Eval. q.2

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

Finished album 

Front cover

Track list

Magazine advert

SCRIPT

All three products must link in for consumer recognition.

The Music Video served as a platform for audiences, with the Digi Pack working alongside as a debut album to build on the brand of the Californication image. The Magazine Advert has a similar purpose further promoting the band, however is specifically targeting audiences in order to sell albums.

All products have the primary purpose to promote the artist.

This is seen in real media products, where bands like Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine gain massive success from debut albums such as Nevermind and the Battle of La.

In our Research stage of the Digi Pack, we needed strong links with the music video. Our primary setting was the school gym for the band scene where the instruments had a backing of brick walls. Both our digipack and the magazine advert use the brick wall in the gym to correlate with the music video itself. This repeated setting of the gyms brick walls with the instruments and the band members makes all products linked in and effectively creates consumer recognition.

We have the two leader guitarists Max and Elliot as the key focus throughout the majority of the products as well – Max and Elliot feature on the front cover of the digipack, whilst also appearing on the magazine cover, whilst the inside cover and back of the digipack are projecting different artwork, however using similar designs to create synergy between the different pieces of work.

The use of lip-synching throughout the music video, gives it a performance element, but also commendably puts one of the lead musicians Max in the spotlight again, make the primary focus stand out.


Both lead guitarists are pictured wearing the same clothing in the parts of the digipack they appear in – the front cover and the magazine cover. Max and Elliot are seen in the same clothing, using the same instruments when they appear, and therefore makes the clothing relatable to the band and creates an image for the band that it recognizable and creating further synergy amongst the digipacks layers.


From our target research we found that the Chilli pepper fan base spanned from young adults 16-24 to a more middle aged group, this meant that we were all suitable candidates to appear in our video as we would represent a realistic image of who the music video and ancillary products attract.


We simply named our album front cover as the name of the song we were using, Californication, as it makes it recognizable to fans of the RHCP’s and with the use of photoshop we blended the image of the band and the RHCP logo so that people were aware that the product is a cover and not a RHCP’s music video. The fact that the music video focuses on the band members dreaming of ‘Californication’ a life of fun, image and fame, it was important that the title still related to researched upon work by theorists such as Theodore Adorno who said the youth’s of today are obsessed with image and the manufacturing process that occurs in modern fashion and music.


The font used on the front cover is in red to further create synergy between the name of the band the RHCP, and the logo of the RHCP we incorporated into the digipack using the opacity tool so that it doesn’t dominate our personal imagery which needed to stand out. We used the same font on each cover of the digipack to make sure the ancillary products all link together. However, different colours on the font was used in order for it to stand out on certain parts of the digipack.


As well as font, colour correction was vital when editing the digipack and the magazine cover. We decided on using a ‘cartoon’ like effect on one of our videos of the band scene and we liked it so much, we screenshotted it and used it for the front cover and the magazine advert  - we like the cartoon affect as it made our bodies stand out more and highlight the instruments as well as representing the manufactured image of California.

The result of linking in our music video and ancillary products is that the consumer would have recognized a wide range of elements that are characteristic of our band, such as the setting of the brick wall where the band are always seen performing and the consistency of the bands style and how the cartoon image reflects the Californian manufactured lifestyle that Adorno claims dominates the lives of youth’s wishing for the manufactured image of fame, dreamt by today’s teens.

Through the decisions made we give the audience a taste of the genre of the band and therefore what they can expect to hear on the album.