How Your Main Product & Ancillary Texts Work Together
1. How Effective is The
Combination Of Your
Main Product &
Ancillary Texts?
Jake Lamothe Evaluation.
2. Alongside my music video, I have also made numerous ancillary products that were created in order to
help promote not only the artist but also the artists for further projects that they may release.The
ancillary products created consisted of a digipak (Album cover and package),Website, and
Merchandise (clothes for sale).The aim we had in mind when creating the ancillary products for our
music video was to create synergy between all of the products so that the audience and consumers
could see the theme of our artist which is infused in some way into each product.The theme we
decided to go with for our products is the feature of Old mixed with New which is the type of artist we
tried to create in terms of music content and characteristics which is mainly seen through the use of
filters used is the ‘Aged paper’ filter which gives the visuals an old/aged feel to the audience watching.
We came up with this idea for the theme from the different ideas we had as a group and merging them
together to get a healthy balance between old and new which is shown through the ancillary products
made as it is consistent across all three of our ancillary products.
4. Digipak...
This was our opportunity to show off our creative side and to show off our skills on other platforms such as Photoshop CS5 and
Wix.com.The theme we had based our digipak around was UK Rap as that was the genre we had chosen for our music video and
wanted to make the link between our video and ancillary products.The genre we had chose to make our music video under was
good in terms of expressing our different views and ideas as well as still appealing and identifying with our target audience.
Through the two screenshots of the process from start to finish of our digipak, you can see that the ideas that we had stayed with
our original ideas for what we wanted it to look like as during our brain storming process we had a set plan of what we was going
to do to achieve our perfect digipak without any doubt that there could be improvements to our creativity.The type of digipak we
created for our music video was a different style of digipak as at first glance it does not look like a conventional digipak for a UK
Rap video. As our genre is closely linked with the rap genre ‘Grime’ people usually associate anything produced from the UK to
look like grime. However, as our character is not the average UK rapper we wanted our digipak to look different and subvert what
is usually seen but at the same time making links with the genre, music video and also the other ancillary products.We originally
wanted to create a digipak completely subverting the conventions of UK rap albums and digipaks but after research and
questions of synergy we decided to have a balance which is why we have the initial theme of the Beatles album cover when they
are on abbey road to symbolise the fact our artist is not restricted to one genre and can adapt into any style.We then decided to
conform to the typical UK Rap conventions which is usually noticed at a second glance with the use of Mise-en-scene whereby
the characters on the screen are in tracksuits and hoodies (a bold indicator of UK Rap/Grime music). Also due to the fact we shot
the album cover in the dark in an identifiable urban location it appealed more to the audience and made it easier for them to
relate and understand it as it emphasises the feeling of old mixed with new as the audience can see the link with the famous
Abbey Road picture with the combination of urban lifestyle and living which comes across and fun and interesting.We were also
able to make a clear link and bond between our ancillary products through our artists logo which is printed on the front and back
cover of the digipak as well as the merchandise and his individual website for promotion.
5. Digipak
…The track list I had created makes bold links to the
traditional conventions of the UK Rap and grime scene as
instead of picking a font to go on the back with a gritty
vibe to it, l had hand written the track list to make it seem
like the artist had personally written it and then transferred
it onto the editing platform ‘Photoshop’ whereby we
changed the colour to match the rest of the digipak.This
conforms to the conventions of UK rap as it is authentic
and focuses on the raw stripped back content which is why
we chose for our artist to write out the track list with his
own natural hand writing so it is more natural and also
personal for the audience so that they feel like it is from
the artist himself or almost homemade.This also gave the
digipak a raw graffiti effect to the back cover which is
usually associated with UK rap/ Grime music when you
think about the genre due to the Urban locations and areas
it was birthed from.
6. Digipak
…The inside panels of the digipak consist of different
shots of our artist in different locations around
London. This is a common convention with the
genre my artist is in as artists usually like to
represent and show the world where they came
from so that they can show they are not forgetting
where they came from. With our digipak we added
an additional filter to the photograph to give it a
cold icy look to represent the cold streets he had
came from. We managed to do this on the editing
software platform ‘Photoshop Cs5’ by saving a
filter effect and adding as a layer on top of the
picture which gave it to icy look and feeling. This
relates to our target audience as the areas they
live in are usually described and cold and raw.
7. Websit
e
During our brainstorming process of what we wanted our
artists website to look like we were researching on the
internet of other artists within our genre so that we could
get a better understanding of what patterns there are
between websites. I looked into and analysed various
websites and artists within the UK Rap/Grime genre and also
from other genres such as Hip-hop. For example Giggs,
Skepta, and YG which are artists from three different genres
so that we could have a try at combining all to appeal to a
larger audience. The main website we were inspired by
when creating our website was Giggs website due to its
classic basic layout that gets straight to the point which is
what we wanted.
8. Website
…For our website to link with our digipak and music video
we continued our theme of old mixed with new but
with more obvious conventions of UK Rap. We also took
inspiration from Giggs website with the use of the
website being classic and basic from first glance. As we
wanted our website to be some what basic we decided
not to incorporate the filter of ‘Aged film’ into any parts
of the website as we wanted to also give our website a
natural raw feeling which is why all the images on the
page are enhanced and made to look clearer in terms of
colour and quality. We made the link between the
website and the other ancillary products by clearly
presenting the logo of our artist (Barcode) in the middle
of the web page in large size so it is the first thing that
the audience see when they open the page. We also
made a link between the website and ancillary products
by adding images onto the site that were on the
digipak. We done this so that the audience would
remember the logo and think of the artist whenever
they see it or anything like it.
9. Website
…
The use of adding a page for of news feeds and
social media links to the artists social media
accounts enhances the quality of the websites as
it allows the audience to interact with the artist
by keeping up with the latest news that their
favourite artist may be doing.
10. Merchandis
e
Also on our website we thought it was good way
for our artist to gain extra promotion as well as
exposure if we added a page on the website
whereby it allows the supporters of the artist to
buy the tour merchandise which include hats,
jumpers, Headphones, and tops. This was a good
addition to the web page as it allows the audience
to perform multiple functions on the page which
could put his brand on another level because of
promotion. This links with our music video and
other ancillary products as on each piece of
merchandise, we have presented the artists logo
across either the middle or each corner of the
item which causes whoever buys it to constantly
think of the artist when they wear it because of
the iconic logo.
