Evaluation: Part 3- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
House/Branding •
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We have used the same colours and style of typography which was found on ‘Dafont’ in our ancillary products- choosing this font meant we were keeping in style of our grime genre- as it was much more readable which we thought worked well. We also included critics views of the album, however did some research into grime music magazines and found RWD and Flava magazine were popular for those that listened to grime music, therefore it was good to refer too, this element would help us sell to the target audience and the picture was taken on the same day that we shot in the estates meaning that the magazine cover would be linked in with the music video, and therefore could be a reflection on what people might think of the video. In all products we can see the same costumes being worn which adds to the brand of our artist we wanted him to look quite urban- wearing popular brands that our target audience would wear. The clothes are quite dark and oversized to make the artist look more intimidating. The idea we tried to carry through were dark gloomy almost grey scale kind of pictures to represent a mundane but realistic setting .This is shown clearly in the second shot of the music video and the magazine advert. The shot was originally a lot lighter however with the use of Photoshop editing we tried to make it look a lot darker. This shows the magazine advert and music video, with the same costumes and typography to go with the theme of the music video, also the critics come from grime magazines.
Synergy •
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We have used a lot of synergy throughout finding similar shots to use in the ancillary products from the music video- our aim to show the difference of lifestyle was reflected by the locations we was in. we used the cable scenes through the music video and again in contrast to the gritty locations of the estates that he raps in. In our digipak we were able to find different pictures of the artist, in the same settings which showed synergy throughout the three products. There were a lot of close ups used throughout the music video which we also showed in the digipak, as we showed our artist on the front cover in a close up which was important to show his mode of address, which reflects what we expect to see in the rest of the digipak, and gives him a certain representation. We also used the background images in the estates for the background of the CD along with the typography used on the front cover of the digipak, spine and the magazine cover.
Shots from music video: In the estates compared to on the cable cars in London, I t shows a clear contrast between lifestyles of those in estates to those thriving to lead a different lifestyle.
Scenes from the music studio in the video, and the front cover of the digipak is pictured in the same setting.
Mode of Address •
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Our focus concerning the mode of address of our artist was angry and intimidating, as the storyline of the video was that he had become successful but still had people in his past trying to talk to him, which can be relatable to some people. It can show the feeling s of those who are moving away from the gang culture that the grime music genre can represent. We showed this clearly through all three products, by body language and how he acted the part of the artist, and engaging the lyrics. The scenery definitely helped to form the mode of address of the artist, and filming in the night showed that the artist was attempting to be more intimidating, and also the weather played a big part in making the mode of address looking more moody, and mundane, which added to representation of the artist, through use of locations. In all pictures used in the ancillary products our artist looks quite angry, which mirrors the message of the song, and music video which then sets the tone of what to expect in the rest of the digipak. Another thing we paid attention to was the song titles of other songs for the rest of the digipak, and also the title of the album, we chose ‘The Next step’ as a title as it matches the theme of the song in the music video. It connotes the fact that the artist is trying to make it out of the lifestyle he is use to living, and trying to become more successful in his career, this could mean trying to appeal to a more mainstream audience, and still relating to real life. Some of the songs on the back cover include titles like: Just Begun, On My Way and Moving On.
Representation of Artist •
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When representing the artist we had to make sure that the costumes represented the character and the target audience. This was shown with the use of big branded clothes and very casual everyday clothing, seen worn on the girl in the second verse, this is what makes it relatable and marketable to the target audience, as this is a scenario, that could be related to anyone in the same position of the artist. Also the typography was important as it represented the genre of music and the artist, as we can associate the graffiti style with gangs, grime music, and working class areas, which is exactly what our artist represents. We have used it in both ancillary products for continuity, and synergy throughout the texts and helps emphasis the representation of the artist. The casting of the artist, shows the representation of the grime music genre and a reflection of the target audience. a conventional grime video would use a black teenaged male, which is what we thought was important to choose. We also looked at camera language in other grime/UK rap videos, to look at the shots used to represent the artist, such as close up long shots and high an low angles. A lot of the time the long shots used are to show the location of the video, which represents the area the artist is from, as most rappers talk about their own experiences it is an important feature to include as it gives a better image of what the artist is about, which is why it was important to emphasis it in all three texts.
The ancillary texts can highlight the typography used, which helps represent the artist in a certain way, we used the same style to show continuity throughout the different products, and the girl we casted wore normal casual clothes which helps relate to a female target audience as this is similar to something they would wear.
Themes •
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There were several themes used in the video, and ancillary products. We thought location was most important and this is reflected in the video, as there is a comparison between different areas. There are shots of run down council estates in contrast to shots of canary wharf ,the view over London from the cable cars, and the O2. It was important for this to be a running theme, as it could relate to the target audience who live in London so would relate to the iconic areas in which we filmed, the run down estates could also relate to an audience who may live in those types of areas across London, and are aware of grime music and artists. It was important that we achieved a believable location for the music video, to make it conventional to the genre. In the ancillary products it was important to show a variety of locations, and so when filming different shots in different areas, I made sure that I took pictures that we could use this would help create synergy throughout the three products and emphasise the theme of different urban locations. Another theme we felt was seen throughout the music video and other ancillary products was a British Social realism appeal. We tried to choose a song that could be related to an audience member, we also pick quite run down areas and chose to edit our pictures for our ancillary products in dark colours. While doing our research we looked at both professional and amateur videos to look at different camera shots and angles typically used in grime videos to recreate the same style . In particular we thought handheld footage would work best at the end even though we didn’t intend to do that in the planning stages. While editing we found that just having the still shots didn’t make the video as upbeat as it could be so we knew that handheld would work for our music video, as it makes it look intentionally amateur.
As you can clearly see here the themes of location is highlighted throughout the different products and all synergise . You can also see that the areas we chose coincide with the idea of British social realism, such as the estates, also his mode of address and costume add to the British social realism theme.