Evaluation 2.

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

- Do they look like what they’re supposed to?

Yes, though I think the video could have a deeper concept and represent the origins of urban culture a little bit more whether that be through actors, location or prop I do think I works well to represent dance and youth culture. By using settings and mise-en-scene such as beaches, clubs, bars and festivals I have conformed to the conventional surrounding of dance culture and modern ravers. Though some contemporary videos are centred within inner city locations the vast majority still operate in party islands such as Ibiza and in my instance Falaraki.

The Digipack in conjunction to the industry standard conventions of Dance digipaks fit the part very well, in terms of layout and organisation. By stylising the name of the artists to create brand identity and recognition puts the digipak in a very high place amongst the other conventional dance digipaks. This is simultaneous with the Magazine Advert as well it displays all the conventions and more of what an audience would expect and want from a Dance magazine advert. Both the magazine and digipack feature the artists name and iconic imagery within the centre of the piece making it bold and eye-catching as like many other artist do in all other genres. In addition to this the crisp finish created by Photoshop and endless fine tuning, nit picking on both the magazine and digipak helps the products to look professional and industry standard.

When considering real media products in comparison to the magazine and digipak the ones I have created do look “like they’re supposed to” and the bits that may differ from the standard conventions of what they’re supposed to but they only add finesse and differentiate them from the masses which is vital in such a competitive industry.

- Does your work resemble real media products?!

Yes, when considering real media products I believe that my work does resemble that of an album, magazine ad and a video of the generic media products today. Despite how I have challenged many of the conventions of real media products with my radical unconventional choice in actor, costume, makeup and concept there is still clear distinction that my video does in essence resemble that of real media products. If I was to change elements within the piece to suit the standard of real media products I would change the camera I was using because I believe that one

thing that really separates my video from the norm within the music industry is the fuzziness and pixilation of the image due to type of camera and lens. This distances my video from the industry standard as it looks more home filmed than resemble professionally done media products.

When considering my ancillary tasks I do believe they are more representative of real media products than my music video as they are crisper, sharper and look more professional. When displayed against real media products like below it think they resemble many of the other albums and magazine ad. After interviewing people whether they could differentiate between my ancillary tasks and real media products they found it hard to separate them by any other means than they already knew or had heard of the artist within the other magazine and albums. By using sexualisation through lips and the mouth there is a clear resemblance to albums and artists that have also used the mouth to convey emotion and sexuality along with establishing brand identity. For example, historical bands such as the Rolling Stones use female lips as their main brand identity and connote their sensual and seditious values.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3CxhBIrBho – Basshunter: All I ever wanted.

- Do they all look like they’re all part of the same product?

Yes, there are clear similarities between the album, magazine ad and video. By establishing the brand identity throughout the three pieces I have creates a clear link throughout. Audiences will find it easy to respond and find the album cover through the use of the magazine and in addition to that will be able to recognise the artists and the album through the music video. All three pieces have clear links to the artists despite the fact within the video the artist is never shown. This is replicated throughout the ancillary tasks as audiences make a more meaningful connection with the brand identity of the lips and the female as they are more memorable than a simple face.

The use of the logo within the video helps to audiences to finalise any unsure assumptions to the video, album and the magazine if it was not reinforced by the cut offs of the motif “What the Fu*k”.

However, if I was to improve this I could have possibly included the actress of the motif within the video clip and/ or the artist. However, if I was to give the actresses face away entirely audiences are more likely to identify with her rather than the actual artist. This would also draw away from the sensuality of the brand identity and the connotation with lips.

- Do the colours/images/text/locations/actors/props effectively represent your genre ?

The genre that I decided to do is very diverse and as I have mentioned before in my blog it has a representation for allowing anything to go but is mainly categorised on the music, not the video.

For my ancillary task I would argue that the combinations of colour, texts and actors where used correctly to represent the dance genre. By using sharp colours such as blacks and whites it gives the presumption of night clubs, dance tents, festivals and other night time techno past times. In addition to this the colour scheme of the piece is vital when trying to represent the music type and beats within the song. As the song I have chosen isn’t soft dance, using saturated colours is

essential to display to my target audiences the harder beats of the music. In addition to this the colours used within the video highlight a more psychedelic feel which is represented in the colour scheme and imagery in the digipak via the greens, purples and other UV colours all exclusive to the Dance genre.

Props such as shots, smoking items and drinks all represent the Dance genre and embody the themes of spirituality, freedom and youth. This coupled with the location within the video helps to re-establish the genre of dance and reinforce the generic themes. The use of exotic locations conforms the true representation of the genre of dance by presenting an idealistic situation/ environment for urban culture to rein.

However, within the music video like previously statement I do believe my choice of actors challenges the conventions of the dance genre and test the foundation of what it is proposed to represent. As I wanted to represent real women and people within my video I detracted from the idealistic perception dance creates of body, soul and lifestyle perfection. If I was to truly represent the genre fully I would have used slim, tall models that embody the ideology of free love and sensuality. In hindsight this may seem like a good decision to use idealistic models to be able to engage with the male audience, but by using real life models I have separated my video from the masses making it more likely to be a focal point for active audiences.

-Do they promote the artist? Attract audience attention? Encourage people to look into them more and ultimately purchase the album/watch the vid?

Overall, as I unit I do believe they promote the artist and encourage audience attention through simultaneous brand identity. With an ever growing global society of dance, audiences are more likely to connect with the brand/ logo then the artist personally. For instance: Clean Bandit, use the symbol of a triangle to represent themselves. In addition to this, so does artist like Bastile, Enter Shikari, Alt –J etc… (loads of bands have it)

When considering the purchasing power of the three products combined, one could argue that they do have sufficient ambiguity to warrant being purchased, looked up or watched. By not providing the audience with everything all at once and leaving some enigma to the artist active audiences are more likely to purchase as a desire to know more. This is especially true for the magazine advert as it gives the audience everything they need but not necessarily everything they want e.g- Tour dates. The conventional music video may also prompt the audience to look into the artist which is made easier with the additional links to websites at the end of the video.

-In conclusion.

Personally, as a combination of work, I do believe that as a joint unit that my ancillary products (Digipak and Magazine Advert) and my music video work very well. In my opinion all 3 products define and connote the genre that they belong too and strongly convey the origins and themes or dance and youth culture. The use of a single signifier between all 3 products conjoins them and unifies them as an entire body of work, allowing them to work effectively together to promote the emblem of the artist and the artist himself.