skirt is one of the most recognisable pieces. I chose to dress Ava in this after watching Sinead O'Conner's video - Nothing Compares To You. The genuine portrayal of her emotions in her music video were so moving, I wanted to create that recognition in my work. I used the influence of her long black cloak/coat she wears. The way it trails behind her could represent that sadness is always hanging around her, following her about. This is why I wanted the long black flowing skirt for Ava. This uses the generic conventions of the genre/ 




This is a screen shot of my music video showing
that my music video and digi-pack are a coherent
package. 

PANEL 5

The French Lieutenant's Woman

 The target audience I thought was appropriate for the products I made tended to be well-read. So in terms of location, I felt like the county I had chosen to film in had some great locations linking with other productions and texts to reference and be influenced by. For example, using the Cobb at Lyme Regis is immediately associated with 'The French Lieutennants Woman' and 'Persuasion' (by the BBC). I felt that The Cobb at Lyme Regis was the most recognisable and iconic place of all the locations I chose. I wanted to envoke the same emotion that the actors in the two films use (in particular TFLW) and associate my character (Ava's) emotions with their portrays of grief.

  



Panels 2 and 4 are influenced by Joan Jett's Greatest hits album cover. The theme of black and white is present in this image, there is no special effects on mise-en-scene or her costume. This is what influenced my decision when chosing images for my opposite panels.

The hair trailing shows the the dream-like state of mind Ava is in. Also the white top implies innocence which is contradictory in this case. Ava is also not looking at the camera when the photo was taken, implying she is ignoring the obvious, which could be representative of their relationship. Contrasting this, Nile looks straight at the camera looking at the obvious. He wears a black top suggesting he is depressed and sad about the situation.

PANEL 

PANEL 2

All in all, these two panels are opposite each other in the layout and provide an equal balanced digi-pack, they also are coherent with my music video as they are wearing the same costumes, the same make-up/hair also setting the tone and mood for the music video giving the audience an 'exclusive' view of what to expect. In this sense, it creates a cohernt digi-pack. 

My panel 3 was changed last minute after audience feedback of it looking like I was trying to sell the necklace that hold the significance between Nile and Ava's relationship. (It was a close up as pictured left) but looked like the focus was on the necklace, not the significance of the necklace.



Original Panel 3 design

Screen shot of music video to show that my music video
was a coherent package with my digi-pack.

 This response made me change my idea to including another image of Nile but in slightly washed out, slightly over exposed tones.

The back panel uses the generic conventional indie/electro/rock genre. It is simplicity that makes this image so effective. It is representative of the video in that this is the main setting of the video. It also was influenced by Hurts video 'Stay', filmed at the coast as well in a tranquill environment, mirroring the sound of the song and the image of the artist, which is one of the main purposes of a music video and promotional package. 

New panel 3 design

I wanted to re-create the feeling of calm and tranquill environment after the drama that happens in the music video and the tension that the digi-pack implies.

This image portrays the calm feeling when listening to
Kankouran's track more than reflecting the image of
the music video. 

To create a professional looking back panel I included a production company name, and a bar code, also the tabs at the side to complete the style of CD. 


MAGAZINE ADVERT

For my magazine advert I chose to use an image of Nile - on the front cover of the digi-pack, I used an image of Ava, suggesting she is the forefront of the video, when it is equally spread between the two characters; this strengthens the link between them, implying there is two sides to a story, it also continues the idea of motifs between the music video and digi-pack. Relating to what Goodwin says about music videos - "the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. It is coherent with my music video because it is actually a manipulated screen shot from my music video. 

 A similar artist that has also created a coherent music video and digi-pack is Kings Of Leon. Their music video to their song 'Radioactive' uses similar imagery, mise-en-scene and saturation levels to their magazine advert and their CD cover. 

The advert is likely to appear in a magazine called 'INDIE' - The Independent Style Magazine. It includes small time artists, fashion bloggers, it usually features collages of images of artists using simplistic layouts and type. This suits my designs for my magazine advert, using simple font, powerful images all with a message. 

This is the front cover of the magazine. It uses powerful images, employing the black and white filter onto the picture, again showing their use of simple fonts to create an effective overall look of their front cover. 

They also use similar colours to my poster, making it easier for them to pop an advert in and not worry about it co-ordinating with the rest of the magazine. 

They also feature the washed out (almost) greyscale in this case-style of images in their magazine. This image shows they promote small scale bands and help them on their way to bigger things. The audience of this magazine are a niche audience, similar to Kankouran's. 

The readers of this magazine include my target audience and demographic of audience. The three productions are visually linked together to create a coherent promotional pack and music video to promote and market a British unsigned band.