HSDC MEDIA COURSEWORK EVALUATION

1. How effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary tasks?
By Kevin Wickens

2. introduction
The main production I made individually was a music video. Alongside this I created a
page sized advert in a magazine and a Digipack CD case and album art to promote the
music. Because they're all based around one thing, the Music I need them all to connect
in style, genre and mode of address to the audience a good rule I've followed is that you
should know they're linked before seeing the title. Media companies who wish to
promote their film/album successfully always make the products surrounding it all
recognisable and linked to the main product to make people more inclined to get it.

5. Techniques and things I considered while making all three
of these media products include:
● Keeping a consistent style
● All products reflect the Folk genre
● All products reflect Music
● Mis-en-scene all match
● All promotes the music video/song

6. Consistent style
A way I ensured that these products were successful in combination was by maintaining
a similar style from one to the other. I had a colour scheme of yellows, oranges, green
and browns, which are consistent through out all three products. These are all very
bright colours and are clearly viable in the ancillary tasks and the colour scheme is the
same throughout the video albeit with more blues. The font is also consistent
throughout the tasks, in all three the title font at least is definitely consistent due to the
trading and how the title associated with my product. The fonts in the ancillaries also
vary so it follows codes and conventions of their respective mediums. In my opinion I
captured the style from all three products thanks to the help of my research into
professional versions of the products found on the internet.

7. Originally my idea was to have the bubble writing of homeward bound as the
title but this font and colour scheme would be breaking the conventions of
the usage of a recognisable font as a name so I ended up putting the logo
thats used for both the artist and the title logo so I can strengthen the
connection between the products.
I think this could be improved by putting the
artists name in the classic logo/font I have
used in the other two products into the
music video itself.

8. Suggesting Genre
As I am creating products around the genre of Western Folk/Americana I
tried to really embellish and go over the top in my products to really
convey it within my products. This is necessary as the audience its trying
to address will know straight away from telltale signs that it is this specific
genre and the one for them or even know the genre without the
knowledge of it. I made this apparent In three and majorly apparent in
the advert with the colour scheme provoking a nostalgic, sepia look. This
and the use of the Polaroid a lone artist and the wooden table are all
elements of the calm folk genre. One big give away is the little hint of the
Simon & Garfunkel CD slightly in frame, this also has connotations of
sharing and listening to music which is a big part of the folk genre and
that is why its inclusion is appropriate. The use of just a single image of
the artist and the minimal design on it goes well with connoting folk as
these codes and conventions can be found on many other products.

9. Mis-en-scene
In the album cover I had just as many links to the folk genre with the use of an instrument and the
mis-en-scene as the backgrounds are natural and connote a bit of peaceful serenity which comes
with folk. The colour scheme is also present in the album cover/digipack. Most of all however my
digipack links to the music video, having many ties such as the same character, however dressed
differently for variety, the costumes showing calm and stillness and another showing travel which is
a direct link to the music video. Another massive link is the ghost woman on the front page which
signifies a missing person who is almost there which is the idea of longing for someone which is
reflected in the music video. Also the graphics of trains also promote the travel idea which is also in
my music video and the use of calm backgrounds and then one busy backgrounds which is another
theme throughout my product, the want to get away from the busy streets and go somewhere calm
hence why the end of the music video is in a quiet park.

11. I intended the mis-en-scene to be similar in all my products and although they
are not identical, they're still representative of all the products and genres of
folk, the costumes in all three share the same idea of a folky traveler. He is
also almost always with his guitar, cementing this idea and also making him a
lot more recognisable. However in my opinion over exaggeration of the mis-
en-scene with use of props and such would take away from some of the
meaning of the minimalist folk genre.

12. Cross Promotion
Along with all the connections I attempted to also make the two ancillaries promote the main music video
with uses such as the font, the recurring character and the several graphic links such as the trains and
traveling style.

13. Conclusion
In Conclusion I cross promoted my music video very will with all the links in my
digipack, but also more links could be added in the advert as the advert kind
of leans towards promoting the digipack, my guess is I got carried away as
usually all of these products professionally would go towards selling the album
rather than promoting a music video. I could have had help with this by
getting feedback on all three products looked at as a whole rather than one at
a time.
If I were to do this again I would make more links in the advert to the music
video, as the coursework suggests, rather than the album.