Evaluation Question 2 - Combination of Texts

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts ?

Our A2 texts include a music video accompanied by a digipak and magazine advertisements.

Our promotional package 

Artists tend to release their videos, digipaks and advertisements through separate production companies and so depending on the context and theme, we sometimes cannot see a link as clear as we would if all texts were produced through the same company. Because we ourselves are indie video producers with a small budget, we haven't been able to distribute our products through various conglomerates and subsidiaries. This means that we have had to take into consideration all of our target audiences by maintaining a theme across all of the texts. We adapted various elements and aspects of our work to achieve this.

   Taking the vast difference between our target audiences into consideration was the key factor in the final development of our products. Acting as an existing example, The Saturdays have achieved what we are aiming to achieve as they have appeared in a variety of magazines like Hello, OK, FHM and Bliss. These magazines all have totally different target audiences, yet they have appeared in more than one publication to widen their audience and reach out to their mass market.

   We have used the fact that our audiences vary to our advantage as we have been able to target our primary and secondary audiences how we want to and have therefore been able to convey linked conventions throughout all 3 texts to entice a wider audience.

Distributing and Exhibiting Our Texts:

Exhibiting our videos is perhaps the most important action in promoting our work. Our preferred social networking site to achieve this was YouTube, as it provided us with a platform to add tags to reach our mass market and target audiences. If our video was to be officially released, it would be most appropriate to upload it onto a Vevo account or the official Atomic Kitten channel, as official videos uploaded by Vevo and the artist themselves tend to gain the most views.

Here are the main magazines that we would distribute our mag ads in, in relation to our primary and secondary audiences:

Primary audience:

• TEEN NOW - 11-17
• LOOK           -18-35
• GLAMOUR  - 16-34
• BLISS           - 13-17
• OK                - 25-34

Secondary audience: 

• FHM - Target audience 15-34
• NUTS -18-34

On our mag ads, we advertised the digipak as 'available on iTunes' and on the official Atomic Kitten Website. If our digipak was to be produced and distributed, our preferred way of consumption would be via the internet and online consumption websites like Amazon and Play.com would provide excellent platforms for selling our product to a wider audience. This is mainly due to digitisation, as more and more material is being streamed and purchased online and so major high street record shops' profits are falling, for example HMV.
   Social media can also play a key role in promotion, as material can be shared and passed on to other users. We set up a Twitter and Instagram account with the username @MKTPProductions for both, which we used for promoting our ongoing and final work.

Key Elements In Our Texts:
Magazine Advertisements

We researched existing examples of magazine advertisements across the pop genre and those specific to Atomic Kitten to gain an idea of what to include in ours. We created 5 teaser ads and 3 final ads:

First kitten mag ad

Teaser Adverts

For our teaser ads, there were 2 main features that we wanted to focus on the most and these were narrative enigma and the use of kittens. We featured the kitten in 2 of our 5 teaser ads, as we did not want to over use this idea. The most effective one out of the 2 was the first one that we created. This simply featured an image of the kitten with our QR code layered on to its chest. The tongue sticking out creates a more fun and relaxed appeal, which will help in attracting our younger audience. Recently across all social media sites, there has been a growing phenomena based on cats performing amusing tricks or memes of cats. We thought that because our group is called Atomic Kitten, it would create a nice link to this public cat obsession by featuring a kitten in our adverts. The second feature was narrative engima. We thought that applying this theory to the teaser mag ads would help us to build up anticipation and keep the audience intrigued. The first ad featuring narrative enigma included an image of one of the group members facing away from the camera, holding a feminine, sassy pose. We then layered a QR code onto her lower body, to subtly reflect the Male Gaze Theory. The second ad featured an image of the whole group with their back to the camera, with an image of rose petals and candles layered on top. We reduced the opacity of this image so that you could see both images. This was one of the ads that we used to convey the romantic theme seen in the digipak and music video. The final teaser included 3 individual photos of each member holding a lit candle, which had been edited to fit together in to one complete image. We then again layered the QR code onto the middle candle, to build suspense.

Group ad

Main Adverts
In total, we have 4 final mag ads. These involve one individual ad for each member and then a group one. We created this as it is common for well-known artists to include more than one advertisement in the same issue of a magazine or a double page spread, to really push their product and so that audiences will be more likely to notice the advertisements. For the individual ads, we used new images of the members to add to the visual variety, and included the artist name in the same font and colours as the digipak, as I mention later on. We also included text advertising the digipak and bonus DVD, along with a small image of the digipak so make readers aware of what to look for. 2014 tour dates were also included, which can be viewed as a reflection of the groups recent reunion. The group ad that we created includes all the same text as the individual texts, as the only thing different is the image. The image we chose was one where the group are leaning on each other to signify the unity and connection between the group.

