Wednesday 31 March 2010

Evaluation Question 2

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

The main task for this coursework project was a music video, accompanied by two ancillary tasks, produced at an equally high level as the video. The two ancillary tasks that we chose to do as a group were the Digipak and the home page for the band website. These three tasks had to create a brand to promote the band. The most effective way of doing this was by creating a coherent house style that is recognisable over the three products. This is because it is these products that will capture the target audience and bring great success to the band.


Thorough out the research stage, we knew that our song belonged in the Indie-Pop genre, allowing us to immediately identify the target audience was 17-25 year olds. We wanted to make the product as appealing as possible to both males and females. This proved to be harder than it sounds, as the final product is quite dark and 'evil', so the only females that would be interested in the product would be the 'Indie/emo' type or girls that find the male band members attractive! We decided to target the people that we knew would like the product instead of attempting to please everyone. When listening over and over to the song, listening closely to the lyrics, ideas sparked and ignited, allowing us to feed off one another to make the video and all final products as creative and fitting as possible.


The brand created over these three products is effective as there is a professional and stylish unique house style through out. The same colours are used over the products with every product bringing in the vibrant red colour from the 'blood'. The music video is black and white through out, with only the blood, candles and light bulbs bringing in fragments of colour into the music video. The drop shadow on the digipak incorporates a colour into the otherwise dark album case. The website is the true home of the brand image, with the band name written in a different font, acting as a logo for the band. The same colour theme is also used on the website, with the images changing from colour to black and white when a user interacts with them. During the research process, it was clear to us that we had to create a product like this. All of the bands websites reflected there latest album cover, linking the products together. We had to consider this when gaining the images that we were to use for both the website and the digipak.

We found the process of deciding on and finding an appropriate font for the digipak and website. On the first attempt at the digipak, we used a horror film inspired font, with blood dripping and bats living on the M's. We then went on to use the same font on the website to attempt to make a coherent house style. Once the font was applied to the website, with parts cut out using Adobe Photoshop, we found that it did not only act as a header for the website, but also a band logo. We then went on to change the font used on the digipak to a clear serif font, making the band name stand out on the cover. We did not, however, change the font on the website. Even though the website and digipak employ different fonts, a coherent house style is still clear over the products, the choice of colours helping to create this. The combination of font and colour on the digipak helps to create the creepy and eerie that fits in well with both the website and the band image.


The images used on the digipak and website are all snapshots from the music video itself, helping to create a strong link across the brand. Some of the images were taken on the day of filming to decide upon shots and angles and these turned out better than we expected, earning a part on the montage of image on the inside page of the digipak. With the images on the digipak and website, we wanted to create a image that would reflect the characters feeling to help to encourage audience involvement. I think that the images used enabled us to successfully create a brand image, including all three products. During our video, there are a few short clips of the woman in the white shirt slitting her wrists. As our target audience is the young indie scene, they could maybe relate to this. However, the video does not promote this unnecessary action, she is shown to be possessed and forced into doing this. We made the storyline like this so if the product was real, there would be no controversy surrounding the product. We also, however, used a few of these images in the montage on the inside cover of the digipak. As it is only a small image and clearly has a strong link to the music video, this should not be a problem.


The only sound used in this product was the music by The Ghost Frequency. This sound is also heard on the website as the video is placed on the website to help to promote band and single. The images and narrative all fit in with the music chosen. We found it quite difficult at first to expand on the music and to make unexpected products. We soon came together to create a creative, stylish and intriguing product and brand.

Looking over the products, I am really proud of the girls and what we have achieved with our creations. I think the images work well on the digipak and website, the narrative is excellently suggestive in the video. The only thing I may change over the three products if the font used for the band name on the front cover of the digipak. This is because it does not match the font used for this on the CD. Changing this small feature would largely increase the professionalism of the overall product and brand.

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