Media Evaluation Post 2How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

GEORGE PICTON-CLARK

Whilst producing my music video, the promotion of the song is combined with it to help the audience grasp background knowledge of the artist. Especially if it is the debut album, the simultaneous release or the synergy of releasing ancillary texts is a vitally important method for the artist to gain exposure. My magazine poster features pictures taken in a photoshoot to promote the artist, other pictures taken at this time featured on the album digipak. However, the promotional poster has a larger scale of colour spread out around the whole poster, there is no element of black and white design which resonates here, but the idea of using colour is to show the playful element of the artist and how she knows how to have fun, it also fits the genre of trance which arguably has very different stages, due to the emotional build up throughout most songs and videos. Balancing out projects using both colour as well as black and white helps to show this. I’ve used different sorts of imagery on my promotional poster, linking into a more mythological cultural aspect, taking reference from theorists such as Roland Barthes and David Gauntlett who mention the link between genre and culture and how it has an impact.

These images show certain things such as Greek statues and old French Renaissance artwork to exemplify this mystical theme which resonates throughout the promotional poster, thus making the audience wonder what the artist stands for and what her music is like. The aspect of Greek mythology is something I had included throughout my whole project due to the artist's name translating from ‘Trance’ to ‘Ekstasi’ which is the Greek translation, also the label ‘Medusa Records’ takes inspiration from this sort of culture. I have used elements of ‘puff’ to promote both my artist, the date of the event and other references like ‘Including the hit single…’ this helps to create anticipation alongside the album release. I have also helped accentuate this use of synergy and promotion by including social media sites which link directly to the artist, helping fans find out more about the artist, also a QR code has been used which can be scanned by the general public which takes them to links to purchase or preorder the album.

Whilst creating my actual digipak, I decided to be more simplistic and perhaps challenge the generic album covers from trance genres, but also at the time, include some conventions. The album digipak has differences to the promotional poster, but arguably there are a lot of similarities. The use of colour is a lot more sparse, however this time it is used as a distortion for my artist, the picture of her has been repeated 3 times, all in different colours. I decided to use this distortion as it once again creates a sense of mystery around the artist. It again links to synthetic effects which are perhaps suggested alongside the genre of trance, psychedelic images and references to pop art create a vibe of drug use, in the distortion, a lot of people associate this with the genre of trance due to the sometimes melancholy instrumentals and paces of the song, creating emotional highs and lows at certain points. I have used a repetitive font for my album digipak, this features the artist's name in a simple italicized form which escapes the distorted effects, I decided to do this so that it remains recognizable and that people will be able to pick up easily who this is.

The theme of Greek Mythology continues to make an appearance on the front of the digipak, although it is more simple it is still something that is centralised and will easily catch the audience's eyes. It features between the artist's name and the album name and it looks to be staring at the audience. I used this Greek statue idea once again as it becomes a trademark for my artist and it is a recognisable theme which is featured throughout the promotional stage.

The back of the album cover is a lot different and features no colour. I have decided to do this to carry on with the simplistic nature and not to overload the audience with too much imagery and colours that it distracts them from the importance. The tracks have been listed centralised and in a straight alignment which is easily recognisable once again in the trademark font which features throughout the digipak. I have decided to use the element of female empowerment once again here with imagery such as a black and white crown , both linked with power and authority. This gives the audience a clear understanding of what the artist stands for and how she is an independent female, who isn’t hegemonized by the media, there is no elements of The Male Gaze which features throughout the promotional campaign which I have made evident, this is due to the images not conforming to a standard of perfection, instead they are just simple. The sense of using black and white constantly links directly with the actual music video to combat the sense of good and evil.

REAR OF DIGIPAK

SPINE

FRONT OF DIGIPAK

The inside of my digipak has once again been simple, I have used no colour to create a new sense of mystery which is different from the front of the cover. The black and white images again combat the sense of good and evil in the forms of white and black in my actual music video. The sense of empowerment is again reciprocated in the inside of my digipak with the Greek Mythology statue wearing a crown, as well as the repeated use of black and white diamonds to show power. I’ve decided to use these sort of images so much to show how females can be powerful and show these signs of power in the music industry without it having to be so male dominated. I believe my album digipak both tackles and conforms to the genre of trance. Taking inspiration from Henry Jenkins theory that genre constantly breaks rules is something I made apparent in my digipak because it doesn’t necessarily conform to the repetitive use of imagery and colour which is spilt all over the place. But at the same time, psychedelic, colourful, distorted and pop art images are things that are interpreted culturally from the genre of trance as it is something which is made so apparent throughout the time it has been around.

INSIDE IMAGE OF DIGIPAK

BEHIND THE CD

CD

I took reference from digipaks such as ‘MATANGI’ by the British Rap/Trance artist M.I.A. The use of colourful, pop art techniques to distort the artist has been used to create an effect on the audience, which links to psychedelia. This again creates a sense of mystery as the album cover is solely covered by her face, I took inspiration from this album cover by recreating the imagery and effects which have been used to show the artist, but I wanted to challenge it by not completely conforming to the genre of trance and using all the elements which are associated alongside it.