Media A2 Coursework evaluation question 2

1. 2. HOW EFFECTIVE IS THE
COMBINATION OF YOUR MAIN AND
ANCILLARY PRODUCTS?

2. Colour scheme
Music Video
There are lots of colours used in the music video, depending on the part of
the video. When there is narration in the song, the video changes to black
and white as the narration is quite depressing and sad. We used red which
implies that there is love involved between the robot and the girl. We used
blue in the second section and dark purple which are colours often
associated with the male gender which matches the lyrics which tell the
story of the character ‘jack’. For the ‘Short story about the girl Georgina’
we used pink which is a colour typically associated with girls. The filters
suggested something ‘otherworldly’, creating this sense of a parallel
universe and fantasy which comes with the idea of using robots to convey
our concept of split personalities.
The colour scheme used for the digi pack was the same as the one used for the poster. The colours
also featured in the music video. After looking at other existing media products we saw that most
album covers were either black and white of very colourful. at first we made the Digi pack with a
black background which did follow conventions but didn't really fit the brand identity. We therefore
decided to use the same background as we used for the poster.
Digi pack
The colour scheme of the poster is the same as the one used on digi pack as
previously mentioned. We chose to use hot colours for the background as warm
colours worked better when creating a galaxy theme and it also made it look
more surreal. Warm colours also have connotations of love and happiness which
does tie in with the concept. It also worked a lot better than the cold colour would
have as due to the masculine robot it may have limited out audience is we had used
colder and more masculine colours.
Poster

3. Mise en scene : Music video
Costume
Throughout our music video we produced many costumes involving four separate
robot faces. The idea to use robots is what eventually stemmed our idea to use the
song Sheila and create the concept of split personalities. We used the colours blue, red
and pink to convey gender again and we drew on the pink face to create a new
character. The clothes the actor wore could have been seen as quite retro which we
felt worked with the robot idea and the idea of a parallel universe. Some of the outfits
could have been referred to as ‘Chavy’ which we did to imply that the characters were
‘rough’ which tied in with the song which is ultimately about drugs.
Lighting
In the video we always shot in daylight as when using the DSLR, it gave us a better quality
and provided us with really interesting shots and lighting. We tried to shoot in similar
weathers but unfortunately we couldn’t control this and so there were some differences.
Setting
The setting was difficult as we were restricted as to where we could film and when.
To resolve this we went on Orell Waterpark behind college which provided us with
rivers and different interesting landscapes to shoot. Another interesting thing about
shooting in a rural area was that it juxtaposed with some of the lyrics which we felt
we could play to our advantage and would add to our parallel universe idea.
Makeup
We didn’t really focus on the make up for the girls in the video as their clips were short and
often body shots. We did however use people based on their hair colour as we felt by
choosing actors with coloured hair it would enhance on the idea of robots but in a different
way. By focusing on body shots we felt it could have been an idea of the male gaze as the song
often refers to the idea that men constantly let women down leading them to substance
abuse.

4. Design : Ancillary products
Both the Digipack and the album cover use the same background and
incorporate the same image which provides a strong sense brand identity. The
costume isn't really noticeable accept for the robot head and shirt. However
the silhouettes are obvious characters in the music video as the back profile is
shot multiple times. The font used on both are the same as well which creates
a logo and again a strong brand identity across the products including the
music video.
The thing which differentiates the ancillary products from our main product is
the background used we were unable to cerate an illusion of a galaxy in after
effects as we struggled to manage our time as a group, so we compensated for
by adding filters over the top of the clips. Despite not being able to create the
galaxy, we were able to create the illusion of the double mood which gained
really positive feedback about the creativity involved in it as people from our
target demographic said it looked “really cool” and made the video look like it
was done on “another planet”. This is the reaction we had hoped for. Again, by
interweaving these little bits of space and fantasy it makes our products
recognisable as one and creates synergy across all three areas of our project.
The overall design of our ancillary products are very similar due to the colour
scheme, the images, the font and the both compliment each other and our
main product. I think if we had more time and recourses we would try to add
the galaxy into the background of the music video just to create an even
stronger sense of brand identity.