Question 2 Evaluation

“How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?”

In the brief that has been given for our A2 Media studies we had to come up with a product and an ancillary text that fitted in with the codes and conventions of our chosen genre. Furthermore we also had to try and challenge these but with purpose and meaning. Throughout the Digi-pak, advert and music video we had to make sure they all linked and you could tell that all product and ancillary text belonged together.

The genre for our chosen song is “Folk/Acoustic”. The song that Erica Hall and myself picked together was “Drew Tabor – Silver Lights”. It’s a very happy, bubbly song which makes you smile and laugh. This is something that we thought was a good emotion to bring across into our product and ancillary texts. What Erica Hall and myself wanted to combine within our media texts would be the whole codes and conventions and making it as effective as it can be by using synergy throughout the main product and the ancillary texts. We felt in order to make our Digi-Pak, Advert and Music Video link well would be by having similarities between the whole lot of them. This is because we believe that it keeps a constant flow throughout our work and is effective for audiences buying them.

Taking a look at our ancillary texts. This is our Digi-pak and our advert.  As you can see there is synergy from both of the ancillary texts. For instance the location, the costume and the natural nature aspects. Furthermore you can see that there is synergy used throughout due to the use of the same font. We decided to keep the font the same because it’s almost like the style we would see the artist use whenever they have posters or an album out. There’s a certain colour theme between each of these ancillary text which links well together. This is effective because it’s keeping that synergy flowing throughout our work. The colour's being very natural and earthy tones for instance – golden, browns, greens and then of course the outfit colour's. The earthy tones from each ancillary texts help connect with the genre of folk. And then when you get to the costume colour's it helps relate back with the happy upbeat atmosphere. I believe that this is very effective for our target audiences because the outfit choice I have chosen to wear is very bold and eye catching. It’s bright which relates to that upbeat atmosphere of summer, because this is a very eye catching, bright costume choice and its bold. It stands out well in the music video. For instance if a fan were to buy this digi-pak or saw this advert they would immediately catch on because the dress and the guitar are so iconic.

Going into the use of musical instruments we had to use the acoustic guitar. This was because it related well with the folk/acoustic genre. The guitar is one of our symbolic uses throughout the whole inter music video. However because the acoustic guitar has been used so often within our ancillary texts it helps relate that genre style of music back to folk/acoustic. This is a good thing because its straight away telling an audience that this genre will be of folk and acoustic music. Not only is that due to the use of guitar but it’s been shown through the use of setting to. It’s very natural and golden which creates that summer feeling and folkish style setting. Straight away from the bottom right panel you can see the stereotypical shot of the artist lying on a blanket in a field with the acoustic. Just by this shot you can see that Goodwin’s theory comes in, the star image and then of course the codes and conventions of folk/acoustic. This is consistent throughout our music video and throughout the ancillary texts.

 The combination of our ancillary text and our main product is very effective. We kept things similar throughout making sure that myself and Erica stuck to the same codes and conventions of our chosen genre. Something that works very well with our main product and ancillary text would be the way everything links to make a professional slick statement. For instance the colour's are similar. The outfits and location are the same. This is good because if one of our target audience members were to look at our ancillary texts they would be able to recognize who it is and what music video it’s from because we have used synergy to keep that professional flow throughout our work.

This field is symbolic for our location it has been used throughout each part of our coursework. For instance The music video, the advert and the digi-pak. This fits in with the codes and conventions of folk genre.

When you look back at our main product and ancillary texts you can see how each one actually fits the codes and conventions of your chosen genre. For instance the them of acoustic – there needs to be that symbolic use of the guitar throughout the music video, However to get the correct target audience to watch this is going to need to be shown through the advert and digi-pak too. This is exactly what myself and Erica decided on. We decided to make sure that the symbolic guitar was a main theme throughout our work so it related to the codes and conventions of folk/acoustic music. 

