Q2 How effective is the combination of your main product with ancillary texts - Draft

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.