EVALUATION QUESTION 2

Evaluation question 2

How effective is the combination of your

main product and ancillary texts?

There are very certain, subtle themes that I used through both

the ancillary products and the music video. My entire project

is centered around the theme of winter, and therefore it is

very easy to pick out aspects from both that would make any

listener know that they are from the same line of products.

The only thing I think I could have been more specific on was

the season, the music video was (and had to be) filmed in the

autumn, I think if I had waited until it was really cold and

we could get some real iconography of winter into the music

video the themes would have been way more obvious.

I couldn’t decide whether to use a drawn or

photographed digipak so I decided to create rough

plans of both and use feedback to decide what would be

best. Overall, it was decided that the drawn digipak

and poster was best for the task at hand. This is

because of the sense of innocence it portrays, and the

same sense of innocence is a theme that came back

again and again through audience feedback in my music

video. I’m adorable.

“I like you” is the first song on “the winter EP”, and

I did this deliberately because of is mention of autumn

and the way the lyrics describe the coming of winter.

The music video reflects this through shots of the

autumn leaves and other foliage. I think had I included

a slight narrative this would have been much more

obvious to the viewers and therefore had a better

impact; I think it would have been a nice idea to

include other people in the video!

There are some similarities and differences between my

marketing campaign and a professional one. Laura marling

released her single “Cross your fingers” in June 2008

and used social networking sites such as Facebook and

Twitter in order to market the release. I also used this

tactic - social networking is  the main way of marketing

low-budget products (it costs nothing to start up a band

page!). 

The video, single cover and magazine poster all had an

artsy theme to them. The video was mainly performance

based, but the extra skill where the shots were stop

motioned gave stead to a subtle narrative (and made

parts of the video look drawn, keeping with the theme).

In hindsight I really would have liked to create a

small narrative in my own narrative using similar

methods. (The video link is under this PowerPoint).

Marling drew attention to the release of her debut album by

offering it to her target audience in a "song box" format. This

is a relatively new marketing tool and she was one of the first

to use it, therefore creating even more interested for herself

and the new album. An example is this article by The NME that

explains the process. I didn't use this method to market my own

products, however it's certainly something to think about for

the future. In order to raise awareness for my own product, I

decided to use methods more conventional to theatrical trailers

- I created a teaser music video about 2 weeks before my video

was released in order to create awareness and interest.