Evaluation Question 2 for A2 Coursework OCR Media Studies

1. Evaluation Question 2: How
effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary texts?

2. Effective combination of the three products
As part of this A2 project I created a music video for an already existing
song, as well as designing the digipak for a CD and a magazine poster. As
well as the use of social media, these products are the main methods of
promoting in the music industry. The ultimate purpose of all three is to
promote the song/album and the artist, so I knew that this was my main
aim when producing my main product and ancillary texts. In order to
make the combination of these three products as effective as possible,
they must have a theme that runs throughout to make it very
memorable and promote the artist by making it unique. Keeping
consistent with fonts, colours and mise-en-scene connotes
professionalism, purpose and stability and this can be heavily linked to
Goodwin's theory of recurring motifs. A particular image is achieve
when an artist begins to create a brand theme for themselves, which
becomes widely recognised and associated with that artist, resulting in
marketing success.

3. Music videos
The entire purpose of a music video is to promote the song by providing visuals for the audio,
and they have been extremely successful in doing this with the increased use of YouTube in the
past decade. For example, Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda video broke Vevo’s record for the most views
in 24 hours with 19.6 million views in its first day of release, showing how popular music videos
can be, which is arguably because of the actions and nudity of the females in the video.
However, other music videos are popular because they have meaning, such as Beyonce’s latest
song ‘Formation’, along with a video that matches the audio to create a product that promotes
the black culture. Matching the visuals with the song is the most effective way to promote, so
that the visuals are more memorable as a result of connecting with what we’re hearing.
Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda
Beyonce’s Formation

4. Matching the video with the song
The title of the song I have used is called The Hop and the lyrics are about
dancing or doing 'the hop', "You got to do the hop, you move to the beat
you don't stop", which is why I included dancing throughout my video.
Also, I drew a hopscotch grid to make the video more fun and this is also
seen on the cover of my digipak to maintain the 'hop' theme.
The use of editing to the beat also helped to link the two, especially at the
beginning where all of the beats are matched, but also throughout the
video the actions of the movements were set to hit all the beats of the
music.
Music video footage
Digipak front cover

5. Matching the video with the song
There are also some actions that have a direct link to the lyric
we hear:
Also, whilst hearing the OJ Simpson reference, we see the
dancer perform a stabbing action.
'You see you' while we see the performer point to the camera.
This helps to include the audience and keep their attention as
the 'you' seems to directly address them.
The vinyl disc also shows when we hear the sound of a vinyl
scratching.

6. Establishing a theme throughout
Using synergy to have three different mediums promoting the song makes the combined
promotion much more effective than the individual mediums, so I designed my digipak and
magazine poster with the visuals of my music video in mind, in order to match all three. The
continuity between the three is important to establish a recognisable and unique brand
style, which explains why I chose to include screenshots from the footage in my actual music
video. This included screenshots of the individual artists as well as a screenshot of two
dancers in motion for the back cover.

7. Establishing a theme throughout
For the CD disc holder, I used a photo of the brick wall that the artists are often seen dancing in front of in
the video, to maintain the urban theme throughout. This theme is common in the hip-hop scene, so it will
be familiar to my target audience and is likely to be appealing if they have an interest in the genre, which
results in a social inclusion. I also used the same brick wall background for my magazine advert to evoke
the same style. I thought about using my album cover in my magazine advert, like A Tribe Called Quest's
magazine advert, however I ended up choosing a style more similar to the Arctic Monkeys' magazine advert
as it is more simple, which I think is more effective. Also, if/when people buy the album, they will be able to
establish the link between the bricks on the CD holder and magazine cover which creates a sense of
exclusivity for the fans.
CD disc holder
Magazine advert

8. Establishing a theme throughout
During filming, I also took pictures of the dancers with my digipak in
mind, and ended up creating my front cover from one of these. This
means I have established the identity of the group members, and also
that the mise-en-scene such as location, lighting and costumes in my
digipak is the same as that in my music video, making the theme more
memorable. It addition, it helped me link the colour theme throughout
to evoke the same atmosphere throughout each product.

9. Brand/artist name
I made the brand name and logo 'DO NOTHING CLUB' which I included in the digipak and
magazine advert, as well as in my music video where it features on the vinyl disc. This brand
consistency makes the logo recognisable for the audience despite each form of marketing
being a product of a different media platform.
Music video
Magazine poster
Digipak

10. Originality
Although I used the logo many times throughout, I used either white or red
font to keep the theme a bit less predictable and ultimately more interesting
for the audience. I also didn’t use the same shots more than once throughout
the ancillary texts, so that the audience sees something relevant but different
every time. These techniques will make the audience want to see the other
products by the brand because they will always be original.
White logo

11. Linking the ancillary texts
Throughout the ancillary texts, I embedded white borders to create a
motif to link the two. It also links with the video as it is set in a car park,
where the borders in my ancillary texts mimic the white markings to
show the parking spaces. I made the borders slightly transparent as they
looked too bright and unrealistic on 0% transparency. The borders
haven't been included on the front of back covers of my album, as both
already included the real white markings which are seen in the video
and having both looked unprofessional. It also helps me to maintain the
exclusivity factor, as the borders are only seen on the inside of the
digipak which means that only those who buy the album are enabled to
link the border theme with the magazine advert. I also used the same
fonts throughout my ancillary texts to keep the promotion recognisable
to the audience, so that it comes to mind when they think about which
album/song to buy/download. I used white text to help the text stand
out especially from that in magazines which are mostly written in black.

12. Examples of the same fonts
Examples of white borders
I also used the same white
line to outine the disc.

13. Social Media Reference
In small print on the digipak back cover, CD disc and magazine poster, I
included the website of the artist so that fans are able to find out more
about the advertised product via the web, which is another example of
synergy in this marketing campaign.