QUESTION 2:HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY TEXTS?

Importance of Brand Identity

From the early stages of my research, it was clear that my promotional package needed to be linked in a highly visual and sophisticated way in order to create the strong brand identity needed to increase the reputation of the band and more importantly the sales of the album.

Font and Typeface

• Although I had no text present in my main music video, I was determined to keep the typefaces consistent across the ancillary products. This would allow the audience to easily identify a number of important conventions. The band name in particular also acts as a logo that serves to represent the band in the absence of their picture. Therefore by choosing a rigid font, with sharp edges, I am portraying the overall style of the band themselves without reference to a particular song.

• It is important to me that I chose a different font for the band name and album title in order to create a clear distinction between the two.

• The remaining fonts, particularly the ‘hand-written’ style of the album title and sub-headings where intended to connote the slightly more personal tone of the album and music video track, “Lucy”.

Images • The images used in the ancillary products were chosen specifically as a visual representation of the emotions and tone that I aimed to convey throughout the music video. The facial expressions shown throughout all the products are frequently shown to be despairing or mournful in order to provide a relationship between the visuals across the package and the music the package is intending to promote.

• The interior of the digipak contains images of the church ground that featured heavily throughout the music video. Church grounds already have a distinct association with the theme of death, which inspired me to use the path that the brother in the music video clearly walks, to create a metaphorical journey through the grief and contemplation of losing a loved one.

• As I planned the digipak after completing my principle filming, I did not do my photo shoot for the ancillary products at the same time. However, to ensure the visuals remained similar, I made sure the pictures were shot under the same lighting and weather conditions.

Colours• Due to the overall tone and theme of my package relating to the

binary opposition of life and death, I relied a lot on aspects of mise-en-scene in order to convey these aspects to the audience in a more professional way.

• Carried across all three forms, was the white dress worn by the character of “Lucy”, my intention here was to signify a pure and angelic persona that not only reflects the obvious young age but also the positive connotation of being seen as “at peace”.

• This directly contrasts the black clothing worn by the brother, representing his despair and regret (again a direct representation of the lyrics of the title track).

• The majority of the printed products are black in colour to represent is as the stronger emotion conveyed by the package and the one that the audience are most likely to associate themselves with.

Iconography

• Iconography is important when trying to establish a brand identity to an audience. As such it was a significant aim of mine to include it across the three products. Unlike the logo font, I believed the iconography should bare representations to both the band and the tones of the album I have designed.

• The single rose, I felt, fit this criteria nicely as the roses were mentioned specially as a flower of choice throughout the song. Visually, the rose has connotations which could be attributed to the rock genre due to their striking red colour where it can be seen as imposing in a similar to the loud volumes of rock music.

• Roses are also notable for having thorns along the stem, which could symbolically represent the danger and aggression associated with the genre.

• Ultimately, this allows the fan base and any potential additions to the audience to clearly recognise the fundamental genre of the album.

Overall Effectivene

ss• Overall, I believe that the promotional package ties together well in its aim promote both the band and them album to

both a new and established audience. • These views of my own have been supported by a number of examples of audience feedback. Whilst gaining this

feedback, it is clearly seen through the questions I have asked that creating a strong brand identity has been a key aim from the outset.

• The feedback was generally consistent in suggesting that by following key genre conventions such as specific colours and typefaces, that the genre of the products could be immediately recognised.

• Whilst the pictures and iconography were identified and commended across the package as strong features that convey the appropriate and intended tone.