Question 2

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

Digipak

The brief for this task was, after creating a music video for the chosen track and artist, to create an effective digipak and magazine advert that links and relates with the video. As discussed in question 1, my initial ideas were focused upon the medium of photography. Throughout the digipak I chose a vintage-style colour scheme. This style evokes and represents emotion and sentiment, as well as creating interesting and pleasing images for the viewer.

Panel 1

The location of this panel was important, as I chose to use the same location and a very similar shot to the location used in the music video. This is a shot from the video, when the artist is performing the track:

I wanted to use a location from the music video as my front cover so that the two texts directly related to each other.

One of the more discrete selling points of my video was the close up images of the artist performing, which combined strong lighting with composition using the rule of thirds. These images were not only eye catching for the audience but aesthetically pleasing to watch. It appeared to me that these were some of the strongest shots during the music video, and so I wanted to use these shots as the main identifier to the music video, or link between the digipak and the music video. With reference to Goodwin’s theory of genre, the close up images of the artist became a recurring motif across the products.

Goodwin stated “the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)”which I wanted to use to allow the products to make the artist recognisable, a brand style, to which a developing fan base could recognise, and to relate each text to the last.

An example of artists I found whilst researching digipaks that expresses this artist motif in the same way is Leonard Cohen. Here are a few of his album covers:

All of these album covers use close ups of the artist and very strong lighting. I noticed that Cohen tended to keep a fairly straight face in these images, which expressed and suggested the feel of the tracks within the album effectively.

One of the main compositional aspects whilst taking the photograph was the importance of the lighting. This was the same when filming the music video. The strength of light became a recurring motif, too, in my music video.

The addition of light to an image or scene creates the sense of hopefulness and content, which is what I wanted to express in the day-dream part of my music video. I therefore chose to extend this theme to my ancillary texts. Though I’d taken the image next to a very open and bright window to get as much light as possible on the artist’s face, I couldn’t help feeling that for a front cover, which has to attract the eye of consumers, the image wasn’t quite bright enough. To combat this, I decided to try adding a ‘light streak’ to the image artificially using PhotoShop. I created this in the empty space created by the use of the rule of thirds. The use of this light streak was very effective and eye-catching, as well as suiting the image, the colour scheme, and the feel of the image very well.

Finally, panel 1 connects to the music video by use of the same costume. I wanted to keep the artist in the signifying chequered shirt and jeans so that the digipak links generically to the video. It also, relating back to Goodwin’s recurring visual style, allows a developing fan base to associate the front cover automatically with the artist, as the t-shirt stands out in colour in the image.

Panel 2:

For the inner panels, I wanted to create something that would attract and draw the attention of the audience. Though I thought about doing separate images for each panel, I felt this wouldn’t hold the attention of the consumer like I intended it to. I therefore thought of linking 3 or 4 inner panels together, instead of using multiple images, to create a folding and long image in the digipak. I decided to use a panoramic image for this.

As with panel 1, the location of these panels link thematically with the music video. This same spot, where the artist sits upon a wall overlooking the city, was used in the day dream part of my music video. However this link is rather more subtle than panel 1 because the compositions of the shots in the music video were not as similar to the shots used in the digipak. Here are snapshots from the video of how I used this location:

I continued to use the theme of light through these panels, but unlike panel 1, the light provided by sky proved enough. It was apparent, however, that the panels were missing something to fulfil my aim of drawing and holding the attention of the viewer. I added artist information including a review to the panorama to combat this.

Panels 2, 3 and 4 together:

These panels link both to the music video and to panel 1 of the digipak through the theme of light that I’d taken from the video and incorporated into the digipak, and to the music video by the location of the shot (though the artist is alone in this image; an important aspect to express the solitariness of the artist). Again, the artist is wearing the same costume as used in the music video and in panel 1.

Panel 5:

This panel was unlike the others, in that it doesn’t link directly to the music video in any way other than using an image of the artist and using the same costume as he wore in the video and in the other panels. It also incorporates my theme of bright light, as the light from outside refracts off the steam on the window making it yet brighter.

The main and most important link between this panel and the music video is generic. The image is very comparable to the acoustic/rock pop genre. It provokes the sense of day-dream and imagination, as if the artist were mindlessly and inadvertently drawing on the glass in a carefree way.  It is an expression of thought and imagination. All of these things would appeal to the target audience of this genre.

Magazine Advertisement

For my magazine advert I chose to use a close up of the artist again to keep a consistency between music video, digipak and advert.

One of the main aspects I wanted to keep strong was the theme of light. I incorporated it this time by a spotlight-like light, very bright and intense and directed only on one side of the artist’s face. This kept the other side totally shadowed. As with the music video and digipak panels, the image is designed to arouse a sense of thought, longing, isolation by the use of a surrounding darkness which seems to swallow the artist. The spotlight, however, shines light on this and creates that sense of hopefulness and desire that was present during the day-dream part of my music video.

The magazine advert would likely appear in magazines such as NME, Q magazine and Acoustic magazine.

Q and NME magazines offer coverage of a very wide range of genres, stretching to a large demographic. In particular they reach the audiences of the pop side of my genre. My target demographic would read magazines such as these. 

Acoustic magazine is a much more focused on the acoustic/rock genres, and so readers of this magazine might be attracted to my artist. 

On the whole, all three of my productions are linked visually, thematically and generically, and combine to strongly market my artist.