Question 2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Digipack

Magazine Advert

Music Video

Brand Identity For the brand identity of both the main product music video) and ancillary

texts (Digipack and Magazine ad), I made sure I followed a consistent brand identity throughout in order for my promotional package to be effective.

A brand is the identity of a product, which creates a particular image/motif that an audience links to a product. It is an effective way of individualising an artist apart from others in the competitive music industry.

There are 8 fundamentals creating a brand identity: Brand Essence (meaning of brand) Brand Slogan (brand’s catchphrase) Brand Personality (Refers to the relationship between characters used and

relativity to the audience) Brand Values (What it stands for) Brand Appearance (Physical appearance/ aesthetics, sound, genre

represented) Brand Heritage (Traditions reflected upon) Emotional Benefits (What feelings are presented/ offers to consumers) Hard Benefits (The quantifiable benefits it offers consumers)

House Style The brand identity of my media product mainly represents the genre of house music. However,

SubFocus offers a more ‘open’ music genre, he claims he tries to blend a composition of house, garage, electro and dance. This is partly why I chose SubFocus, as his wide range of music suits the tastes of most people our age who participated in my interview questionnaire, making him a popular brand.

His brand identity is modern being a single artist, he also follows the conventions of modern house music through the absence of directly addressing his audience, this leaves a sense of mystery.

Typical conventions of House music includes: Music videos tend to portray messages about dancing, love, sexuality, and drugs, all

underpinned with repetition and a steady bass drum beat, Tends to include a seductive representation of women, that usually attract the male gaze. Sometimes has a group dance (usually freestyle) and another group watching them showcase

their talent, this follows the beat of the song and offers consumers the motivation to dance and immerse themselves within the music. Dance scenes are often set in a club with a DJ performing, sometimes this is the artist of the song however usually the producer of the song doesn’t usually appear.

Female vocals are often used instead of the main artist, this may be due to female vocals having a popular dominance over house style ballads and slower choruses of songs.

House music generally has a surreal atmosphere shown through both instrumentals and visuals accompanied by edits. However they can also go the other way and have a surreal atmosphere through use of \amusing visuals guided by edits (I.e. Animals Martin Garrix) in their music videos.

SubFocus is comparable with artists such as Disclosure, as they are similar in that they both share conventions of house music that branch off to other music genres, they both also use narratives in their music videos that have a subjective message and surreal visuals through use of editing. However, they also differ from each other due to the fact Disclosure follows the concept of exposing raw reality and SubFocus follows more dreamlike concepts. They are good examples of the diverse nature of house music, which I think focuses more around emphasizing the ‘feeling’ of the music and beat to its audience rather than implementing a particular message.

Our brand identity in relation to Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin suggests that there are particular conventions in association with and define music videos. As well as using conventions of house style music throughout my main product and ancillary texts, I have also used the conventions created by Goodwin:

A link between the lyrics and visuals that illustrate/contradict the lyrics.

A link between the visuals and music with the visuals illustrating/contradicting/amplifying the music.

Need to sell the artist: the artist may develop their image throughout the products and therefore a band identity/ star iconography visible throughout.

Media language in our music video

For both my main product and ancillary texts I had to ensure my brand image was visible throughout the promotional package. By following the conventions of house-style music I have constructed and continued a sense of brand identity through use of media language for example: Mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and lighting.

Cinematography

A convention of the house music genre is the use of varying angles showing the different representation of protagonist and antagonists if there are any. In these examples the left are clearly the antagonists and the right is clearly the protagonist.

Another convention commonly used is editing that contributes to the surreal visual aesthetics of the video. By including particular conventions of house music this helps create an association for the audience.

My Video SubFocus video

Another main element as part of house music is a surreal concept that follows a subjective message.

My music video follows the continuous and repetitive chase scene of a main character and masked people, representing views of outcasts by society. Whereas, SubFocus' video ‘Out of the blue’ follows underwater footage and surreal blue editing with an unknown message behind the narrative.

Some house music videos show visuals following narrative that are considered mundane, or highlight prejudice against a specific group and shows support towards that group. This highlights the modern gaze and how ‘times change’ and acceptance is a part of society now. However I challenge this particular convention and follow a surreal concept.

