2. Our main problem
One of the main problems we had with our coursework is
that the three products barely related to each other in the
first drafts that we created. We spent a lot of time getting
and analysing audience feedback about those products and
were then able to create what is, in my opinion, quite a
strong promotional package.
3. Initial Ideas
When we began designing our promotional package
we first analysed the lyrics of the song we would be
creating them for (‘you think I ain’t worth a dollar, but
I feel like a millionaire’ by Queens of the Stone Age).
The reason for doing this is that Andrew Goodwin
theorised that there should always be a relationship
between the lyrics of the song and the visuals of a
product. So, we decided to base the music video off of
the lyric ‘b-movie, gimme some gore’ and relate to a
b-movie theme. However, we decided to design our
ancillary products (digipak and website) around the
lyric ‘gimme toro, gimme some more’ by focusing it
around the silhouette of a bull. Unfortunately, at the
time we did not realise that this had, right off the bat,
severely diminished the brand identity that our
products had.
4. The narrative of the video (draft)
The reason for making the main narrative of the
video extremely wacky is because we had found
that this was the sort of thing our target audience
liked; this is very well demonstrated by the music
video for’ Arguing Thermometers’ by Enter
Shikari. We also knew that our audience would
find the introduction effective because Green Day
had used the same method in the video for
‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ which is a very
popular video in the rock genre of music. Using
the life of a mundane business man as the
narrative for the introduction effective because it
was something that a majority of our target
audience could relate to, feeling lonely.
5. The performance section (draft)
We also put a lot of effort into making sure that
our audience would like the performance section
of the video. We chose the wooded location at
night because it gave off a sense of menace and
craziness which related well to the rock genre of
music, balancing out the slightly wackier
narrative. We used a lot of close up shots of the
band and their instruments because, as
theorised by Andrew Goodwin, we knew that the
record label and target audience would want a
lot of focus on the artists. Another way we made
the music video match the genre is through
mise-en-scene; we used dark clothing and
instruments (props) that are used a lot by
professional rock artists so we knew they would
be recognised as coming from our genre.
6. Why was it so bad?
NO LINKS!
Even though we felt that our music
video was quite a strong product
when we handed it in as a draft, we
found out that as a whole
promotional package it wasn’t very
good. The reason for this is because
there were barely any connections
from the music video to the digipak
apart from the images of the band
members inside the booklet and the
fact that the ‘bull’ image matched the
lyrics of the song. The same could be
said for the website; it looked very
unprofessional and did not have any
images of the band on the front cover
unlike Green Day’s website that has a
lot of images in the news section.
7. The upside to the draft
However, the ancillary products did link
between themselves even though they didn’t
relate to the music video. The typeface was
consistent as it was used for most of the text on
the digipak and for any headings on the
website. The bull image also created a small
amount of brand identity between the ancillary
products as we did not change its design.
Finally, the colour scheme was kept consistent
across the two products so they looked quite
similar; the use of red, white and black also
ensured that it was clear to our target audience
that our products were from the rock genre of
music.
8. Audience feedback on the draft
After getting our terrible promotional
package back we decided to get a lot
of audience feedback. This feedback
really helped improve how effective
our three products were as a
promotional package. We completely
changed the design of the digipak
and website to follow the b-movie
theme as it would create a strong link
between them and the video,
allowing the audience to identify that
all three products are related.
9. Changes to the video
We decided not to make a drastic amount of changes to the video
because it was the basis of all our brand identity in our new ancillary
product designs. We did film a lot more close up shots of the band
members and their instruments to conform to Andrew Goodwin’s
theory that the record label and target audience members want a lot
of focus on the band members; the record labels want this because it
means that they will sell a lot more products however, the target
audience want a music video to follow this theory so that they can see
a lot more of the band and how the music is made. When we refilmed some of the performance we tried to make sure that all the
mise-en-scene was similar to when we filmed in Horsell common. We
made sure that each band member was wearing the same costume
(black to relate to the rock genre) and that they were using the same
instruments; unfortunately Jacob could not use the same drum kit
which, if the target audience noticed, would very slightly damage the
brand identity. Regrettably, the location we used for the second
performance (it was too difficult to get back to Horsell common) was
not as genre specific as the previous performance which made it feel a
little bit out of place but the fact that it allowed us to better show the
artist made up for it.
