A2 Media Coursework

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

The combination of my main and ancillary texts I feel work together well, as the magazine advert reflects the ragdoll being part of the music video, and the digipak shows the importance of the music and song, as it showcases the piano and artist in the digipak. For the ancillary products, I used other real media products to influence my decisions and creative ideas. For example, I took inspiration from the music video of ‘Her Morning Elegance’ by Oren Lavie, to use stop motion in my media product. I also analysed magazine adverts and digipaks for artists who belong to the singer/songwriter genre, such as Adele, Birdy and Ben Howard, to influence me in my decisions. A motif of a cartoon ragdoll was used on all media products to create a sense of familiarity for the audience and give them something to recognise when the media products were promoted. Also, the motif is important as the ragdoll is one of the main aspects of the music video. For the magazine advert, we decided to subvert the typical conventions of the singer/songwriter genre. For example, instead of the having photography of the artist in a monochrome effect like other real media products, there is an image of a ragdoll with her dress, eyes and lips in colour. This highlights the importance of the ragdoll, as it is one of the main aspects of the music video, and also gives a sense of ambiguity. The typography used for the artists’ name is quite graceful and elegant, reflecting the style of music she plays. The font also creates a signifier as it used in a cross media campaign to create familiarity. On the magazine poster, I included a picture of the digipak in the bottom left corner to show what the digipak cover will look like and linking the two together.

The digipak is in monochrome and this conforms to the typical conventions of the genre. It includes photography of the artist, the piano and displays the motif of the cartoon ragdoll on the front and back, enforcing a cross media campaign. The typography is the same for the artist and title of the song, and on the back of the digipak, the font is the same as the title of the song, as this was more effective and fit with childlike theme of the album titled ‘ragdoll’. The photography showcases the instrument that the artist plays, and this conforms to the genre conventions as artists of the singer/songwriter genre tend to be seen playing their own instruments.

Since doing my star image research, I learned how important it is to showcase the artist and the different ways it is done. For example, I posted my digipak and magazine advert on social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook and my music video on YouTube, as my target audience are users of social media and use the internet regularly. I used these websites as many musicians do the same to create promotional campaign.