Evaluation Q2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The three texts that we have created all work well together in combination for one band and one music video, yet they all have their unique ways of creating an impression for an audience to purchase these products.

The target audience our group has is for people over the age of 30 as the primary target audience, because when this band were at their most popular time was over 30 years ago, when the primary target audience for the band would have been people in their late teens and early adulthood. For us this has created a sub target audience for late teens, as this is for who this band traditionally targeted even though this band dates back in time. We have tried to make our products relate to both target audiences, but in particular the primary target audience, with elements which they may have seen in such things as past CDs from the band, and also the film The Doors, which they are likely to have watched if they have been a fan of the band in the past.

Some of the key elements in our music video which plays a huge role in the combination of the three texts is the setting, which is because of where the music video is set. This hotel has been used in the two ancillary texts, and plays a dominant role in the music video as the idea is based around the cast within this hotel, and how they are acting strangely towards the main protagonist. Another element of our music video which has been used in the other texts are the cast within the music video. The main protagonist we have chosen is used in the digipak and magazine advert, and we have chosen him because we feel that even though it may be very minor, he has elements which resemble Jim Morrison, which will appeal to the primary target audience. We have also included the rest of the cast in both the digipak and the magazine advert in the clothing they had worn in the music video, as they link to the CD Strange Days by the Doors, which will help our products appeal to our primary and also secondary target audience, as they are in strange clothing which also links to the song title. The spiral staircase and chandelier that feature in our music video have also been used in both our ancillary texts, as the inside cover of our digipak was this spiral staircase and chandelier. In the magazine advert we have used a faded image of the spiral staircase and chandelier, faded behind the image of the cast which feature in our music video.

Our digipak is most likely to be sold in record and stores such as HMV in the classic rock section, or in the digipak section depending on if the store have a separate section for digipaks, due to the limited amount of them that are currently being produced at the moment. Due to how market is changing, it is also very likely that our digipak would be sold on the internet, most likely on website such as thedoors.com, amazon.com and play.com.

Our magazine advert is likely to feature in magazines such as Classic Rock, Q, Mojo and Rolling Stone and take up a prominent amount of the page, as the band has been very famous in the past and is still well known, especially people in the age group of the primary audience. Due to the popularity of this band, it may also feature on the front page of the magazines Classic Rock and Rolling Stone.

The three products that we have created are different in the way that for the music video, the majority of the hotel is not highlighted in either the magazine advert or the digipak. The cast in the music video are portrayed differently in the two ancillary texts compared to the music video, as they are all standing together in the images of the digipak and magazine advert. On the back of the digipak, the image of the back door is not shown on the magazine advert, nor does it feature in music video.

If we were to retake this task and create three products to link together again, we would use a constant theme throughout such as black and white, so that when you looked at all of our products together, you could instantly tell that they were related, rather than having to look at the name of the band and therefore make the connection.

If we had more time we would spend longer on editing the music video such as including more members of the cast, and more locations within the hotel. We would also try cut to the beat even better than we have already, and added more layering and ghosting to the video. For our digipak we would have added a booklet with song lyrics and dates the songs were released originally. For our magazine we are very happy with what we had produced but could have added more effects.