Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts - Draft
During my research into magazine ads I had found the
following products, music videos, Digipak and Magazine ad all bare a sense of
synergy between them thus in turn promoting each other. I found this when
analysing the magazine ad to Mumford and Son's Sigh No More, In which I had
found that all products under the Sigh No More umbrella featured a similar art
style which was probably inherited and originated from the music video's attached
to Sigh No More as well as the artists commercial image. In the example of Sigh
No More, a vintage theme was chosen among all three products to convey the group's
Folk genre style visually. Said Vintage look can be seen in the music video to
"little lion man" which featured a greenish brown filter to convey a
vintage film look to the video and the print productions supporting it with the
magazine ad designed in a graphical style reminiscent to 19th century graphic
design. The album art for the cover also
continues this classical them featuring the Band furniture store which sells
19th century French furniture thus alluding to this vintage folk image.
As a result of this research I during the production of my
ancillary texts I had to take in account how I could possibly carry on thematic
elements of my music video to make sure all 3 products have strong synergistic
qualities. This should in turn result in my magazine ad promoting my Digipak
and my music video promoting my Digipak, which in turn would promote my chosen
artist.
During the planning of my Digipak and print ads, I touched
on and broken down elements that were prominent during my music video. These
were as follows:
·
An eccentric theme/Random
·
Computerised themes/ tech themes around a virus
·
Frank Sinatra as a visual motif
·
Colourful and glitchy aesthetic
·
Robots and so called "infected"
With this in mind, I now had to illustrate visually these
themes within my products to achieve a strong sense of continuity within my
products. Moreover, I needed to think about also conforming to Electronic music
genre print genre conventions to not only communicate my artists particular
brand and style but communicate to audiences that my artists chosen genre is in
fact belonging to a similar genre.
An eccentric/ theme based around the "random - Music
Video
During the planning stage of my music video I decided early
on to explore a theme based around the strange and weird due to the audio
samples featured in the track and there strange comic value i.e. questioning
how much orange is there in a dead body. In my music video, this sense of the
random and weird was represented visually through heavy use of various props
which intentionally had no real relation to each other such as bread and an
image of Frank Sinatra or toy soldiers and orange juice. In addition this theme
of the "random" was illustrated by the strange costumes worn by the
infected characters i.e the heavy use of confetti, tin foil and cheap masks.
Digipak and print ad
For my ancillary tasks, I chose to embrace this sense of the
random both depicted in track and music video in order to solidify synergy
between products but also present my artist as fun and whimsical due to my
reaction to the artists somewhat strange choice of Alan partridge audio samples
within his track. In both print productions to some extent this sense of the
random and weird was represented in a similar style of my music video by
pairing visual elements that have no relation to each other commonly. On my
Digipak cover this was illustrated by composing a scene consisting of
objects such as toy soldiers, orange
juice, a computer and confetti and with the interiors , either using stills of the strangest visuals of my music
video or images from a photo shoot taken on the day of filming sessions which
communicated this idea of the random in a similar way. Since my magazine ad
mainly relies on the Digipak front cover artwork visually, this ideally would
result in my ancillary tasks featuring a similar look summarising one of the
prominent elements of my music video.
This should make it recognisable among audiences as part of the
"Burnin fever umbrella" even if I were to remove the type surrounding
my graphics indicating as to what it was. I would like to think that music
video and ancillary texts work well together to in promoting my artist as
previously mentioned as fun and whimsical and thus in turn emphasis the light
hearted and upbeat nature of Burnin fever as a track. Moreover, the combination
of my three media products should also communicate the sort of relaxed and laid
back personality/impression I had found when contacting Tropiika the artist
himself. He described Burnin Fever's overall mixing and mastering as
"shoddy" however to take the piss out of the perfect mix. I hope that
music video and ancillary will communicate this idea and lightheaded
personality through its lack of serious subject matter and embrace of the
random and strange.
·
Computerised themes/ tech themes around a virus - Music video
From research into genre
conventions of electronic based music I had found that some sort of allusion to
technology whether it be found within print production or music video to allude
to the means in how electronic music is produced as well as connoting a
futuristic of science fiction effect to the music. This can be seen in the
promotional material to many of Daft Punk's works including their music video
technologic and similarly in Kraftwerk and com truises promotional material as
well.
http://christopherankamedia.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/g324-audience-profile-research-task.html
- link to examples of technology seen in promotional materials
In my music video the
technology theme was centred on a computer virus, which was interpreted by as a
result of the scratchy nature of the track itself and the random and
repetitious nature of the lyric "like a Burnin fever and let the love with
feel" which reminded me of some sort of computer command. This was
represented visually by the heavy use of shots concerning computers and a
circuit board, sample footage of old computer and technology adverts and most
importantly the glitch filter effect. This Glitch effect was chosen to both to
represent this computer theme but also based on Goodwin's key aspects of music
video was used to amplify the audio of the track visually during key parts of
the song.
Digipak and print ad
On my Digipak this tech theme
was conveyed firstly on my front cover
by similar to my music video featuring imagery of computers and the glitch
effect as well as stylising my typography in an old TV static effect design. In
addition, when discussing the type of font chosen for the subtitle of the
Digipak front cover I chose the font titled TIFAX. From my research into
electronic based music not only did I find that it was conventional to allude
to technology and themes of sci-fi within promotional materials but I had also
found that it is also conventional to feature some sort of reference to the
1980's or a retro theme. This 80's/retro theme within this genre I found is
chosen for the purpose of alluding to the stylistic origins of electronic based
genres as well as its height of popularity during the 80's. I found examples of
this 80's allusion in the works of Eric Prydz, Kavinsky, Com Truise, Tesla Boy,
Calvin Harris and Daft Punk.
