Answer to Media Question Two
- 1. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?
- 2. WHAT IS A HOUSE STYLE/BRAND IDENTITY? This is when a product is created in a certain fashion predetermined by the production company. Products made using a house style will usually look very similar and use a similar colour scheme and typography. Using a house style is important when creating media products such as digipaks, posters and music videos as it allows a clear link to be made between the media texts and builds a brand identity that an audience will be able to easily identify and familiarise themselves with. By having a clear idea of the artists house style in their head the audience can easily make decisions about what they think of the products and the artist in general. My house style focuses more on the album concept than the actual artist, this is conventional of the indie genre and suggests that the music is the most important thing to the artist and not their image which may build a favourable image of the artist in the audiences head.
- 3. DIGIPAK HOUSE STYLE EXAMPLE - HOZIER When looking at Hozier’s digipak design for his debut album there is an evident colour scheme of warm, earthy and dark tone colours which is consistently followed and fluency in the typography used. The same colour scheme is continued into his music video for ‘The Work Song’ which features on the aforementioned album and the poster used to advertise the album; this shows to the audience a clear link between his media products which has been created through using a house style/brand identity. By creating this house style, they are building brand familiarity for their audience.
- 4. POSTER HOUSE STYLE EXAMPLE - HOZIER We can clearly see that the same trend of colour scheme and typography has been used in the creation of the poster.
- 5. MUSIC VIDEO HOUSE STYLE EXAMPLE – HOZIER ’THE WORK SONG’ The colour scheme is continued into the music video as well allowing all three media products to link fluently. see link one below for video.
- 6. MY DIGIPAK HOUSE STYLE Throughout the process of designing my digipak I consciously tried to reflect the indie genre in my style. I have used a colour scheme of earthy tones throughout and though I have used different forms of typography the same text colour was used throughout to maintain fluency. I have also used the same font for the name of my artist throughout the creation of ancillary texts to create an association between the font and my artist and build brand familiarity for the audience. I have consistently used featured hand drawn images throughout my digipak and have used the same background for each component. The hand drawn images are significant as they create a personal tone to the digipak that will appeal to my target audience, this tone is continued through the inclusion of a quote and signature from my artist. I have included these features to engage the audience with my artist and build rapport, this has allowed me to create a house style that is very personal, both to my audience and artist, and a brand that is inclusive.
- 7. POSTER I have continued many of the elements from my digipak on my poster such as the background, album art and font for the artist name. I have used the same font for the name of my artist throughout the ancillary texts so that it will become associated with my artist and allow the audience to easily pick out other products by her. I decided not to use this font throughout the whole product though so that the artist name can stand alone on future products and other fonts can be used in conjunction with it. I have used the same colour scheme throughout all of the ancillary products (earthy tones – reflective of my chosen indie genre). The use of the same main image show’s that I am making links to all of my media products as my music video is set heavily in nature and natural environments this means that the audience may easily recognise that these texts belong together and aides the creation of brand familiarity. I have also included the name of the song I used for my music video on the poster, this is a direct reference to my other media product and encourages the audience to make the link and further research the artist and her music. My poster follows a very simplistic design which ensures that the poster is easy for my audience to look at and allows them to effortlessly pick out the most important information. This basic but effective design also means that the poster isn’t too overcrowded in terms of text and imagery and is aesthetically pleasing for my audience.
- 8. MUSIC VIDEO My music video and ancillary texts can be linked through the use of the same colour scheme. When creating my ancillary tasks I tried to conciously mimic the natural tones seen throughout my video to create a subtle visual connection. The main image from my digipak and poster also contains links to nature that can also be seen in the content of my music video. I wanted this to be a running theme throughout all of my media products as I wanted to comment on how we as a society need to strip back to basics and regain a sense of self. This is an image/symbol that will resonate with my audience as indie music is very often about the individuals sense of self, connection with the world and their own experiences. My artists name features at the beginning of the video on a title slide I have not used the artists signature font in this part of the video as I found the font I eventually chose to use fit in better with the ‘breaking news’ style of the opening sequence. A similar typewriter style font is used in the end credits and for the name of the record label however. This reinforces my artists brand identity and association between the font style and my musician. See link two for video below.
- 9. HOW MY DIGIPAK ‘SELLS’ MY MUSIC VIDEO TO THE AUDIENCE: My music video for don’t dream it’s over was created to evoke meaningful discussion about the state our world is in and to get my audience to look at themselves and evaluate whether they are being their truest self. I have used the natural setting in my music video as a symbol of this message as it connotes purity and truth and this imagery also features on my digipak cover. I have named my album ‘Proof’ to create further links to this message as the word ‘proof’ is a synonym of evidence and the album is about finding the truth in everyday life and this will appeal to my target audience’s interests. This therefore allows associations to be made between the media texts and create familiarity for the audience. I tried to adhere to the conventions of a digipak which has made my end product look professional and will make the product seem more attractive to the audience.
- 10. HOW MY POSTER ‘SELLS’ MY DIGIPAK: My poster follows a similar design to and features many of the components of my digipak such as colour scheme, main image and font for the artist name. The use of short declarative sentences such as ‘NEW ALBUM’ and ‘FEATURING THE NUMBER ONE SINGLE…” are advertising ploys that will draw the audience’s attention and make them want to buy the album. Further information about where to find the album is included at the bottom of the poster, this makes finding the product very easy for the audience and may tempt them to look the album up and purchase it after reading the poster. The inclusion of good reviews from known music magazines such as ‘GQ’ and ‘NME’ will peak the audiences interest and build up their expectations about the quality of the album and its content.
- 11. HOW MY MEDIA PRODUCTS COMMUNICATE MY GENRE: The genre of the song I chose is indie-pop, though in the creation of my media products I made the conscious decision to stray away from the pop elements of the song to create an indie product. I have tried to present this genre through every aspect of the production of my media products including costume, mise en scene, colour scheme and makeup. I decided that I wanted my actress to wear an understated and natural makeup look as this is conventional of the genre and also portrayed the natural and earthy look I wanted my video to convey to the audience. I thought the audience would find this look appealing as it suggests that she is genuine and doesn’t hide her true self from her audience. I had my actress wear two different costumes in my music video, one for the bath scene and another for the rest of the video, to show a clear distinction between the atmosphere of these two scenes/segments. These costumes consisted of a black body suit (bath scene) and ripped blue jeans, combat boots, a tan knit jumper and a backpack. This soft look was reflective of my genre and blended very well with the settings I chose to film my music video in. I researched the type of clothing worn by members of the indie genre (artists and audience) to ensure that I reflected this effectively in my video and created a persona (both in terms of personality and style) that the audience could identify with. I used a very loose colour scheme as I wanted to give myself as much creative freedom as possible in the creation of my music video and ancillary texts so instead of just limiting myself to the use of only one or two colours I decided to stick to using natural earthy tones such as greens, blues and warm colours instead. This decision meant that links between my ancillary texts and music video could easily be made and that the products would look aesthetically pleasing when placed side by side. Such colour schemes as this are conventional of the indie music genre along with pastel colours. My choice of background/setting for my music video is also relevant to how I portray the indie genre as initially when looking at music videos by similar artists and researching my genre I found that many of the indie music videos I watched ( ‘Eet’ – Regina Spektor, ‘High Hopes’ – Kodaline and ‘Sleep On The Floor’ – The Lumineers) were filmed in natural settings. I enjoyed the visual aesthetic of this and sought to recreate it in my own music video. This choice of setting also opens up my audience to not just people who enjoy indie music but those who enjoy nature videography. Before filming I also had my actress watch videos of other female indie vocalists (Lana Del Rey – ‘Ride’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py_- 3di1yx0) to give her an idea of the type of acting and atmosphere I wanted to feature in my music video. I found this was helpful as this meant my actress had an understanding of the conventions of an indie music video and how the artists usually like to portray themselves to their audience. She mimicked their soft style of lip-syncing and pensive facial expressions and this allowed me to make explicit connections between other artists from the genre and my own.