How effective is the combination of your product and ancillary texts?

 Tahian Ahmed

0 The reason why we decided to create a magazine advert and a homepage along with our music video is because we believe it is an effective way of promoting and advertising our artist and his latest song. When comparing the product with the ancillary texts we can see a clear link between all three productions whether it is due to the costume, the narrative, the theme or even the genre of the song. This in theory and in practise allows the audience to easily remember this specific artist when compared to others as they will notice similarities between the productions, as well as unique features that are, too some extent, different to those produced for other artists.

Magazine Ad0 When we created our magazine ad we used a software called Photoshop as

it is one of the best and most professional editing software’s that was available which is even used by many mainstream production designers. The design of the ad was inspired by the research we had conducted as we found many ads that had impressed us to an extent where we too wanted a similar visual for our magazine advert. One inspiration we took note of was in K Koke’s magazine ad, there were texts behind the artist stating his songs. We then took this idea but instead, we inserted Polaroid photos of the characters from our music video.

Final Magazine AdDraft Magazine Ad

Final Magazine Ad 0 As you can see, we decided to have the artist looking straight towards the

camera by taking a mid shot photo due to the belief that this would make it seem as if he was looking directly at the audience/viewer. This would make the ad more engaging as the viewer would take notice not only of the artist himself, but also the photos surrounding him. This was reinforced from our research where we found that magazine ads that usually displayed the artist would usually have them positioned in the middle being the centre of attention. In addition, the photos that we have selected were taken during the days that we had filmed in locations such as Greenwich Park, which therefore shows a continuity and a link between the music video and the ancillary texts. Furthermore, the music video itself has a light filter attached to it as we wanted to make everything feel in a more surrealistic vibe, which is also reinforced in the magazine ad.

Final Magazine Ad 0 As well as the link between the photos in the magazine ad and the scenes

from the music video, there is another form of synergy as we have also decided to insert the website of our artist onto the advert. This can be seen at the bottom of the ad, and we believe this would be an effective way of getting those members of the public who are interested in our artist to go and visit his website and thus, gain a better understanding of him as well as his music.

0 When it came to choosing the right text, we had to carefully consider which style of font we were going to base our text on. This is a really important aspect of any product as the style of text plays an impact on the type of message the producer is trying to get across to their target audience. This is reinforced by Dyer’s Theory of Typography of Representation where he argues that a careful use of text must be used when producing media texts as it will influence a form of representation on the audience due to the connotations it may present. Below you can see the three texts we had considered to use.

0 However, after discussing whether to use these texts or not, we concluded that they were not suitable for our magazine ad especially the second one. The first one and the last one were better suited in terms of the style, however we were looking for a different style of font. We then found this particular fond that we were impressed with and believe it would be perfect and effective for our magazine ad.

0 In addition, from our research, we found out that producers would usually position the artist’s name at two different locations, either at the top (As shown on Jay Z’s ad), or in the middle (as shown on K Koke’s ad). Therefore, when we created our ad we decided to have the artist’s name located in the middle as it looks far more effective and as it is directly in the middle, the audience would be able to see the entire ad and would not just be focusing on the text if it was at the top.

Music Video0 In regards to the music video, throughout the product you will see many

close up and mid shots whether it is during the chorus of the song or during the scenes where the artist is lip synching. We decided to use these sort of scenes regularly because from our research we learnt that a song based on a narrative tends to include close ups and mid shots as it is a convention used for narrating a story, especially as close up tends to give a message across to the audience whether it be a meaning of a particular object or a deeper facial expression. This is reinforced with Andrew Goodwin’s theory, which argues that most music videos consists of close ups of the artist, which not only allows the audience members to be evoked by emotions but also sells the artist’s image. This is also linked with the magazine ad, as in the advert you can see that we have taken a mid shot of the artist in order to display his body and facial expressions.

Music Video0 When comparing the music video to the ancillary texts, you will notice

there is indeed a link between the products especially in regards to the costume. On the Magazine Ad you will notice the artist wearing a white and black shirt which is also the same shirt he wears in the music video during the chorus. We decided to keep both these costumes the same, due to the fact that the chorus plays the narrative part of the music video and so effectively, it would be most suited for the magazine part. In addition, when we were filming, we decided we would also hold a photoshoot of all the characters as we could then insert them into our homepage for the artist as well as the magazine. Therefore, this would create a continuity between the product and the ancillary texts. Below are some of the pictures that were taken that the audience will notice a link between the music video and the ancillary texts.

Homepage0 When producing our homepage, we decided to use ‘websitebuilder’

because it allowed us to create a website from various different templates, which we could view and choose, and for free. This website was really easy to use as all we had to do was insert the texts as well as the pictures and so we gained skills on how to use the website really quickly, this was really helpful for us as we was not hoping to use a site which was really complicated. In addition, I believe we used the website effectively as we included most of the conventions of a homepage which we had found when researching other homepages produced for similar artists as ours. For example, we included social media links towards the artist’s social pages (Facebook, Twitter etc), tour date information, and images of the artist and his latest music video. This overall, established a continuity between the product and the ancillary texts as the magazine ad included a link of the website, and the website had more information regarding the music video as well as information about the artist as stated earlier on (tour dates etc).

These are tabs to direct the viewer onto a different section of the website.

This was one of the conventions of a homepage, where the producer would include the artist’s social media websites in order to increase the artist’s publicity regarding his music and social life. This is known as ‘Citizenship Journalism’ and is also a form of Synergy.

Here we included the latest information regarding the artist’s tour dates and where they would be held.

This is a form of Image Representation as we have included an overall picture of our artist. We decided to have him dressed in a traditional Asian attire to infer to the audience the type of music he mainly makes does have a Hindi vibe to it. We have also decided to include pictures from his latest music video to show a form of continuity between the product and the ancillary texts. By using images, not only does it promote the artist but also makes the page more interesting for the viewer as they will be able to physically see images instead of just having to read texts which will be less effective.

We have also included some general information about the artist for those who don’t know much about him as he has recently started making music.

Here you can see the magazine ad on the website which reinforces the link between the ancillary texts. This makes the overall product more effective as the audience will be able to remember our artist more easily due to the multiple texts relating back to the music video.

Here are some platforms where the audience are able to listen and view his latest song.