Question 2: How Effective is the Combination of Your Main Product and Ancillary Texts

When creating my main product and ancillary tasks I wanted to be sure of creating a strong ‘brand’ image and clear genre for my target audience.

As the song ‘Sail Away’ has a folk/pop feel I wanted to follow the conventions of the folk genre in my music video taking into account artists such as Tristan Prettyman and Jason Mraz. Therefore in my music video I focussed on creating a positive representation for the female artist in the music video by avoiding voyeuristic angles and using colour schemes and outfits that give a ‘pure’ and ‘innocent’ representation which would attract an aspiring audience.

With my ancillary texts I wanted to follow the positive representation created in the music video, I also created a strong brand image by using locations, outfits and colour schemes similar to within the music video that create a strong visual link that the target audience can identify.

In my digipak I used photography that focussed on the artist. Three of the four images were close ups of the artists face, this way I am promoting the artist’s image heavily to the audience proving that image and representation is an important aspect to the target demographic. There are two sets of photographs taken in two different locations; one set in the drama studio and one set in the bedroom. These locations were both used in the video so this strengthens the visual link and continuity between the two texts. Furthermore in the studio images the artist is wearing the same outfit that she wears in the performance element of the video, and in one image she is also sitting on the amp holding the guitar and suitcase found in the music video.

In my ancillary texts I used a sandy texture to create an earthy feel and to make them more aesthetically pleasing. In combination with this I maintained a colour scheme of natural pastel blues and sandy yellows, especially with fonts and flourishes. This gives indication to the beach theme created in the lyrics of the song; also it creates a very natural style which reflects the genre.

My font choices for both the digipak and magazine advert were deliberate in creating a personal feel that the audience would appreciate as they would feel a personal connection to the artist. The fonts used are script-like to make it appear as though the artist has written them herself. On the left outside panel there is a thank you message in the script-like font, this is a technique Kt Tunstall used in her album ‘Eye to the Telescope’. By using this technique I am following the conventions of the folk/pop genre, this increases the chances of the ancillary texts appealing to the target audience as they are already proven successful techniques.

Another technique I used to further personalise the digipak was through the use of personal art presented as though it has been hand drawn by the artist. This technique has been proven successful by the album ‘We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things’ by Jason Mraz. I used drawings that once again fall into the beach category such as ice creams, seagulls and pebbles. This further reinforces continuity between the song, the video and the digipak and once again further personalises the digipak making it more appealing to the target audience.

On my magazine advert I created a comment plus five star rating from NME as NME covers a very broad range of artists and styles especially of the alternative genres. As folk is not a mainstream genre it is more likely to be recognised by an alternative ‘quirky’ music magazine. Also NME is a magazine that appeals to the target audience as they aspire to be ‘individuals’ and NME has the reputation of finding fresh new ‘individual’ artists and music styles such as Kate Nash, Friendly Fires etc.

I kept my magazine advert very minimalist by avoiding reels of text and using only one image being of the artists face. The image used is also found in the inside of the digipak; this once again increases continuity and links the three texts strongly together. I used a minimalist approach to tease the audience, it gives them little information but the aesthetically pleasing image will spur them to look further into the artist and her music.