I did various different research into existing ancillary texts throughout the year and took ideas from them to create my own professional product. I found it really helpful and made the process a lot easier as it gave me ideas as to what an audience wants and how they want to consume it. This slideshare shows previous research that I did when looking into other ancillary texts and what an audience would want from them.
My second slideshare shows a whole evaluation of specific aspects that answer the question 'How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?'.
Mise-en-scene:
Mise-en-scene that I used played a huge part in creating successful products. Location, props and costume were the main aspects that I felt created a professional product.
I used various locations, Queen's Gardens been the most popular when answered which location was preferred by an audience. I used a shot from the music video on my digipak, as I felt it created links and added to the popularity of the product.
The main prop used throughout the whole music video was the puppet, which the whole narrative revolved around. The puppet created emotional and physical links throughout the music video and helped to build the themes, such as hope, that were present throughout. Not only was the puppet used in the video, but I also interpreted it into the digipak. I felt this created a sense of continuity and linked the products together to a bigger extent.
The costume used throughout the whole video was the same, to create the sense of how the puppeteer didn't feel he was changing or getting more successful when performing. He wore quite quirky clothing that reflected him as an artists and the indie folk genre of music. The bow tie that he wore was quite a cliché item to add, as it's quite reflective of a nerdy type of character.
The artist's clothing changed in the ancillary text to follow conventions as well as keep an audience interested in the product, as I feel it could get quite boring if everything was constantly the same.
Cinematography:
I focused largely on cinematography throughout my music video and ancillary texts, as it's a personal favourite of mine. I tried to interpret the centre shots that I used throughout the music video into my ancillary texts. For example, the shots and position of the artist on the back cover of the digipak was important, as I wanted him to be placed at the side and have the track list next to him. I mainly used close ups and medium close ups for the ancillary texts as this seemed to be more conventional. In the music video I used a lot of long shots and close ups of the puppet as I found this is what an audience wanted to see more of. Audience feedback helped with various drafts of the music video, as they informed me of how they wanted to see more shots of the puppet.
Colour Scheme:
I mentioned colour scheme throughout my powerpoint and it was a great aspect when creating the emotion throughout my music video and ancillary texts. Continuing with the same colour scheme on both the music video, digipak and magazine advert created cohesive products and I feel made them seem more familiar. They helped an audience to link all three products together and made them aware that the products were all combined and actually linked.
I relied largely on the colour scheme to help portray the emotion throughout the music and to help get the messages, values and themes across to an audience. Each colour was an indication of something, like the red representing passion on behalf of the puppeteer.
Target audience response:
My target audience were mainly teenagers and students, who are interested in the indie folk genre. The idea of my music video is quite a young and ambitious one, which may be more appealing to a younger audience. The concept of my narrative also brings in a specific target audience and the fact the song is of the indie folk genre, I aimed towards them. The actor in the music video is a student, which would typically appeal more to that age group. The feedback that I received throughout the whole process of creating my products was mainly from this demographic, which meant I was able to aim it at them more and create products that they would personally like and enjoy.
I created focus group videos that helped me to improve the products and also help me to realise the good and bad aspects of my music video and the ancillary texts. The final responses I received through focus groups from my target audience were quite positive and showed they enjoyed my products.
Theory:
The effectiveness of the combination of my media products relied largely on following up media theory. Meaning the links made to representation, narrative, genre and audience theory between my products.
Representation Theory:
My product goes against Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory to quite a large extent, due to the main issue that my music video has no women in it and a large part of this theory is that women are sexualised (typically by heterosexual men) based on how they are portrayed. Due to the narrative it wouldn't really be possible to sexualise the artist/video as a whole in any way, therefore making it impossible to objectify any aspect. A downside to this theory is that men are also sexualised throughout the media, but I don't feel this complies with my own product, as it's a different and quirky type of video, with no sexualising or attempts of sexualising in order to gain popularity. I feel this relates to my ancillary texts as well, and as a combination, none of my products follow the Male Gaze Theory.
My product partially complies with Richard Dyer's Star Theory as in both my music video and my ancillary texts I have attempted to make the artist more appealing to an audience in order for them to consume what they see. I did construct my own artist to follow conventions of the genre and make him aim for a specific target audience. The theory says that a star isn't an actual person - it is a persona created for the audience to identify with, which I believe to be true. The artist was created to appeal to an audience and to be consumed by them, therefore making him stand out and not necessarily be himself.
I believe the combination of my products are effective due to following specific stereotype rules. Tessa Perkin's says that stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people and the way they look. By creating an artist that follows the stereotypes of a typical quirky, indie folk, musically creative male I was able to make an audience connect and be aware of what the music is about. By following stereotypes on my ancillary texts I was able to automatically get a specific target audience's attention and make them want to see my music video, therefore making the combination of products very effective through the use of stereotypes.
Narrative Theory:
Tim O'Sullivan (1998) believed that all media texts tell us some kind of story and that media reflects culture, but also teaches the audience about themselves. My aim of the music video was to put across a meaningful narrative, that affected the audience in some way. My ancillary texts were also supposed to intrigue and influence an audience. So to a certain extent I believe this theory to be relevant with my own products.