‘When a fire starts to burn’ Disclosure

‘Latch’ Disclosure

‘White Noise’ Disclosure

‘Voices’ Disclosure

Mise-en-scene Location As part of mise-en-scene the location/setting helps to construct a brand identity, in my music

video I chose to use Knavesmire Woods (York) as the location for shooting. This represents some conventions of house music well as it is a surreal environment with plenty of opportunity for establishing shots. It also represents an ideal setting for my concept (a tense chase scene with varying light affected by density of the wooded areas). The woods portray connotations of eeriness associated with horror films which adds to my desired atmospheric impression I wanted to portray to my consumers. The varying density of the woods is appropriate for different mood for different scenes, the open flat ground is suitable for running scene and changing angles, whereas the thick wooded area with less light is suitable for tense creepy scenes involving the masked characters sneaking inbetween woods. The fact that it is dark and secluded suits the desired surreal atmosphere well.

CostumeThey play a big part in representing and upholding a brand image, as it shows iconography of a

particular group. However, in the house genre band performances aren’t usually included, and therefore other motif act as ‘costume’ associated with that artist. For example, Avicii uses a geometric symbol which is implanted throughout his videos and promotional packages. In our music video we did use costume that was all black with an odd pop of colour where appropriate. The masked characters wore neutral clothing with animal masks and the main character wore black and green (as cameo for the wooded area) This wasn’t for many reasons other than adding to the eerie atmosphere and having a simple colour scheme that is easy to repeat.

Avicii symbol acting as a ‘motif’ for the brand.

Narrative/Props The mains props I used were animal

masks, this added to the surreal visuals and suited the wooded surroundings well. They were used as conceptual representation for how outcasts are viewed, and may also make the listener feel isolated as they are immersed within the video through empathetic angles (close-ups) and synthetic personalisation in the lyrics.

LightingThroughout my music video my only

source of lighting was natural. I liked how it was distorted by the time of day, cloudy weather and shadowing caused by the trees. I think this adds to the surreal atmosphere well. The changing lighting also develops the conventions of house music by the varying lighting being present however it’s due to natural circumstance rather than artificial tampering.

How brand identity is shown through media language in our ancillary texts

Digipack Cinematography and editing For the front panel of my digipack I have used a close-up

of the main character’s hands holding a cut-out photograph. The photograph acts as one of many motifs placed in the beginning of the video. This motif acts as association for the brand identity for the artist (a common convention found in house music). The black and white world around the photo represents how ignorance will dull your life, the colour in the cut-out open the window into another dimension and the edit creates a surreal image. It represents how being open minded and accepting to those different from yourself will create a brighter, safer world.

For the back and inside panel I used a mirroring edit to create a kaleidoscope effect, which I thought added to the artistic aesthetics. The back panel and two inside panels show masked characters, adding to the eerie mysterious nature of the video, and adds a dark side to the packaging which will be another brand association for the audience.

Mise-en-scene

The main prop used for the digipack were the masks, which continues a consistent brand identity for the artist shown throughout the promotional package. The minimal costumes adds as dark silhouettes for the tense chase scenes and eerie ‘hiding’ scenes. It represents the image wanting to be portrayed, and I liked how the simplicity doesn’t over complicate the mise-en-scene.

The font style was consistent throughout the promotional package, which continues the iconography and associations tied-in with the brand identity. The font matches that of the original SubFocus ancillary texts, therefore I knew it was following the conventions associated with SubFocus.

Magazine Advert Cinematography and editing For this I used a mid-shot of the main character by the tree where

he eventually joins the masked characters and accepts them. This makes this particular tree recognisable as the scene where everything changes. For people who haven’t seen the advert this is persuading them to watch it due to the mystery of the relevance the masks have as part of the brand. Also the fact that the main character’s face can’t be seen adds to the mystery. The surrealism of the image follows connotations of house music due to its surreal and subjective subject matter.

Mise-en-scene As part of the mise-en-scene the main props used were the

animal masks, however a single white mask makes an appearance at the end of the video, when the main character (society) accepts the masked people (outcasts) and joins them as they realise they are no different. For the cover of this we placed a few white masks in order to present the idea of inviting both the main character and audience into a modern perspective of the world (Accepting others). They also lead mystery as both the person in the image and audience are wondering about the masks’ purpose. Iconography is kept consistent throughout the magazine advertisement which allows the audience to recognise the artists’ promotional package. The earthy tones/colour scheme consistently used along with the masks act as motifs for the artist., as they are used throughout the promotional package,. The font used again is repeated throughout all of the texts including the music video and it closely matches the font used originally to promote the band name, this follows the connotations of SubFocus therefore I know it will appeal to existing fans of SubFocus.

The same location and other elements representing mise-en-scene are used from within the music video to draw in its audience and promote the music video, The mysterious atmosphere portrayed is eye-catching and the five stars stand out and promote the album to be successful. Ratings of popular albums are recognised conventions of popular and contemporary music along with ways of connecting with the music through social networking, which are additional pathways that allow the audience to immerse further within the synergy of the music.