1. Jack Ahern Q2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary
texts?
As I began my coursework, which is made up of a music video, magazine advert and
digipack, I knew that I wanted them to all be clearly linked and clear enough to
attract a specific target of people. Due to the fact that my ancillary task as well as my
main task has a broad demographic it meant that I had the opportunity to attract a
larger audience. I think that by the end of my production, I had ensured that each
product had fulfilled what I wanted it to and done so in a skilful manner. The primary
focus and purpose of my music video was to entertain my target audience so that
they will be interested during the video. I think that entertainment is gained through
the transitions in-between footage as well as how I have manipulated speed in many
of the shots, by doing so it allowed me to portray some of my shots in a way that I
wanted the audience to see it, to get a feel for the emotions in the clip, the way in
which I have edited the video matches with the raw emotion and the pace of the
song. I have also edited a variety of shots in sync with the beat, giving off an upbeat
tempo to the video where is suitable. My main product paired with both ancillary
tasks all share the same underlining theme of trying to escape the overpowering
emotions of anxiety and fear stemming from situation which are a part of his
everyday life. My music video clearly broadcasts this theme through the emotive look
of the characters in the video and how I present them. My actor clearly portrayed his
emotions mainly through the shots I used, from close ups of his face highlighting the
fact that he is being shadowed by the uncontrollable feeling of anxiety and
desperation to find an escape, then onto the consistent use of the over the shoulder
shots that act as a visual metaphor of the negative and torturous emotions that are
constantly following him around, like the camera is. This did help with continuity but I
also think that having such close up featured in the magazine advert made it easier
to see the emotion of the person, which worked out well. In my magazine advert this
theme is continued as the pictures I have used for my actor shows his emotions, I
think that this is also very similar to what is reflected in my digipack.
One of the uses of the digipack is to promote the whole album and not just the
single song. The main role of the digipack is to sell the album to a wider variety of an
audience and not just the target audience, by doing so it helps gain more fans as it
gives off a feel for the whole theme and genre whereas an advert for a single may
not do so. Due to this, I therefore had to ensure that the digipack would grab
people’s attention in a way that would appeal to people who don’t fit into what is my
expected target audience. My digipack is filled with a variety of close ups something
2. which I thought was very important in order to show the zoomed and exaggerated
emotion which is broadcasted in the whole music video. Made up of 4 individual
pages, each image is the focus of one each and then the boy is on the remaining
four pages of the digipack. Once again, my actor is shown looking edgy and deeply
lost, reflecting the emotions which they express in the music video and also the
magazine advert. Overall, I believe that the grouping of all three of my products are
very effective as they all successfully link together and share a very similar theme.
When looking at all three of my products individually, you can clearly see that they all
share similar styles and layouts, successfully seeing that they all relate to one another.
I think that the soft look of each image, lighting in footage/shots and mise-en-scene
all work well together across all three products and are successful together and
individually.
