Similarities Between a Similar Artist's Digipaks and My Print Productions

One of the digipaks from similar artists which I examined when researching and planning my print productions was #3 by The Script. I am going to examine the similarities between my print productions is their current state and this digipak from a similar artist (a boy band, with songs that fit into the pop genre).

Both my digipak and the digipak for #3 by The Script use black and white images to make the digipak stand out from the standard pop genre digipak, while still conforming to pop genre conventions that enable it to be identified as pop music. The focus on the band and their image is perhaps the most significant pop genre convention used, as the artist and their image is a massive part of how popular, loved, and successful an artist becomes.

The front panel of my digipak

The front panel of the digipak for #3 by The Script

Every part of my print productions uses the main performer - the boy - as the main focus as he is the human symbol associated with the brand. Similarly, the digipak uses the artist as the main focus by blending the three members of the boy band, The Script, into a human shape that is the sole focus - excluding the logos or the artist and album name - of the front panel of the digipak.

The artistic look of both digipaks is also a way in which they are related. The paintbrush-like effect I have used on the image, and its integration with the graffiti in the background, emphasises the unique nature of it. The front panel of the digipak for #3 by The Script uses the way it integrates the images of the three band members together as its way of attracting its target audience - teenagers, mainly female, who will likely enjoy some forms of art - using creativity. The coat of the band member on the far right (Mark Sheehan) is faded into that of the largest - and most famous - band member (Danny O'Donoghue) to create an interesting effect that resembles scales on O'Donoghue's neck.

So, both of these digipaks use creative techniques, such as black and white and other artistic effects, such as the way text and image integrate together, to make them stand out from the competition in their genre while still conforming to genre conventions, such as the focus on the artist, to make them immediately identifiable with the pop genre.

How the Music Video for Hall of Fame Featuring will.i.am Relates

to the Respective Digipak

The image shown below is the front panel of the digipak for the single Hall of Fame featuring will.i.am. This song is part of the album #3, mentioned above.

Once again, you can see the stylish, creative design. The aspect I would like to focus on is how this digipak is connected to the respective music video, shown underneath the image of the front panel of the digipak.

Both of these products focus heavily on the artist, with the artist being the primary focus of the front panel of the digipak and there being many performance shots of the band members (including will.i.am). This shows both of the products conforming to the pop genre conventions I mentioned previously in this post. The pop genre conventions shared by all of these products link them together and allow them to work more effectively as a whole.

Both products also emphasise the message of being dedicated to your aspirations in life - the confetti-like effect on the front panel of the digipak is a strong link to the confetti shown for the ballerina who has achieved her dream at the end of the music video. The band members (including will.i.am) are always shown in a strong, positive way too. For example, when they sing in the performance shots, they are regularly shown in close-up shots, and the focus of the front panel of the digipak is Danny O'Donoghue's face. The fact that O'Donoghue is the most famous member of The Script, partly due to his role as a judge on the TV show the Voice UK, is not a coincidence - by focusing on the most recognisable member of the band, they emphasise the generic pop convention of focusing on the artist, who is often the biggest part of marketing the product(s). Once again, using the same techniques in more than one product concerning the track itself - in this case, the music video and the digipak - emphasises these techniques and makes them work more effectively. This is a technique used for my own range of products concerning my chosen track, Tonight I Let You Go by The Colours.

Provisionally Finished Print Productions

Below I have shown the provisional final designs for my print productions: the digipak and the magazine advert. 

Digipak:

Panel 1:

Panel 2:

Panel 3:

Panel 4:

Magazine Advert:

Evaluation: Question 2: How Effective is the Combination of your Main Product with Ancillary Texts?

(IMAGES TO BE ADDED)

The way that my main product (my music video) and ancillary texts are related and influence one another is crucial to their effectiveness. I will split my answer to this question into two parts: how my main product combines with my digipak, and how my main product combines with my magazine advert.

Digipak:

The main theme of my music video was experiencing a journey, and I have tried to replicate this in my digipak as it is the main focus of the narrative of my music video - and subsequently the central theme of the overall brand I have created. Each panel shows important stages of the narrative which is linked to the concept of a journey punctuated with flashbacks which are shown with the use of black and white. When viewed as a whole, these four panels show the journey of the main performers character from regretful and begrudging to responsible and kind. The types of shots throughout these four panels also show this change. The first two shots (walking past the garages and exiting the house) are medium or long shots, at either his height or a high angle (which makes him appear weak and vulnerable). The second two shots (train and walking through the city to the girls' house) are close ups and are either at his height or a low angle (which makes him appear strong and confident). This emphasises the focus on a journey in both my music video and digipak, and this link strengthens that theme.

Just like the music video, there are transitions from black and white to colour in my digipak. In the music video, these are used for both flashbacks and a possible reference to a dream-like state. The transition is only used once in my digipak, as the first panel is mainly black and white and the second panel shows the change from black and white to colour when the boy leaves his house in my music video. As with the journey aspect of my music video, this link between the music video and the digipak - an ancillary text - improves the effectiveness of this aspect.

