1. 2.How effective is the
combination of your main
product and ancillary texts?
FRANK X FABZ ‘MY STORY’
BY CEYLAN AKBAS
2. What we did
For our music video, we created a product which involves two artists and because our
chosen genre is grime, we made our music video as realistic as possible.
For our digipak, we conformed to the codes and conventions of grime through the font,
setting and cinematography to conform to the grime genre.
Similarly, for our website, we kept it simple and made it easily accessible as grime
artists are less likely to promote their selves on their website and more likely to
promote their selves through social media.
We chose to create these ancillary products to feature our music video because we
thought they created an easier link and because most of our target audience are
internet users, we thought these products, the ancillary products would be more
appealing to them.
4. Our Website
Click here to go to our website: https://karendasilvaa8.wixsite.com/frankxfabz-
5. Our Music Video
Click here to watch our music video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxir8G1F9sQ
6. The concept
Our music video is within the grime genre and we decided to conform to the codes and
conventions of this genre to a certain extent because the song itself doesn’t entirely conform to the
grime genre. The grime genre tends to have a distinctive style where it is heavily performance
based however, we wanted to subvert this idea and created a balanced performance and narrative
based music video to convey our message.
The narrative sections of our music video are all black and white and this shows that all of these
sections were in the past (flashbacks). Whereas for our performance section, we used a
combination of red lighting and a dull effect (which we created in final cut pro). The red with the
black and white effect is a distinctive style used by grime artists and we wanted to conform to their
conventional style.
After we researched the different digipaks and websites such as Stormzy’s and Skepta’s, we
realised that they tend to keep their websites and digipak’s simple and promote their selves in a
different way. In that way, it makes it easier for the audience to recognise what genre the product
is and find their specific needs easily. We did this similarly with our ancillary products with the
same intention.
7. Digipak
The acknowledgements section conforms to the grime genre through its font and when it says
“would like to thank our haters,” it also conforms to the conventions of grime. We realised that
many grime artists tend to thank their haters as a way of overcoming the hate they receive and
we did this similarly for our digipak because our music video involves a narrative where the
artists had developed after the murder of Frank’s brother. “RIP to the brother D’Shaun” also
conforms to this as we wanted to imply to the audience that the artists had been able to
progress after the murder of D’Shaun which allowed them to get recognised.
We wanted to keep the disk tray simple so we just added the same title from the
front cover, in the middle and kept the background the same as the rest of the
digipak. This is also a conventional style for grime artists’ digipaks as they tend to
keep their digipaks simple because the CD will be covering it and therefore, it
doesn’t have much of a significance.
8. Digipak Continued…
For the credits, we used the same font as the acknowledgements, which we chose
from photo shop and also kept this simple. We made the backgrounds the same
and added the artist, Frank looking at the credits which we also did for the
acknowledgements. Again, the credits were kept simple and easily readable to our
audience and this conforms to the codes and conventions of grime as grime artists
tend to keep their digipaks’ credits simple, just like the rest of the digipak.
We also decided to keep the panel simple in our digipak where we
added an image where both artists are involved. We also filmed in this
location for our music video to show that the artists are touring and we
thought that this would be a significant way to promote our artists and
create synergy across our products. In addition, we added the similar
effect to make it seem more black and white so that the images within
the digipak, link with each other.
9. …
Track lists for grime tend to be bold or handwritten and we conformed to the
bold style as our grime artists are more mature and the music video is quite
serious and therefore, we didn’t want to create a childish digipak and kept it
simple and easily understandable. As the name of the album is called Roads,
we wanted to involve an image which would link to roads and areas, so we
took an image where there were tall block of flats and made the effect the
same as the rest of the digipak. Furthermore, at the bottom of the track list, we
added a barcode and a logo of BBK and Sony to show who helped us produce
and distribute to our audience. Adding these logos also promotes these labels.
The front cover is the most significant for the digipak as it will be the first thing our
audience would see. However, like the rest of the digipak, we kept the front cover simple
and promoted our audience by adding the logo, and the images of the two artists to show
which is which, we Put ‘Frank’ behind Frank, and ‘Fabz’ behind Fabz. In this way, our
audience would recognise who is who. The picture is taken behind graffiti and we
recognised that CXCV has filmed a music video in this location too, which shows that the
location conforms to the conventions of grime. In addition, we added the black and white
filter throughout the music video’s narrative sections to show that it’s a flashback and we
conformed to this filter in our digipak to create synergy across all our products.
