Question 2 Evaluation Bridie Winters A2 Media Coursework Pearl

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

2. Aim
•The aim throughout all of our work was to promote our artist ‘Heidi’
through the same record company with a variety of different
products including a music video, a magazine advertisement and a
digipak. Because of a decline in record sales, it is important for an
artist to have a strong image through consistency of themes. In order
for our work to be effective, it was essential that the print work and
music video related to each other to give the same style and image of
the artist.
•We tried to keep all our products similar, but in a way which makes
them all unique. We did this by using similar photos and kept the
same colour scheme of black and white throughout all of our
products, these colours contrast each other which is eye catching to
the audience. It also reflects the softer, elegant and more serious side
to the album that we wanted to portray.

3. Mise-en-scene & codes of
visual language
•In all three products, we used low-key lighting to fit in with the serious
elegant side to the album. We wanted to make sure the focus would be
kept on the artist to promote her image.
•This is reflected through the central positioning of the artist throughout
our music video, digipak and magazine advertisement. In the music video
when ‘Heidi’ walks forward away from the podium, this amplifies her
dominance and influence amongst her fans.
•‘Heidi’s’ facial expression is quite emotional through the music
video, this is to reflect the song lyrics. However, in the ancillary products
it shows ‘Heidi’ as happy and is shown smiling in almost every image. This
is to show she is just a normal person like everybody else, which appeals
to her target audience.
•Heidi is shown in a variety of different outfits, all which are quite
revealing. This gives her a consistent image, as many of fans could see her
as a style icon.

4. Mise-en-scene & codes of
visual language
 For our ancillary products, we created a logo for our artist’s name. This
gives her a consistent image as an artist, and it creates familiarity to
her audience as it will appear on all of her products.
 We also used the same font and style of text throughout the magazine
advertisement and digipak. This makes them effective as they really
relate to each other and give the same connotations.

5. Theme of pearls
Following Andrew Goodwin’s theory, we developed a reoccurring visual
trademark for our artist. As the name of the song in our music video is
‘Pearl’, we thought it would be effective to have the album and artist
based around a theme of pearls, which also amplifies the elegant side
of the album. We incorporated pearls into the music video by having
our artist ‘Heidi’ wear a pearl necklace, earrings and bracelets. We
followed our theme of pearls through to our digipak by designing our
CD in the shape of a pearl.

6. In addition the background of the CD is also an image that consists of
smaller individual pearls. On the back of our CD for our track listing we
incorporated pearls by placing them next to the track name, which gives
them the effect of a bullet point. Our magazine advertisement is focussed
on a large image of the artist, where her jewellery of pearls is clearly
noticeable to the audience.

7. Representation
In the music industry, the way in which an artist is represented to their
fans is vital to achieve commercial success. Popular music is part of our
popular culture, and especially for the youth audience it is more than just
the music. Fans often relate closely to the representations of artists, this
can influence how they perceive themselves and may affect their
everyday lives, for example how they dress and act.
Across our products, our aim was to represent our artist in a way different
to other pop artists. Through the lyrics of the song we made the
performance side of the video to look like a motivational speech to her
fans who are having relationship problems. Through the narrative we
showed a young girl standing up for herself, after watching this
motivational speech. This reaches out to her fans in a different, more
emotional way, they can relate to her and look up to her for inspiration to
overcome their own problems. We incorporated this into the print
products through the same styling and colours of the music video. We
also featured a thank-you page in the digipak from the artist to her
fans, this creates a relationship between them, which makes it more
personal.