A2 Media Studies - Evaluation

1. Evaluation Q2
How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?

2. Ancillary Texts - Digipak
I created a digipak as one of my ancillary texts. It consists of two disks, one regular and the other a
deluxe video edition, a front cover, two inside panels, a spine and a back cover containing the album
tracklist. I followed conventions when putting together the digipak, and established a ‘house style’ for
my products to work together as a promotional package.

3. Ancillary Texts - Magazine
Advert
I created a promotional magazine
advert for my artist’s album. I
followed conventions for this product,
including conventional features, such
as: album name, artist’s name, main
image of artist (same as on digipak
front cover), release date, included
singles, artist’s website, record label’s
logo, reviews, and where the album
will be available from.

4. Main Product – Music Video
Kate Nash – Foundations (Acoustic Version)
My main product (music video) revolves around the concept of an unstable relationship. It is set to ‘Foundations’
which acts as the name of the album, as well as being the main single on the digipak. Although there is quite a
quirky, unique style to my video, I followed conventional features of music videos in relation to genre,
cinematography, editing and mise-en-scene, in order for my product to look professional and realistic. There is
continuity between my main product and my ancillary texts, e.g. I included some of the props from the video
(lemons and balloons) on my digipak, established a colour scheme throughout, used similarmise-en-scene, etc.

5. Effective or not?
I feel the strongest/most effective part of my promotional package is my ancillary texts. I have
more experience with working on still media and computer programs, such as Photoshop,
due to the construction process of my AS coursework products last year. Due to this I felt
more comfortable with experimenting and being more creative with my ancillary texts.
However, I do believe my main product works well with my ancillary texts to create an
effective promotional package which has a cohesive style. In this way, I think each product
complements the others to enhance one another’s effectiveness and appeal to my target
audience.
The main things I had to consider when constructing my promotional package in order for
each product to be effective and for there to be continuity are…
• An established colour scheme
• Artist name & album name
• Fonts
• Style of presentation
• Reflects indie genre
• Mise-en-scene, e.g. props & outfits
• Imagery
• Concept
• Same actress as artist in every product
• What record label will my artist be signed to

6. Peer Feedback
“How effective do you find the combination of my main product and ancillary texts to be
as a promotional package?”
Kayleigh – 18 years old:
“The products work well together and
show continuity through the colour
scheme and style used. They all also link
to the indie genre really well”
Emily – 17 years old:
“I think they are effective as a promotional
package. The images used on the digipak and
magazine ad link back to the video which is
cohesive. I also think you followed the
conventions of the indie genre and it’s clear in
all the products”Jack – 17 years old:
“Each product matches the others and
there is clear continuity between them.
There’s a similar theme which is shown
through the props, costumes, fonts, etc.
you’ve used”
Ben – 18 years old:
“You have a cohesive style throughout the
products which is effective and each product
complements the others, helping to promote the
actual album to audiences effectively”