1. 2. How effective is the2. How effective is the combination
of yourcombination of your main and ancillarymain and ancillary
texts?texts?
2. I have developed three products for The Crystal Whites
including a music video for the song To Anyone as well as a
complete digipak for their first album and finally a magazine
poster promoting the album. Throughout the development of all three
products I have created synergy believing this to be key in peoples
relation between products and their association with the band.
Through research I found that synergy was a vital element to any
professional work and so therefore I took time to make sure my
products interlinked and helped to develop each product as a unit
and individually also. Synergy between the main and ancillary texts
was produced through aligning all products with the Indie-rock
genre, as well as maintaining originality and individuality through
creativity. Overall the relationship between the main and ancillary
texts was essential in creating realistic/professional looking
products.
3. How are the main and ancillary texts connected?How are the
main and ancillary texts connected? The first key way in which all
three products are connected is through images of the band, I felt
using images of the band was an ideal way of creating synergy
between the products because it also alluded to conventions of the
Indie-rock genre. All three products show image of the band I felt
this synergy was essential furthermore because the band are
unsigned which would allow people to visually connect with the band
members. The key aspect of the band shots comes from the main text
(the music video) which for the most part shows the band playing
the song To Anyone which is also the name of the album and is
furthermore promoted by the magazine poster.
4. The still image for the front of the digipak was taken on
set when filming the band scenes of our video the park bench can be
seen to link with scenes of the park seen within the video. The
fact that the video and still images for the magazine poster and
digipak were all taken in the same place adds to the synergy of the
products and their interrelation. The digipak cover photo was taken
in front of a brick wall which can briefly be seen in the music
video.
5. The digipak is mostly made up of images of the band, however
the CD disk within the digipak is taken from the narrative element
of the video. I decided that an image of Adam smoking, taken when
on a break in shots firstly in my opinion visually looked very
good, secondly I felt that the shot fitted the round CD shape
better than others which we had trialled and finally the image of
Big Ben as well as the cigarette filled conventions of the
indie-rock genre covered in Q1 of the evaluation. When reflecting
on how I could have improved synergy I feel that the CD is the main
issue and the only part of all the products we have made which
stands out. When seen in relation to the magazine poster and
furthermore other elements of the digipak, although the CD still
image is taken from the narrative sequence it does not help to
create synergy between the products. Furthermore the dark colour of
the CD does not match the light/faded pattern of the rest of the
digipak. On reflection I felt that synergy between our products is
strong but if I were to improve the synergy then I would base the
CD image around the band rather than the narrative sequence and
just the lead singer.
6. Synergy between the music video and the digipak was formed
through using imagery of the band playing within the video and
using the faded images for pages in the lyric booklet. Most lyric
booklets contain images separate from the text or provide no image
at all, however I felt that the lyric booklet created another
opportunity to create synergy between the products.
7. The placement of the digipak front cover upon a magazine
poster is in my opinion an ideal form of synergy and one that is
often under looked. I chose to use this from of synergy because it
allows a connection to be formed directly between the two products.
Two bands which I took influence from were Conduit and their album
Funeral for a friend and also the Kooks and their album Inside In
Inside Out both of which use this formation of synergy.
8. The first thing to notice about the titles I used is that
they are in the same font which adds to the synergy of the
products, the only difference is that they are in different colours
to stand out from varying backgrounds. The title of the album To
Anyone is once again in the same font adding to synergy and is also
in the same colour of red helping it to stand out. I took influence
again from Conduits album similarly to my own products the font and
pattern is the same for both the digipak and magazine poster and
the colour only changes due to differing background colours. Once
again another example of synergy through text is the Kooks and
their album Inside In Inside Out which uses the same font type and
colouration throughout both the digipak and poster making their
connectedness easily noticeable .
