How effective if the combination of your main product and

ancillary texts?

Evaluation question

Throughout my work, the message displayed within ‘Hall of

Fame’ of ‘rising to the top’ has been a repetitive theme that’s been used in all of my work.

This theme is evident in the lyrics of the song; “You can be the greatest, you can be the best”, and so highlights the message that anyone can achieve greatness, and the cliché that ‘the sky is the limit’.

I have effectively used the combination of my three products (video, poster, and digipak) to convey this message to the viewer.

With this message as a repetitive theme in all my work, it helps gain a recognisable theme of the band for the audience, and something that they can associate the band to.

Lyrical message

Video

This image within my recreation video displays this message with the artist pointing upwards towards the sky, hinting that the ‘sky is the limit’, thus conforming to the lyrical message. Also, there is constant repetition of clips with the same purpose; to conform to this message!Clips such as those of the athlete in training, and of the constant referral and watching of the plaque, represent the notion that you can succeed if you try hard. These clips display the athlete working hard in training, and the plaque is a symbolism for the athletes goals and what he is inspiring to.

Poster

The notion of “You can be the greatest” that is shown in the lyrics, links to the ‘American Dream’, in which anyone can go from ‘rags to riches’ and achieve greatness. This is the message that the lyrics put across, and so was the reasoning behind my album name being; “From rags to riches”. This creates a link between the lyrics and my album. The reason for my poster is to promote the album and the band, and so, as you can see, it displays the names of both. In highlighting “From rags to riches” within the poster, it again conveys the ‘sky is the limit’ notion, in the sense that it displays a stride towards greatness that the American Dream stands for.

Digipak

Within my digipak, the ‘sky is the limit’ notion within the lyrical message is obvious to see, with the back cover being of the sun behind the clouds. The use of this image makes it clear to the viewer that the sun is a symbol for the lyrical message within ‘Hall of Fame’. This image again creates a link with both my poster and music video, as it further enhances the message of the song, and creates a similarity that the audience can clearly see is being displayed throughout all of my work.

Claude Levi-Strauss’ ‘Binary oppositions’

theory can be seen throughout my products, with the use of the ‘Dark vs. Light’ concept.

Strauss’ theory, when related to media, is that forms of media display oppositions as a representative of good and evil.

With this, I made sure this theory was used throughout my products, to enhance the idea that the athlete in the video has achieved greatness and success.

Binary oppositions

Most evident in the video, is the ‘Dark vs.

Light’ concept, which I used in my products to display the difference between failure and success.

‘Dark vs. Light’

Within my video you can see a clear distinction between the dark shot and the light shot. I used this to display how the first part of the race is dark and the athlete loses, whereas, the change from dark to light represents the change from loser to winner, as he then goes on to win the second race.

This is also shown in my digipak and poster

works:

‘Dark vs. Light’

Within the poster, you can see that the contrast between the white writing and the darker background clearly stands out. This works well with the binary opposition theory, as the white writing is the important feature of the poster as it is the details of the band and album, and so its light coloring represents its significance.

The digipak further enhances my use of ‘Dark vs. Light’, as the sun (light) is the dominant value within the picture. In doing this, I tried to display the message of the song through the digipak picture, with the notion of ‘the sky is the limit’ represented by the sun.

The main reason behind my creation of the poster and

digipak is to help promote my music video, and so with this in mind, these tasks have been used effectively with my main product (the video).

The two ancillary tasks both include the names of the band and the song, and so if viewed, the viewer will recognise the names and be attracted towards my video.

The constant referral to the names through my ancillary tasks is to help promote my product and raise its profile, which it effectively does so, as they take advantage by the use of names and repetitive themes that are evident in my video, such as the songs message and colour schemes.

Poster and digipak

The ‘star’ of our band, AKA. Ben, is evident in

all three of my products. The ‘star image’ means to help promote the

band/artist by displaying themselves on their products, something which I have done:

‘Star image’

As Ben in the main character in the video, he is shown

frequently throughout, with clips involving him as both the runner and the artist.

To link this with my other two products I made sure that Ben was a dominant point of both products.

In the digipak there is a panel devoted to him, with a picture of him taking up one of the six panels.

In the poster, Ben is clear to see as a picture along with the piano.

In using Ben as a main point in my products, I help create a relationship between the artist and the viewer, and so raise the profile and popularity of the band and my video.

‘Star image’

Within my main product there are many clips

of the artist on the piano, and so with this is mind, I made this a vocal point in my two ancillary tasks.

Piano

In using the piano as a recurring image, I created a

recognisable theme for the products. By highlighting this image through all three of my

products I created a image that the audience will associate with my band and the video, thus developing a relationship between the piano and the band.

Because of the use of my ancillary tasks, I have been able to promote my video through them, and so combining the three together has created an effective platform for the promotion of the band.

Piano