Evaluation 2- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?BY CHLOE MAR-GERRISON

My Media Products

For my A2 Media Studies coursework in 2016, I was required to create 3 different media texts: a music video, a digipak and a magazine advertisement. I worked in a group with my classmate Izzy, and together we chose to make a music video to the song Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap. We then used the same band’s album title, track-list and record label to design and create a digipak and magazine advertisement featuring our own artist.

We used our friend Matt to portray the lead singer in the band (the artist), so he was present in both the performance element of the music video, and was the star on the cover of the digipak and the magazine advertisement.

Similarities and Synergy

I think each one of my products effectively related to each other, as I made sure that the similarities between each product was clear and finished to a high standard. I used similar backdrops and locations in each product in order to identify to the audience that each product is made to work with the others, and I also used the same costume to reinforce that the products all match and flow nicely. This is important, as it creates synergy between each product, which in the music industry would be a great advantage to the record company as it results in the whole overall product being greater than if they were completely separate and single products with no direct correlation to each other. As each product relates to the others, this would also encourage the audience to consume more resulting in a greater profit for the record company and the artist.

Similarities and Synergy Continued

My performer in the video (Matt), was also the key feature of my two ancillary texts as it made obvious sense to use the star to promote the other products, which is what the majority of popstars do in their own work as it will attract the artist’s fan-base and overall audience.

It took us longer than we originally anticipated to select the right artist for our song, as our first attempt did not match the real singer’s voice properly. We initially chose Izzy (who I was working with) to be the artist as her lip-syncing skills were perfect, however as the real artist was male this didn’t work well enough, despite his feminine singing tone. We then chose our other actor, Tom, but his lip-syncing and performance skills weren’t as good quality as we had hoped, which led to our decision to include a completely new artist who had not been featured yet – Matt.

It then made sense to re-shoot all our images for the ancillary texts to revolve around Matt rather than our actors, which created similarities through our media products as they all featured the star, which is conventional and important in creating a star image according to Fraser’s theory on stardom.

Differences

One of the main differences between my three products, was the level of re-touching and editing that went into the three texts. My music video was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro, and wasn’t heavily edited except the obvious shortening of clips so that they fit to the music and the lyrics, and a couple of the shots were colour adjusted or cropped together.

However, my ancillary texts were edited heavily on Adobe Photoshop, as the raw images weren’t high quality enough to be used immediately as the front cover. I re-touched Matt’s skin so that he had no visible blemishes, and also added shadows and highlights in order to make him appear more chiselled and tanned.

The inner photos in my digipak were also colour adjusted and filtered in order to look like the artist had a red-tinted light projected onto him, to add more colour to my product and create a fun and carefree vibe, which would reflect well on the artist as the outer images were much more serious.

Differences Continued

As previously mentioned, the majority of the ancillary photos were very serious looking, which was done purposefully in order to show that the artist is a professional musician, and to reflect that some of the songs featured on the album may reflect a more serious tone and hold deeper meaning.

In contrast, the music video was created to portray a very happy, joyful and carefree vibe as the lyrics of the song we chose reflected that kind of emotion. We also wanted the video to reflect the lifestyle of the teenagers featured in the video, as young people are conventionally portrayed as spontaneous and relaxed. This would also relate to Stuart Hall’s Uses and Gratifications theory, as my target audience could take the Diversion need and therefore highly enjoy the fun theme throughout our video.

My Music Video

For my music video, I chose the song Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap, an Australian pop band. I chose this song as it promoted a positive message, as the lyrics relate to overcoming any personal issues and living life to the full. In order to portray this message in my music video, I filmed a male actor and a female actress on multiple day trips and dates over different days, enjoying themselves and having fun, no matter how difficult their relationship is. I wanted the video to have an innocent and carefree vibe, so emphasised the emotion of joy and happiness by capturing as many natural shots of my actors laughing as I could.I also included a performance element to my video which I filmed in the school studio against a black backdrop, which contrasted nicely with the lighter colours in my video.

My Digipak

In order to continue the positive and innocent vibe of my music video, I chose to photograph my artist against light backdrops outside, and also dressed him in a white shirt as the colour white holds connotations of purity and innocence. I also chose to contrast this with the black studio background again, in order to have synergy between my products. This black background also looks professional and allowed me to get a clear picture of my artist as there were no other elements that could distract attention from his face. This is conventional of many celebrity digipaks. For one of my inside shots, I captured a photograph of my artist laughing, as this was a common element in my video and again portrays my artist as happy and carefree which relates to the lyrics in the majority of the band’s songs.

My Magazine Advertisement

I tried to make my magazine advertisement as similar to my digipak as possible, in order to create synergy and strengthen the overall effect of all my products together. I used a similar image to the photograph I used for the front cover of my digipak, in order to make it clear that the two products are directly related. This was made obvious by the same background and costume. I then included an image of the front cover on the magazine advertisement to promote the other products.