9. Synergy between the music video and magazine poster was
created through using a still image of the band in the same scene
where the band scenes of the video were recorded. Synergy is
generated through the visuals of instruments and furthermore the
band members in the same order on the magazine cover as when they
are playing in the music video. Another way in which synergy could
have been improved would to have set the band out in the same
formation in all three products they are organised from left to
right in the same order apart from the digipak. However we did not
intend nor plan the order of the band and I feel if the band were
organised in the same fashion for all three products it would look
too organised and artificial not alluding to the indie-rock
genre.
10. Drake nothing was the same To create further synergy within
my digipak I decided to use the same still image on the front and
back cover of the digipak this means that the band and album is
easily recognisable from both sides of the digipak. I used a faded
image on the back of the digipak to allow me to place the song list
on top allowing it to stand out. I took influence for such a style
of synergy from Drake and his album Nothing was the same which
unlike my product does not use exactly the same image but very
similar imagery with the same text and colouration.
11. Another major influence for the synergy of my products was
the Arctic Monkeys, this digipak reveals synergy between the front
cover, CD and back cover. The main feature of the front cover is
the ambiguous man smoking a cigarette, aligning with synergy and
interconnectedness the man smoking a cigarette also appears on the
back cover, however this time at a different angle. Where the CD
creates synergy is the imagery of the ashtray and cigarettes which
alludes to the man smoking on both the front and back cover of the
digipak.
12. Another key point of synergy is colour, this Drake digipak
consists of three main colours throughout the front and back cover
and CD of the digipak. Another example of synergy through colour is
the Kooks digipak for their album Inside In Inside Out which
consists of white, black and red colouration similar to my own
products. Furthermore like the Drake digipak an extremely similar
image is used on the front and back cover, I feel I take synergy to
the next level by using the same image on the front and back cover
with just slight variation. The colouration Through seeing synergy
within professional work I felt it necessary to produce a
relationship between my products to such a standard. Similarly to
both Drake and The Kooks examples given my magazine poster and
digipak followed a distinct pattern. Firstly the colour scheme of
black, white and red remained the same and furthermore the same
distinct font type was used throughout the products for both the
name of the band and name of the album/song. Furthermore the same
type of images, all featuring the band were seen across all
products in particular the exact same photograph on the front and
back cover of the digipak.
13. Another key aspect which created synergy between the main
and ancillary texts is the clothes worn by the band, on the day of
filming the band scenes for the music video I was able to use
breaks in between scenes to shoot still images of the band for both
the digipak and magazine poster. The image on the magazine poster
is easily recognisable from scenes of the To Anyone video.
Furthermore the digipak front cover was shot in the same location
however on a park bench allowing a landscape shot, ideal for the
shape of the front cover, a faded version of this image was also
used on the back cover of the digipak. The clothes worn by the band
helped to create synergy as all members of the band look the same
on each product alluding to the connection between the products
providing fluidity and synergy.
14. Meeting the brief The task in hand was to produce a
promotional package for the album and so therefore it was extremely
important to create a synergistic element between the music video
and two ancillary products. The idea of synergy within the
marketing and promotion of the band is key to a successful
reception of the bands music which is the main focus of the
promotional package. For example if people are visually stimulated
by the magazine advert then they are more likely to view the music
video and then proceed to buy the album/digipak because all three
products feature synergistic elements which created the initial
interest. Overall the use of synergy between the products and there
interrelationship will enable the successful marketing and in turn
sales of the album which is the main idea of a promotional
package.
15. On reflection I must say I am extremely pleased with the
products we as a group have produced, I think in the short time
frame we had we have done a superb job. I believe that all three of
our products look very professional and align with real market
products. My personal favourite product is the video because of the
sheer effort that went into producing it, having to travel to
central London various times in the freezing cold, and transporting
guitars and drum kits to rural areas however I think the effort was
well worthwhile and I am very proud of our pieces. One piece of
feedback which was particularly outstanding stated I have never
heard of The Crystal Whites but your extremely professional
products would entice me to listen or buy their music
instantly.