Avant-Garde Productions: Max Davies: Music Video: Post-Production: Evaluation 2

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

"Branding is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies someones good or service to a market. The term branding came from telling one person's cattle from another with a hot iron stamp. It is important because it is what makes your product stand out and make the customer want it."

In our video we developed many different elements of branding, to make our video unique and significant.

Our overall brand of it is quite dark, gritty with a nightmare/surreal feeling. We feel our audience appeal to this theme of branding. However there are features of the video which go into branding detail and helps create the image we are after.

The first being the gas mask:

This is our main branding element of our product, we believe it is a striking image with a lot or presence. This will stick in peoples minds.

The second is the use of the heroine:

The use of a girl, helps the brand move to different markets, with an attractive character who teenage girls will look up to.

The third is the mirror:

This is something which pushes the unusual image, something not normal. The mirror is the certain of all of the destruction.

Also we used an ident at the beginning of the video, we kept it simple with a creepy effect. This brands our company as it will be shown before every production.

In our digipack I feel our branding is very strong through out, with good colour scheme and pictures which will strengthens brand image.

To create a brand their are many elements within our digipack.

The use of brushes:

We had to look through brushes on the internet, which are ready made images that we can 'brush' on to photoshop images. Brushes are used in professional digipacks to make it look more professional, it is simliar to established forms and conventions.

The image choices:

We had a photo shoot to get images for the digipack. Doing this has increased our professional value, the photos came out so well and look so professional. We started at sketches and pictures from phones, but doing a shoot has made our images look much more appealing, professional photos are a convention of an album cover

Band logo:

I did some research into other artists digipack's and how the brand themselves, i found it is a convention in some genres. I found that the use of a logo is a good way of creating brand image. I then search for gas mask images to use for a logo. We will use this logo on all products like, merchandise and magazine advert.

Use of mirror:

We used the image of the mirror in the digipack to emphasis its meaning. The more you see it, the more familiar it becomes and it will be connected to The Prodigy's image.

Colour:

The colours we wanted to use was dark and gritty, so that it links with the video. We thought dark reds and greens. Good colour scheme is a convention of digipack, the colours are always linked and look good together.

Text:

I think in an artists digipack font is the most important feature to make the product have a brand which will stick. I wanted a font which will link perfectly to the bands image, I searched over the internet to find fonts which will go. I narrowed it down to three, but i pick this one after all.

In terms of influences when creating the digipack, we did a lot of research into covers from artists in the same genre.

The fornt cover was influence by two images. The first is a image of a girl in WW2 wearing a gasmask:

We liked this as it showed the girls innocence and contrasts from the mask.

The second is from the game, we photoshopped her eyes with glowing lights.

In our Magazine advert, i think it is the most professional piece. I think the branding comes through strongly and can sit comfortably in a magazine.

Mirror/image:

In the advert we used the mirror again to link to the digipack and video. It strengthens the mirrors meaning and presence. The image is quite powerful with the band being in the reflection of the band looking significant as the shot is from a low angle. An image of the band is something which is in neary every mass market bands advert, seen as a convention.

Font:

The font we used in the advert is the same as the digipack, this follows the bands image and starts to make the customers recognise the band and their brand. The magazine ratings are in a bold font so that it stands out, however the font is slightly broken up, this links to the bands distorted and rebellious image.

Logo:

We used the logo of the gasmask, which is the logo of the band. Logos are used in professional adverts and is seen as a convention.

Colour:

The colour in the advert is quite red and dark, these are colours which are used in the video and digipack.

Ratings:

Ratings are a form and convention of a magazine advert, it is to show the reader how the album is rated by magazines which are respected and a good judgement.

In terms of influences we did a lot of looking through magazines and searching the internet. We took inspiration for the ratings and the small print. We was looking through our photos and saw this one, we instantly knew this would be our advert.

Here is our progression of our magazine: