G324 Evaluation Question 2
- 1. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Our ancillary tasks combine with our video well giving us good brand identity because they all used the same constant dark theme and linked through the mise en scene (in setting). This is because the video used a black performance setting that we also used for the photo shoot for the advert and digipak pictures. This location worked well with the black background of the poster and contrasted well with the brighter colours of the digipak front cover. This side of the cover (the front) also used a drawn picture which fit the genres convention as other digipaks, such as Royal Blood, have done this; this use of imagery is also put on the advert on the band members faces, which further links the ancillaries. The Artwork We chose to use cartoon of the chicken rather than completely focusing on just the band because the audience for this genre is known to like an artist for the music not just the image, we know this because of the research we did into other artists of this genre and similar others (such as Royal Blood and A Day To Remember). The chicken was chosen because of the band’s name (Mascot) and because it can be seen as the bands mascot (and therefore image or symbol). The idea of the chickens eyes coming out is also used on the band members for the poster, this creates a link between the ancillaries. Here is the Royal Blood album that uses drawn imagery on the cover of their album. The difference between these two albums is the style of the drawings. While the Royal Blood album uses good quality, precise drawings, ours is more like a cartoon. The obvious link, however, is the use of surrealism- this is a cultural movement and art style that began in the early 1920's, it is usually art that twists the truth and mixes dreams with reality. We chose to use this style because it fits with our dark theme and the genre of our Basement's music. Our main inspiration for the image itself came from The Story So Far's album- What you don't See. We chose to use this artist because it fits into similar sub genres that Basement (or Mascot) does, such as Post-Hardcore and Pop Punk. This makes our inspiration relevant and shows evidence that we are following conventions of our chosen genre. Star Image We also took Dyer’s star image theory into account through these three products by including our star image frequently in the products. Because of our chosen genre of pop punk/post hard-core, we mainly focused on the entire band as well as the lead singer rather than just the singer like for rock or pop artists. Therefore we have used images of the band members in the adverts and in the digipak as well as clips of them in the music video. During the music video we took this further and used Lewis (the lead singer) as the protagonist, therefore increasing the focus on him more. It is because of this focus that we used him more in the digipak by giving him an entire panel. This extra use of star image through the three products has strengthened the brand identity by further linking them together. Ancillary Similarities One way the text does this, is by using the colour white that we chose to contrast against the black theme; this clash can be seen as a representation of the loud sound of our genre. Another feature is the size of parts of the fonts, which changes depending on the importance of the text (such as the artist title being bigger so they know what the product is) and finally the choice of font slightly represents the genre because it is informal and the audience can identify it with the genre. Another way we linked the ancillaries is by using typical conventions of these products (especially from ones of our genre) and the same font; this strengthens the link between them both so that people can recognise that they are linked and therefore know what the advertisement is for. It also helps audience know what genre it is, therefore supporting Barry Keith Grants theory on what sub-
- 2. genre is; this is that sub genres are a way for audiences to recognise texts by key characteristics. This all reinforces the brand identity through multiple features. As you can see, the white digipak uses a black font and the black advert uses a white font; this is an example of the black and white contrast. Black and White Contrast in The Video We also used this black and white contrast in the music video in order to create more similarities between the three products. You can see this contrast by looking at the difference between the performance and the narrative, the performance is in a black room while the narrative is outside. It is also seen within the performance by looking at the black setting compared to the white lights and by looking at the lead singers black guitar and the bassist’s white bass. Conclusion Additionally we provided links on our advert to social media platforms, made to give our audience access to the products, and made reference to the store they can buy it at (in this case HMV). This will help give them a way to view the video and a way to get the album. We have also used the logo of our production company throughout the products for the same reason- so that the audience knows how to access the music. To conclude, our three products link well through mise en scene, theme, star image and through commonly used conventions of our genre. We have created strong links between the ancillaries and video so that our target audience knows they are from the same artist and therefore recognises the product, resulting in costumers knowing what to buy and what they are buying. We think all of these features mentioned have created a very effective product and brand identity; therefore we have made a strong combination of products.