Evaluation Question Two

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
My main product involves creating a music video for a artist, in which I chose 'Night Drive Loneliness' by the band 'Garbage'. Garbage are a 90's alternative rock band in which consist of Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Duke Erkison and Steve Marker. Their initial idea was to 'make pop music sound as horrible as possible'. They were formed in Wisconsin in 1993. 
 Initially they signed with mushroom records and now they have Stunvolume as producers in the US and the UK. 

When combined with the finished video these two ancillary products would demonstrate a marketing campaign for the song 'Night Drive Loneliness'. Complete with the branding and alternative rock style. 
 I created continuity and synergy between the video and the ancillary products through the use of similar motifs, use of the mis-en-scene, the protagonist, common conventions and font.
 Throughout the music video the audience can denote the female protagonist wearing a blue dress and then in the song they are able to listen to the lyrics 'my blue velvet dress'. The preferred reading for the audience is for them to denote that the female protagonist is running from her issues and how she feels alone and is slowly looking the will to live. However, depending on whether the audience choose to take the preferred reading or the negotiated reading is up to them.
 Depending on whether the audience is active or passive they will either take in the information and be influenced buy it or disagree with the main theme. 
 Throughout my A2 products I have created the digipak and the magazine advert to comply with the continuity and the iconography of the band 'Garbage'. Garbage have a very powerful iconography, in that they follow the general conventions of alternative rock with the dark make-up and use of dark clothing to denote to the audience how they are making pop music sound 'as horrible as possible'. This has a grunge effect. Also with Manson's iconography have bright red hair, I thought that it would follow the general conventions to have my protagonist have red hair. Therefore, the protagonist in my music video and the ancillary products have red hair. Also with the costume, in most of 'Garbage's' music videos they all wear a similar colour scheme in which I attempted to follow with the use of he blue dress. I also added the effect of the blue overlay in the digipak, and using the colour swatch tool to transfer the colour of the natural images on the advert and the digipak to the text and the spine of the digipak. General conventions for an alternative rock would use the same colour across all products, allowing for synergy and the visuals for the audience to denote the common conventions between all the products. The colour of the ancillary products create the basis for the music video. The dark blues and light blues create a dark gloomy feel, which the audience may connote as from the morning to the night, this would be the preferred reading. Whilst watching my music video, the audience stated that the music video would look better if it was from the morning to the night. Due to me having shots int he morning at sunset and then in the dark. I took these on board and started again. This was effective, therefore, with the setting being in the outdoors, the main colour schemes in the music video were green and blue. With the green being denoted with the grass and trees and the blue being denoted through the blue dress and the colour of the sky. Therefore, to combine these colour schemes that are presented in the music video, in the digipak I used the colour colour clue as being dominant by having the protagonist on teh front cover and the n the blue overplay of the trees on the inside of the cover. I also the added the lyrics to the inside right side of the cover. Including the 'my blue velvet dress'. This allowed the audience to denote the colour blue being dominant in the products. Then in the magazine I focussed on the dominant colour being green and this was presented through the colour of the trees on the magazine advert.   
 With the iconography comes the unique selling point (USP). My unique feeling point for the music video and ancillary tasks was Masons red hair and the blue dress in which was a repeated line in the song itself. The continued use of the blue dress made it obvious to the audience that it was a key prop in the production of the task. Being able to use the costume in the mis-en-scene allowed for simple yet effective synergy, visually it was simple for the audience to view the digipak and the magazine ad as being connected, allowing synergy.
 Creating ancillary tasks, there is the need for all the products to have a similar theme and motifs, enabling the audience to see the products and within seconds recognise the band and what the advert is advertising. Therefore, I had to involve the main protagonist in both the ancillary tasks, enabling the audience to get the preferred reading and recognise the products as connecting. Creating synergy between the products, creating a greater effect on the audience when they are all together compared to making a music video alone.
 Choosing the font that fit my products well was a long process. Going through several fonts, I ended up choosing one of the simplest fonts, due to the audience being able to read it from a distance, if I had chosen serif font then I feel that with the variety of colour schemes on the digipak and advert this would have been difficult to read, therefore, I went for the sans-serif and used the same font throughout both ancillary projects, this is a common convention in teh music industry. The audience are very important in the reading of the texts and how the interpret. 
 From audience feedback I would state that the use of the same font throughout, helps with the synergy and the continuity of all the products. Making them more effective together than separately. 
 Also, the advert has the protagonist on the front cover, the digipak has her on the front cover, this is once again showing continuity throughout all the tasks and helping the audience connote the preferred reading; if they denote a female in a blue dress they will think of Garbage, 'My night Drive Loneliness'. I also included the symbol 'G' for the band garbage and had their name on both the digipak and the advert, in the same font and on the top of each. This brought the attention to both products and due to them being in the same place, allowed for the synergy. Even though I did not have the large letter 'G' on the front cover of the digipak, much like most of their digipak's I did involve their logo therefore I may not have followed their common conventions, however, because of this I made it extremely clear that the band was 'Garbage' and the song was 'My Night Drive Loneliness'.