Question 2

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

We had to create three ancillary tasks as part of a promotional package, the main one being the music promo that we created for the song ‘Put on ya boots’ by 3rd Rock Revolution an unsigned artist. We also had to create two ancillary tasks which consisted of a magazine poster and a six panel CD digipack which promotes the artist and song. In order to achieve the highest possible marks and to make our production as professional as possible we had to keep a synergetic link between all products.  This means that there needs to be a consistent theme or look throughout all three materials linking them together. This is an important aspect because it gives a clear link between the products and promotes the artist making the artist more recognisable as if someone has seen the music promo it means that they will be able to recognise the album.

Once we deconstructed our chosen song ‘Put on ya boots’ this helped us to come up with ideas for our music promo, using narrative and a little disjuncture throughout the promo. We came up with the idea to have the lead singer in different locations with the newspaper being one of the most important features of the music video; we also decided to use the newspaper for transitions. This is shown in our promo, when the main singer is sitting on the bench he lifts the newspaper up and then when he takes it away from his face he is in a new location. As the song starts the main singer will be walking through different locations while singing. Our music video adheres to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos demonstrating genre characteristics and intertextual references and follows an illustrative music video which means that the music contained the main singer being seen singing and the content linked to the lyrics of the song. The idea of a superstar is shown in the lyrical content of the song , a theme we have used  throughout  is used we have used the idea of this throughout our promo and decided that for a big part of the music promo the lead singer is wearing a suit which connotes superstar. Therefore using this idea of a superstar we decided to make our ancillary tasks have a theme of a newspaper as superstars are usually seen in newspapers and therefore as we have used this theme within our music promo this creates a synergetic link between all three promotional materials.

In order for our products to be successful in advertising the song and album we need to show a clear synergetic link between all three promotional products. This will also be achieved through the use of typical conventions of a digipak. For the digipak we create six panels showing two images of the main singer in the top two pictures and had the CD in the middle panel of the top row. We decided to use the same style of imaging throughout all three products to create a synergetic link. We decided to use the split imaging; this was a direct link to the music video and creates a familiar style that the audience would recognise. The split imaging is used on all three products as the main focus of the products.  We also used the conventional positioning of a digipack having the title on the main cover and spine of the digipack then having consistent lighting on all images throughout the products. We have done this on the poster and digipack. The clothing we have used is from the music video which shows continuity throughout all products and an aspect of the overall production that the audience can recognise. This is also a typical convention of a CD digipack, to have continuity throughout all products whether it’s the colour scheme or images used. 

For the magazine advert we created the front cover of a newspaper as a reference to the lyrics and music video. The magazine advert would contain conventions of a normal poster which means having the band or artist name as the most eye catching writing while the picture as the focal point of the poster. We will also show a synergetic link with the digipack by have a consistent colour scheme and images, this is important because it shows continuity which is important when advertising the three products.  News articles are also used on the left and right of the main image to create a newspaper style. As a poster we thought that this was effective and helped to promote the artist. The use of typical conventions to display the artist and make the poster look as professional as possible. The three products put together as a promotional package is extremely effective because of the consistent colour scheme, imaging and use of conventions helps create a synergetic link between the products and makes it look like a professional package.

Music promo:

There are two different types of media, traditional and new media. Traditional media is promotional material that doesn’t use the internet. For example music channels shown on TV, magazines and radios. The advantages of traditional media such as TV are that there is an abundance of music television channels that cater to specific audiences. These channels usually run all day and are easily accessible. There is also a synergetic link between traditional media, for example NME and Kerrang are both magazines as well as music television channels.  Another advantage of traditional media is that it targets a mass audience for example The UK top 40 countdown. This is an example of traditional media targeting a mass audience because the top 40 usually shows pop music which is one of the biggest audiences in music. However a disadvantage of traditional media is that to view traditional media you have to be stationary when viewing it. For example magazines and TV. Radio however is also being taken over by new media because radio is chosen music with breaks whereas the introduction of devices like phones that have the capability to play the music of their choice. Another disadvantage of traditional media specifically TV is that music videos are become less popular and the demand to see a music video has become less. It is also the introduction of YouTube and Vevo that has also meant that TV is no longer needed. On TV the person would have to wait to watch the particular music video that they want where as on a mobile device, table and computer that person can view whatever music video they want in an instant.   

The advantages of new media are that it is easier to find music videos online and you can actually choose songs that you want to listen to unlike watching a music video on the TV it would mean that you would have no choice what songs are played and therefore would have to listen to songs you may not like. Another advantage is that it is on high demand as music videos which are on YouTube can be accessed easily as well as on a range of devices this is known as convergence. This type of media is suitable for niche audiences and is a cheap method to use as there are no distribution costs. However the disadvantages are that you need access to the internet to go onto YouTube. It also costs the audience money to buy music from iTunes but this can be downloaded quickly and from home which means that you don’t have to go buy the CD for one track that you want. We have used new media as we have put our music video on YouTube as this is easy to do and we don’t have to pay to do this whereas we would have to if we wanted it on the TV.

Magazine advert:

Traditional media includes an actual poster which has been put up to promote the band; this poster will also be seen in magazines. Whereas new media would be taking a digital copy of the poster and putting it on the internet for example on social media or the artists website. With posters the first thing that we think of is magazines and most importantly music magazines this is a good form of media and there are many different genres of music magazines such as Kerrang and NME. There are music magazines for each genre of music this allows the audiences to choose the magazines that they want to read and the genre of music that they are more interested in for example someone who likes rock more than pop will choose a rock magazine rather than pop. We have chosen to put our magazine poster on the internet probably on social media as this targets a mess audience which would mean that the artist would be promoted as lots of people would see it as social media sites such as Facebook are very popular. From looking at both traditional and new media we can see that either way a mass audience will get to see the poster, but when it comes to cost the poster in a magazine would be more costly than putting the poster on a social media site, so therefore the media I would choose to promote the poster would be the ‘new’ media.

Digipack:

Traditional media includes record shops such as HMV which make sure that the new CD’s are used on point of sale to grab the buyer’s attention straight away once they walk in. Digipaks were known as limited edition or collectable. New media is a digital copy of the digipak and is put onto the artist’s website, however they aren’t really made anymore but using the internet means that it is cheaper as there aren’t any distribution costs. When it comes to traditional media for CD Digi-packs the first thing we think of is a physical copy that can be found in music shops such as HMV.  So when it comes to choosing between traditional and new media to promote all three promotional materials it is clear that new media would be better to promote the artist and what I would choose to use as new media allows you to be closer to the artist for example Twitter allows you to communicate with artists and follow them to keep up to date with their latest songs/ albums.