By Jamara Royle

QUESTION 2: HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT

AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?

INTRODUCTION

• In post-production of my ancillary tasks which was a digipak and an advert; I have researched real media texts to learn the house style of other digipak and music adverts. The digipak's I researched were Tinie Tempah - Disc-overy, Green Day - American Idiot and Rhianna - Loud. The Adverts I looked at were The Killers, Florence and the Machine and Olly Murs.

• My music video being of an Indie Rock genre we had to make sure that my ancillaries followed the conventions so the three products could create synergy. One of the main conventions of all digipak's are that the image they use on the digipak's all link together to tell some sort of story, giving the audience and insight to the songs on the digipak. Most digipaks use the images to tell the story of the song used as the digipak's title. My digipak images are mostly of the protagonist in the video giving the audience and insight to the narrative of it. On my digipak I paired each side together so of the 8 squares there's a little narrative between the two. Like the front cover and back cover one is of the protagonist standing and the back is of the protagonist resting her head on her knees; this reveals to the audience that the protagonist is going through an emotional time. Two other blocks are images of the girl drawing on her face and then the after product in the next square, this shows the audience that this is her cry for help against the bullying that happens in the video, its her mental torture.

Front and back coverDrawing on face blocks

• I also have used images of fire and smoke on the digipak. The fire represents the friendship that she burns in the video and the image next to it is the remaining ashes. The smoke in the background on most of the images is to represent the lyrics 'I'm breathing in the chemicals' implying that the protagonist is putting up with the bullies she's taking in all their 'chemicals'. On the last two inside squares I chose to quote that sentence and put it on an image of the inner demons from the dream sequence in the video looking at the protagonist to show the influence they have over her again creating this idea of mental torture. What I have done challenges the convention of the images telling a story by having each section tell its own part of the story, usually digipaks have the image tell one big story. An example of this convention is the Green Day - American Idiot digipak as the images show animated hands pulling the tag of a heart grenade which implies the album will be about conflict or love. The images I chose some are from the video to inform people that I am giving them an insight to my music video. I do keep a consistency though and use a similar image for my advert using the protagonist curled up in a ball in the corner of the advert to create this feeling of isolation. My advert was inspired by the Olly Murs advert by having the protagonist/artist on one side so the text can go on the other side. I was also trying to make the advert vertically symmetrical. My advert challenges the convention of music adverts always being horizontally symmetrical with the image of the artist in the middle and the text underneath on block colour like the Florence and the Machine advert.

Inside cover

Fire cover

Advert image

Green Day Digipak

• Furthermore, during my research I found that two out of the three artists I researched named their digipaks after a song from the album. I think it's a convention to do that but I subvert that stereotype by naming mine after what happens in the music video. I called my digipak The Dark Days because it links to the narrative of my music video of how the character is having a dark day because of the bullying. My title is more symbolic because it represents a feeling/emotion of this character were trying to portray. The title may challenge the digipak stereotype but it follows the Indie genre stereotype of using emblematic text and/or images. An example of the challenge of this stereotype is the Tinie Tempah - Disc-overy digipak. Despite not being of the indie genre his title represents the space/universe theme he has linking to his song 'Written in the Stars'. It's also a pun because the 'Disc' part of the discovery is separated from the 'overy' part by a hyphen alluding to the fact it's a CD disc. The font of band name 'The Native' on my digipak and advert is a simple font that doesn't take away from the images. Like most digipaks and adverts the typography of the Bands name is usually different to the rest of the text so the artist is branded by that font and audiences will recognize it. However on my ancillaries I use the same font for the song titles and additional information on my advert. This is because If I keep using the same font it will brand the band and every time someone would see the font they would associate with my band. Again the Tinie Tempah Disc-overy digipak uses the same font throughout his digipak making his brand stand out more. To make brand the band even more I varied between Capital letters and small letters on all the words to give them more of an Indie genre vibe making the band appear more rebellious and closer to the conventions of the genre.

Band fontTinie Tempah Digipak

Title of album

Disc-overy

• Moreover, Indie genres tend to have a dark colour scheme which is why I chose to do my digipak in dark colours. I created it originally in black and white but I thought it was too dull so I added a tint to add a sepia effect. I did the same thing with my Advert so I could keep the consistency of the colours. My music video also uses dark colours and dull effects to illustrate the characters emotions and state of mind. The mind scene has a black and white effect over it and then fades to a dull effect on the scene where the protagonist goes home. This may not seem like the colours of my ancillaries link to my video much but the sepia colour is meant to represent the hope for the character that it will get better. It's called The Dark Days and if it was all black and white like the music videos dream sequence then it would be but the colours are symbolic and representative of the hope for the character which is a convention if the indie genre as most of their narratives and images are symbolic and representative of something. The Florence and the Machine advert is good example of this as the advert advertises their new album lungs and the image is of her and an actual pair of lungs which is very symbolic but also ironic. Close ups are another convention of digipaks; I have included close ups on mine not just to follow conventions but to make it more personal. The digipak includes close ups of the girl with makeup drawn all over her face; they are quite personal to the music video because the makeup on her face is mean to be symbolic for the things that have happened to her. The bullying that happens in the video causes her to draw on her face it's like a cry or a SOS and that's why I have chosen these close ups to evoke a sense of sympathy.

Dream sequence

Rhianna Digipak

Florence and the Machine Advert

• I have used the same settings on my advert and digipak in the video. The front cover and the close ups of the girl with the drawing on her face is set in the studio where the singing happens in the music video. We decided to have that in there because it's where the character gets most emotional as she expresses her feelings through song. The college setting is used from the dream sequence where the protagonist is being followed by her inner demons. The back cover and my advert image are both set in the bedroom of the girl used in the video because that's where the character changes and its quite an iconic and informative setting. Finally the fire again is set in the same house and I have used the images from the music video where she burns the pictures of her old friends/bullies.

• To make my products look more professional I used convergent media links to a website of the band and used twitter links to the bands account. Like all Digipak there was a barcode and copy right recognition. I also created my own record company to put on the digipak and advert to create a sense of verisimilitude so my product will look like the real thing.

Studio setting

Convergent media links - Advert

Barcode and links - Digipak

EVALUATION

• There is obvious synergy between my two ancillaries as well because my advert includes an image of the front cover from my digipak which is a way of promoting the video as well. I feel the three products do have synergy because of the consistent house style between the three through use of style, narrative, setting and image. Because of this the three all link together and create a sense of professionalism as they seem to look like the real products.