This document discusses the ancillary tasks of a magazine advertisement and digipak that were created to accompany a music video production. It summarizes the conventions and criteria that were considered for these ancillary pieces, such as enticing visuals, track listings, and consistency with the theme and color schemes of the music video. Examples from real artists' albums, like Rihanna and Taylor Swift, helped inform the design decisions. Research into target audiences also influenced the style and content of the ancillary works. Consistency was maintained between all three pieces through similar visual elements and representation of the artist.

1. EVALUATION
QUESTION
2
EMILY GAHAME

2. The ancillary texts that we produced were a magazine
advert and a digipak. Throughout the planning process of
the production music video task, as a group we were always
thinking of the ancillary tasks. We wanted to create
consistency throughout all 3 parts, including the same
theme and colour schemes. We also wanted to make sure
we fitted in the general criteria and conventions that
magazine adverts and digipak’s included. These would be
things such as an enticing picture on the digipak and
magazine advert, magazine ratings and links, digipak track
list and panel pictures.

3. I know that these conventions are in
relation to real music videos because
they are present in Rihanna and Taylor
Swift’s album covers. In Rhianna’s
album cover it has been presented in a
girly way due to the red/pink hair and
the subtle make up. She is making direct
eye contact to the audience, which
would be appealing because it makes her
seem very open and friendly. Her name
and her album cover are stated on the
front of the album, which are main
conventions that are generally stated in
this way.

4. Another ‘real’ artists album cover that presents generic pop
genre conventions would be Taylor Swift. This album cover is
very similar to Rihanna in ways of conventions. Taylor is
giving direct eye contact; she would also be seen to be looking
pretty. These are two conventions that Rihanna also
demonstrates. The colour scheme that has been used is also
quite casual and not too extravagant; this tends to look
appealing to the eye. Both artists are very established and
therefore are in a position to take risks with there advertising
and marketing. However both these artists know that this
layout and the conventions they use are typical to the pop
genre and they know that I works. Jess and myself knew that
these pop artists have a constantly growing fan group and a
solid target audience that are very loyal to them. Due to this
being the case we thought if we did the similar type of
marketing then hopefully would entice our specific target
audience and would be a success.

5. In terms of the digipak, we kept consistency through
adding in some of the pictures that were actually used in
the music video. This is included the kaleidoscope effect,
and some of our cutaway shots. The purpose of our
kaleidoscope was to obviously keep with the theme, it gave
the main product an abstract feel, and therefore we wanted
to incorporate it into out ancillary tasks. Due to our theme
being based on the 17th century Marie Antoinette era, we
wanted to give a sophisticated and artistic look. Seeing as
though this is a unique look we had to keep unity
throughout all three products, otherwise the audience
would become confused of what our theme was.

6. As Rick Altman said, “genre is a blueprint, a formula that
precedes, programmes and patterns industry production”.
By using a blueprint it is known to minimize the risk by
understanding what is currently popular and what is
selling. Therefore in our music video we had to research
and find out exactly what did sell to hopefully decrease the
risk of our tasks not ending up as we expected. One way we
decided we could find out what people wanted was by
delving into specific target audiences and understanding
that not everybody wants the same thing.

7. Maffesoli holds a theory that was very relevant in
this part of planning. Michel Maffesoli said,
“Urban tribes are micro groups of people who share
common interests in urban areas. The members of
these relatively small groups tend to have similar
worldviews, dress styles and behavioural patterns.
Their social interactions are largely informal and
emotionally laden”. Jess and myself decided to look
even close into these tribes; their music choices and
what they would want from a music video would
generally also be the same. The urban tribe that our
music video, digipak and magazine advert was
aimed at was RAH’s, townies and Indies. These
types of tribes seem to cross over a little and are not
as strict in the types of music they can listen to.

8. After using the kaleidoscope effect in our
digipaks and a cutaway shot that was also
present in our main production task we
decided to take shots from our production task
and change them. This enabled us to keep
consistency, however could add a twist to them.
For example, the picture that is stated on the
bottom left of the digipak was taken during a
filming session especially for the digipak. We
quartered the photo and colour corrected it
because it was taken in the studio with the aid
of many lights. We then decided to add
different effects to each of the section with the
aid of Magic Bullet and Instagram, this added
to the skill and variability of the shot. Even
though this particular shot and original photo
was not present in the music video, we thought
it would suit better to the digipak because it
coincides slightly with Laura Mulvey’s theory of
the ‘Male Gaze’.

9. In the pop genre the increased amount of close up shots, which are
slightly seductive are very common, especially with artists such as
Rihanna and Beyonce. Jess and myself wanted to follow through
with this idea because this is the most common style for a digipak
and also magazine advert. Artists generally in the highly established
pop genre go for the close up and seductive pose, this entices the
readers in and also subconsciously will conjure the readers to
remember their faces. Consequently we went for a sophisticated
pose, which related to the main task, this makes sure that the artist
is represented in the same way as the main production. The artist
needs to be represented in a similar way otherwise there will be no
consistency, therefore the audience may get confused with the
ideologies of the artist.

10. The magazine advert has a solid purpose for advertising the
artist to their target audiences, therefore the layout and
criteria needs to be fulfilled. We made sure the photo was
the main eye attraction to entice the audience. The Artists
name ‘Lorde’ is also a predominant feature on the
magazine advert and digipak. We made the font a lot
bigger than the rest of the text to make it stand out
increasingly more than the rest of the text. We kept the
style of font the same to keep consistency but did change
some sizes and colours to add to variation.