The image on the second panel of my digipak uses a particularly striking shot. This image, as aforementioned, is taken from the part of my music video where the boy leaves his house and there is a cross-fade from black and white to colour. The still I used shows the black and white image of the boy going left, towering over the image of the boy in colour. This shot implies a dream-like state more than most other shots in my music video (the circular shot of the boy in bed used in my music video is also very effective). This merging of dream and reality adds mystery to the music video and my digipak - what is real? This ties into the last paragraph, and helps to create a recurring motif, a topic inspired by Goodwin, that is associated with the brand.

Another aspect of Goodwin's theory that is used to increase the effectiveness of the music video and digipak as a combined whole is the focus on the male performer. The performer is the focus of all four digipak panels, and is also heavily focused on in nearly every shot of my music video. This focus is never transformed into a negative, voyeuristic focus, but is used as a way of creating a human figure that will be immediately recognised as the main symbol that represents the brand. This also fits into the genre's (pop) conventions, as in the pop genre the artist, or main human representative, is often a large part of the marketing and success of the brand. For example, the name "Britney Spears" is a bigger brand than her songs on their own. Likewise, the character of the main performer is a bigger representative of my brand than the songs themselves.

The graphic design used for the logos, text, and other effects in my digipak are also related to the themes of my music video. The front panel, for example has an artistic effect that makes it look like the image was painted. This, combined with the font for most of the text that I have chosen - which I have also constructed to look like it was hand-made with a paintbrush/artistic techniques - constructs a very artistic and creative feel. The font used here was found by trying to make the name of the album - Tonight - match the style of the graffiti in the background, so that the name of the album appears like graffiti on the garages behind the boy. This artistic font was then used throughout my ancillary texts - except from the logo for The Colours, which is different to make it stand out - so that it was associated with the brand. In the music video itself, I also tried to create an artistic feel by using a variety of techniques - the walking theme, the dream-like mechanic, the traffic and traffic lights, the flashbacks, the lyric cards, and the montage. This creative link binds the music video and the digipak together, and creates a clear bond between the two that relates them. 

Leading on from this, the use of colour on panel 1 of my digipak is a link to both my music video and its genre. To begin with, I used only black and white on panel 1 of my digipak to emphasise the distinctively stylish look, but after much discussion with my class and tutor, I decided to change the logo of the band - The Colours - to a design that reflected the genre of the music video more effectively. The use of a bright pink colour - like on the HMV logo, which is a symbol of a brand that has a large focus on pop music - and a font similar to the logos for similar artists such as Coldplay and Lady Gaga relates my digipak to my music video through genre conventions and therefore a similar target audience of teenagers that are attracted by these forms and conventions.

The lyric cards were also represented in the digipak, as I used effects (another link to the theme of creativity) on rectangular shapes to make them look like 3D objects - lyric cards. I used these lyric cards as a means of putting the track list on my digipak, and this resulted in something more than just a simple track list, as the track list had a direct link to the music video and the brand. The lyric cards are a very recognisable part of the brand, as they are used in the music video, the digipak, and the magazine advert - they are used in the main product and both of the ancillary texts.

Overall, my main product - the music video - and the ancillary text that is my digipak are very strongly linked by the recurring themes that are present in each product.

Magazine Advert:

My magazine advert also uses the themes of the brand to increase its effectiveness. However  the themes are represented slightly differently.

I mentioned in my analysis of the combination of my music video and digipak that lyric cards were a large theme of the brand. In my magazine cover, this is shown as the A4 Magazine cover uses the image of the boy standing by a red postbox - a cultural signifier - with lyric cards as its main focus. There are other large connotations in this image, with the iconic look of the boy and the other cultural signifier of the fence and bush that connotes the contemporary estate. The boy is, as ever, the main focus as he is the figure that is associated with the brand.

I have mentioned previously that this focus on a representative figure is a pop genre convention. For this reason, the magazine advert would appear in magazines such as Top of the Pops of We Love Pop. These magazines are heavily focused on the pop genre and, as you can see by these images of the front covers, heavily focus on the artists rather than the actual music. My magazine advert would fit in well in one of these magazines, as it is different and intriguing enough to stand out, but the focus on the character of the boy - the representative figure of the brand - would ensure that the magazine advert fitted in well.

The lyric card being shown in this image is the lyric card showing the word Tonight. This acts as the logo for the album itself in this image, and this creative and unusual way of showing the album name relates to the theme of creativity I mentioned earlier in this post. The same font has been used for the text in the corner of the magazine cover, and white text is used to stand out on the black and white background. This is another example of the recurring creative theme being used for my magazine advert.

As for the music video and digipak, black and white is used to create a dream-like image. The majority of the magazine cover is black and white so that the magazine cover fits the dream-like theme that is used regularly in both my main product and ancillary texts.

Furthermore, just like on panel 1 of my digipak (I discussed this earlier in the post), I changed the logo for The Colours from black and white to a bright pink colour. The effect of this on my magazine advert is similar to the effect is had on my digipak, in that it connects the magazine cover - the ancillary text - to the music video - the main product - through a sharing of forms and conventions of the pop genre and the target audience of teenagers.

In summary, the magazine advert uses many of the same core themes that the main product - the music video - and the other ancillary text - the digipak - use. This strengthens the connection between these three products, and creates a strong brand image that optimises the effectiveness of both the main product and the ancillary texts.