Sven Carlsson (1999) believed that music videos fall into two rough groups, a performance clip and a contextual clip. Carlsson said that the performance aspect can either be song, dance or instrumental. I added a small amount of lip sync to my music video, but not a lot because I wanted it to be more of a narrative than performance. This created a sense of performance, alongside the aspect that within the narrative my artist was performing, therefore creating the concept that the artist was performing, but really it was within a narrative, therefore having both aspects. The idea of the puppet and the puppeteer was to create a new kind of narrative that hasn't really been done before. Narrative music videos are more typically about a boy and girl situation of romance or problems within romance, but I felt that didn't work as well with my song choice. I wanted something quirky, that matched the genre of music and appealed to an audience in a different way. Overall, I believe my music video follows the narrative side of this theory more than the performance as it's a simple story that's easy to follow, and it creates emotion within an audience that they are able to connect to and enjoy.
Genre Theory:
The intention of my music video was to follow the conventions of the indie folk genre, such as costume and narrative structure. Jason Mittell (2001) believes that industries use genre to sell products to audiences and that it also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure. I agree with these statements, as in my music video, digipak and magazine advert I followed specific conventions of the
genre by analysing other products within this genre, in order to understand what my target audience wanted. I feel this specific genre theory is correct, especially when linked to how I went about creating my own products. Aspects such as costume was taken from other music videos within the indie folk genre as I knew that's what was appealing to the audience. Having my artist wear clothes, such as jeans, blazers and a bow tie made him more appealing and more likely to be consumed by an audience. Rick Altman (1999) felt that genre offers an audience a 'set of pleasures', such as emotional, visceral and intellectual. My own products comply to the emotional aspect of this theory, as I originally set out to create products that would make an audience engage and feel emotion for not only the character, but themselves. I personally enjoy this from a narrative and feel an audience are more likely to watch something if they are able to connect with it.
Audience Theory:
Audience theory was quite important to me when creating my products, as I wanted them to be able to connect and understand the narrative within my music video.
Stuart Hall's Reception Theory can be linked greatly to my products as it was important that my message within the music video was spread across to an audience. He states that messages are encoded by a producer, and then decoded by spectators, who either take a dominant reading, a negotiated reading or a oppositional reading. I wanted an audience to interpret the narrative however they wanted so it wasn't a huge aim for them to take a dominated reading and believe the intended messages and values. As long as they got the idea of a struggling performer who was quickly losing hope, like some people do in typical every day life, whether it be through school, college, work, hobbies, or ambitions. Colour scheme (as mentioned earlier) played a huge part in conveying emotions and getting messages across, through my ancillary texts.
Mise-en-scene that I used played a huge part in creating successful products. Location, props and costume were the main aspects that I felt created a professional product.
I used various locations, Queen's Gardens been the most popular when answered which location was preferred by an audience. I used a shot from the music video on my digipak, as I felt it created links and added to the popularity of the product.
The main prop used throughout the whole music video was the puppet, which the whole narrative revolved around. The puppet created emotional and physical links throughout the music video and helped to build the themes, such as hope, that were present throughout. Not only was the puppet used in the video, but I also interpreted it into the digipak. I felt this created a sense of continuity and linked the products together to a bigger extent.
The costume used throughout the whole video was the same, to create the sense of how the puppeteer didn't feel he was changing or getting more successful when performing. He wore quite quirky clothing that reflected him as an artists and the indie folk genre of music. The bow tie that he wore was quite a cliché item to add, as it's quite reflective of a nerdy type of character.
The artist's clothing changed in the ancillary text to follow conventions as well as keep an audience interested in the product, as I feel it could get quite boring if everything was constantly the same.
Cinematography:
I focused largely on cinematography throughout my music video and ancillary texts, as it's a personal favourite of mine. I tried to interpret the centre shots that I used throughout the music video into my ancillary texts. For example, the shots and position of the artist on the back cover of the digipak was important, as I wanted him to be placed at the side and have the track list next to him. I mainly used close ups and medium close ups for the ancillary texts as this seemed to be more conventional. In the music video I used a lot of long shots and close ups of the puppet as I found this is what an audience wanted to see more of. Audience feedback helped with various drafts of the music video, as they informed me of how they wanted to see more shots of the puppet.
Colour Scheme:
I mentioned colour scheme throughout my powerpoint and it was a great aspect when creating the emotion throughout my music video and ancillary texts. Continuing with the same colour scheme on both the music video, digipak and magazine advert created cohesive products and I feel made them seem more familiar. They helped an audience to link all three products together and made them aware that the products were all combined and actually linked.
I relied largely on the colour scheme to help portray the emotion throughout the music and to help get the messages, values and themes across to an audience. Each colour was an indication of something, like the red representing passion on behalf of the puppeteer.
Target audience response:
My target audience were mainly teenagers and students, who are interested in the indie folk genre. The idea of my music video is quite a young and ambitious one, which may be more appealing to a younger audience. The concept of my narrative also brings in a specific target audience and the fact the song is of the indie folk genre, I aimed towards them. The actor in the music video is a student, which would typically appeal more to that age group. The feedback that I received throughout the whole process of creating my products was mainly from this demographic, which meant I was able to aim it at them more and create products that they would personally like and enjoy.