Something that’s important when making the main product and the ancillary text effective would be the use of “Goodwins Theory” – Making sure we applied the use of star image. This is used throughout all the ancillary texts, and music video. Almost every shot within our music video uses the star image. For instance if we take the first shot we are shown the acoustic guitar and myself playing it (shown above) – This is the use of star image. The audience are completely focused on the
singer playing the guitar. Also the position of this girl how she is central for the whole frame, its effective because it stands out for the audience because that is their immediate focal point. Furthermore throughout the use of our music video you can clearly see that the star image has been used in each verse, chorus and bridge. The star image is always the focal point. This is something which is repeated throughout our music video and came across very strongly. The fact the singer looks to the camera and sings it involves the audience because it make it seems like she is singing to the audience which could make fans of the song take a  more likeable character to the song chosen. In this image you can clearly see that Star image is used again – The blocking of our filming is something we focused on strongly and the different camera angles. For instance myself walking down the street centre camera on a long shot. Its effective because shes alone and the immediate focus is the girl.

Something which makes our music video effective would be the vibes that we give throughout the whole video. The themes and vibes are what I and Erica worked on a lot. We did this by the use of characterization In a lot of our shots that we have used Goodwin’s Theory has been applied to each part. This is something myself and Erica made sure of when we were filming our music video. In this frame you can see myself using the prop of “Silly String” this is great because it emphasizes on the crazy and fun atmosphere of our music video. It’s also symbolic because you can relate it to being summer and partying – Silly String is used at many party’s and used for celebrating or just having silly string fights with. This is symbolic because a lot of friends use this at parties and just go crazy and have fun with it. In the chorus scenes we wanted them to be as symbolic as possible. When rehearsing these we just tried to be as over the top as we could and have fun with it. Showing facial expressions and just crazy friendships. Silly stuff that your casual friends would do in those times. This is something that me and Erica focused on and we found it to be rather natural when doing it. Its effective because when you go to the Ancillary texts you can see a whole different side almost relaxing - Which fits in with the themes of summer again, Wanting to have fun and relax. I feel like our digi-pak and advert is rather calming and relaxing almost brings across this complete different message from the video itself which is good because it shows all the emotions that we wanted to bring across to the audience. 

I think overall our advert relates more to the style of the genre. We have made this, this way because the photos that were taken relate to that style of genre, and everything about this advert actually seems to link in with the chosen genre. Again star image is used because its synergy and used throughout all the other areas. If people were to look at this advert in a magazine or on a billboard people would immediately know that “This girl” is actually Drew Tabor.

We have tried to relate the colour's themes throughout the digi-pak and advert – The same fonts, text sizes, style. Even the colour of the golden stars. The way I have been placed by using the rule of 3 lines is great because in every image I have the focal point which screams out star image.

If we go back to the Digi-Pak you can see Goodwins theory has been applied again with the use of star image. Every panel has a picture of the singer except from 2 landscape shots of the place where we actually performed in. All costumes are the same, and the guitar is used throughout this too. The text is the same with the similar style of the bubbles around them.

On my blog I've posted about Digi-Pak analysis. This is something which also helped me and Erica plan our final outcome to a Digi-Pak. It was good because it taught us the kind of things we need to stay clear from or other things we needed to include to reach for the right target audience. 

Taking our music video, Digi-Pak and Ancillary texts into consideration you can clearly see that all these 3 products link together. With the use of synergy and Goodwin’s theory. Linking all 3 products together is very effective for us and the audience because it makes it easier for the audience to understand what goes together. The same star image has been used, the same fonts, texts, colours, rule of 3 and location this makes our overall product bold and eye-catching for the audience. It’s bold colour choice which will make the audience want to play and listen to it. The genre straight away is easy to read due to the symbolic use of the guitar and the location we have decided to use throughout the 3 products. Overall our music video and ancillary texts are effective for our target audiences and our chosen genre of music. It looks professional and bold and has synergy used all the way through. This keeps the consistency and constant flow throughout.