1. {
How effective is the
combination of your main
and ancillary tasks?
Jordan Ronan

2.  As part of a group I created a full length music
video for a song called Never (which I wrote
myself). The song encompasses a range of genres,
starting as a pop-type ballad with the use of
synthesisers and gradually moving into a heavy
rock song with the use of distorted guitars and fast
drum beats. The video itself follows a narrative
which is laid out by the lyrics of the song; the overall
theme is fantasy Vs. reality which is why we
decided to make both the video and the song in a
postmodern style with the emphasis being on
blurring reality in the video and blurring genres in
the song.
Main Product

3.  To create the digipak for the album on which “Never” would feature we had
to research digipaks by bands of a similar genre to use as style models and to
see how they were generally laid out. Having been influenced by two bands
in particular when writing the song I decided it would be a good idea to use
their albums as style models, these bands were Billy Talent and Rise Against.
This gave us a clear idea of how our digipak should look and we decided
that we should make a 4-panel digipak (front, back and two inside panels).
 We found out from our research that in most cases the cover featured one
main piece of artwork, the band name and the name of the album. In the
case of the Billy Talent album we looked at, a picture of the band was
incorporated into the artwork by using a silhouette effect, we felt this feature
would work well with our theme of blurring reality as it leaves an element of
mystery as to the identity of the band.
 We entitled the album flashbacks as it links in with the video which contains
several scenes of memories although it is not made clear whether these
memories are real or just imagined. To further link the cover to the video the
artwork was designed to look like the fade to white transition we used
throughout the video to signal a memory, we did this by starting with a
black background and creating a white swirl which stems from the middle of
the cover gradually becoming darker as it gets to the edge of the cover.
Digipak

4.  When creating the advert I needed to find not only
appropriate style models on which to base it but also a
magazine which promotes music of a similar style.
Since all of the influences I had used throughout the
creation of the video and digipak (Slipknot, 30stm,
Billy Talent and Rise Against) had featured in Kerrang
magazine I decided this would be the best magazine
for my advert. I therefore used examples of adverts in
Kerrang as inspiration and guidance for my own
advert. To link it to the video and the digipak I used a
similar style to the digipak as well as the same colour
scheme and I also used the same font featured in both
the video and the digipak. The song ‘Never’ is
promoted on the advert as it is on the front of the
digipak and it is the same song featured in the video.
Advert

5.  Having created and/or helped to create all
three products I think that the music video is
the strongest product because it tells the story
of the song through the use of lyrics and music
as well as advertising the album whereas the
poster and digipak only promote the album
and the song; they don’t have a message to get
across other than promotion.
Strongest Product

6.  The function of the music video was to tell the story
of the fine line between fantasy and reality by using
‘memories’ and ‘flashbacks’ which may or may not
be real. It was designed to have a thought-provoking
effect on the viewer with them being able to decide
for themselves what they thought had happened
and what they thought the message behind it was. A
secondary function of the video was to promote the
album with the song in the video being the main
single from the album. A short preview of the album
cover is shown at the end of the video to make a
clear link.
Functions – Main Product

7.  The digipak I created was designed to be
focused more on the band than the song
featured in the video itself however it still acts
as a promotion of the song. The digipak also
shows the other songs featured on the album as
well as what the band members look like –
something which does not appear in the video.
The digipak also contains a website for the
band on the back cover.
Functions- Digipak

8.  The advert was created to promote both the
video and the album and acted as a link
between the two products. It features the
release date of the album and also informs the
audience that the single is out now. A
secondary function of the advert is to promote
the band by including a website and details of
an up and coming UK tour.
Functions- Advert

9.  Although I challenged many conventions of normal
rock/metal songs in the song I wrote I did make sure
that overall it was still recognisable as a rock or
metal song. I also helped to make sure the video was
similar to those of the same genre.
 I achieved this in the music by including heavily
distorted guitars, rock style vocals and fast paced
drumbeats. Often in the rock genre the lyrics help to
tell the story in the video rather than relying on
dialogue and this was a feature I made sure was
included in the main task.
Genre