Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Combining a music video, digipak and magazine advert as an overall package.

Part of the brief for this course was to make a combined package involving a music video with two ancillary texts - a digipak and a magazine advert. From this we understood that the three products needed to be linked in some way to show that they are an overall package and not simply three separate products. 

One of the first points I would like to make however, is that the three wouldn't necessarily be linked for real world products. That isn't to say they never would be as there would of course be times when this would be appropriate, but it isn't something that happens every time one is released. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case, with probably the main reason been that they wouldn't necessarily all be produced by the same production company. In modern days it is probably actually more likely that they will use separate production companies for at least one of the products.

As our brief stated that we were to make the three products a combination, it is also important to talk about how and why we would go about doing this. As a group we decided on common themes that we wanted to run throughout the three products. These will be discussed below. Following this we need to find ways to implement them into each of our products in some way. Some of these ideas were designed to be quite obvious while others more subtle. It was the intention that these subtle similarities would still be apparent to our target audience however. 


The combination of our music video, digipak and magazine advert.

By the brief we knew that we had to make our products as an overall package, however how we did this was down to us. I will now discuss how we created each as part of the package, followed by how we also kept them as separate pieces of work.


Similarities:

Focus on the 'Muse Nerd'

Gaming Aspect: Gaming is a huge part of our video and this is reflected in each of our products. Throughout the video we have tried to incorporate clips of the muse nerd playing on computer games, in particular "Mass Effect". This is to help show his isolation from society and emphasise his weakness in the real physical world in comparison to the power he shows in the gaming world. For our digipak we have used a screenshot from the game for each of the outer panels, the front panel also including an avatar from the game. We have also tried to include a screenshot in our magazine advert to link in with the gaming and sci-fi aspect, something which is common for our band.
Focus on the 'muse nerd' protagonist: Throughout the package we have tried to keep the focus on our protagonist who is the 'muse nerd'. This is clear and was quite easy to portray throughout the video when he is the only character featured regularly (in the narrative scenes). He also features on the back panel of the digipak. The reason we wanted to keep focus on him was to try and make the audience/fans of the band relate to the character and build some sort of affiliation towards him.

Lonely Protagonist

Loneliness: This is also featured throughout our whole package, although in different ways. In the video alone we show the protagonist's loneliness in multiple ways. We show him walking around and in secluded scenes alone, as well as playing computer games and scenes where he is surrounded by people, yet sat alone and reading a magazine. In our digipak his loneliness and isolation is signified through the vast open space in the background and the fact there is nobody else in the image. The sci-fi image on the magazine ad and again the hugely open space is also showing the characters isolation.
Muse: Obviously the band 'Muse' are a major part of each of our products, with the name and logo appearing on the digipak and magazine ad, with a number of posters, CD's and magazines featuring the band seen throughout the video.
Fonts: We have tried to keep some continuity between the magazine ad and the digipak by using the same fonts for the writing on both.
New media/Social Networking: On the digipak and the magazine ad we have included the Facebook logo, Twitter logo, QR codes and logos/links.


Differences:
Format: Each of our products is using a different format with one being a music video, one being a digipak and one being a magazine advert.
Digipaks in our video: We have used a number of different digipaks in our video, not all of them from the band 'Muse' or the Alternative Rock genre.
Locations: We have used a number of different locations throughout our music video, with separate locations being used for the magazine advert and the digipak.
Track-listing and Tour Dates: On our digipak we have used track-listing on the back panel, whereas for the magazine advert we have included tour dates.
Target Audiences: While the overall package is targeted at a Primary target audience of 15-24 year olds, the magazine ad could appear in a number of different magazines (the average gaming age is mid 30s to early 40s and so could appear in a magazine aimed at that age range, whilst it could also appear in a music magazine aimed at a youth audience) meaning we could use each product to target different audiences.


Overall summary.
As an overall package I think the products work well together; the blend of similarities and differences, potential target audiences and designs make for an interesting combination. Whilst they are all very different in themselves, there are also quite subtle links to tie them together as well as the blatant similarities such as the band and their logo. Added together and it is clear that they are linked as a trio, but they aren't so similar that they are boring and identical. They also successfully portray a number of themes that we wanted to include in each of them, something that we were aiming for for most of the project and that I feel we have achieved.