Ancillary Text 1

Ancillary Text 2

Evaluation Question 2

When creating my ancillary texts, I knew I wanted them to have continuity with the style and themes of both the song and its music video. Therefore, I decided to use the same style for the poster and digipak as used in my music video, but I wanted to distinguish these designs from the music video and not make them seem like screenshots, giving more the feel of a separate photo shoot as per in a live action video. I recreated the hand-drawn backgrounds in Microsoft Paint, a very basic program but I feel I was able to effectively give the designs a smoother and more ‘poster-like’ feel this way. I was used to working with Paint from experience in animating entire films with the software before, which have gained positive acclaim on YouTube, so I was able to create the images in Paint exceptionally quickly and efficiently.

I included every detail from the original images shown in the music video without any significant changes, except on the digipak front cover, where the main character is alone to show to the buyer who the main character is within the narrative of the music video. This was done instead of showing the real artist of the song on the cover, because the artist is an indie artist who is not necessarily well known and would not be looked out for by a specific fanbase. In addition, I always wanted all of my anxilary texts to have the same style which would become recognisable and would stand out amongst other digipaks showcasing the indie genre.

The designs of the poster and digipak show moments from the music video which, based on my audience feedback, seemed iconic. The same style of art was used across all these products, albeit in different forms of art, which creates a continuous style for all of the products. Both images are long shots which show the main character as isolated, as per in the video.

The band name, ‘Vivid Scheme’, and the song name, ‘Intoxicated’, are clearly displayed in their respective fonts on the poster and digipak. The different fonts were to distinguish the song and band names from each other, such as the name ‘Intoxicated’ for the song adapting a serif font, Poor Richard, which looked much starker and suited the song’s lyrics because the font connotes a seriousness which the song displays within its lyrics. In contrast, a sans serif font was used for the band name ‘Vivid Scheme’, which is marketable because it promotes a fun, playful style, and it would be used as a logo to promote the band. The logo stands out on a poster where the target audience would spot it straight away, and the same for the digipak cover where people may purposely be looking out for it in a retailer.

The logo of the record label, Parlophone, is also clearly displayed on both the poster and digipak. Parlophone has gained much respect for working with big names including ‘The Beatles’ so this would be another selling point. The iTunes logo is also displayed on the poster only to let people know they can download it from the iTunes Store, but the iTunes logo is omitted from the digipak cover where it is not needed. The poster also advertises the digipak and digital download releases of the album to attract its potential customers.

Digipak Design Update #3

Here is a work-in-progress version of the Digipak cover. The character on the front, the band name, texts and the CD/Digipak tray designs are yet to be added.

TOP LEFT: Back cover.
TOP RIGHT: Front cover.
BOTTOM LEFT: Case interior.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Disc tray.

Digipak Design Update #2

Here I have used the spray tool on Paint to create a greater effect on many elements of the Digipak cover designs.

Digipak Design Update #1

Front Cover

Back Cover

Interior (left side)

Back (L) and front (R) covers

Above are the designs for the backgrounds I am planning to use for three of the sides of the Digipak design. Like the poster, I recreated images from the music video on the computer, to make it look less like a plain still image from the video itself.

The Distribution Company

I have looked at various record labels which could potentially distribute the planned Digipak release of my music video, and I have now chosen Parlophone to handle the distribution of the video in the UK.



Parlophone is a British company set up in 1923 branched off from the 1896 German company Parlophon. I chose this to handle the distribution of my music video because it is a major UK distributor of music videos (MVs) and songs in the jazz, pop and rock genres, as well as novelty and voice recordings. It distributes indie music, so this would be the category for the indie folk song of my MV. Parlophone was responsible for the UK release of Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android', which also had an animated MV similar to the style of video I am aiming to achieve. The company is also notable for working with names such as Adam Faith, Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys, Bernard Cribbins, Peter Sellers, The Chemical Brothers, Coldplay, Jim Dale and being a major starting point for The Beatles.

The parent company of Parlophone is the London-based EMI, which joins Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment to form the 'Big Four' major record labels in the world.

Digipak

Recently I have started thinking about how the music video I am producing will be distributed to its specific target audience. For the distribution of my music video, I will be using a digipak for the packaging of the music video's release to home entertainment formats, most likely a VCD or a DVD. This would allow consumers of the digipak to receive additional information about the music video, because a digipak has a gatefold which opens up to reveal (usually) 4 or 6 sides to the case. The image below shows an example of a digipak:

This would be useful if I wanted the MV to be available in more than one format (CD, VCD, DVD, BD etc), give information about the content such as the track listings, and I may even include a write-up on the making of the project, given it is unique to other similar works for its animation style. This could include images from the final production as seen on the VCD/DVD, which would be included on the front and back covers, and also photography from the making of the music video on the inside cover/s.