1. How effective is the combination of you main product and
ancillary texts?
Evaluation 2 - Bartek Wielblad
2. My ancillary texts which was the digipak and magazine poster were both produced in order for promotion to my main
product which is the music video. During the pre-production of my ancillary tasks I came across a theory by Blumler
and Katz’s and the ‘uses and gratifications’. This theory is a image representation theory and therefore it was really
useful to my ancillary texts. For example in my music video the main character can be easily identified therefore that is
identity gratification. I implied this into the planning of my digipak and magazine poster.Therefore I have used a
picture from the music video of the actual artist and then implemented it to the magazine poster however it was with a
twist as it was heavily modified and you could not tell that it has been taken from the music video as it had various
different filters on it and other effects that gave it a unique look. I have used this picture of the artist on my magazine
poster as it is easily identifiable and that is what I intended to do with my magazine poster so that it links with the
music video and therefore it would have visual links. This is an effective way of promoting the product and this
therefore is also known as synergy.
3. The album ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ by the artist 50 Cent is a very good example of this as they also used 50
Cent as the main focus/image on their synergy products which were the magazine poster and also the
digipak.They used the main artist which was 50 Cent as their focus which is an effective way of getting
promotion for the artist as it making him more identifiable and therefore links in with Blumler and Katz’s
theory of uses and gratification as the artist is becoming a visual representation and therefore is a identity
gratification.My magazine poster uses one shot of the artist in which it is a mid shot, this therefore allows
the audience to see the artist as well as the surroundings around him and this then links in with mise-en-
scene as the mise-en-scene also is consistent in both the magazine poster and the music video. The
mise-en-scene is present in the magazine poster and music video as it displays the artist's image by the
light focus and the clothing.The layout is very different when it comes to the magazine poster and the
digipak and the reason behind this is for the audience to be able to identify which one is the poster and
which is the digipak.
4. Regarding my digipak and magazine poster they are both similar and they serve one
purpose and that is to promote my main production which is the music video. To make these
as effective as possible I have applied my knowledge that I gained whilst studying the album
from 50 Cent (Get Rich or Die Tryin).This therefore means that I also used the artist on my
magazine poster just like 50 Cent was used on his ancillary texts.The artist ‘RunDown’ is
used by having a mid shot of himself in one of the locations and then it was used to make
the magazine poster. This still makes the artist the main focus.The same thing was done
with the ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ magazine poster as the main focus was 50 Cent.
5. In my magazine poster I have included a smoke filter around the whole magazine poster as I personally
think this gives it a much greater effect and also signifies that the smoke around the artist is actual smoke
and that it is probably from smoking. The colours of the logo suit the artist's hat and also the background.
This therefore makes it look professional. The poster features the album logo which is centralised along
with the release date and all of the social media that the artist has. It also has the website which the
audience can purchase merchandise and book tickets for his tour. A motion blur filter was added for the
'smoke' effect this therefore help portray the effect of being high. The artist is in the centralised therefore
showing that he is the main focus, this therefore still makes him the main icon and by having the artist on
the magazine poster makes him more identifiable and therefore gives him that identity gratification. The
main colour scheme is green which therefore helps to show that the colour green can be associated with
weed which is a drug that the artist enjoys the most. The colour green is a primary colour and from the
magazine poster it can be seen that the artist’s favourite colour must be green and this therefore might
mean that he picked that colour because it reminds him of drugs and specifically weed as it is the same
colour.
6. Furthermore, in relation to my layout of my ancillary texts.I have used a layout which already exists within
an album by Eminem called ‘Curtain Call’. I have previously had a different layout for my digipak and my
magazine poster however doing my research and looking at successful existing examples I came to a
conclusion that my layout had to be changed and therefore I have now applied this research to my own
and therefore changed the positioning of my release date and also the actual album name is in a different
place on the magazine poster.I have found for this new layout to be more effective and therefore keeping
it this way.The different layout between the digipak and magazine poster make them unique in their own
way and they are then identified in a different way and therefore it can be seen that they are not the same
thing but instead they are two different things (digipak and magazine poster).During my research I have
found out that Steve Neale’s theory suits my digipak and magazine poster and this is because his theory
focuses on ‘difference and repetition’ this therefore means that my digipak and magazine poster has to be
different from other existing magazine posters and digipaks but still have the same conventions in order
for it to still be identified as an ancillary text for a specific genre.This therefore allowed my digipak and
magazine poster.
7. My digipak and magazine are fairly different from existing successful ancillary texts this is because
although they have all of the generic conventions that a magazine poster or digipak would have
within the hip hop genre they are also different because the date format is different as well as the
placement of the text around the magazine poster is fairly different from the existing posters.The
title of the song is at the top of my magazine poster whereas the date is just beneath the artist
which is ‘RunDown’.The song name and also the date of release was centralised and this was not
intended at the planning stage of the magazine poster however after looking at it and coming to a
conclusion for the final magazine poster I have found out that making everything centralised it will
be more effective and therefore will appeal more to the audience as they can then identify this key
information easier.
8. Moreover my ancillary texts both use the same text for the album name and any other piece
of text.I have used the same text across my digipak and also the magazine poster so that it
maintains the easy identification which therefore means that people will be able to recognize
the product much easier if the same text font is used across all my ancillary texts.However
my magazine poster has much more picture of the artist as the artist is the main focus of the
magazine poster whereas the digipak does not actually have the artist on it at all.The
magazine poster also has the smoke effect on it whereas the digipak does not but instead it
has a broken glass filter which could signify violence depending on the viewer's view.
9. To conclude this piece both my ancillary texts are used to promote my main product
which is the music video.I intended for both the digipak and magazine poster to be
used the same way to promote the music video and therefore these two ancillary texts
contain some similar features such as the same colour scheme and also the same font
for the text. This therefore makes it easier to be identified and therefore they help each
other to make the promotion even more effective.Therefore overall both my ancillary
texts are very effective when combined together as they give my music video more
promotion.
