Media evaluation

1. QUESTION 2
How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?

3. DESIGN
 In order to create synergy between all three products, I focused my attention on the
particular aesthetics in the design of the ancillary products. The music video contains
powerful images involving paint and I wanted to incorporate this into the design of
the digipak and poster by using colourful fonts and striking stills from the music video
itself.
 The paint on the main characters hands is a reoccurring shot used across all three and
is the main image used on the cover of each ancillary. This is a good focus to build
around each product as it clearly depicts the visual theme of the music video.
 Font is another aspect I focused on in the design of each ancillary, as the poster title
has blue and pink blended together and the track numbers are coloured opposite to
their background (for example, if the background is blue the font is pink). This ties in
colour associations with each product and further accentuates the importance of the
pink and blue in the video.
 The visuals across the music video and ancillaries are heavily reliant on colour with
contrasting lighting. I applied stills that were shot in low-key lighting to create a
dramatic style to the design overall, as I felt the spotlight accentuated the bright
colours and threw the character into darkness which appears theatrical.

4. LAYOUT-DIGIPAK
The black and white edited
pictures that would be on
the inside left and right of
the disk fixture highlight the
significance of the blue and
pink paint within the piece.
The monochromatic lighting
also links to the chiaroscuro
lighting in the performance
elements of the music
video, creating synergy.
This image works really well
with the aesthetics of the
digipak, as all the images have
dramatic lighting with the use
of paint on the skin. This
particular image of the half-
face of the main character
links with the cover image of
both the digipak and poster as
it casts deep shadows on the
character’s face and only
shows part of the body; this
suggests that the character
feels incomplete about his
gender identification.
Still images such as this are taken directly from the music
video. This image is arguably the most prominent as it marks
when the two genders properly combine and suggest unity
and peace with oneself. This also creates balance of the
genders on the digipak, linking in that idea of gender
conflicts.
For the back of the digipak, I decided to use a slightly different image in
the background. This is used at the opening of the music video and
therefore brings back strong memories of the start of the video for the
audience. This created an effective canvas for the track listings and also
allowed me to play around with the colour for the numbers. This creates
synergy with the poster as I also merged colours with the text in the title.
Similarly to the poster, I presented the artist name and the
album title in the same font and order on the page; with the
artist name on top followed by the album name. The difference
between this and the poster is that the digipak promotes the
album, not just the single so I made the font in white as it
stands out against the background and doesn’t make the front
cover look too busy with colour.

5. LAYOUT- POSTER
The title page for the poster has
blended colours of pink and blue
in the font to link directly with the
theme that’s shown through all
three products. The merging of
colour is balanced with pink to
blue on the top, and blue to pink
on the bottom. This subtly links
with the digipak as the disk fixture
includes an image of the female
and male character together to
also create the impression of
gender balance and peace.
The image used for the
background directly links all three
products together as it is also the
cover image for the digipak and is
a different angle of a shot used
within the music video. The dark
lighting around the character’s
face creates mystery and also
draws the audience’s attention
directly to the hands. The
emphasis on certain body parts
and the covering of others
suggests a sense of confusion and
how the main character feels
incomplete. This can also be
interpreted from the digipak with
the use of half-face images.

6. CONSTRUCTION OF
REPRESENTATION
 As mentioned previously, the paint is the most prominent aspect that’s
featured across all three products. Arguably, the paint is the most
recognisable aspect of the mise-en-scene and clearly represents gender
associations.
 The pink paint represents feminine aspects of the main character; the
desire to be a woman. Whereas, the blue paint represents the masculine
aspects of the character and is the more dominant colour when mixing to
show how society are fixed in believing that men should be men and
nothing else.
 Also, the use of body parts and paint are prevalent across all three
products. Hands and the face are the main bodily features as they are
very personal parts of the body. The face is what people notice first about
an individual and represents all that you are to the outside world.
Whereas hands contain finger prints which is your genetic identity, just
like your sex. However, when the paint is spread across the hands it’s
showing an individual’s personal gender identity, which cannot be defined
by just male or female but maybe aspects of both.
 These images are heavily used across all three products to reinforce the
message of the video and project the theme of transgenderism.

7. VISUALS

8.  Visually, I incorporated a lot of bold colour across my products as I felt this was a
prominent feature of my music video. The use of pink and blue, but also the
bright and unexpected colours in the clown makeup and the stark black of the
military war paint convey powerful emotion in association; the clown makeup
portrays embarrassment whereas the war paint connotes bravery. I wanted to
use this aspect across all three products and mostly focused on the blue and
pink colours.
 The digipak includes all the most prominent colours in the mise-en-scene of the
music video; bright binks and electric blues with contrasting black and white
lighting. The edited images in particular draw reference to this and the images
are all taken in the performing arts location and therefore have dramatic lighting.
 Moreover, the poster also includes the contrasting lighting with shadows and
bright colours. The purpose of this is to heighten the representative elements of
the paint but also the visual link between the products.

9. CONCLUSION
 To conclude, I believe that clear synergy is created across my ancillaries and
main product. Due to our strong visualities, it was really easy to apply the style,
colours and themes across all three products in the form of repeated shots and
lighting. I think they are really successful in portraying the theme and message
of our main piece and produces a visually stunning, dramatic and graceful
representation of the issues surrounding transgenderism. Personally, I’m really
happy with the outcome of all three but if I were to improve on elements I
would look for a better, more professional way of formatting the font on the
poster title page. I think this would make the product more convincing and
professional looking. I think the digipak and poster both met the desired
conventions as they are recognisable products and do their purpose in
promoting the single and the artist.