A2 Media Evaluation

1. How Effective is the Combination
of your Main Product and Ancillary
Texts?
A2 MEDIA Evaluation
Emily Watson

2.  The art of marketing relies heavily on the various ways in which products, services,
and even people are advertised and presented to the general public, for example
how George Ezra reflects on the audiences in my music video. Promotional
campaigns, such as my secondary products; digi-pack and poster are fundamental
tools used to introduce my product to audiences over a period of time.
 To achieve successful secondary products and to create noticeable promotions,
they must be unique in the way they entice the audience to engage. The closer a
product can get to a customer, the more likely it is to be remembered. This is
achieved through generic conventions, connecting the audience to the familiarities
of the product.
 Synergy and cross-media convergence in this day and age are also extremely
important to consider, as these techniques allow the connection between the
products of the same brand, however in my case my music video. This then means
that audiences will remember my poster and digi-pack conventions, and then look
out for the same recognisable conventions in my video. This is a selling technique as
well good promotion for my music video to satisfy audiences, attracting as many
people as possible.
What makes an Effective
Promotional Campaign?

3.  Accessible media content is now on a whole range of platforms and this affects media
consumption. The decline of old media (fewer people are buying music magazines, fewer
people are buying CDs), and so a strong presence across a range of new media is key to
successfully compete with the thousands of other artists out there.
 Synergy has become a completely necessary and modern form of successful media
promotion in this day and age, therefore it important that express this through both my
secondary products and my music video.
 Synergy allows the simultaneous release of two products to boost both. It is normally used
by big media conglomerates , working together to promote linked products over different
media.
 Synergy has allowed me to connect all my products together as one, which is key to
successful to the promotion of my music video. This is because audiences will have a clear
picture of what my video offers, just by looking at my digi-pack and poster. Even my poster
and digi-pack share the same conventions and media representation, again emphasising the
clear link between the two.
New Media in this Digital Age

4.  In order for both my ancillary and my main product to link and create a sense of
familiarity between the both, I have considered and used conventions.
 A convention is a form of media language, used to communicate with audiences,
for example through misé en scene, representation, lighting etc.
 In my case, I have been looking at music videos. Therefore I have had to do
thorough research into artists, conventions of the genre I have chosen, and also
how they have executed their final secondary promotions. It is so important to
make sure that the research and planning is thorough, so that the products link
with both the main product but also that they fit in, and do not become random.
 Whilst planning and throughout my research I considered all aspects of the
production, leading to successful music videos and promotional campaigns. I
studied the conventions of singer-songwriters by watching YouTube videos,
articles on posters and promotional campaigns, looking at the charts and iTunes,
to help me understand more about how to achieve success in the music
industry. iTunes is also good to study as it shows what people are interested in
and what they are comfortable listening to. This is easy to study, as you just
need to look at the charts and see what genres occur frequently. I also got some
audience feedback on what they thought and associated with the singer-
songwriter genre. This was extremely useful , as the whole point is to please and
engage audiences, therefore you need to know what they want from a music
video.
How have I Linked my Ancillary
Products with my Main Product?

5.  Having studied the music industry and looked thoroughly into the singer-songwriter genre I
then started to make a list and decide what were the main conventions and techniques used
by artists to lead their music video to success.
 I looked at influential singer-songwriters such as, Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard, Sam Smith and
George Ezra. It became apparent to me that there was a recurring theme of melancholy, or
some sort of ‘love lost’ in each of their videos. For example I did some textual analysis on
Sam Smith’s song “Stay with Me”, the connotations of singer-songwriter were vivid and
obvious, for example the casual clothes, informal settings, natural lighting and simple media
language. The video was more about the story line and the meaning behind the song itself,
not covered and glammed up by aesthetics, for example like the video “I Got U” by Duke
Dumont, which is all about the aesthetics.
 Looking at Ed Sheeran, George Ezra and Passenger I also discovered that a guitar was a
typical convention of singer-songwriter. Having realised that the natural lighting, casual
clothes, informal settings, this melancholy and guitar were pleasing for the audience and
conventions that will connect the audience to my video I incorporated them into my own
video the best I could.
…Continued

6. This is in comparison
to Ed Sheeran’s video
“Lego House”. I have
used similar clothing;
a casual jumper, both
with dark chilled
jeans. The location is
also natural, with
nature as a theme.
This emphasises the
honesty of emotion,
as all artificial aspects
have been stripped to
bare minimum,
allowing the artist to
be at one, giving the
audience all of their
attention.
The facial expression and
positioning of the shot is
also relevant as it
explores the idea of
being the main focus
point, without any
objects or props taking
over and shifting the
audience’s attention
away from the main
focus; the artists’ honest
feelings.
COMPARISON

7. Synergy between my Products
All of my products have a form of
synergy, linking one way or another, they
all connect together as one. For example
every screenshot here I have used links;
through evidence of media language. The
guitar is in nearly every shot here, along
with the natural lighting and similar
colour saturations and tones. The motif
of natural locations and nature is
apparent with no formal use of settings.
The fonts are the same in all of my
secondary products, with the same ‘sun’
logo on my poster and digi-pack. Again this
form of synergy will allow it to become a
trademark, subtly engaging with audiences
to find familiarity with each product,
therefore audiences won’t forget it.
Although, I have adapted with each photo
by adjusting colour of fonts, for example a
deep red font worked better on the wall
background for my poster, rather than the
orange I used for the other poster, which
stood out more on the green grass. So
although it is important to follow
conventions, you must also adapt and
work with your source materials.
The greens,
natural reds and
sky blues all
compliment each
other as well,
leaving the
audience satisfied.