Question 2 – How effective is the combination of you main product and ancillary texts

By Benjamin Linehan

Our main problemOne of the main problems we had with our coursework is that the three products barely related to each other in the first drafts that we created. We spent a lot of time getting and analysing audience feedback about those products and were then able to create what is, in my opinion, quite a strong promotional package.

Initial IdeasWhen we began designing our promotional package we first analysed the lyrics of the song we would be creating them for (‘you think I ain’t worth a dollar, but I feel like a millionaire’ by Queens of the Stone Age). The reason for doing this is that Andrew Goodwin theorised that there should always be a relationship between the lyrics of the song and the visuals of a product. So, we decided to base the music video off of the lyric ‘b-movie, gimme some gore’ and relate to a b-movie theme. However, we decided to design our ancillary products (digipak and website) around the lyric ‘gimme toro, gimme some more’ by focusing it around the silhouette of a bull. Unfortunately, at the time we did not realise that this had, right off the bat, severely diminished the brand identity that our products had.

The narrative of the video (draft)

The reason for making the main narrative of the video extremely wacky is because we had found that this was the sort of thing our target audience liked; this is very well demonstrated by the music video for’ Arguing Thermometers’ by Enter Shikari. We also knew that our audience would find the introduction effective because Green Day had used the same method in the video for ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ which is a very popular video in the rock genre of music. Using the life of a mundane business man as the narrative for the introduction effective because it was something that a majority of our target audience could relate to, feeling lonely.

The performance section (draft)We also put a lot of effort into making sure that our audience would like the performance section of the video. We chose the wooded location at night because it gave off a sense of menace and craziness which related well to the rock genre of music, balancing out the slightly wackier narrative. We used a lot of close up shots of the band and their instruments because, as theorised by Andrew Goodwin, we knew that the record label and target audience would want a lot of focus on the artists. Another way we made the music video match the genre is through mise-en-scene; we used dark clothing and instruments (props) that are used a lot by professional rock artists so we knew they would be recognised as coming from our genre.

Why was it so bad?Even though we felt that our music video was quite a strong product when we handed it in as a draft, we found out that as a whole promotional package it wasn’t very good. The reason for this is because there were barely any connections from the music video to the digipak apart from the images of the band members inside the booklet and the fact that the ‘bull’ image matched the lyrics of the song. The same could be said for the website; it looked very unprofessional and did not have any images of the band on the front cover unlike Green Day’s website that has a lot of images in the news section.

NO LINKS!

The upside to the draftHowever, the ancillary products did link between themselves even though they didn’t relate to the music video. The typeface was consistent as it was used for most of the text on the digipak and for any headings on the website. The bull image also created a small amount of brand identity between the ancillary products as we did not change its design. Finally, the colour scheme was kept consistent across the two products so they looked quite similar; the use of red, white and black also ensured that it was clear to our target audience that our products were from the rock genre of music.

Audience feedback on the draftAfter getting our terrible promotional package back we decided to get a lot of audience feedback. This feedback really helped improve how effective our three products were as a promotional package. We completely changed the design of the digipak and website to follow the b-movie theme as it would create a strong link between them and the video, allowing the audience to identify that all three products are related.

Changes to the videoWe decided not to make a drastic amount of changes to the video because it was the basis of all our brand identity in our new ancillary product designs. We did film a lot more close up shots of the band members and their instruments to conform to Andrew Goodwin’s theory that the record label and target audience members want a lot of focus on the band members; the record labels want this because it means that they will sell a lot more products however, the target audience want a music video to follow this theory so that they can see a lot more of the band and how the music is made. When we re-filmed some of the performance we tried to make sure that all the mise-en-scene was similar to when we filmed in Horsell common. We made sure that each band member was wearing the same costume (black to relate to the rock genre) and that they were using the same instruments; unfortunately Jacob could not use the same drum kit which, if the target audience noticed, would very slightly damage the brand identity. Regrettably, the location we used for the second performance (it was too difficult to get back to Horsell common) was not as genre specific as the previous performance which made it feel a little bit out of place but the fact that it allowed us to better show the artist made up for it.