I created focus group videos that helped me to improve the products and also help me to realise the good and bad aspects of my music video and the ancillary texts. The final responses I received through focus groups from my target audience were quite positive and showed they enjoyed my products.
Theory:
The effectiveness of the combination of my media products relied largely on following up media theory. Meaning the links made to representation, narrative, genre and audience theory between my products.
Representation Theory:
My product goes against Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory to quite a large extent, due to the main issue that my music video has no women in it and a large part of this theory is that women are sexualised (typically by heterosexual men) based on how they are portrayed. Due to the narrative it wouldn't really be possible to sexualise the artist/video as a whole in any way, therefore making it impossible to objectify any aspect. A downside to this theory is that men are also sexualised throughout the media, but I don't feel this complies with my own product, as it's a different and quirky type of video, with no sexualising or attempts of sexualising in order to gain popularity. I feel this relates to my ancillary texts as well, and as a combination, none of my products follow the Male Gaze Theory.
My product partially complies with Richard Dyer's Star Theory as in both my music video and my ancillary texts I have attempted to make the artist more appealing to an audience in order for them to consume what they see. I did construct my own artist to follow conventions of the genre and make him aim for a specific target audience. The theory says that a star isn't an actual person - it is a persona created for the audience to identify with, which I believe to be true. The artist was created to appeal to an audience and to be consumed by them, therefore making him stand out and not necessarily be himself.
I believe the combination of my products are effective due to following specific stereotype rules. Tessa Perkin's says that stereotypes are assumptions we make based on groups of people and the way they look. By creating an artist that follows the stereotypes of a typical quirky, indie folk, musically creative male I was able to make an audience connect and be aware of what the music is about. By following stereotypes on my ancillary texts I was able to automatically get a specific target audience's attention and make them want to see my music video, therefore making the combination of products very effective through the use of stereotypes.
Narrative Theory:
Tim O'Sullivan (1998) believed that all media texts tell us some kind of story and that media reflects culture, but also teaches the audience about themselves. My aim of the music video was to put across a meaningful narrative, that affected the audience in some way. My ancillary texts were also supposed to intrigue and influence an audience. So to a certain extent I believe this theory to be relevant with my own products.
Sven Carlsson (1999) believed that music videos fall into two rough groups, a performance clip and a contextual clip. Carlsson said that the performance aspect can either be song, dance or instrumental. I added a small amount of lip sync to my music video, but not a lot because I wanted it to be more of a narrative than performance. This created a sense of performance, alongside the aspect that within the narrative my artist was performing, therefore creating the concept that the artist was performing, but really it was within a narrative, therefore having both aspects. The idea of the puppet and the puppeteer was to create a new kind of narrative that hasn't really been done before. Narrative music videos are more typically about a boy and girl situation of romance or problems within romance, but I felt that didn't work as well with my song choice. I wanted something quirky, that matched the genre of music and appealed to an audience in a different way. Overall, I believe my music video follows the narrative side of this theory more than the performance as it's a simple story that's easy to follow, and it creates emotion within an audience that they are able to connect to and enjoy.
Genre Theory:
The intention of my music video was to follow the conventions of the indie folk genre, such as costume and narrative structure. Jason Mittell (2001) believes that industries use genre to sell products to audiences and that it also allows audiences to make choices about what products they want to consume through acceptance in order to fulfil a particular pleasure. I agree with these statements, as in my music video, digipak and magazine advert I followed specific conventions of the
genre by analysing other products within this genre, in order to understand what my target audience wanted. I feel this specific genre theory is correct, especially when linked to how I went about creating my own products. Aspects such as costume was taken from other music videos within the indie folk genre as I knew that's what was appealing to the audience. Having my artist wear clothes, such as jeans, blazers and a bow tie made him more appealing and more likely to be consumed by an audience. Rick Altman (1999) felt that genre offers an audience a 'set of pleasures', such as emotional, visceral and intellectual. My own products comply to the emotional aspect of this theory, as I originally set out to create products that would make an audience engage and feel emotion for not only the character, but themselves. I personally enjoy this from a narrative and feel an audience are more likely to watch something if they are able to connect with it.
Audience Theory:
Audience theory was quite important to me when creating my products, as I wanted them to be able to connect and understand the narrative within my music video.
Stuart Hall's Reception Theory can be linked greatly to my products as it was important that my message within the music video was spread across to an audience. He states that messages are encoded by a producer, and then decoded by spectators, who either take a dominant reading, a negotiated reading or a oppositional reading. I wanted an audience to interpret the narrative however they wanted so it wasn't a huge aim for them to take a dominated reading and believe the intended messages and values. As long as they got the idea of a struggling performer who was quickly losing hope, like some people do in typical every day life, whether it be through school, college, work, hobbies, or ambitions. Colour scheme (as mentioned earlier) played a huge part in conveying emotions and getting messages across, through my ancillary texts.
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