How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

Transcript:

Before I could make my digipak or magazine advert I needed to research other products from similar and contrasting genres to find out what sort of design I should be aiming for. This research was very helpful because as I had never previously seen or purchased a digipak I was able to study the layout and understand the most common layouts and conventions. For example the way the album name or artist is always on the spine. I discovered that continuity was an important factor when making a digipak and a magazine advert so that the two products were aesthetically pleasing but also recognizable for the audience. 

I originally wanted to link the digipak and magazine advert to the narrative of the video, for example having screen shots from the video in the digipak, but because the character in my video isn’t played by the artist I felt that I couldn’t put the actress on the digipak and magazine advert as this would be misleading to the audience. However the magazine advert and digipak were made to work in conjunction with each other to make the products easily recognizable. Therefore not only does the digipak and advert have the same back ground image, but the advert also features a image of the digipak on the wing of the plane. I think this demonstrates the use of synergy ‘the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.’ So in other words my digipak and magazine advert work together to create a greater advertising product that is recognizable across the two individual products.

Both of my ancillary texts are very similar to each other, they both use the same colours and the same font to help the audience link the products together and back to the artist. I felt that a single colour text was suitable for both of my ancillary texts as it was easy to see and clear-cut, which helped to create the fresh, crisp look I wanted to achieve with my products. The image used on my digipak and advert doesn’t necessarily fit in with the narrative of my music video but it does fit in with the image I want to portray of the artist. I believe it is quite a relaxed, but creative image, which gets your mind wondering about the style of the artists and perhaps implies that her music falls into the ‘indi’ genre as it could be interpreted as a ‘hipster’ image, which is commonly associated with the indi genre.

 As stated earlier because the character in my video isn’t played by the artist I felt that I couldn’t put the actress on the digipak and magazine advert. But the other reason I didn’t want to use images from the video is that I took an abstract approach in the video and this wasn't really suitable for the ancillary products as it wouldn't make much sense when placed on the digipak or advert. However I think the image I chose is still appropriate and fits well with my artists, as the song and digipak are called ‘so high’ and the image is taken from an airplane therefore you feel like you are literally so high when looking at the image.

The images of the artist, on the back of the digipak were used to help the audience feel connected to the artist so that they can form a stronger bond to her and her music. I also did this because it is “nice to have a face to the name” as the old saying goes.  Therefore I think the images help make the product more satisfying overall.

The images also support Goodwin’s voyeurism as the artist is directly looking into the camera on some of the images, which makes the audience feel like they are connected and involved in the product. The image from the airplane also supports the notion of looking because it makes you want to look out into the sky and the earth on the image its self.

 I also purposely included images of the artist due to Laccans mirror stage and the idea that the audience reflects part of them self on to the artist and part of the artists onto themselves. Thus bringing them closer to the product and making them more interactive with the industry and the artist as they see themselves reflected within it.

In conclusion my digipak and magazine advert were created to work in conjunction with each other and to promote the artist. I wanted to make something that captured the audience, was memorable and got them thinking about the artist. I feel I did this well and my products support my music video even though there is no actual imagery from my music video its self. I feel I used continuity well between my two ancillary texts and this has contributed to the overall effect of promoting the artist.