How effective is the combination of your main

product and ancillary texts?

THE MAIN CONCEPT IN MY MUSIC VIDEO

I also carried this concept through to my digipak and poster, and this is how all of my products link together and act as a package of music promotional material.

The main concept behind my products, and what I have used to connect my music video and ancillary products, is the idea that there are two sides to everyone. In all of my products I have shown this by incorporating a skull-faced antagonist/other person. My key influence to do this is from looking at Pauline Darley’s photography in which she paints models’ faces to resemble a skull. I think this style of photography perfectly compliments the song and Evanescence’s gothic visual style.

In my music video, to act as the female protagonist’s ‘other self’ I used a male actor. I used Darley’s photography as an influence and painted his face like a skull. This also connotes that there is literally something beneath the surface of the skin.

Shots from my music video of the antagonist

My products were influenced heavily by Pauline Darley’s ‘skeleton’

photography (examples above)

THE MAIN CONCEPT IN MY POSTERBelow: My final poster(s)

I carried the skull idea over to my poster. I wanted to make my products completely different from conventional products. I also didn’t want this idea to totally overwhelm the simple design of the poster; I wanted it to be reasonably subtle. Therefore I thought of the idea of creating two posters; one for the front and the other to go behind it. On the front poster is a simple image of the lead singer’s face, only using black and white colours (apart from the eyes which are ice-cold blue, and make it seem quite scary). On the back poster is the same image but with my design of a skull over half of the face (this is reflective of the face paint in the video. They would be stuck together (both posters facing forward and the upper right hand corner section would not be stuck down). The right hand corner not stuck down will be ripped off, so it shows the skull behind it. This would be its USP.The QR Code I inserted in the bottom right hand corner is linked to my final products page on my blog. If my poster was professional, it would be linked to the Evanescence’s website or to somewhere such as iTunes, where the album can be downloaded. QR codes are becoming a convention of posters because Audience 2.0 will have QR code scanners on their smart phones.

THE MAIN CONCEPT IN MY DIGIPACK

For my digipak I carried the skull theme through. I’ve done this by laser cutting a hole in the shape of the face on the front panel, and then printed out a skull on acetate which overlays the extra panel, giving the effect of a skull showing through the face. This also challenges and develops the conventions of digipaks.

Everything (apart from the EMI logo) is in black and white, again linking with the poster and the scenes with the male antagonist in my music video. This black and white theme also reflects the gothic style, and the clothes the main protagonist wears also reflect this.

The band’s, and their record label’s website is on the inside left panel; and this may encourage people to look for other bands under the record label.

In both of my ancillary products I have over/underlayed Evanescence’s logo. This is very subtle and does not overwhelm the designs. I have also used other logos e.g. Wind-Up Records, who are their record label (I have also put this on my poster because it is very important). The key signifier of the face is in both the poster and digipak and therefore they can both be associated with each other.

CONCLUSIONI have created products for a rock band, therefore my products would be aimed at a mass audience. The old media ways of marketing (print products – posters, magazine adverts) work well but it become expensive to distribute them. This is why I would upload my music video onto YouTube and put digital copies of my advert on social networking sites. In order to distribute the print products I would need to create a 360 degree marketing strategy that saturates the market. A band like Evanescence would be able to do this because of their global success – the record label could make demands for the band to be feature in magazines such as KERRANG! and Metal Hammer, which their target market would read.

I think all of my products work together very well and believe I was successful in creating a strong link between my music video and print products. Creating a link between different promotional material is extremely important because it brings the promotion together as a whole – they are a group of products, not just individual ‘stand-alone’ material that ultimately does not successfully promote/sell the product being advertised. The advertisement’s and digipak’s purpose is to inform the audience and the music video’s purpose is to entertain and audience, some may be able to identify with it. The digipak is merchandise and the other two products are above the line marketing.

The concept of using one key signifier (the skull) is very essential to the success of my products. Without it, I do not think the combination of music video and print products would be as effective. If my print products were distributed, my target audience would be able to connect my poster and digipak – and as the poster is advertising the digipak, it is vital that the audience are able to recognise the connection between the two products which would ultimately encourage them to buy the album.

However, my digipak and poster have a symbiotic relationship because each of them help to promote the other. But my audience are more likely to see the music video on YouTube first or the poster on music websites because they are audience 2.0.

It is not as essential for the print products to link with music videos because there are other songs on the album, not just Haunted which is the song I created the music video for. However, I felt it was important for all of my products to link together (including the music video), and as the main idea of the skull came from the music video, I felt it would be appropriate to make the link.

The link between the products is also successful because it reflects Evanescence’s visual gothic style. Altogether, I think there is a clear relationship between all of my products, and one that is instantly recognisable. If they were real professional products, this would benefit the promotion of the album.