Overall, I feel confident in the way that my music video is effective in portraying the necessary four micro-technical elements needed in existing music videos; cinematography, editing, sound and miss-en-scene. Through my use of these elements, I believe that I have created a realistic and professional looking media text. Through the use of more close up shots towards the beginning of the video, the audience can clearly pinpoint the fact that the actor and actress are showing emotions, contrasting to the use of more two shots as the end of the video appears, again to represent to the audience that they need to focus more on the narrative instead of the emotions of the actors.
Ancillary text 1 - Advertisement
The first ancillary text that I created was that of a promotional poster that consists of many conventions of typical existing products in the indie rock/indie pop genre. For example, I made sure that I included an image of my artist, the name of the band, as well as any release dates and the record label that they were signed to.
Ancillary text 2 - Digipak
The second ancillary text that I created was that of a Digipak, which consists of two discs, both of which are featured with conventions from existing media texts, for example with the used of the label that my artist is signed to on the discs etc. It also includes a front cover, along with two insert covers and a back cover with the song list.
(PICTURE OF DIGIPAK)
Overall, I feel that both my poster and digipak are very strong when it comes to connecting to the genre of indie rock/indie pop, as they not only include the necessary conventions of real media texts, but they also create continuity in the way that all three of my pieces fit together. I believe that the reason my products carry continuity throughout is because, not only did I put a lot of thought into the pictures I used and the colour scheme I chose, I also carried out enough research into existing products of the same type, for example looking at Lana Del Rey's promotional poster and analysing Razorlight's CD case and its contents. I used only plain colours due to what my research told me, as well as only including block colours instead of something with a hue or tint to it. I used Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 to create both my ancillary texts, which I downloaded onto my MacBook so I could work on them from home.
For both my ancillary texts, I have used a structure most notably following the theme of wanting somebody - the main theme throughout my music video.
Poster
I started out by creating my poster and, in this way, I would get a better idea of how I have promoted my artist, and how I have followed through with the creation of my digipak later on, i.e. with the colour scheme, texts used etc. I ultimately knew that I wanted my main actor (Dan) on the front of the poster, however I did not know in what way to bring out the best image. This therefore meant that I needed to take screenshots from my music video, and, ultimately experiment with them all.
I experimented also with using shots of only Lauren (my actress), and also two shots of both Dan and Lauren together, however, as I placed them onto my poster, I realised that it was likely that my audience would get confused as to who is actually the main artist; I felt like I was either making mh audience clueless, or giving them to many ideas of the narrative already, even though this was only a promotional poster.
In the end, I was deciding upon which photo out of these two below to choose to put on the front of my poster. Again, I experimented with these two images, and actually found it challenging upon deciding which image looked better where.
In the end, I believed that, because both images linked well to the genre, and both had continuity in them, I would use both in my ancillary texts in some way, however decided that the best image to use was the second image above, due to the fact that it clearly identifies the genre down to the hairstyle the actor has, as well as the clothing that he is wearing.
I blurred out the background on Photoshop, and then enhanced Dan on picmonkey.com so as to make him stand out more on the poster, ultimately grabbing more people's attention.
Digipak
For my digipak, I again chose to use the same theme; wanting someone, in order to relate to the poster and also the music video. I decided to choose the name 'Heights' for both my artist's name, and also to use as the title on my promotional poster. I chose this name purely because I thought that it linked well with the original name of the artist who performed Are You Gonna Be My Girl: Jet. I chose the name Heights due to the fact that a jet plane goes very high up, therefore leading me to my first thought for the name, which ended up becoming the name I actually used. I wanted my album to, in some ways, represent the feelings that my male actor has, hence the names of the songs that I chose:
1. Are You Gonna Be My Girl
2. Black Jeans
3. Falling
4. More
5. The Block
6. Treatment
7. Disaster
8. Gone
9. Round And Round
10. Stamp
Through the use of these chosen songs, I believe that my ancillary text is effective in the way that the songs connote to both the name of the first and main song, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, as well as it conforming to the genre; these sort of issues are addressed in existing indie rock/indie pop music posts.
Music Video
When creating my music video, I wanted it to appeal to both sexes, and have a wide variety of ages both watching and listening to my music product. The song in itself sits in the indie rock/indie rock genre, however, I wanted to create the sort of narrative that appealed to all ages and both sexes. I wanted to create a narrative that was very unconventional; in the way that, not only would it tell the story of wanting someone, but so it also portrayed the typical conventions of existing music video, such as lip-syncing, fast paced editing and typical mise-en-scene features, as well as also included the necessary micro-technical elements of all music videos; sound, editing, cinematography and mies-en-scene. I really do feel that, because of this, my music video appeals to all ages, due to it linking with real life issue and themes. Although, in many aspects, my music video is particularly innocent, I believe that I have included Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory in mine, down to the fact that she talks about how men look at women and, in this aspect, my male actor, although seemingly innocent in the way that he is speaking to my female actress, is de-humanising her slightly in the way that he is speaking to her very bluntly through the repeated lyric 'Are you gonna be my girl'.
Combination of all my products
I believe that all 3 of my media texts have a strong ideology, due to the fact that the content I included had continuity and things in common, down to things such as the colours I used and the font type.
My 3 media texts do ultimately have cross media convergence - they all come together creating continuity. I also believe that my products would be successful when sold, as they not only look realistic and professional, but also have continuity running through them; a necessary aspect when creating media texts. I believe that my poster would mainly feature in 'Q' Magazine, as well as possible 'Billboard', as these magazines are very popular for promoting indie rock an indie pop music.
Foo Fighters Greatest Hits - £14.99
Lana Del Rey Paradise - £13.75
After research into existing indie rock/indie pop CDs, I believe that the most sensible price to price my digipak at would be around £13.99, as it therefore not only has the conventions of real media texts, but also seems an attractive price to all ages. Furthermore, as I advertised 'amazon.com' on my poster, I would advertise both my video and soundtrack on Amazon, attracting a wide audience and pricing the soundtrack at £0.99; the typical going rate for a soundtrack of this genre. I would also sell the music video at around £2.99, again down to the fact that this is the going rate. This therefore means that I have created continuity in the way that I am conforming my products to products that are already out there on the market, through the use of my actual media texts and also how I am distributing them and for what price.
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