1. Evaluation question 2.
How effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary texts?
By Kareem Lyew-sang
2. Introduction
The overall brand of our music video and digipack is the idea of having fun
and being quirky. We showed this in our Digipack with the pictures had on
each of the sides of the cover. The images are quite quirky and fun linking
with the identity of our band. You did this through the expressions we have
each of our band members and the way they are posed seems very care free.
We also wanted to keep the idea of our band being more focused on the
music rather than their image. We did this by including each band members
instrument in the image included on each of the sides of the digipack. The
concept of our digipack and video was the idea of remedy which decided to
show this through the chemical bottles we included in each side and the
colour explosion in the back giving the idea each member has found there
remedy. We also did this on the magazine advert by having the hand with the
bottle with a colour explosion composed of the three colours used in our
digipack.
3. Front cover
For the front cover of our digipack we had the lead singer of our band on the
front cover with a colour explosion in the back. We did this as it fits the
conventions of most album covers of having the artist on the front but also
challenges the conventions of indie rock album covers by having only one
member of the band on the front rather than the whole band as we chose to
have each member have there own side. Here we have stuck with idea of
showing our band members as fun and quirky as the image on the front is quite
different and obscure. We linked it with the music video as he is the lead singer
we took the mic that we used in the music video and had him holding it in the
image on the front cover also supporting the idea that the band is about the
music more than anything. We also decided to go with the colour red for the
colour explosion as in our music video our lead singer where’s red a lot in the
video and is a recurring colour in the video also seen on his guitar. We also linked
this back to our magazine advert with the chemical bottle and also the colour
red is one of the main colours in the explosion on the magazine advert. This
enables the audience to decode the concept of the album being remedy as
chemical bottles usually link with either science and making cures or magic and
the idea of potion. Our mentions a lot about spells so we thought it was
important to tease this aspect for the audience to find out. We used our
costumes to help create the band identity with the lab coat. The lab coat seems
quite random but it creates the idea of quirkiness and the idea of our band being
fun. We kept this lab coat throughout the whole digipack to solidify this idea.
5. Inside right
For the inside right of our digipack we had the drummer of our band standing
with a chemical bottle and drumsticks with a blue colour explosion in the back.
We did this to keep the theme of remedy and the brand identity of being fun and
quirky throughout the album cover. We had a different pose for our drummer so
that it didn’t feel too much like the same over and over again but same enough
to still keep the concept and band identity. Here we have shown our drummer as
a bit weird and strange linking again with the identity we have set up for our
band. We also chose the colour blue to link with our music video as it our
drummer where’s blue throughout our music video also the idea of blue being
another primary colour adds the idea of them all being a equal contribution to
the music which is something for the audience to try and decode. This colour is
also then used in our magazine advert as one of the colours in the colour
explosion in the background.This part of the digipack links with indie rock genre
as it is berry different and goes against what you see in most album covers which
is what indie is all about. Also with the use of the drumsticks it automatically
gives a direct link to indie rock specifically. The use of the obscure imagery and
the strange use colour gives of the sense that it’s not in the normal style of music
and falls into the more indie genre. We made sure to pay attention to M-E-S by
having our drummer where the same costume he is wearing in our music video
just to have that direct link.
6. Back cover
For our back cover we kept the same idea of a band member and a colour
explosion but with our guitarist. We also have in a different post than all
the others to yet again keep the cover from not feeling too much of the
same but keeping the main theme. Here we have represented our guitarist
as quite chill compared to the rest of the band members while still having
a little quirkiness with the lab coat and chemical bottle. We chose the
colour yellow as we wanted to stick with the idea of primary colours and
also contradicted a bit with the artist as it was brightest colour being
linked with the most chill looking person going against normal conventions
this also enables the audience to decode a possible deeper meaning to the
contradictory choice. We have represented the music genre again with the
use of the guitar in the picture making it clear to the audience that this is
a band and the weirdness of the colour explosion and the costume gives of
the idea that it is more of an indie band rather than a normal rock band.
We used a mid shot so that you can see what our band member is all about
and that he is not hiding any secrets instead he seems very open relaxed
linking with the idea of being fun and chill which is something we have
tried to echo throughout our products. We have also made to link with the
music video one with the instrument and the clothing he is wearing being a
direct link. Also his pose being more relaxed links with how he act in the
video with a more relaxed expression and less forced.
7. Magazine Advert
For our magazine advert we kept the theme of remedy our album concept with
the idea of the chemical bottle being on the front with the colour explosion on
the front. We made the sure the magazine ad linked back to our digipack with
colour explosion being a combination of all three of the colours being used for
each band member. This also gives of the idea of band unity which is a idea that
we left for audiences to decode from our advert. Here we have continued to
show our band and quirk and fun with bright colours and energy added with the
colour explosion. Our magazine advert goes against normal conventions not
having any of our band members faces on the advert. This links it back to the
idea of them being a indie band which goes against the norms of normal music.
This links with our music video as we have many obscure moments in our music
videos also for example the section with our main singer being inside a game this
quirkiness is something we constantly try to portray throughout all our products.
We used the close up of the bottle and the hand to put emphasis on the concept
of the album being Remedy as it forces you to focus on this aspect
specifically.This ancillary product is very effective as it does a good job of
showing our album concept and our brand identity in a simple and not too
obvious way.
8. Conclusion
Overall, the combination was very effective because we manage portray our
album concept of remedy throughout the all our products. We where also able
to effectively show our brand identity throughout all our products as well
while also making it interesting for our audience and leaving things for the
audience to decode and find out for themselves. We could have made some
our links more obvious in our music video as it is quite clear with our
magazine advert and digipack to some the link might be harder to see with
our music video.
