Question 2

(I CANT GET ONTO PREZZI AT HOME I WILL TRANSFER IT TOMORROW)

During the creation of my groups and I final product, I created ancillary texts to accompany my music video. I created a magazine advert and a digipak in order to promote and sell my artist to my intended audience.  The magazine advert allows for the artist to be promoted to a wider audience, creating for a larger fan base to be created, as well as targeting the niche indie audience. The digipak however, was created for existing fans of the artist in whom want extra information about the artist and want more of an insight of her lifestyle which they will receive through the images and personal message seen. The theme that I decided to follow within both of my texts was the theme of nature and earth in which I believed would be successful in promoting the natural approach of the artist and also makes the audience believe that she is down-to-earth. I created this effect by using specific colours and settings which relate to the naturalistic theme such as greens and browns. I gained my inspirations for my ancillary texts through watching and analysing existing indie ancillary texts.

Before creating my magazine advert, I analysed Ellie Goulding’s magazine advert in that I noticed the theme of nature due to the colours and settings used. This inspired me to then replicate this theme within my own magazine advert as I believed it would create a realistic approach that the audience can then relate to and connect with her more due to the fact she is being represented as down-to-earth. The magazine advert was created on photoshop that allowed for many editing techniques to be used in order  to make a successful advert. Photoshop allowed me to manipulate my images to make them to how I wanted by adding filters, text and resizing the image. One of the main tools I used whilst editing my magazine advert was the use of the lasso tool where I was able to crop and resize my image to make it fit the screen, making the artist the most dominant feature of the advert, drawing the audiences attention towards her. The positioning of the artist was key in attracting the audience as it allowed for the audience to see whom she is and makes the audience interegued and want to know more. Also, another key feature was the use of eye contact. The artist is looking directly into the camera in which makes it seem for the audience that she is looking at them. This creates a more personal feel for the audience as they feel she is directing her attention at them, making them feel more involved in the advert, being drawn to buy it. 

The magazine advert supports the indie genre with the codes and conventions of the media genre being portrayed throughout. From my research, I found that the use of iconography would be successful in portraying the artists personality. I found that a guitar was stereotypically conventional of the indie genre and therefore this inspired me to include this in my own text. I used a guitar on the advert in order to portay the talents in which she has. This makes the audience believe that she is multi-talented and are persuaded into buying her album in order to gain more of an insight to her. The colours used within the advert are greens, browns, and yellows enhancing the natural theme that I wanted to portray. This is conventional of the indie genre as it presents artists as relaxed and easy going which the audience may find attractive and want to buy her album as they feel they could relate to her. The yellow within the advert are supportive of the song title ‘Burn’ which is a reaccuring colour used within all of my products in order to keep the song alive and make the song title stick into the audience’s mind. The clothing also makes a successful link within my products as all clothing seen is the same. This makes the audience understand more about her lifestyle and her easy going nature.

In order to make the magazine advert, my group and I had to discuss which features that we wanted to include in order to come to a mutual agreement on what we believed would look successful. Me and my other group member, Heather Everingham, made our own individual digipak within the planning process. Once these had been completed, we then looked at eachothers and discussed which features we would include on our final product. For example, Heather’s magazine advert showed the use of the yellow title which we then transferred to our final production as we believe this would stick in the audiences mind. Another idea that Heather’s magazine advert had which we incorporated within our final magazine advert was the use of high key lighting. We decided to use this element in our final text in order to make the artist stand out from the darker background. Another reason in why we used high key lighting was to present the artists emotions clearly. The high key lighting makes the audience understand that she is happy and postitve. We wanted to make the artist seem happy for the audience so that they are attracted to her and can connect with her easily.

The next to be made was the digipak which was also created on photoshop. I wanted to carry on the naturalistic theme within the digipak in order for the audience to get a better understanding of the  artists personality and lifestyle. However, before creating my digipak, I researched into existing digipaks in order to get a wider insight as to what elements I could include to make a successful digipak. I took my inspirations from Ellie Goulding’s digipak in which I noticed iconography and body language. Her body language seemed to be upright and confident in which I then incorporated in my final production. Throughout my digipak my artist is seen to be looking into the camera or standing upstraight. This was important as it made her seem confident in herself. This makes it seem that she is proud of herself and wants to present her music to her fans. This makes the audience understand more about her personality. I also wanted to challenge the genres conventions in order to captivate the audiences attention. I did this by creating a mysterious feel to the digipak by including the element of low key lighting. By doing this, it makes the artist seem suspicious and mysterious. I believed this was successful as then the audience would want to buy the album in order to find out more. Because this subverts the stereotypical conventions, the artist then sticks into the audiences mind, creating for a wider audience to be captivated rather than the niche audience. With regards to the music video, the digipak allows for a more rebellious side of the artist to be portrayed. The audience can then buy into this more adventourous, risky look and get an insight to the artists wider personality rather than the snippet that they receive in the narrative of the music video.

Because the digiapk was also created on photoshop. This allowed for each photo seen to be manipulated and created to how we wanted it. As we were subverting the genre, we darkened each picture by using the brighten tool, decreasing the darkeness by 25% on each in order for the mysterious feel to become evident. In order to keep the name of the song alive, we also used yellow writing on the personal message to enhance the ‘burn’ theme. The naturalistic theme is also evident in my digipak through the use of setting. The setting is seen to be outside in an alley way. This is conventional of the indie genre as it presents the artist to be easy going and down-to-earth not worrying about her surroundings, only her music. Because she is seen to be outside, this enhances the nature theme as it makes it seem to the audience she enjoys being outside.

In order to create our final digipak, we looked and analysed eachothers individual digipaks in order to take inspirations from each in order to create a successful digipak in which promotes the artist to how we wanted. We looked at mine and Heather Everingham’s and discussed which elements from each we would gather and use. The first thing we discussed was the use of my back page. My back page was seen to be her with a piece of ripped paper with the song names from her album on there. We believed this would be successful in our final text as it would enhance the easy-going-nature. The ripped paper suggests to the audience that she is down to earth as she didn’t want anything fancy to give the song names, just a piece of paper. The audience can connect with this as they believe she is well grounded and takes her fame position seriously yet tries to keep well grounded. Another element we used was the use of direct eye contact which we took from Heather Everingham’s individual digipak. We decided to make the front page a close up of the artist looking directly into the camera. We did this because we believed that this would create a more personal feek for the audience as the artist is seen to be looking directly at them, engaging them to the album.

Overall, the combination of the ancillary texts and the music video is highly effective in promoting and sharing the artists lifestyle. For example, the same clothing is seen throughout all texts making the audience feel more connected to her and her lifestyle. Each text conforms to the indie genre through their codes and conventions. They are all highly noticeable of the indie genre that means the niche audience will be targeted successfully.