*SHOW VISUAL
EXAMPLES OF THIS VIA MOODBOARD*
Linking this back to the type
of my Digipak and it tech theme, the significance of TIFAX is that the original
font comes from the Texas Instruments TIFAX teletext decoder; one of the
first teletext TV sets. This not only allowed me to communicate the tech theme
by using quite angular type to allude to computer software typography but also
allowed me to use a visual convention of electronic music i.e retro/80's themes
by opting for a more "retro" take using type which references old
technology. I used this similarly in the title card and kinetic type sequences
of my music video; using mainly pixel based type to allude to both said
technology themes in electronic music as well as retro themes. Within the whole
design of my Digipak I stylised it with a computer based theme to conform to
this genre convention as well as reflect the virus themes of my music video.
The internal panels and back cover however were stylised like the commodore 64
graphics of the 80's and the overall theme of my print ad was stylised as a
computer advert from the 1980's even altering the iTunes logo into the 1980's
apple logo to reflect this theme clearly. All of these elements surrounding
computers and old computer software and 80's culture in all three of my media
products were chosen to effectively communicate to audiences that my artist
produces work within the electronic music genre. This is so that if audiences
particularly electronic music fans were to glance over my artists work either
magazine ad, Digipak, or music video by using genre conventions they should find it easy to identify said
product as electronic based and be engaged easier. In addition, although more
subtle on my magazine ad, all 3 products each feature the glitch aesthetic as
mentioned previous to communicate a computer theme conventional to electronic
based music but here it has also been utilised specifically in my ancillary
tasks to communicate a prominent theme and visual style of my music video.
This idea of
an ancillary products' theme communicating the tone of a music video I also
found to be apparent in the design of Kavinksy's outrun album, which used an
80's cop thriller film look for its theme which reflected the music video Protovision
( the music video under the outrun umbrella) 80's cop thriller car chase theme.
In terms of both Kavinsky and I I would like to say that we have used this
synergistic quality between our products to convey a particular unique
style/theme to our products. E.g. Kavinsky outrun is based on 80's cop thriller
whereas Burnin Fever and its ancillary's are based on glitch art and
"retroness" in order to offer a USP to audiences i.e. being
recognisable as an electronic label but also offering something new to
audiences.
The Robot
- Music video
One major
theme within my music video was the character of the 'so-called' Robot who
initially served the role of the personification of the virus within my media
product. However, since my product
purpose was to serve as a promotional product for my chosen artist the Robot
character soon became a substitute persona for my artist. During my research, I found that it was
conventional for an artist to feature some sort of alter ego or convey some
sort of anonymity to themselves within the electronic based music. This can be seen by the likes of similar
artists such as Dark Punk, Kraftwerk and their Robot personas, DeadMau5, and
Cazzette. According to the theories of Andrew Goodwin, record labels may opt
that there music videos reflect an artist's visual motif and in this case with
these electronic artists it seems there persona's serve as visual motif to
differentiate themselves from each other as well as in the case of the use of anonymity
add a sense of intrigue to engage audiences with. With my main media product the
Robot Persona served as a substitute to my artists lack of appearance in my
product as well as allowing me to conform to genre conventions making the look
of this "substitute artist" easily identifiable to those as someone
working within the electronic music genre. Moreover, the design of the Robot's
smiley face with the strange Frank Sinatra visual motif within my video were
chosen to convey what I felt was my real artists light hearted and laid back
personality based on his description of this own track. This was also chosen to
emphasise the randomness of the video by combing elements of a robot in a suit
and jazz musician Frank Sinatra.
Digipak and print ad
Just like my music video both my ancillary products featured
imagery of the Robot persona I had developed, as well as my Digipak itself in
one of its internal panels continuing the Frank Sinatra visual motifs
developing more synergistic qualities between Digipak and music video. When
discussing my ancillary products, the inclusion of the Robot's identity on both
products with my music video were used to firstly allow audiences to
effectively understand who the tropiika persona is by featuring the same
character consistently on all 3 products. Additionally, with my ancillary products
I opted for the Robot's identity to be distorted , using the electronic music's
genre convention of anonymity to create a sense of intrigue for audiences. This
ideally would hook those who are fans of electronic based music and are used to
this mystery, towards my main product to find out who or what the identity of
this robot face/Tropiika is, particularly on my magazine ad which features a QR
code linking to my music video revealing this mystery.
Overall when discussing the effectiveness of my ancillary
products with my music video, Digipak in particular these products were
designed with elements to summarise themes of my video such as the robot,
virus, a sense of random and a retro intertextuality. This was done in order to
summarise my main product visually to allow audiences to understand the
particular style being sold to them as well as using established genre conventions
to indicate to audiences the type of genre sold and engage fans of said
audience.
Ed Banger Records and my own media product
One
particular brand style I used when designing both Digipak and print ad was the
Ed banger records approach to print promotional items in order to attract
audiences of house music towards my product. Ed banger records is a record
label which specialises in electronic music such as house and after researching
similar artist Breakbot and the label he works under Ed Banger Records I
noticed that they promotes there artists
using quirky, abstract and illustrative styles to attract their audiences. As a
result of this in order to attract said audience who consume this type of music
I too opted for abstract and quirky elements within my ancillary products by
basing my theme of my Digipak on a commodore 64 theme as well as using the
theme of the random seen in my music video. For my magazine ad as mentioned
previously I stylised it as an old computer magazine ad to continue the
computerised theme throughout. This heavy stylisation of ancillary products
should cause humour to those who get the reference whether or not within Ed
Bangers target audience or and engage those with my product as they can find
something to relate to/identify. In addition, the stylised look of my
ancillary's with my main products theme of the random should effectively fit in
well visually with Ed bangers abstract and illustrative style hopefully
attracting Ed Bangers target demographic or those similar to normally consume
this style of music and artist promotion.