Digipak

Final digipak

In our digipak, we used various shades of grey, pink and blue, as we did in the mag ads too. We used a relaxed image on the front of the image, to convey the boy band conventions which we followed, wearing the same dresses as those seen in the video and in a couple of magazine ads. On the front we included the artist name and album name, as well as a sticker that we created separately on Photoshop. This sticker was essential as it highlighted the bonus DVD and new tracks included. The back image also links to one of the teaser mag ads, as it is of the groups back, and it can also be viewed as an opposite of the front image. On the back we included another sticker, offering more detail about the bonus DVD, and a central track list, to balance the layout out. In the bottom right corner, we included all the features that you would typically expect to see on the back of a digipak from any genre. We added a bar code, which we create ourselves, a DVD sticker, a CD sticker, the iTunes logo, our QR code and the record label, which was also included again on the spine. On the inside, we used 2 layered images of petals and tealights, and then added an image of a large church candle on top. The opacity of the rose petals was reduced to make the church candle more visible. On the CD itself, we included another image of the group. We used this as an opportunity to add an image with alternative framing, as our heads are all in the middle as we are laying down. Finally, our lyrics booklet features more exclusive images of the group, and some romantic themed images are also included, again creating a deeper link between the 3 texts.

Music Video

Clicking and lip syncing

Music videos can be split into 3 sections - a narrative, a concept and a performance. Our video only featured a narrative and performance footage:

Black and white narrative

   Our performance section involved 3 shots, 2 shots and individual shots of ourselves lip syncing in multiple locations. We did not have choreographed dance moves, however we added some clicking and impromptu shoulder movements into our performances to make them appear more realistic. There were 3 locations an 3 outfits used in total, to provide variety.

   Our narrative section was based on a couple. This section was black & white, so that audiences could differentiate between the performance and narrative, and this element proved to work very effectively. The narrative is linear, and the romantic theme has been carried across to be included in the other 2 ancillary texts.

How are the three texts linked?

Throughout all 3 texts, we conveyed a professional and sleek theme. This is portrayed through many different aspects:

Blue dresses on the digipak

Blue dresses in the video

The first aspect is the colour scheme which can be seen in all of our texts. For one of our outfits in the video, we each wore a blue dress. This decision was mostly due to convenience, as we all already had blue dresses, meaning we did not need to spend any extra money on new outfits. However, we did also notice that Atomic Kitten digipaks tended to feature blue colours frequently, and so we decided it would be appropriate to use a blue colour theme to link to existing texts too. Therefore this decision made out of convenience actually turned out to be a major advantage for us. Because we recognised this blue colour theme, and had already incorporated it into our video, we decided to incorporate it into our digipak and magazine advertisements too. We wore the same dresses on the front and back of our digipak as the blue dresses featured in the video and in some of our magazine ads too. This creates an instant link between the texts, as these dresses will be instantly recognisable to the audience and fans. As well as the dresses, we also used a blue font in the digipak and magazine ads. This creates a further obvious link between the texts, as when looking at the images the audience will notice the blue dresses and blue fonts and will be instantly able to create a link. On the mag ads and digipaks, we also incorporated 2 other colours into our fonts. We followed the 3 colour rule, which is a common convention seen in most texts within the pop genre, and we felt that by following this convention, we were providing the opportunity for more visual excitement. We added pink and grey to our font colours, as these colours worked effectively with the blue without clashing too much and appearing amateur.

Mag Ad - various font colours and blue dresses

   The fonts that we used can link together in other ways than just the colours. We downloaded various appropriate fonts offDafont.com and used them for both the magazine ads and the digipak. These fonts were considered greatly before we finally decided upon which ones to use for our final products, as it was important that these fonts worked well together and gave off a professional impression to the audience. Our final products display how well these fonts compliment each other and how they work together to be aesthetically pleasing for the audience.

Studio location

   The style and theme of the 3 texts was a main focus point when creating and editing the texts. Despite our young primary audience being 13-18 year olds, we still had to take into consideration our secondary audiences. This meant that the style of our products needed to entice people of all genders and ages, and so we had to stick to a relatively simple theme and construct our texts based on a certain style. The style that we opted for was a more professional approach towards all 3 texts. We conveyed this style through the use of locations and the standards that our products were completed to. One of the locations featured across all 3 texts was the studio. We used the studio for performance footage in our video and also for taking photos for our digipak and magazine adverts. Although it could be argued that this location was 'boring' to include in our digipak and mag ads, we feel that this was the most suitable and best possible location for these ancillary texts, as it simply and effectively conveys the simplistic and professional look that we were aiming for. Less can be more, and we feel that this is certainly the case with these texts, as a busy background accompanied with a substantial amount of text can easily make a product look unprofessional and may even deter audiences from consuming the products.

Roses and candles in the digipak

Roses in the video

   We have also displayed the romantic theme in all of our texts. It is perhaps most clear in the video, as there is a clear romantic narrative, and our narrative cut clearly denotes this. The use of mise-en-scene to convey the romantic aspect was thoroughly thought through and portrayed, and the way in which we have carried this aspect across to the ancillary texts is through the use of the same mise-en-scene. We used the same rose petals and layered them with other images such as candles and kittens for some of the teaser mag ads, and used the roses and candles again in the inside of our digipak. Despite the differences between our target audiences, the romantic narrative is clearly demonstrated in each of the texts, making it easy for anyone, whether included in our target audiences or not, to establish a link. Roses and candles are stereo-typically associated with romance across the majority of cultures, and so this aspect allows us to reach our mass market too, as the theme can be recognised by people from various cultures.

