Evaluation Question 2

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

In terms of the roles and purpose of my music video, I would define my production as a postmodern text which allows the audience member to sit back, relax, and enjoy the video, without being challenged or provoked in any way. My use of theme also supports this, as the Alice in Wonderland style is something a wide audience would be familiar with, and therefore they are able to enjoy it. My music video’s purpose is to pleasantly entertain the viewer, while complimenting and working with the song. I sought to portray the artist in a way similar to a character in a video game, allowing the viewer to step into her shoes and experience the setting of the music video through her eyes. I think I effectively served this purpose by conveying the artist in a vacant, minimal way that would enable the audience member to visualise themselves in her shoes.

I created a house style for my productions in order to portray each of my texts as part of a brand. The main way that I did this was by using the theme of red roses. This idea came from using roses as a prop to show my Alice in Wonderland theme, representing the ‘Red Queen’, and also conveying the theme of romance in the song. I placed the roses in my set, on the table as part of the ‘tea party’ setting, and also scattered them on the ground, somewhat portraying the destruction of ‘Wonderland’ caused by Alice. I also had the character of ‘Alice’ paint the roses white, as this twisted the original narrative of the story, where the Queen of Hearts orders her followers to ‘paint the roses red’. I placed emphasis on the significance of the roses by having them in the majority of my shots, even if in the background. I also featured them in a lot of close up shots, and also my final shot, which I slowed down and let the shot linger in order to stress the roses as a significant symbol of my brand.

I used this style in my digipack and magazine advert designs in order to unite them together with my music video, and therefore I think the combination of my main product and ancillary texts was very effective. In my ancillary designs, I used feminine hues of red and pink to address my female market, and scriptlike fonts to convey a personal touch, as if the artist has written directly to the audience.