10. The link?
Our digipak relates to our music video as some of the shots we included in the digipak, are also in the
music video. This gives our audience gratification as they are able to see the link in both texts. The
images in different locations in the digipak are also useful as it gives new imagery to our audience and
makes it more appealing. In addition, the costumes are also similar in the digipak which again, creates
a link between both texts. When shooting for our music video, we also took images as we thought that
it would help create a link between both products. However, the differences between the digipak could
show that My Story is not the only track and there are other tracks in the album too which adds
realism across all the products.
The website also relates to our music video and the digipak because we have used similar images
and same logo to promote our artists. This allows the audience to create an specific identity for our
artists. We also kept our website simple as it conforms to the conventions of the grime genre and in
this way, our ancillary products had a clear relation to our music video.
11. Website
Like the digipak and the music video, the black and white theme is carried on to the
website. This conforms to the synergy. As it is the homepage, we kept it very simple and
added the images of our artists as a way of promoting them. Furthermore, we made sure
our logo was on the front page in the middle to create identity and a link between all the
products. The graffiti location is in the same area as the location for the front cover of the
digipak and this conforms to the distinctive style of artists having a similar theme across
their media texts. However, we did not use this location in our music video as the narrative
can become sensitive to some and therefore, the graffiti theme may not be suitable within
the music video.
For the music tab, we added certain tracks with images of the artists as
a way of promoting the tracks in the album. This creates a link across all
the digipak and the website as they both include the same content. We
wanted to include single images of our artists to show they’ve both got a
lot of talent however, we added the same amount of images for both
artists to show they’ve got equal amount of talent. The black and white
theme is also carried on throughout the website to create a link between
all the products.
12. Website Continued…
To promote our artists and add realism to our products, we added tour dates in
different locations as a way of marketing our artists. We also added tabs to
allow our audience to be able to buy the tickets which again, adds realism to
the website. When artists tour, they tend to have the dates quite close to each
other so that they can do their shows all in one go. We did this similarly by
adding two-day gaps in between every tour date as a way of conforming to
their style.
We tried our best to add realism to our products and therefore,
we added the most recent news and made up news which
involved our artists’ names to promote Frank x Fabz.
Furthermore, this makes it seem like the artists are well-known
and that they are successful in their job. We also add one of our
artists in the news section, and just like the digipak where the
artist looks at the credits, Frank looks at the news which again
creates a link between the products.
13. Continued
We had a simple black background for the gallery because there
are enough images in this section to keep our audience engaged.
We made sure there was an equal amount of images of both
artists to show that they are equally as talented even though in
our music video, the story was based on just Frank. Most of the
images in the gallery are black and white and this also conforms
to the synergy created across all the products.
For the biography, we made it seem like it was written by the artists
in the second paragraph to create a relationship with our audience
as this is what grime artists tend to do. For example, by starting off
the paragraph with “Yo Guys”. This also adds realism to the
website. Hackney, which is where the two artists are from, is
mentioned in the biography as a way of giving information to the
audience about where the artists are from. Furthermore, a lot of
grime artists are from Hackney and Frank x Fabz being from this
area, adds realism and raises a sense of awareness to the people
of Hackney.
14. …
For the contact us page, we maintained the black and white
theme. We kept the font simple as the contact us page is less
significant and doesn’t need much detail which is done by most
of the artists.
We created a little shop as way of promoting our
artist. We did these in photo shop and added
prices for each item to add realism. Also, we added
a best seller, which is the cap which persuades our
audience to buy the products.
15. Overall,
Overall, all our products have a clear link through their black and white theme with
similar images maintained in all the products. All the products link with each other
however, I believe we could have related the website to the rest of the products
more. For example, the digipak and the website could have had the same font.
Personally, I am pleased with the final products we have created as there is a
relation between each product. Furthermore, I believe all these products would
work well as stand-alone products as they all have a professional finish.
