Draft Evaluation Question 2 - Max

I believe that the combination between our music video and my ancillary texts is well done. When creating my digipak and advert I thought about the music video and how they would link together.

As when we took the photos for my digipak and advert we had already created our storyboard, this meant I could take ideas form the storyboard and recreate similar effects in a photo. An example of this is when the actor in the music video is sat on a bed with a grey background; I replicated this to a degree as on my front cover I have the band members stood in front of a dirty white backdrop, as well as on the background of my advert I attempted to get the closest colour to the back ground of the image.

 Also on the inside panels of my digipak I had an image of a blurry fire which went very well with style of the music video as it is very similar to images on the video. I used the same image for the front of my digipak and on my advert as I felt that having that link between them will make it easier for someone looking to associate the two pieces ancillary texts.

The overall style I went for in my ancillary texts was very similar to our music video as the main theme of the video was dark and depressing however there were little segments of happiness. I tried to make my ancillary texts very dark to match the video, I did this by editing the images to make them look a little darker however was still easy to see the image, also the inside panels are from the music video.

Draft Evaliuation Question 2 // Sachin mistry

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

I feel like the combination of my ancillary text and the music video product are effective as they all tie into one, and are all relevant to the to each other so they are not all individual products.

When creating my digipak and magazine advert based the theme on the music genre which we had selected when choosing the song.  I feel that my digipak and advert fit well with the indie/rock genre which we wanted to base our band off of. This is because we had chosen song which has a lot of emotionally lyrics which we could present in the digipak. This is because the digipak is where the music will be stored and this will be the direct link which the audience will make. I similarly believe that my ancillary texts are simple which makes it easier to familiarise yourself with the band as there is not a lot of text or pictures surrounding the artists or the band name which helps with recognition of the band more easily. For example of my advert was on the side of the bus shelter in the city centre, I think that it would stand out because of the bright grey background which makes the members of the band stand out more. Also the contrast of the white lettering on the grey background also stands out amongst the crowd.  By doing this I wanted to create an image for the band that they are clean and simple and this would also translate into their music foreshadowing that they also have clean and simple music.

For my digipak I took inspiration form ‘Placebo’ and ‘Dirty Projectors’ this is because I liked the two shots they had because it looked very minimalist as they also had blank facial expressions. The inspiration from ‘Placebo’ came from one of their photos where they had all the band member faces over the top of each other almost like a fan. Even though it was a close up and majority of their faces was covered up you can still see their facial expressions which I thought was quite unique and ended up using this technique on the inside of my digipak. With my advert I used the same images found on my digipak but arranged then as in a different manner where they are bleeding over the border. This is because the majority of the ones that I found online feature the album cover and then some information at the bottom.  Didn’t feel as this would fit my theme and as I said previously f they features somewhere on display they would stand out due to the minimalism and people walking by could read the text quickly as the information I provided was quick and to the point.

With band branding I made sure that I used the band’s name on all three of the product, on the digipak I placed the band name ¾ of the way up the album cover around the eye line so that when the audience see the album cover they will make the direct eye contact and then they will see the band name. On the advert I placed the bane name at the top of the advert using the same font (Orator Std Medium) so that it is recognisable and clear to read. Likewise o the music video I placed the band name at the starting of the video so that if the video was accidentally clicked on as the least audience will know who the band right from the very start. If I were to do this again I would also make sure that the band’s logo is also loud and clear on all of my products as well to main continuity. For example I have the band logo on the spine and the back of the digipak, middle of the advert under the title so that the can familiarise the name with the logo and the band with the brand. But on the video I did not include this, so I would have a completely black screen with the band logo presented and then show the band name like normal. Or I could present it at the end o the video wither the credits. The name of the album is ‘Hard light’ and the lighting in the video was dark, quite bright at times and harsh. This reflects the name of the album and emphasises the link between the products. Also the pictures that were used as the exclusive pictures of the band members I took use the hard light effect as it represents the album name and it maintains continuity.

I think that the continuity of my digipak and advert links to the continuity of the music video showing that all of my work I planned thoroughly thought out before it was created. Each part of the digipak and advert have a meaning as to why I chose this deign language which reflects on the music video as each scene was planned out from the outfits to the mise en scene and the props in the background. The continuity of the video is that it’s always leading back to the lead singer and his memories going from good times with friends to bad times on his own. I believe that there is a direct link between all my products and that the band has been portrayed well which in my opinion is the most important when it comes to selling their products. 

Evaluation Question 2 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 2: How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts?

I believe that the combination between our music video and my own personal ancillary texts is effective. When creating my digipak and magazine advert I had to take into consideration how it would work an appear alongside our final media product, the music video. 

When taking images to use in my digipak and advert, I decided that I wanted the atmosphere and feeling of the photos to be the same as that in the music video. This meant I had to take a photo that would make the audience think and may appear a little solemn. To do this I experimented with different techniques and styles of photography. I knew I wanted the photo I would take to be dark, so that it could match the overall tone and literal colour of the music video, which is shot mostly at night time.  The image I selected to use incorporated all of these criteria that I wanted it to.

Even though my front cover was the most important part of my digipak, when combining this alongside the main media product, it was also important for me to ensure the rest of my digipak continued with a similar theme and style, so that it wasn't just the cover that worked effectively alongside the music video. To ensure I did this, I used similarly dark photos to try and convey a similar tone and feeling.

I ensured that when creating our music video, shots were included that would relate and be linked to my ancillary texts. I wanted to include plenty of dark shots and shots that would make the audience ask questions and shots that would intrigue them. I also looked at the colour scheme and tried to relate this ti certain shots.