How effective is the combination of your product

and ancillary texts?

Naseha Yasmin

The main purpose of any Advert and Digipak is to promote and advertise the artist and the album. The theme of the Digipak and advert usually come from ideas in the music video and the genre of the music. They also come from the star construction of the singer – this is to help identify the artist from others who choose to do the same. One typical example would be Michael Jackson and his studded glove, or even Ariana Grande and her iconic hairstyle.

DIGIPACK/MAGAZINE AD

For our A2 media coursework, there were three tasks we had to carry out – making a music video, creating a digipak and a magazine advert. The combination of the music video and the digipak and magazine ad, are extremely effective in the sense that the colours are prominent and flow between all the media texts. For example, the images included in the digipak and magazine ad are from a photoshoot we did in Abney Park – we also have a lip sync of the artist in this location, within the music video. Therefore, immediately we have maintained consistency and created a flow between all media texts – by also using a purple tint filter, we have maintained the consistency of a fantasy like mood in the digipack and magazine ad.

In addition, one way in which we created synergy, is by having the artist wearing a flannel shirt and a black chiffon maxi skirt, with loose curls, in the music video, the magazine ad and some images of the digipak.

Orginally, we were going to include an image of the artist with flowers in her hair, however, as we decided to eliminate the lip sync of the artist in this location and this outfit, as a group, we decided to not use this image as it does not link with the product of a music video, or the magazine ad.

The combination of both the ancillary tasks and the music video is effective in the sense that we as a group tried to portray her as an empowered individual and is being active in the sense that she is trying to control  her relationship. The magazine ad and the front cover of the digipak is a slightly low angle image which has connotations of superiority and dominance. However, the font establishes the femininity and elegance of the female as it looks fairytale like, unlike Lana Del Rey which is more retro and bold – ours is more contemporary and creates a fantasy like feel.

In addition, the music video consisted of a variety of close up shots and mid shots of the artist lip syncing, which through research, I found that this coincides with Andrew Goodwin’s theory, which suggests that most music videos consist of close ups of the artist, which not only allows audience members to be evoked by emotions but also sells the artist’s image, presenting them in a voyeuristic way.

This idea is reinforced in the digipak’s front cover – the mid shot is positioned in the centre, but slightly angle towards the left – in order for the audience viewers to focus on the artist’s emotions as well as her outfit, and the location. The smoky eyeshadow makes the artist look enticing and the colours match with the background and the purple tint to the digipak. The colour purple has connotations of royalty as well as creating a fantasy-like mood.

When many audience members view music videos, or buy an album, they would like to know that they can identify a familiar feature, such as the artist wearing the same clothes, in the same location – therefore, we ensured as a group to have a lip sync of the artist in Abney park as well as having the images on the digipak and magazine ad. Moreover, we created continuity just by ensuring that the front cover of the digipak’s image is at the bottom of the magazine ad. Immediately, this allows audience viewers to be able to notice the link. Moreover, having the artist in those clothes in all three products allows there to be a connection with the audience viewers – making it easy for them to recognise and identify with the artist, and the music.

From my research, I found that Lana Del Rey’s magazine advert has her name positioned at either the bottom or top of the image, in a bold font, which stands out and immediately grabs the audience’s attention. I felt that this would be effective to apply to our own work, as well as being able to sell the artist’s image. Another way we created brand continuity through the music video and the ancillary tasks, was by choosing the right font. Although, in our music video we did not have to feature the font e.g. titles we had to take into account the genre of indie pop, when choosing the fonts for the digipak and magazine cover.

The typography within Lana Del Rey’s magazine ad is bold, white and in caps lock, whereas when it came to our magazine ad, we italicised the font and made it purple, in order to be compatible with the rest of the image. Therefore, by subverting the boldness of typography, it allowed there to be a more feminine feel to the magazine ad. We reinforced this idea by keeping in mind, it has to relate to the Digipack images as well – making sure the colours coordinate and have the same font, but ensuring the focus remains on the artist.

From my research, I found that Lana Del Rey epitomizes the indie pop genre immensely, therefore I decided to use her work for inspiration – most of her front cover shots on album covers are mid shots. The slight low angle creates connotations of power as well – this could imply that the artist is trying to put on a front, showing bravery. Her mannerism, posture and body language illustrates her inner power she possesses and also the back cover shows her walking away.

The magazine ad shows her walking towards the camera but looking away – this implies she has a need or want to explore, effectively, links with the lyrics; ‘we still have places to explore.’ This shows her adventurous nature as well – and can be applied to the various scenic shots we have used.

I further developed the idea of creating a link between the Digipak and magazine ad, by including an image of the artist walking away on the back cover, where the tracks are listed, on the Digipak and then having the artist walking towards the camera but looking up in the magazine ad. Originally, as a group, we wanted another close up of the artist, however, as she is in a different location and in a different outfit, it did not link with the rest of the images, therefore we as a group we decided to include images where the artist is in the same location and the same outfit. This enabled us to maintain consistency throughout the Digipak, magazine ad and the music video.

For the internal panels of the digipack, we used images of Wapping – which was a central location within our music video. The image of the hands shaped in a heart, symbolises the theme of love and relationships – a key feature within real media texts (indie pop music videos) as well as our own. The purple filter allows the image to interlink with the other images – the heart generally links with the indie pop genre, which revolves around the idea of love. This also interlinks with Maslow’s theory of ‘psychological needs’ – audience members would watch this to relate or to fill a void. The cd panel is an image of a scenic shot – there are branches at the top of the image and the sea at the bottom – this links with the lyrics as well – ‘take me to the sea.’ Research of Lana Del Rey’s album covers, illustrates that she does use natural imagery or scenery imagery – such as the cd panel of the Ultraviolence album.

The purple filter also links with the image of the hearts as well as the other ancillary task, the magazine ad. Using a long shot allows us to include the key features of the location, establishing a specific mood for the genre – moreover, it is typical to have outdoors shots within the indie pop genre, such as Marina and the Diamonds.

Another way in which our group created synergy throughout the music video, as well as the ancillary tasks was also through another form of mise-en-scene: setting and lighting. In our music video, there are establishing shots of Abney Park as well as a lip sync – this links to both the digipak and the magazine ad as the shots were taken in Abney Park – also it is vital as it is another convention of the Indie Pop Genre.

The typography, colours and filters that we used in the magazine advert are also used within the digipack, which ensures there is continuity between both the ancillary tasks and it also matches the indie pop genre effectively. The print tasks were an opportunity to promote our artist’s image and allow it to act as a form of expression of the artist’s thoughts, feelings and emotions. In addition, the pace of the video reinforces the idea of the artist contemplating, making decisions, thinking and reminiscing. The slow pans of the scenic shots, establishes nature and the want to ‘explore.’ The digipack effectively gave our group a chance to portray the artist’s image, using various images, whereas, the magazine ad has one image, representing her character in a nutshell. We wanted these images to generally appeal to females, for our artist to appear attractive but in an honest and realistic way, so audience members can resonate and identify themselves with the protagonist.