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

The three texts all directly interlinked through the repetition of imagery which provides that remembrance and association for the audience. It is important to have this for the audience to recognise each part of the promotional package when it works on its own. This can be said of the images that are used on the digipak and advert, taken straight from the locations in the video which further represents the idea of distance between the characters as set by the lyrics. This includes the front cover of the digipak and the image on the advert all of which are taken from the first seen shot in the video. The fact this is the first shot also allows the audience to identify a link between the 3 products from the start – establishing the bands identity and house style. The image of the beach has the same effect throughout, giving it a purple/blue tone to symbolise the environment including water and also the connotations of blue represent sadness, expressed by the lyrics and to some degree the weather.

The digipak, video and advert all use the same font and colour scheme in order to provide the link. This sets an expectation for the rest of the promotional package and makes it identifiable. The colours of blue, purple and yellow are very much representative of the imagery within the video. For example the links to the water, the yellow being a link to the sun, the purple being a vibrant mixture of deep colour to represent emotion which this song features heavily. The contracts between blue and purple with the yellow colour scheme provides a contrast between the sun and the overcast sky in the video. It symbolises the difference between happiness and sadness and it symbolises the two locations which fits with the meaning of the song, focusing on a long distance relationship. The font used for the band name and the album name also replicate the existing album, which for fans of the band, will already be recognisable and therefore should engage them into wanting to buy this album.

The fact that the advert and digipak don’t feature an image of the band on the cover is an important reason for the font and colour scheme to be set. This means that even without seeing the band it should be clearly exactly what the album is and who is belongs to. I believe that our promotional package does this well, all three have the use of the font in one colour or another and the association is definitely there. This is further represented in the presentation of the bands name, despite changing colours, it appears centralised on all 3 media products.

Despite the purpose of indie music being all about the music, the band did need an appearance in the promotional package. Therefore the image of the band by the beach huts is used on the digipak – however in a hidden way. The aim was to have the image of the band in front of the huts as the image under the CD and the image of the huts alone as the top image so that when the CD is removed the band are revealed. This provides an effective and yet more subtle approach to having the band on the advert. In doing this, it turned out successful and so the band on our digipak are hidden yet are existent. This provides almost and excitement and engagement for the audience because on first instance they don’t appear on it. This would be similar of their current albums where they do not feature at all and so to some degree this also challenges the conventions set by this particular band. It is therefore even more significant for our audience.

The advert and the digipak, unlike the video also include the record label and all the important information about the production of the album. This is an important feature of the promotional package because this information wouldn’t be known without the introduction of these two products in the promotional package. This provides a link to the industry and again the importance of the music, in the fact that there is no image of the band but there is a selection of links to social media and their website, as well as those who produce the music. This gives the audience the opportunity to look further into the band and their label, particulaly upon the release of a new song.

In conclusion, the music video, digipak and magazine advert all use a variety of set codes and conventions in order to provide a substantial link for the audience, while also giving symbolic references throughout. Just from the outlook of the digipak and magazine advert it is clear for the audience the message and idea surrounding the music video due to the amount of symbolic foreshadowing. This makes the audience question the promotional package and thus spend more time appreciating it in order to figure it out. This links to the abstract convention of indie music which as a group we have successfully done through the combination of out ancillary texts.