3. DESIGN
In order to create synergy between all three products, I focused my attention on the particular
aesthetics in the design of the ancillary products. The music video contains powerful images
involving paint and I wanted to incorporate this into the design of the digipak and poster by
using colourful fonts and striking stills from the music video itself.
The paint on the main characters hands is a reoccurring shot used across all three and is the
main image used on the cover of each ancillary. This is a good focus to build around each
product as it clearly depicts the visual theme of the music video.
Font is another aspect I focused on in the design of each ancillary, as the poster title has blue
and pink blended together and the track numbers are coloured opposite to their background
(for example, if the background is blue the font is pink). This ties in colour associations with
each product and further accentuates the importance of the pink and blue in the video.
The visuals across the music video and ancillaries are heavily reliant on colour with contrasting
lighting. I applied stills that were shot in low-key lighting to create a dramatic style to the
design overall, as I felt the spotlight accentuated the bright colours and threw the character
into darkness which appears theatrical.
4. LAYOUT-DIGIPAK The black and white edited
pictures that would be on the
inside left and right of the disk
fixture highlight the
significance of the blue and
pink paint within the piece. The
monochromatic lighting also
links to the chiaroscuro
lighting in the performance
elements of the music video,
creating synergy.
This image works really well with
the aesthetics of the digipak, as all
the images have dramatic lighting
with the use of paint on the skin.
This particular image of the half-
face of the main character links
with the cover image of both the
digipak and poster as it casts deep
shadows on the character’s face
and only shows part of the body;
this suggests that the character
feels incomplete about his gender
identification.
Still images such as this are taken directly from the
music video. This image is arguably the most
prominent as it marks when the two genders properly
combine and suggest unity and peace with oneself.
This also creates balance of the genders on the
digipak, linking in that idea of gender conflicts.
For the back of the digipak, I decided to use a slightly different image in the
background. This is used at the opening of the music video and therefore brings
back strong memories of the start of the video for the audience. This created an
effective canvas for the track listings and also allowed me to play around with the
colour for the numbers. This creates synergy with the poster as I also merged
colours with the text in the title.
Similarly to the poster, I presented the artist name and the
album/single title in the same font and order on the page; with
the artist name on top followed by the album name. The
difference between this and the poster is that the digipak
promotes the album, not just the single so I made the font in
white as it stands out against the background and doesn’t
make the front cover look too busy with colour.
5. LAYOUT- POSTER
The title page for the poster has
blended colours of pink and blue in
the font to link directly with the theme
that’s shown through all three
products. The merging of colour is
balanced with pink to blue on the top,
and blue to pink on the bottom. This
subtly links with the digipak as the disk
fixture includes an image of the female
and male character together to also
create the impression of gender
balance and peace.
The image used for the background
directly links all three products
together as it is also the cover image
for the digipak and is a different angle
of a shot used within the music video.
The dark lighting around the
character’s face creates mystery and
also draws the audience’s attention
directly to the hands. The emphasis on
certain body parts and the covering of
others suggests a sense of confusion
and how the main character feels
incomplete. This can also be
interpreted from the digipak with the
use of half-face images.
6. CONSTRUCTION OF
REPRESENTATION
As mentioned previously, the paint is the most prominent aspect
that’s featured across all three products. Arguably, the paint is the
most recognisable aspect of the mise-en-scene and clearly represents
gender associations.
The pink paint represents feminine aspects of the main character; the
desire to be a woman. Whereas, the blue paint represents the
masculine aspects of the character and is the more dominant colour
when mixing to show how society are fixed in believing that men
should be men and nothing else.
Also, the use of body parts and paint are prevalent across all three
products. Hands and the face are the main bodily features as they are
very personal parts of the body. The face is what people notice first
about an individual and represents all that you are to the outside
world. Whereas hands contain finger prints which is your genetic
identity, just like your sex. However, when the paint is spread across
the hands it’s showing an individual’s personal gender identity, which
cannot be defined by just male or female but maybe aspects of both.
These images are heavily used across all three products to reinforce
the message of the video and project the theme of transgenderism.
8. Visually, I incorporated a lot of bold colour across my products as I felt this was a prominent
feature of my music video. The use of pink and blue, but also the bright and unexpected
colours in the clown makeup and the stark black of the military war paint convey powerful
emotion in association; the clown makeup portrays embarrassment whereas the war paint
connotes bravery. I wanted to use this aspect across all three products and mostly focused on
the blue and pink colours.
The digipak includes all the most prominent colours in the mise-en-scene of the music video;
bright binks and electric blues with contrasting black and white lighting. The edited images in
particular draw reference to this and the images are all taken in the performing arts location
and therefore have dramatic lighting.
Moreover, the poster also includes the contrasting lighting with shadows and bright colours.
The purpose of this is to heighten the representative elements of the paint but also the visual
link between the products.
9. CONCLUSION
To conclude, I believe that clear synergy is created across my ancillaries and
main product. Due to our strong visualities, it was really easy to apply the
style, colours and themes across all three products in the form of repeated
shots and lighting. I think they are really successful in portraying the theme
and message of our main piece and produces a visually stunning, dramatic
and graceful representation of the issues surrounding transgenderism.
Personally, I’m really happy with the outcome of all three but if I were to
improve on elements I would look for a better, more professional way of
formatting the font on the poster title page. I think this would make the
product more convincing and professional looking. I think the digipak and
poster both met the desired conventions as they are recognisable products
and do their purpose in promoting the single and the artist.
