Evaluation Question 2How effective is the combination of your main

product and ancillary texts?

The three products are linked quite obviously through the use of image branding. The image of the couple walking away at the end of the video is also used in the digipack and in the advert, which creates an iconic image for the band to be recognised by.

The image of the microphone on the floor at the end of the video also is used in the digipack, which is used to show the focus on the music, not the artist.

Each image is repeated, either on the digipack or in the advert, because they can become triggers in the audience’s mind; when they see a microphone on the floor, they will hopefully always think of our chosen band. Therefore, the images not only establish a brand but act as a way to remember the artist too.

Simple Links

The Links In Pictures

The links were made with these specific images, because we felt that these images showed a key element to the type of band that we were using. The microphone shows a focus on the music rather than the artist, which was something we found to be very common in a punk-rock video. For example, looking at my genre research showed me that “rebellion” or “rejecting conformity” was a common theme. This theme was more seen with older punk-rock bands, but the idea of ignoring the aesthetic image of a band was important then, so we tried to carry this across.

The couple holding hands was an iconic image because it created emotion in the video, therefore showing that the band can appeal to the audience on a deeper level. The couple also feature one of the “band members”, the singer, which shows that though the branding focuses on music, there is still a face behind the music, which can attract the younger audience who may look at music based on aesthetics.

Why We Made These Links

The links we made for the digipack and advert to both contain shots from the music video was heavily based on our research. In my research I found that a lot of artists used images from their videos as branding for the rest of their image, for example our chosen band My Chemical Romance wear school uniforms in their famous “I’m Not Okay” video, and are also wearing them in the photo on their digipack of them.

Using the couple walking away as an emotional hook was also something we found to be quite common; again, our chosen band incorporated a hand-drawn image of “Helena” on their digipack front cover, which links to their song about the death of the singer’s grandmother. Though this is a subtle emotional pull, it still shows the band to have an emotional side, which again can appeal to the younger audience.

The microphone, creating the “music not artist” idea, was included because we found that most ‘serious’ punk-rock bands tended to focus their own work around their music rather than their image. The Clash’s album that I deconstructed contained absolutely no photos of the band, and therefore forced the listener to form an opinion based on their music alone. Though we didn’t want to go quite as strongly as this with our message, we felt that keeping a music-focus was important to the genre.

Research Influences

Our Target Audience Feedback indicated to us that we had made very strong links that made sense to the audience. This is a good thing because if the links weren’t clear, then they do not work and the audience may think that the images are just being overused.

The links indicated to the audience that the band were more of a modern punk-rock band, but it also created that idea of an edgier side to keep the audience involved.

We felt that our links were effective because they fitted with our research and they were well understood.

Were the Products Effective?