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

Before I even started to create my product's, I had to research codes and conventions of existing products; which I had already learnt about in Media GCSE, but extensively researched at A-Level. Codes and conventions can be separated into two groups, these are technical and symbolic. Technical codes and conventions include camera shots and techniques, for example making sure the main focus (the artist of a band or a product being advertised) is centred; this is a technique I followed when creating my products. The other group, symbolic, can be written, audio or even something within the mise en scene. These give the media text meaning and determine the response of the reader; much like my product.

My products symbolic codes and conventions would be the continuity of colours and the use of the Union Jack, this was done to create a message which different viewers may respond differently to. When creating my product, I intended to create a strong message about the ideology of Great Britain and how it is fading; which explains the burning of the flag in my music video, and stripping the flag of it's colours (identity) on my digipack. Also, on my poster you can see that the centre of the image is the colours of the Union Jack, with the black and white (modernisation) closing in on it. To cause such an effect on my audience, I followed the hypodermic needle theory and exposed my audience to the message throughout all of my products; leaving them powerless to resist the impact of the message.

The image used on my poster was extremely important, which is mostly due to the colours it consisted of; the red blue and white. This is because they are the colours of the Union Jack, which is symbolic of the message which is portrayed from my product. The post box is also symbolic of the old Britain, before modernisation was introduced; which is why I felt it necessary to include in my product.

On my digipack, colours are extremely important in getting the message of my main product across. This message is that Britain’s beauty is slowly fading away due to modernisation. This is the explanation as to why my digipack has been created using a dark colour scheme. For example, I stripped the union jack of its blue and red patriotic colours and replaced them with the dull colours of black and grey. This therefore destroys the blue and red connotations of passion and optimism and replaces them with the black and grey connotations of death and lifeless. Thus making Britain emotionless and non-energetic and removing the previous ideology that Britain is a confident, strong willed place that through the colour red signifies a pioneering spirit and leadership qualities.

The combination of my ancillary text poster and main product is extremely effective. Straight away due to location it is easy to tell that they match, this is as my music video is predominantly shot in an urban environment. This is key in putting across the message that Britain’s beauty is disappearing as it is being overtaken and dominated by city. Furthermore, each ancillary text are equally combined effectively; this is because of the lack of colour in one another. However, as you can see there is colour however in the post box and the artist posing for the poster. This has been done to show that there are very few objects and people left in Britain who stand for what the place used to be. For example, the artist pictured is meant to have created the song ‘Waterfall’. This means that he understands and is trying to get the point across that modernisation is destroying Britain. Furthermore, the post box is symbolic of the past, this is due to the fact that it probably won’t last much longer due to the effect of modernisation; emails and the internet are taking over old things like the post box. To get this symbolic message across I was originally looking for a red telephone box, however they are hard to find. This is why I decided to use the post box, because I liked the way that the colour red connotes passion and that modernisation is having a negative impact on that.

When creating my ancillary texts, one of the most important aspects is following the conventions of the genre you are making. Due to this, I researched various posters and digipacks from bands of the same genre of my song; the two main bands that inspired my mostly were Arctic Monkeys and The Libertines. With both of these bands being articulate, much like mine, it allowed me to create a strong product. The images below will show a comparison between my products and the products I took influence from.

As well as ensuring that my product had the relevant messages and values contained within it, it also needed to look good; in order to achieve this I used a variety of different editing techniques which the above picture shows. The split screen edit is something I really took influence from real products, and even in the original Waterfall video. I used the colours on the split screen edit at the top of the image in order to create a balance between colour and black and white, even though it is usually one or the other; I wanted to mix things up and challenge conventions to a certain extent which explains my decision.

The split screen with the lemon biting is extremely iconic of the band The Stone Roses, after doing some research on the band I noticed that lemons where a reoccurring theme. Keen on finding out why, I looked into it further and found that Ian Brown once met a Frenchman who was a part of the 1968 Paris student uprisings, and he told Ian that they had to bite down on lemons to overcome the effects of tear gas. I thought that this was an interesting story and therefore decided to include it in my music video. The background of the shot is also iconographic of the band. This is because John Squire, the lead guitarist, is also an artist who's work is inspired by Jackson Pollock; which is why I put a Jackson Pollock painting in the background.

The continuity between each product has added to how well they combine. For example the strong messages and values are clearly evident in all of the products. Additionally,, this is shown in the music video when there is a shot of my actor walking down a tunnel, but in reverse, which suggests that Britain is going backwards and is not progressing in the way it should be. I feel that this message is made very clear in my final products. The strongest point at which this message is shown is at the end of the video when the Union Jack is being thrown into a fire, and also on the digipak when the flag is stripped of it's ideology due to loss of colour.

On the other hand, I also put the message across by having the bands actual poster for the single in the background of a lip syncing shot. The poster shows the flag looking rather fragmented and distorted, as well as putting the stars from the USA flag on it; this suggests that Britain is being outshone by the USA and will continue to live in it's shadows.