Media question 2

Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?

Digi-pakI think my digipak goes really well with the theme of both my website and music video. This is mainly because I followed my black/white theme throughout all my products. My digipak relates to the style of my music video, because of the gothic colours used. I also used some pictures from the actual music video and website gallery to make my digipak as recognizable as possible. The front cover of my digipak is all about selling my artist as well as the album as well, so I kept the same theme. The picture I used for the front of my album cover is also displayed on the homepage of my website, I did this because if people see the album, and website, they will instantly know that the album is for that exact website and they can buy it. I chose to focus the smile of Xander, and to focus his face and soften everything else. I used the same font on my digipak cover as I used on the website to make it more memorable. Because our target audience is 17-30 we had to focus on that and make it suitable for our audience. By putting the logo onto a page on my digipak meant that it could connect with the website, because I also have the same logo on my website. Xander’s image is really confident and friendly, as well ad unique. We wanted his unique personality to stand out on all of our products. I made sure Xander’s personality was shown through the website and digipak. His star image is creative and different. There are many shots in the music video of Xander’s teeth, and lips. This is another reason why I chose a picture of him smiling, to remind people he is a friendly artst who is proud to be his very own person. To keep his unusual image going I added shots from the music video, the strange ones. On my website I have made it very easy for people to see my digipak, as it is displayed on my homepage. I made a friendly comment as part of my digipak to reach my audiences expectations. Xander’s image is supposed to be artistic and fun. I made sure he looked friendly on my digipak and website. For my website I made friendly titles and headings that will keep the fans engaged.

I used a lot of images of the artist for the digipak to sell the star.Our artists confidence is shown through the diigipak, and website, and especially the music video so this all connects. I wanted to make the artist come across as emo, this is why he has flicky hair in all of the pictures. I want teenage boys to look up to Xander, so I gave him a ambitious stare. I also want females to be attracted to him as well, this is why I edited the photographs to look charming.

Website

Throughout my website I have various images of the artist. There is also a huge link between him and the fans through social networking. The website has all my products on. For example the album is displayed on the homepage, music page, and competition page. The music video is also on my homepage. The website is made and designed to sell them products, and the artist as a whole. The images work really well together, and the colour scheme works well together. The background of my website is white, this is similar to the background colour in my music video. The website is very similar to my other two products. The merch page on my website is important as you can buy T-shirts,bags,cups etc, and they have a logo or picture on them that relates to my digipak. The website and digipak both follow the black and white colour scheme I came up with.

I repeated images throughout my product because the more you see a image the more noticeable it gradually becomes. On my website there is a track list with the track names that are also on the back of the album. This helps build a wider audience and give fans what they want. I uploaded my album and music video on the homepage AND music page on my website. I did this so that they are easier to find, as they are important products that need to stand out. The out now poster on my website represents the album so that people will want to buy it. The website is useful for both the digipak and music video, because it is a way of advertising them and getting a greater audience.

The website is also helpful, as there is a competition page where the audience can win the album. This is an advantage to the digipak because it will increase the amount of sales. The website is a mixture of black, white and grey and they are all relatable to the style of the music video.

The website is similar to my other products. The teaser pictures are to suit my target audience which is 17-30.

Music video

During the music video the pace changes a lot, and so does the editing. The main Product has influenced what the others will look like. I didn’t want the ancillary products to not relate to the main product so instead I made sure they did. I made them both connect with the music video. Xander the artist appears in all the products so it is easier to remember the artist. The design of all products fit will together and all give off the same messages and persona about our artist. Xander. All music videos are structured differently from one another. Our music video doesn’t follow any rules as it is made in a unique way. It doesn’t have a equilibrium. Our music video is mainly performance, and some music videos are edited to show more performance, and we followed this idea because we wanted our star to get involved as much as possible. Our music video is all about promoting our star.

However the main kind of music video usually has an equal amount of narrative as well as performance too. Our music video breaks this common rule, which isn’t a bad thing. The camera work is focused mainly on the action, like usual music videos that you see on TV. This will make our music video liked, because we are giving them everything that they want. Our music video has a lot of flashy cuts to suit the beat of the music, which follows the conventions of real music videos. Our audience wouldn’t want a boring simple edited music video with no effort put into it, so we took our time to make the editing perfect.

