How effective is the combination of your main product

and ancillary texts?

Sanam Harrinanan

The Magazine PosterTo promote my music video, I created a poster which will be featured in a magazine. The layout of this poster is not a typical magazine layout as it is landscape rather than portrait. I did this so I was able to add in more information on the sides and not have the artists faces covered by anything. The lighting and effect used on my magazine poster is a gradient lighting going from dark to light. This was used to represent the contrast between the two characters which links in with our music video, as there is a contrast between the couple in the relationship. Black is also a typical convention used in many hip-hop/r&b posters as it can represent power, elegance and mystery. As well as that, having a black to white gradient fits in with the name of ‘Disguised’ as it slightly covers the artists faces which shows they are almost hiding. The two artist are standing against a white background which is used in many posters for artist, as it is simple and white can connote innocence, purity and goodness.

The Magazine PosterIt is evident that this poster relates to a hip-hop/r&b love album. This is because I used conventions which are typically used in hip-hop/r&b themed posters. The colour scheme matches various hip-hop/r&b posters, such as trey songz poster to advertise one of his albums. The use of dark colours help to show it is about love or separation between two characters, as well as having the writing down the middle of the characters helps to show some sort of barrier.

I believe my magazine poster came out successfully as it matches my original plan and links in with the theme of separation and hip-hop/r&b. Various changes have been made to it before I decided to finalise it as I was not happy with the first outcome. This was mainly because it did not match with my chosen genre nor was it easy to tell what the album would be about. However this final product is more evident that the album will be based on love or problems between a couple.

The DigipakFor the Digipak, I stuck to the same colour scheme as the magazine poster so that everything will link together. The colours I chose for this was dark colours such as black and then light colours such as grey and white. The grey helps to represent love which was a typical convention used in slow hip-hop/r&b music videos. The gold roses symbolise love which is what the album is based on. The artists are mainly covered or not shown clearly which links with the title of disguised as it shows they are hiding their feelings or not being themselves. The clothing the artist are shown wearing in the front cover is black which is another convention used in our genre of wearing dark clothing. For inside cover, the gold roses are shown clearly on top and then slowly fade into the grey which represents how the love has slowly faded away.

The DigipakMany hip-hop/r&b albums such as; ‘Beauty Behind The Madness’- The Weeknd, ‘Royalty’- Chris Brown, ‘TRAPSOUL’ - Bryson Tiller and ‘Keep up’- KSI, all use dark colours such as black and white or have the artist covered in some way.

I believe it is evident that my digipak belongs to the hip-hop/r&b genre due to the colours used and the theme of the digipak. The use of black and white help me to fit in with the genre and using a basic white font is also generic as most hip-hop/r&b album covers tend to use this.

I am happy with the way my final design for my digipak however if I were to change anything I would have made the roses on the CD less visible so it does not stand out as much. However my digipak matches my original plans and I believe I included as many conventions as possible, such as having copyright on my digipak as well as the use of dark colours to symbolise the meaning of the album name.

The Music VideoBy creating a magazine poster allowed my music video to be promoted and advertised more which is a type of synergy. The magazine was there to help audience members get a better understanding of what the album will be about. Creating a magazine poster along with a digipak helped me to create my final music video as I knew what theme and colour scheme to stick with.

The music video represents females in a positive light which goes against most conventions of a hip-hop/r&b music videos but does follow some conventions of a slow music videos in that genre. The females are not shown in an explicit light but are shown in a more sensitive way. The males are shown in a bad light but drinking, partying, being aggressive to females by pushing them, but on the other hand are also sensitive as we show a softer side to the main character.

I believe all three products I have created have worked well to synergize my music video and promote it. My magazine poster links in well with the theme of my album which allows audience members to know what to expect.

Dyer’s Star TheoryOne theory which I believe our music video fits in with is Dyer’s Star Theory. Stars are constructed, they are an artificial images, even if they are portrayed as a ‘real person’.

In our music video, our characters play the role of a young couple who are having relationship problems. The male actor is shown as a domestic, drunk but sometimes loving character towards his girlfriend. On the other hand, the female character is shown to be emotional and vulnerable to her boyfriend. These characters have been constructed to fit in with the typical stereotypes of a male and female in a r&b song.

The males are mainly shown to be the more dominating character who has done something wrong, which is why they are singing the song they created. Even in a female's artist r&b song, they tend to sing about the problems a male has done, whether it be cheating, lying or being domestic.

These are all constructed images of the male and female in a relationship, which is why I believe our music video fits in with this theme. Our characters are artificial people who do not represent a real relationship but fit in with the typical conventions of a slow r&b music video.

Propp’s Narrative TheoryAnother theory I believe my music video links in well with the Narrative Theory developed by Vladimir Propp. This theory indicates that there are 7 different types of broad characters in a story. These are-

The villain

The donor

The helper

The princess

The false hero

The dispatcher

The hero

Although there were only four characters in my music video, our characters still followed some of these roles. The narrator of the story is the main artist who is singing and expressing how she feels. The main female character can be seen as the princess as she is the innocent one in the relationship, who has done no wrong. The main male character is the villain as he is shown treating his girlfriend in a bad way by not respecting her. His friend who he is seen dancing with at a party can be seen as the false hero as he can have a negative influence on the main male character but allowing him to get drunk, smoke and disrespect his girlfriend.