The document discusses the effectiveness of combining a main product (a music video) with ancillary texts (an album digipak and magazine advert). It finds that clear correlations between the design elements of the products helps give them a coherent identity. Stylistic elements like fonts, colors, images, and clothing seen in the video and magazine advert directly parallel those on the digipak, creating visual triggers to link the products together in the audience's memory and represent the artist's brand. Subtle links like crossed arms and lyrics further reinforce the connections between the products and build recognition of the artist's identity.

1. Q2: How effective is the
combination of your main product
and ancillary texts?

2. My 3 products are made up of my main product, my
video and the ancillary products which is my album
digipak and magazine advert. Clear correlations had
to be shown with all of my products. This helps give
them an identity and therefore gives it a
professional presence making the audience
appreciate the products as one more. This makes
sense as if someone only saw the magazine advert
then they would know what to look for in the
album because of the design stylistically, the
colours, the font and the images will spark the
audiences memory for when they see that album in
the future.

3. Main product- Video
My music video was for the song ‘Business’ by
Catfish and The Bottlemen. This belonging to the
indie genre with the codes and conventions that
make the video up; I decided to follow the
majority of these with challenging some to add
variety. With this my video mostly consisted of
performance shots blended with a realistic and
relatable narrative, the mise en scene follows this
costumes, props and locations also being realistic
to match.

4. Ancillary Texts- Digipak
My digipak also has huge resemblances to real life examples
digipak’s from the indie genre. This is because it looks the best, I
decided to stay with the realistic and relatable clothing as this
parallels the video. Clear link like mentioned before is necessary
to establish an identity for the album. The main theme of the
digipak is black and white, this can be interpreted as how all the
lyrics in the video link to the simplest of things in life like love in
business in particular.

5. Ancillary Texts- Magazine Advert
This magazine advert is made to
promote the album ‘The Filthy Rebirth’
by Catfish and The Bottlemen. Similar to
real life examples the magazine heavily
resembles how the digipak looks, this is
good because its promoting it and if it
looked completely different then the
magazine then it would be false
promotion. This also directly links to the
indie genre and more importantly my
other product, my video. Once again this
is important because I wanted to ensure
that my digipak and video have an
identity, one that the audience is able to
recognise easily and remain in there
memory.

6. Links
There is a multitude of obvious and more discrete links across my main
product and the two ancillary products. The main theme goes through
all three product. Firstly the more obvious ones such as the artist, who
is present in all 3 of the products, this makes sense as he is the only
performer so this is the best way represent and sell the artist to the
audience, to show what he looks like with a whole range of emotions,
shown on the digipak with a photo of Caden being on every section
except the disk. This directly links to how Caden is in the video
expressing several emotions throughout the song. For example when
the lyrics are more meaningful and slower Cadens facial expression is
representative of sadder emotions. Caden also represents throughout
all 3 products how relatable the song and lyrics are, Cadens clothing is
casual and appeals directly to the target audience as something that
they would wear which makes them interested in all 3 products.

7. Another obvious link across my digipak and magazine
advert is the font used for the text and the colours used on
both; as both my digipak and magazine advert uses the
black background with the white text to contrast showing a
clear link between both. Also the text only appears in the
form of the album title and artists name on front of the
digipak. The extra information on the magazine advert
looks very similar and blends well as the font is the same.
Another point is that Caden’s clothing in the digipak and
magazine advert directly parallel what the characters are
wearing in the music video which directly links the two. The
casual wear can not only be seen on Caden within the video
but on other characters like Niall and Lucy during the
narrative element of the video.

8. Other more subtle links include how the artists’ arms are crossed within the digipak
and the magazine advert, coupled with the line “I wanna make it my business” from
my song is symbolic of the artists’ seriousness in the matter and narrative element of
my music video.
All of this together helps build an identity for the brand as they all work of each other,
the video is for the single supporting the album/digipak then the magazine advert is
promote the album and single. If these didn’t have direct links that even the audience
couldn’t make reference to then it wouldn’t work. For example if the magazine advert
looked completely different from the digipak and an audience member only saw the
magazine advert, they wouldn’t have a visual trigger of the memory for future
reference when coming across the album. Because all of mine are black and white
then the audience will know what to look out for, creating an identity for the products.
The way the digipak and magazine advert is designed also helps the band build its own
identity. For example, the aesthetic throughout both consists of a bold black and
white, the font of both the band and artist. This helps when reading about the band, if
the logo comes up it will be in that font, keeping an identity. Everything about the
model and the special effects also help develop a brand identity. The outline of the
artist, which is featured on every section of the digipak and magazine advert, is a
feature that is unique to this album. When the audience think about this album they
will think back to this unique trait. These features make the brand be recognisable for
all audiences in future encounters.