Our music video is structured pretty much like a fast cutted montage. My music video is edited with quite a fast pace. We used vernallis’s editing ideas by using lots of shots of close-ups of the artist and fast cuts. We also used Goodwin’s idea of notion of looking all the way through our music video, the whole way through there are sexual fragmented shots in our music video.

AudienceOur target audience are people in their late teens, and adults aged from 17-30. Our target audience gender is both female and male. Although we expect more females to enjoy our music video easier. Our audience can come from any background and doesn’t have to have a particular nationality or life style. I believe most people who enjoy Electro-house music videos will enjoy our music video. Older teenagers and adults who like a bit of fun and voyeurism with excitement will also want to watch our video. Those who’d rather performance based music videos will probably get more pleasure from watching our music video. But mainly people in university, working or in school will probably watch our music video. Also, mainly people who enjoy creativity, having a little fun, being abstract and artistic will like our video more. People who wear make-up , maybe of both genders. I’m thinking more of the rocker/gothic/emo styled people will like our video best out of everyone, which is fine. This is what we took into account when designing my digipak, and my website. This is why I decided to stick with the black/white theme for my digipak. As it relates perfectly well with the style and colour of the music video. People who like gothic things, rather than clourful, who enjoy dark things will prefer our products which is fine, as we’d like to attract that kind of audience, obviously as well as a more wider variety too.

Access to products

It is very easy for the audience to access my products. The website has enabled the target audience to get easier access to all of our products. On the homepage of the website I have the music video, and the digipak both very visible on the homepage of my website. The album has “buy now” under it so that the audience can buy the album as soon as they get onto the first page of the website.

The store is also shown on the homepage showing what the merch looks like so that people know what sort of things they can buy on the website. Also on the music page there is the list of tracks on the album, as well as the album on sale again. There is also the latest music video out, which allows the audience to get as much access to our products as they like.

On the competition page, there again is a competition that the fans can win the latest album. There are just so many ways that the audience can access all of our products. I made sure it was easy for the audience to be able to buy what they want, and see what they want when getting onto my artist website.

The merch again is another few products that I have made myself and put onto the website, on a separate merch page, and also onto the homepage too. Through the website, the audience have very easy access to my products made.

Presentation of artist

As you can see there are many close-up shots of our artist singing. He takes up most of the camera space. We even got extremely close to his face, for example the shot of his lips and teeth above. Our main artist Xander is presented as confident,unique and gothic. The main artist has an unusual appearance to normal people you would be used to seeing in a music video. His hair is really long for a guy. Our artist is presented as a very proud individual. Xander’s videos are all about fun and giving out a certain message to people/somebody. The main audience of the music video is the female actress (the one he is seeing about). Obviously, made for our target audience to also enjoy as well. Also our artist seems quite mysterious and strange, which is something a lot of people would be able to relate to him for. A lot of people are unique and would love to stand out, and in this music video our artist gets a chance to show his unusual qualities. Our main artist has all the power and authority in the music video, as he is always giving the audience direct address towards the camera, almost like looking into their eyes and connecting with them. In some shots, the main artist leans further in towards the camera, to allow the audience to get a full shot of the main star and what he looks like. You can tell our main artist isn’t a show off or anything, because he doesn’t have much mise-en-scene. This is because we focused more on the face of the artist, making it more memorable. Our artist also comes across as friendly towards his fans. The website and digipak shows this. That is why they connect so well with the music video.

Maintaining artist and expectations

Ancillary tasks: When I am searching online looking at a website, I usually expect a competition page, a gallery with interesting pictures, a good merch, a complete full homepage, and a way to contact the artist. By making a really friendly easy competition page on my website I will reach my fans expectations. On the contact me page it is very simple and friendly, the picture he is holding a teddy bear, and it gives off a really friendly impression which fits in with our fans expectations. Also I chose the best pictures for our gallery. For my merch I made a number of different items, to also beat the fan expectations. On my digipak on a page I wrote a description from the artist, this matches well with his politeness towards his fans on the website I made as well. On the homepage of my website there are pictures of fan art that people have drawn for the artist, and an email to allow fans to send him anything they want. This has made a strong connection with the artist and the audience.

For my music video all the shots of the artist fufills the expectations of the audience. Another thing that does is the voyeurism, and editing in time with the beat.