1. 1. 2. How effective is the2. How effective is the combination of yourcombination of your main and ancillarymain and ancillary texts?texts?
2. 2. I have developed three products for The Crystal Whites including a music video for the song To Anyone as well as a complete digipak for their first album and finally a magazine poster promoting the album. Throughout the development of all three products I have created synergy believing this to be key in peoples relation between products and their association with the band. Through research I found that synergy was a vital element to any professional work and so therefore I took time to make sure my products interlinked and helped to develop each product as a unit and individually also. Synergy between the main and ancillary texts was produced through aligning all products with the Indie-rock genre, as well as maintaining originality and individuality through creativity. Overall the relationship between the main and ancillary texts was essential in creating realistic/professional looking products.
3. 3. How are the main and ancillary texts connected?How are the main and ancillary texts connected? The first key way in which all three products are connected is through images of the band, I felt using images of the band was an ideal way of creating synergy between the products because it also alluded to conventions of the Indie-rock genre. All three products show image of the band I felt this synergy was essential furthermore because the band are unsigned which would allow people to visually connect with the band members. The key aspect of the band shots comes from the main text (the music video) which for the most part shows the band playing the song To Anyone which is also the name of the album and is furthermore promoted by the magazine poster.
4. 4. The still image for the front of the digipak was taken on set when filming the band scenes of our video the park bench can be seen to link with scenes of the park seen within the video. The fact that the video and still images for the magazine poster and digipak were all taken in the same place adds to the synergy of the products and their interrelation. The digipak cover photo was taken in front of a brick wall which can briefly be seen in the music video.
5. 5. The digipak is mostly made up of images of the band, however the CD disk within the digipak is taken from the narrative element of the video. I decided that an image of Adam smoking, taken when on a break in shots firstly in my opinion visually looked very good, secondly I felt that the shot fitted the round CD shape better than others which we had trialled and finally the image of Big Ben as well as the cigarette filled conventions of the indie-rock genre covered in Q1 of the evaluation. When reflecting on how I could have improved synergy I feel that the CD is the main issue and the only part of all the products we have made which stands out. When seen in relation to the magazine poster and furthermore other elements of the digipak, although the CD still image is taken from the narrative sequence it does not help to create synergy between the products. Furthermore the dark colour of the CD does not match the light/faded pattern of the rest of the digipak. On reflection I felt that synergy between our products is strong but if I were to improve the synergy then I would base the CD image around the band rather than the narrative sequence and just the lead singer.
6. 6. Synergy between the music video and the digipak was formed through using imagery of the band playing within the video and using the faded images for pages in the lyric booklet. Most lyric booklets contain images separate from the text or provide no image at all, however I felt that the lyric booklet created another opportunity to create synergy between the products.
7. 7. The placement of the digipak front cover upon a magazine poster is in my opinion an ideal form of synergy and one that is often under looked. I chose to use this from of synergy because it allows a connection to be formed directly between the two products. Two bands which I took influence from were Conduit and their album Funeral for a friend and also the Kooks and their album Inside In Inside Out both of which use this formation of synergy.
8. 8. The first thing to notice about the titles I used is that they are in the same font which adds to the synergy of the products, the only difference is that they are in different colours to stand out from varying backgrounds. The title of the album To Anyone is once again in the same font adding to synergy and is also in the same colour of red helping it to stand out. I took influence again from Conduits album similarly to my own products the font and pattern is the same for both the digipak and magazine poster and the colour only changes due to differing background colours. Once again another example of synergy through text is the Kooks and their album Inside In Inside Out which uses the same font type and colouration throughout both the digipak and poster making their connectedness easily noticeable .
9. 9. Synergy between the music video and magazine poster was created through using a still image of the band in the same scene where the band scenes of the video were recorded. Synergy is generated through the visuals of instruments and furthermore the band members in the same order on the magazine cover as when they are playing in the music video. Another way in which synergy could have been improved would to have set the band out in the same formation in all three products they are organised from left to right in the same order apart from the digipak. However we did not intend nor plan the order of the band and I feel if the band were organised in the same fashion for all three products it would look too organised and artificial not alluding to the indie-rock genre.
10. 10. Drake nothing was the same To create further synergy within my digipak I decided to use the same still image on the front and back cover of the digipak this means that the band and album is easily recognisable from both sides of the digipak. I used a faded image on the back of the digipak to allow me to place the song list on top allowing it to stand out. I took influence for such a style of synergy from Drake and his album Nothing was the same which unlike my product does not use exactly the same image but very similar imagery with the same text and colouration.
11. 11. Another major influence for the synergy of my products was the Arctic Monkeys, this digipak reveals synergy between the front cover, CD and back cover. The main feature of the front cover is the ambiguous man smoking a cigarette, aligning with synergy and interconnectedness the man smoking a cigarette also appears on the back cover, however this time at a different angle. Where the CD creates synergy is the imagery of the ashtray and cigarettes which alludes to the man smoking on both the front and back cover of the digipak.
12. 12. Another key point of synergy is colour, this Drake digipak consists of three main colours throughout the front and back cover and CD of the digipak. Another example of synergy through colour is the Kooks digipak for their album Inside In Inside Out which consists of white, black and red colouration similar to my own products. Furthermore like the Drake digipak an extremely similar image is used on the front and back cover, I feel I take synergy to the next level by using the same image on the front and back cover with just slight variation. The colouration Through seeing synergy within professional work I felt it necessary to produce a relationship between my products to such a standard. Similarly to both Drake and The Kooks examples given my magazine poster and digipak followed a distinct pattern. Firstly the colour scheme of black, white and red remained the same and furthermore the same distinct font type was used throughout the products for both the name of the band and name of the album/song. Furthermore the same type of images, all featuring the band were seen across all products in particular the exact same photograph on the front and back cover of the digipak.
13. 13. Another key aspect which created synergy between the main and ancillary texts is the clothes worn by the band, on the day of filming the band scenes for the music video I was able to use breaks in between scenes to shoot still images of the band for both the digipak and magazine poster. The image on the magazine poster is easily recognisable from scenes of the To Anyone video. Furthermore the digipak front cover was shot in the same location however on a park bench allowing a landscape shot, ideal for the shape of the front cover, a faded version of this image was also used on the back cover of the digipak. The clothes worn by the band helped to create synergy as all members of the band look the same on each product alluding to the connection between the products providing fluidity and synergy.
14. 14. Meeting the brief The task in hand was to produce a promotional package for the album and so therefore it was extremely important to create a synergistic element between the music video and two ancillary products. The idea of synergy within the marketing and promotion of the band is key to a successful reception of the bands music which is the main focus of the promotional package. For example if people are visually stimulated by the magazine advert then they are more likely to view the music video and then proceed to buy the album/digipak because all three products feature synergistic elements which created the initial interest. Overall the use of synergy between the products and there interrelationship will enable the successful marketing and in turn sales of the album which is the main idea of a promotional package.
15. 15. On reflection I must say I am extremely pleased with the products we as a group have produced, I think in the short time frame we had we have done a superb job. I believe that all three of our products look very professional and align with real market products. My personal favourite product is the video because of the sheer effort that went into producing it, having to travel to central London various times in the freezing cold, and transporting guitars and drum kits to rural areas however I think the effort was well worthwhile and I am very proud of our pieces. One piece of feedback which was particularly outstanding stated I have never heard of The Crystal Whites but your extremely professional products would entice me to listen or buy their music instantly.