10. The Digipak front panel
We found that the ancillary products were what
actually made a good music video into a successful
promotional package. The main reason for this is that
both products related a lot more this time round than
they did before. In the new design the digipak very
evidently displayed the b-movie theme which gave it
a very big and obvious link to the music video.
Another link was created when we made the main
image on the front panel of the digipak a photograph
of all 4 band members wearing costumes they wore in
the music video. Having the band members on the
front cover is not a common convention in the rock
genre of music, as shown by the digipak for ‘Eva
Vulgaris’ by Queens of the Stone Age and ‘the Great
disruptors’ by Sweethead. However, in our case we
chose to have the band members on the front panel
because it was very effective at creating brand
identity and a link to the music video that our
audience could easily identify; it also gave a direct
mode of address for the audience.
11. Digipak to Music Video
We included images of the artists practicing on
the inside of the lyric booklet because our target
audience really like to see how a band makes its
music. Also, it allowed us to show more of our
artist which would please the record label and
our audience. Having the lyrics in the inside
booklet also creates another, albeit small, link to
the music video. Another way that we created a
link between the digipak and music video was to
take screenshots of certain parts of the video
and put them on the back of the digipak as a
‘film strip’. We thought that this would make our
audience question what the images are from
and that they would then go and search for the
video.
12. Website to Music Video
We also made a lot of links from our
website to the music video to increase the
effectiveness of our products as a
promotional package. Most importantly, the
main theme of our website is, once again,
‘b-movie’. This creates a very clear link from
the website to the video that would be very
easy for our target audience to identify. We
made the main background image a
photograph of the four band members
wearing the same clothes as they are in the
music video and in the same area that the
performance section was filmed. The
reason for doing this was to create a miseen-scene link between the two products
which ensured that they would be easily
identifiable as coming from the rock genre.
13. Website slideshow
We embedded a slideshow at the top of the
website that shows images of the artists
wearing the same b-movie costumes that
they wore in the video which further
strengthens the brand identity that the bmovie theme creates. You can also scroll the
slideshow to show more images that
conform to the wacky, slightly dark nature of
the video and our target audience. We also
included a lot of social media links on the
website because it is the most likely place
that our audience members would go to
connect with the band.
14. The biggest link
By far the biggest link to the
music video that we included
in the website design was
embedding a very large
YouTube asset with said music
video linked to it. This allowed
the audience members
looking at the website to play
the video and realise just how
much it relates to the design
of the website.
15. Links between ancillary products
As well as the ancillary products linking to
the website, they also linked to each other
to create a good sense of brand identity
across the whole promotional package.
Once again, the slideshow shows the main
image that is used on the front panel of
the digipak. So, audience members who
have seen the digipak will be able to
recognise that the two products are linked,
and vice versa. We also changed the menu
design of the website to icons of props
from the b-movie references in the video
and the costumes worn in the digipak.
16. Typeface and language
We made sure that the typeface
(deathrattleBB) we used was the exactly
the same across all of the products to
create a really obvious link that our target
audience could identify; we made sure it
was a very crazy, cracked typeface to fit
with the rock genre of music. The
language used on the website and digipak
is written in a very informal/ wacky way
so that it relates to the video which shows
the audience that the band members are
very informal people that don’t take
things too seriously.
17. QR code & colour scheme
The QR code used on the back of the
digipak links directly to the website which
means that all a member of our target
audience needs to do is scan it with their
phone and they will be taken directly to the
homepage of the website. We have done
the same sort of thing on the website, we
have included an image of the digipak front
panel which, when clicked, would take the
user straight to a page where they could
buy the new album. Finally, the colour
scheme used across the ancillary products
is Black, White, Yellow and Red so that just
by glancing at them you can tell that they
belong to the rock genre of music.
18. Conclusion
In conclusion I think that the combination of our main product
and ancillary texts is very effective. This is because there is a
clear sense of brand identity across all three products and each
one clearly represents who ‘Kings of Khan’ are as a band. We
could have made it even more effective by creating some more
links such as; showing the tour dates are only for touring the
new album (our digipak), including the website URL and YouTube
channel URL on the back of the digipak, make the band members
wear the b-movie costumes in the performance section and
make the music video look a bit more like a b-movie by using a
burn filter.
19. Below is a ‘Powtoon’
animation to summarise
how our products link