The Digipak front panelWe found that the ancillary products were what actually made a good music video into a successful promotional package. The main reason for this is that both products related a lot more this time round than they did before. In the new design the digipak very evidently displayed the b-movie theme which gave it a very big and obvious link to the music video. Another link was created when we made the main image on the front panel of the digipak a photograph of all 4 band members wearing costumes they wore in the music video. Having the band members on the front cover is not a common convention in the rock genre of music, as shown by the digipak for ‘Eva Vulgaris’ by Queens of the Stone Age and ‘the Great disruptors’ by Sweethead. However, in our case we chose to have the band members on the front panel because it was very effective at creating brand identity and a link to the music video that our audience could easily identify; it also gave a direct mode of address for the audience.

Digipak to Music VideoWe included images of the artists practicing on the inside of the lyric booklet because our target audience really like to see how a band makes its music. Also, it allowed us to show more of our artist which would please the record label and our audience. Having the lyrics in the inside booklet also creates another, albeit small, link to the music video. Another way that we created a link between the digipak and music video was to take screenshots of certain parts of the video and put them on the back of the digipak as a ‘film strip’. We thought that this would make our audience question what the images are from and that they would then go and search for the video.

Website to Music VideoWe also made a lot of links from our website to the music video to increase the effectiveness of our products as a promotional package. Most importantly, the main theme of our website is, once again, ‘b-movie’. This creates a very clear link from the website to the video that would be very easy for our target audience to identify. We made the main background image a photograph of the four band members wearing the same clothes as they are in the music video and in the same area that the performance section was filmed. The reason for doing this was to create a mise-en-scene link between the two products which ensured that they would be easily identifiable as coming from the rock genre.

Website slideshowWe embedded a slideshow at the top of the website that shows images of the artists wearing the same b-movie costumes that they wore in the video which further strengthens the brand identity that the b-movie theme creates. You can also scroll the slideshow to show more images that conform to the wacky, slightly dark nature of the video and our target audience. We also included a lot of social media links on the website because it is the most likely place that our audience members would go to connect with the band.

The biggest linkBy far the biggest link to the music video that we included in the website design was embedding a very large YouTube asset with said music video linked to it. This allowed the audience members looking at the website to play the video and realise just how much it relates to the design of the website.

Links between ancillary productsAs well as the ancillary products linking to the website, they also linked to each other to create a good sense of brand identity across the whole promotional package. Once again, the slideshow shows the main image that is used on the front panel of the digipak. So, audience members who have seen the digipak will be able to recognise that the two products are linked, and vice versa. We also changed the menu design of the website to icons of props from the b-movie references in the video and the costumes worn in the digipak.

Typeface and languageWe made sure that the typeface (deathrattleBB) we used was the exactly the same across all of the products to create a really obvious link that our target audience could identify; we made sure it was a very crazy, cracked typeface to fit with the rock genre of music. The language used on the website and digipak is written in a very informal/ wacky way so that it relates to the video which shows the audience that the band members are very informal people that don’t take things too seriously.

QR code & colour schemeThe QR code used on the back of the digipak links directly to the website which means that all a member of our target audience needs to do is scan it with their phone and they will be taken directly to the homepage of the website. We have done the same sort of thing on the website, we have included an image of the digipak front panel which, when clicked, would take the user straight to a page where they could buy the new album. Finally, the colour scheme used across the ancillary products is Black, White, Yellow and Red so that just by glancing at them you can tell that they belong to the rock genre of music.

ConclusionIn conclusion I think that the combination of our main product and ancillary texts is very effective. This is because there is a clear sense of brand identity across all three products and each one clearly represents who ‘Kings of Khan’ are as a band. We could have made it even more effective by creating some more links such as; showing the tour dates are only for touring the new album (our digipak), including the website URL and YouTube channel URL on the back of the digipak, make the band members wear the b-movie costumes in the performance section and make the music video look a bit more like a b-movie by using a burn filter.

Below is a ‘Powtoon’ animation to summarise

how our products link