Q2:How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I believe my combination of my ancillary texts and main product are very effective in catching the viewers attention and also portraying the message I was so desperate to portray. I believe this because I used similar features to the official Avicii digipaks, magazine adverts and music videos which therefore meant the effectiveness and professionalism of it was very high. Examples of these could be the locations used all the way to the fonts seen on Avicii’s official products. This creates a continuous theme running throughout my designs and official final products as it can help create an individual brand image for the artist which therefore helps them become more recognisable. The consistency of similar objects and themes running throughout helps build up a niche audience that he hasn’t already attracted. This means that Avicii will have a wider target audience and fan base. Whilst I was wanting to subvert the codes and conventions of the genre, more specifically the locations, I still included some that are similar to Avicii. Examples of these would be the beach, countryside and mountainous areas which can all be found in many different Avicii Music Videos. Not only does this help tie in the theme of adventure, it also re-attracts the co-existing mainstream audience again as it is in some ways similar to Avicii’s real music videos.
One way in which my combination of my main product and ancillary texts are connected and effective is through the use of visual codes. The main repetitive theme running throughout my final products is the theme of adventure. This is because I believe the theme links to the lyrics of the song I chose (Without You – Avicii) and could therefore create a very successful as well as conventional music video. It would also be in some ways new to the genre, or most certainly to Avicii, as the majority of his music videos today follow a storyline and only very few follow an adventurous theme. Consistency of the theme was key throughout the music video and ancillary tasks as Burton stated that there’s an audience for specific products, as they go out of their way to engage with the media, due to knowing the conventions of the genre in which they like. Therefore, my conventions of my digipak, music video and music magazine advert have to meet those codes and conventions with the reoccurring theme of adventure throughout. Therefore the consistency of visual codes results in professionalism as it ensures a secure audience base due to similar interests being shown throughout all tasks. The colour scheme between my digipak, magazine advert and music video all varied as with each piece, I wanted to be original and go against what the majority of artists in the EDM genre do today. So instead of going for a bright and colourful digipak, I decided against that and went for a dark with minimal bright colouring as I believed it would be more eye catching and would also help me portray the original ideas I had in mind. This has proven to be very successful as the feedback I have had from each different final product has mainly been very positive and stated that my work is subverting a few of the codes and conventions meaning my original twist are working in an effective and successful way.
The layout of my ancillary tasks can be seen as simple but effective. The fact that they are clean yet show a range of professionalism highlights the idea of how easy it really is to enjoy life and go out and explore. Much like my theme throughout. Due to my target audience being aged between 13-20, I varied in the use of colour mainly because at different ages, people would be into different colours and themes. This meant that there are colours suited and related to every age in my target audience further meaning everyone can relate on similar levels. Due to my target audience being able to relate in some way or another with my ancillary tasks, this meant that my age range could vary even more widening the target audience even more and slowly build up a niche target audience. However, with every piece of work I do, I always look back on it and see a variety of areas I could improve. One of these areas would be the fonts I used. Throughout all my tasks, I varied in fonts used meaning there isn’t much of a link between the tasks on that level. So if I was to redo this, I would ensure I used the same fonts throughout to make sure that no matter what, in some way, everything links. Looking back at my music video, I would also include the artists name ‘Avicii’ in the opening sequence along with the pan of the logo to remind the audience of who the artist behind the song was.