Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts?

We were aware of the fact that once our music video had been completed, we would have to produce both a digipak and a magazine advert to accompany our videos as a promotional package in order to promote the band and their music.
I felt that it was vital to ensure that the music video was relatable to the print productions. They needed to include the same aspects of mis-en-scen and as a result, highlight the same themes, motifs and representations. This would enable an audience to recognise the package after seeing the video and vice versa.
Due to the thorough research and planning into the construction of our music videos, it was easy for us to determine what the conventional aspects were that we either used, developed or challenged although it was putting this across to the print productions which was the difficult task at hand. It was no longer a video we were working with but instead several still images that need to contain every inch of detail possible in order to connote the themes necessary.

Panel 1

Panel 1

One aspect of my front panel that I would argue relates to my music video would be the performers that are central to the photography. I wanted to use this panel as a way of publicising the band and allowing them to become more recognisable to the public. The front panel is after all, the only thing seen at first glimpse when on a cd rack in a shop. I have also one this to an extent in my video with numerous shots of the lead singer. This allows him to gain publicity and become a recognisable face as a result.

I have used a city based location on my front cover in order to relate to the roots of the genre at hand. I wanted to allow my target audience to understand the conventional features used and what better way than to use a location at the centre of the genre. The brick wall in the background is not obvious to see from a far, however I hoped that the darkness would intrigue viewers and at a closer look the convention could be established. I also included several shots of the city in my video in order to use this convention throughout my video. This link between video and ancillary text is small and not obvious although it proves of high importance.

Panel 2 and 3

Panel 2 and 3

Because the vast majority of my music video was set on a beach, I felt it a necessity to include this aspect of location into my digipak panels. Cromer beach plays a huge role in my video and almost acts as another character. The characteristics of both the sea and the land bring the location, in which my music video was set, to life and add a whole other dimension to the video. 

The ocean reflects the theme of love in my music video; the constant movement of the waves and the waves crashing onto the shore reflect the emotional turmoil that one goes through with the constraints of love and the neglect and trauma they can feel from its consequences. Although not centred in the photography, I wanted to make sure that the ocean was present in my digipaks. It would also be noticeable, recognisable and relatable to my video for its audience because of the fact I have challenged locational conventions with basing my video on a beach. My video differs from the majority and so it is likely that people would make the link between video and print production here.

I intended to capture as much of the beach as I possibly could in the photography. I used both panel 2 and 3 for the same picture in order to capture a wide, panoramic effect for the photograph and as a result, achieve a photograph that has a lot of the location within it. There are various shots in my music video in which I feel I have captured an entire landscape rather than individual aspects of the seaside e.g. the ocean. I have used this technique in both my video and my print productions in order for the audience to grasp a real understanding of location and the way in which I have challenged the conventions surrounding this aspect.

The effect given to the photograph I feel gives it a somewhat surreal effect. The colours, although realistic, are not natural and I would say help to connote the mystical adventure of love. I wanted my audience to feel happy by the end of my video rather than upset about the constraints of love and in order to do this I tried to use bright colours in my video also that help to signify happiness. The pinks, blues and yellows seen in the screenshot taken from my video here, are all colours that stereotypically have positive connotations. By using these colours to symbolise happiness I feel that I have created a recurring motif of this happiness that can result from love - in both my video and my artwork.

Panel 4

Panel 4

I wanted to include city based locations into my print productions as these are a conventional feature of my chosen genre. The style of music I chose was born in the city and I wanted to address this. In my music videos, the only city based shots that occur are during flashbacks. I wanted to use my artwork as though the stills captured are flashbacks and in order to do this I had to directly associate with the techniques that were used in my video to signify that a flashback was taking place. I used a blurred image in my video which I felt represented the disorientation that can be experienced if a flashback occurs. I blurred the scenic parts of the photo for this panel to again represent disorientation just like in my video.



For the majority of the music video, when he is in the shot, the lead singer is walking towards the camera - I did this in order to symbolise the fact that he is walking into his troubles that love has presented him with. In the last shot however, I contrasted this with a shot where he is walking away from the camera. This is the only time in the video that he does this and I used this as my end shot in order to create hope amongst the audience so that they are aware that it is possible to overcome the constraints of love and walk away from the troubles that it presents. I replicated this kind of shot in the back cover

Magazine Advert

Magazine Advert

I feel that there are lots of juxtaposing images in my video. A juxtaposition is the placement of two things together that contrast with one another. For example, if a halo was placed above the devil's head it would be juxtaposing. For me, the inspiration for this technique came from a shot in the film 'Edward Scissorhands'. I tried to echo this exact shot with the colours used. I wanted the grey of the sky that covers the Norfolk coast to completely juxtapose the bright colours that surround the beach. I feel I successfully achieved this and the shots seemed to look very powerful when played back. Due to the success of these shots in the video I wanted to use something similar in my artwork. My magazine advert was the perfect component for this as I had a large canvas to work with. I filled the majority of the advert with grey sky and injected colour to truly juxtapose the advert. The red-ish colours contrast with the dull grey sky and I feel achieve the exact image I intended to produce.

Shot from Edward Scissorhands

Similar shot used in my music video

Similar techniques used in my magazine advert

I considered a term called 'pathetic fallacy' when constructing my music video. This is where the weather of the mis-en-scene reflects the mood of the video as a whole. Throughout different times in my video there are different weather conditions - this is not coincidence but rather it is a purposely constructed technique in order to display the mood of the main character in my video.

Going through the video chronologically looking at individual shots it is easier to see what I mean:

Here the weather is extremely dull and forebodes a negative feel throughout the rest of the video.

When circling the boys character the sky looks dull in order to surround him with connotations of sadness.

The girl's characterisation here contains a brighter sky which suggests she is happier at this time.

The boy here is again subject to bad weather in the mis-en-scene.

The sky is again very dull and cloudy which suggests even further his misery.

Here, as the boy walks away from his troubles, the sky seems much clearer and brighter suggesting he is happy now.

Colour of the sky in my magazine advert.

I wanted to use this technique of pathetic fallacy in my magazine advert also. I achieved this by adapting the colouring of the sky in the photograph to make it appear very grey and dingy. It is perhaps contradictory that I have ended my music video in a happy way yet I am suggesting misery in my promotional packages, however, I feel that this helps to display the ups and downs of love which proves a key theme in my video.

Which magazine would publish your advert and why?

I would name the magazine most likely to publish my advert as NME. They regularly include articles in their magazine regarding new bands and they like to publicise these just as much as the well know, already successful artists. I feel that the music genre of which my project has surrounded is one often included in NME magazine. After visiting their website and viewing various articles I saw that their feature articles regard artists I have previously recognised as similar to my own and they even have a tab at the top of their page labelled 'new music'. I believe that my advert would be perfectly suitable for this magazine.