Evaluation Task 2 - Part 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Here is a video that we have created which explains in what ways the combination of our main product along with the ancillary tasks was effective and in what ways it was not as effective as we had thought. 

Evaluation Task 2 - Part 1: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

INTRODUCTION

In order to see how effective our main product ( a 3 minute promotional music video)  was and how effectively it worked with the ancillary tasks (Website and CD Digipak) that we created we had to think about ow the three products reflected the star image and unique selling point of our band. 

From my research I discovered that Keith Negus argues that 'a pop music video is used as a promotional tool’ and the branding of the products comes about through the formation of a star image. In addition, branding is also used by the music industry to create a range of products for audiences across a range of genres and musical styles. 

When considering how our campaign was going to be marketed at our target audience we considered Philip Kotler's definition of marketing; “Human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes”. This translates as the selling of products and services to the audience and enabling them to buy into the star image. Marketing, for Kotler is the key to success of any campaign and it consists of four variables; the four P’s; Price, Place, Product and Promotion.

The aim for our products was to create a campaign where the three products worked harmoniously together and helped to create an overall impression and theme for the band. Due to the fact that our band is of the electro-swing genre I wanted this to be reflected across all products of the campaign and we achieved this by incorporating elements of the 1920’s into each of the products that make up the music publicity campaign.  

Furthermore, for the music video we decided to portray a 1920’s style in terms of the mise-en-scene elements and this was further reflected through our choice of colour scheme for the website along with the golden embellishment effect that we achieved for the design for the CD Digipak. 

I believe that we have created a cohesive and effective music publicity campaign where the three products work harmoniously to portray the qualities of the band’s star image; originality, creativity and talent as well as reflecting their organic nature and their USP of blending elements of the old and new. Overall, I believe that the combination of our main product with the ancillary products was effective. 

Evaluation Task 1 - Part 5: In what ways does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something.  Conventions can be used, supported, reiterated.  They can be challenged to deliberately broke to subvert conventions.  In evaluation of the question set I feel that I have drawn on the conventions of media products in my own campaign.  The use of these conventions is evident in the construction of my own products, for example the use of a lip sync and performance element in my music video as well as the psychological thriller style narrative that was used in my thriller opening sequence , this is supported by my own research into the forms and conventions  of music videos and opening sequences for thrillers.  

At the same time I have sought to develop and been able to challenge conventions, for example, I have decided to not use an imagery of the band on my CD Digipak and I have decided to place the track list on the inside of the CD Digipak rather than the back cover.  The reason why I decided to do these things was to differentiate my product in a competitive music industry market and I have attempted to challenge audience expectations in order to bring something new to the media forms.  

Media Conventions are ultimately relied upon for communicating the right message to the intended audience, but they can also deviate from these expectations in order to aid the sale of the star image that I wanted to promote.

Evaluation Task 1 - Part 4: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Task 1 - Part 3: In what ways does your media product use,develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Task 1 - Part 2: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms ad conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Task 1 - Part 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

PART 1 - INTRODUCTION

I am going to be looking at how my music video, website and CD Digipak have used, developed and challenged conventions that have been used in real media products. I will essentially be looking at how my music publicity campaign is similar to other media products as well as how it differs from other media products.

Before I started to evaluate my own product, I first looked up what conventions are and what some typical conventions of music videos, websites and CD Digipaks are. This helped me to understand in what ways my music publicity campaign was conventional and in what ways it was unconventional. 

In terms of music videos, the conventions you are likely to see can be separated into technical and symbolic conventions. Technical conventions relate to the styles of camera, editing, lighting and sound whereas symbolic conventions relate to mise-en-scene, costumes, props, location/setting colours, makeup and arrangement of band members. For websites, some of the conventions include having a homepage, biography, music video and album links as well as photos of the band members and information about upcoming tours. CD Digipak conventions include having the band name in a larger font than the album name, having a track list on the back as well as having the band name and album name on the spine.

From my research I gained a deeper understanding about how utilising conventions makes it easy for an audience to understand what type of text they are consuming and enable them to situate a song and artist within a musical genre. By following established conventions, I was able to, as a producer, increase the chances that our music publicity campaign would convey our intended message to the target audience.

Negus argues that music videos are essentially the explicit and unashamed promotion of the artists's 'image' as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption, therefore, comparing them to a promotional tool.

CONVENTIONAL - Typical/ Expected/ The 'norm'

UNCONVENTIONAL - Atypical/Unexpected/Not the 'norm'