Smiling/laughing image in the lyrics booklet

   Another key feature of our texts is the boy band conventions conveyed. By this, I am referring to the 'behind the scenes' footage and the simple and basic movements such as the clicking when lip syncing in the video, and the relaxed images used on the front cover of the digipak and in some mag ads. These are conventions that are typically associated and seen in boy band productions, and so by incorporating these features in our own work we are also challenging typical girl group conventions and instead opting to feature boy band conventions. We decided to do this, as the relaxed vibe of all 3 products makes the viewings more appealing and inviting, and so we are more likely to increase our views from our secondary 'tween' audience. Children and teenagers are particularly 
attracted to colourful and happy texts as it stimulates their brains and this then keeps them engaged for longer. Because of this, we used the relaxed shots in the video to make them feel more comfortable when watching the video, and we again used various font colours as well as appealing photos in our digipak and mag ads to make more eye catching products to keep them interested and more inclined into remembering the information provided.

Laughing shot in the video

In What Ways Are They Different?
As much as we have tried to make our texts link together, there were some elements that we could not portray across all 3 texts:
   The main feature that readers will not be able to link together is the narrative. Although we have carried the romantic theme of the video across to the ancillary texts, we found it difficult to find an effective way of linking the narrative into the ancillary texts. Although the music video is effectively promoting the digipak, it is only promoting one single on the album and so we felt it would not completely work if we included the narrative in our digipak, as readers may become confused if they are unaware of the video. For this reason, we decided it was perhaps better to keep the narrative conveyed in the music video only. Because the mag ads are also promoting the digipak, it would have again not totally linked together and flowed if we included the narrative in the ads and not the digipak. It could be argued however that by incorporating the romantic theme into all 3 texts, we have in some subtle way portrayed the narrative, as those who have seen the video may be able to see the link. This links in to Halls preferred reading and the Uses and Gratifications theory, as the audience who have seen all 3 texts combined will be able to choose how they want to read and interpret the petals and candles used throughout, and so they can decide whether there is a link there or not.

Smiling and appealing image on the lyrics booklet

Crying shot in the video - conveys a sad narrative

   The narrative of the video may also be viewed by some viewers as sad, again an example of preferred reading and interpretation on the audiences behalf. The narrative is a linear narrative which follows the break up of a couple, and because this is a relatively normal situation that most people will experience in their lifetimes, the audience may feel more emotion when watching the video. Emotions can be easily induced in moving texts such as videos through the use of carefully chosen editing techniques and effects, yet it can be difficult to create still texts which can emotionally stimulate an audience. Because of this, we decided to create more 'light hearted' ancillary texts in contrast to the relatively sad narrative. This means that we could not link the texts in relation to the emotional pleasures that may be denoted from the texts. As mentioned before, we wanted the younger audience to feel comfortable and happy viewing all our texts, however they are more likely to feel this happiness when viewing the ancillary texts, as they feature fun images, which are more likely to catch their attention. However, we do feel that by creating this contrast there was no major disadvantage of any kind and that it was easier for us to manage in the time scale we were given and the resources we had. Perhaps if we had longer and better resources, then we could have had an attempt at creating strong emotional ancillary texts too.

   We didn't include the narrative characters in each of the texts either as we again didn't want to confuse the readers if they were unfamiliar with the video. This was also because, as mentioned earlier, the video is only promoting one track on the digipak and so the characters would be irrelevant to every other song.
   

What Would We Change Given More Time/Resources?

Effects in Photoshop during the editing process
of the digipak

As mentioned earlier, if we were provided with more time and better resources, then we may have found it easier to create ancillary texts which emotionally engaged the audience, as we could have experimented with more effects and could have spent more time taking the initial photos. We could have also spent more time location scouting, and these location could have been included in the music video too, as well as both ancillary texts. More locations would have provided us with more shot variety and scope during editing, however w
e simply could not include any more locations due to access issues and our limited time scale.
   Time management could have been improved throughout the production processes. Although we have finished everything in a relatively short period of time after re-pitching our idea, we still could have improved our time management by updating our blogs on a daily basis and blogging on things as they happen, for example after creating new rough cuts and drafts uploading them and blogging on them straight away.

   Research into similar products could have also been more extensively carried out. We tended to research one aspect, blog on it then leave it, yet instead we should have maybe researched it more than once so that we could gain a broader knowledge, therefore making writing our evaluation questions less time consuming and we could have used these materials more in our vodcasts too. We feel that we have improved our knowledge on the pop genre majorly since starting our research and construction, however there are undoubtedly still aspects of the genre that we are unfamiliar with, and so extra research would have maybe allowed us to fill this gap of knowledge.