The document discusses the effectiveness of a promo package for an alternative music artist. There are common themes like smoking and identity issues across the digipak, video, and lyrics that create synergy. Signifiers of the alternative genre used include fonts, logos, dark clothing, and cigarettes. The package effectively communicates the genre and artist's image through its rebellious symbolism and monochrome color scheme. It successfully appeals to the target audience of young adults by featuring themes they can relate to and attracting both genders.

1. Poppy Beamish-Benson
Q2:
HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE COMBINATION OF
YOUR MAIN PRODUCT AND ANCILLARY
TEXTS?

3. WHAT ARE THE COMMON THEMES OR
‘SYNERGY‘ BETWEEN THE THREE ELEMENTS?
• Within my Digipak and video there are running themes linked to the narrative I decided to
use. The girl featured smoking within the front cover is the actress from within the video,
this creates the idea of a concept album with the majority being about her and her life.
Smoking is a theme within my video as it is shown to help the girl through her troubled
life, this also links to the genre as the majority of Indie and alternative bands feature
smoking within their videos as it is a controversial theme, a symbol for the genre’s
outlandish style.The effects used on the Digipak such as the layering of images is also an
effect I used within parts of my video, this implies the girl to be mentally unstable due to
the fact it represents her disordered mind, something I tried to show tastefully in the
digipak. The use of the barbie eyes in the gatefold links the idea of different identities,
with the girl in the video being seemingly okay on the outside but shown through
voyeurism to be struggling internally. Barbie’s are also largely portrayed as being ‘perfect’,
a theme that is challenged within my video with my actress coming to terms with the fact
that she is not perfect and noone else is.

5. WHAT ARE THE COMMON THEMES OR
‘SYNERGY‘ BETWEEN THE THREE ELEMENTS?
• I also decided to use a simple image of some pills inside the gatefold; this is a symbolic
image within my video as it is portrayed negatively to the audience in order to shock them
into her reality. It also represents her repression of her inner identity, with the medication
representing the society which doesn’t accept her.
• I decided to use an image of New York with my Digipak and at the beginning of my video
to symbolise my characters dreams, America is the land of opportunity and the place
where ‘Cassie’ from Skins runs away to, to create her new life and identity. It also gave
the Digipak depth, with the city landscape linking to the indie theme of the video.
• The use of the bands logo links the two elements of the promo package together, giving
the artists a brand name in which its target audience can look for.

7. WHAT ARE THE SIGNIFIERS YOU HAVE USED IN THE PROMO
PACKAGE TO MARK OUT THE GENRE AND STYLE OF YOUR
BAND/ARTIST?
• Within my promo package I have used many signifiers to the alternative genre, I decided to use
the specific font of ‘Sonsie One’ as it was similar to the fonts used within other alternative
albums such as the ‘Nirvana’ albums. These eccentric fonts stand out from other albums of
genre’s such as pop and rock due to it having its own apparent style. Another font I used was
‘Rainbow’, I decided to sue this font as the fontstyle for the bands name ‘THE
NBHD’ within both my video and digipak as it created synergy, in addition to
promoting the idea of an alternative band with artists such as Lana Del Rey using bond fonts to
make their brand name stand out.

8. WHAT ARE THE SIGNIFIERS YOU HAVE USED IN THE PROMO
PACKAGE TO MARK OUT THE GENRE AND STYLE OF YOUR
BAND/ARTIST?
• The bands logo of the upside down house, triangle and love heart are used in all 3 parts
of my digipak to create a brand name for my artist and also to attract followers of the
band. The use of the unconventional symbols for the logo also marks the bands status as
being quirky a direct link to the alternative genre.
• Another signifier within my promo pack is the use of the ‘parental advisory’ sticker
attached to the front, this defines the album as explicit which is rarely seen within other
genres such as pop due to its target audience being younger.
• The clothes my actress is wearing within the video also links to the alternative genre with
her wearing dark ‘hipster’ clothes. The style of her outfits follow the ‘hipster’ fashion and
link to the clothes worn by artists such as Lana Del Rey.

10. STAR ICONOGRAPHY - HOW HAVE YOU
CREATED THEIR IMAGE?
• To create my artists image I first looked at my actresses costume, to convey the themes
of the alternative genre her clothing had to be darker colours and more abstract than
normal fashion. I decided to have her wearing darker makeup, clothes and messy hair.
Bright colours and fashionable clothing wouldn’t have linked to the genre or conveyed the
videos message as successfully.
• I think the main signifier of the stars image is the use of cigarettes, this makes her appear
more outlandish and symbolises the artists as being rebellious and unconventional. Her
dark makeup during the chorus scenes was also an important part of the iconography as it
represents the artists as being disordered, something you’d expect from an alternative
band.

11. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE PACKAGE AT
COMMUNICATING GENRE AND ARTISTS IMAGE?
• Overall I think that the package is effective at communicating the genre and artists image
due to its use of rebellious symbolism and alternative themes. The colour scheme of the
package also creates synergy with the music video and appeals to the Alternative genre’s
niche target audience. Within the alternative genre the music video’s and promo packages
tend to use the monochrome colour scheme to mark out their diverse style. I decided to
use this theme for both of my products therefore directly linking it to its genre and other
significant artists. The lack of bright colours and fashionable clothes also enables it to not
be confused with genres such as indie and pop, but the specific clothes such as scarves
and baggy jumpers mark it as alternative with its ‘hipster’ style.

12. HOW SUCCESSFULLY DOES THE PACKAGE
APPEAL TO YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?
• My package successfully appeals to my target audience through the use of fonts, the
fonts I have used mark the artist out as being more suited to a young adult audience due
to it linking to the genre. The alternative genre is usually aimed at young adults due to its
unconventional styles, I have conveyed this through the use of smoke imagery and the
ideas about identity (using the barbie eyes for my gatefold photography). These are things
that my target audience will be able to associate themselves with, due to them being
themes that appear in their own lives. The fact that my video features the female actress
on the front attracts both genders, with it appealing to males by showing the female form,
and females due to them being able to empathize with the themes that are shown within
my music video.