Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (Jessica Daykin)

The elements from the designs of professional CD covers and website is that we used similar fonts for both our website and CD, which kept with continuity between the two. We chose the font from ‘dafont.com’ because it allowed us to select a range of fonts that we felt linked well with the band in which we were promoting. With the images, we chose to use photos of the band because the genre of music that the band falls into is pop/indie. In pop music the images that we see on the covers of the CD or on the website is the artist/band. On the cover of our digipak we chose to have an image of the band all together. With the website, the bands official website they don’t have any photos of them on the front page. However, as we wanted to keep with a continuity theme we chose to have images of the band on the front page of the website because we had images of the band on the front of the CD cover. Originally we had an idea of having images that were a ‘stand-out moment’ in the music video such as the animation of the band in Lego. We were going to put the Lego version of the band either on the inside cover of the digipak or the actual CD, after seeing someone’s previous work in which they used the head of Lego character and put it on top of a member from the band. 

There were pieces that we didn’t use; one of them was the blog posts that the band had been posting. These were on the front page of the website, to show fans what the band were currently up to, telling them about events and news related to the band. On our website instead of having a bit with blog posts of the band, we chose to have a twitter feed. This twitter feed just showed a live commentary of what the band were tweeting, in some ways it is still like the blog posts however instead of it being separate from the information they put on twitter, the information they share will be on twitter and that would be shown on the website. Another element that the band used was having a section that played the bands music whenever someone clicked on a particular song of theirs. This is something that we didn’t include as the website we designed was mainly centred around the band and the music video.


On the front page of our website there is a link to the music video which is the product that we were trying to sell and promote. There is a continuity theme that we attempted to keep throughout both the website and the digipak; this was by using the same or similar images. For example, some of the images that appear on the digipak may also appear on the website. Another thing we tried to do with the digipak and website was by using images that promote the band i.e. images in which we can see each of the members of the band. By doing this we target the audience that this band is aimed at (Teens/Young Adults, 60% Female/40%Male, Indie/Pop.

Not only did we use similar images to that of the bands website to promote both the digipak and the website but we also used similar fonts. The font that we used was similar to that of the bands which we wanted to try and replicate because it’s a font that can be identified as being a particular font for the band.

This is the website for Florence and the Machine; the way in which this artist is being promoted is by the use of bright colours which is what people recognise as being something that Florence Welch wears.

 

Even though the colour scheme that we used compared with the colour scheme that this website has used they is a contrast, we have used darker colours whereas they have used brighter colours.

 
Compared with the website that we made there are some similarities, for example, we both have included images of the artist that we are trying to promote. There is also links to various social networking sites that are other ways to promote the artist/band. Another similarity is that they both have a link to the music video that is their latest single that they want to promote.

For the digipak Florence and the Machine have images that include Florence Welch and also images of lungs. The reason for the images of the lungs is because that is what the name of the album is called. The images of Florence Welch are there to promote her as the artist whose album it is.

 On the front of the digipak they both include an image of the artist/band. This is to attract their targeted audience by allowing people to see more clearly whose album it is. However, the Florence and the Machine CD cover include images of the title of the CD whereas ours just includes a collection of images of the band.

The font that we used for both our digipak and website is a bold, clear font that can be identified easily as being the font for our chosen band. However with Florence and the Machines font it looks more to be handwritten, which is a consistent theme on both the digipak and website.

The way in which we have kept a clear image and theme throughout our promotion of the band is by trying to keep a continuity flow throughout the whole video, digipak and website. One of the ways we have done this is by using images of the band that have been taken in the locations in which the filming was set in, i.e. the field.

The website, CD cover and video are interrelated as they are all trying to promote the band’s music and the ‘It Gets Better’ song. By doing this we tried to keep with a consistent theme of using the same colour scheme, costumes that the band are wearing are all similar, and also the band can be clearly identified.

The purpose that the website, CD cover and video all share is to promote the band’s music and to target and attract their targeted audience. We wanted to do this by using a colour scheme that is relatable to the genre of music that this band is known to produce (indie/pop) and also the costumes that they wear are easy to identify as being part of that particular genre.




This shot shows the entire band performing.

 The lego was going to feature on the CD cover, but we late changed that idea but still kept them in the music video.

 We wanted to have a mid/close up of the members of the band, this is the singer and guitarist.

 This is a midshot  of the drummer.

 This is a mid/close-up of the singer. The reason why the background is different to that of the one with the band members who are playing an instrument is because the mid/close-up shots of just the singer we felt we not good enough and so we re-shot them.

 Mid shot of the guitarist and the drummer.

 This is the lego version of the guitarist.

This is a mid/close-up of the character who is part of the narrative.

 This is a close-up of one of the drums. We did close-ups of the band playing instruments as the band are known for playing their own instruments, so we wanted to portray that in the music video.





By Jessica Daykin