Ancillary research

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Ancillary Research Ancillary research is important because it helps with analysing not only the artists music video, but their image as a whole, through there website and album covers etc. I have studied these for the artists that I have previously analysed on the blog looking for any similar links between the different forms of media.

Transcript of Ancillary research

Page 1: Ancillary research

Ancillary Research

Ancillary research is important because it helps with analysing not only the artists music

video, but their image as a whole, through there website and album covers etc. I have

studied these for the artists that I have previously analysed on the blog looking for

any similar links between the different forms of media.

Page 2: Ancillary research

Synergy

• Bands and artists use synergy in different types of media for example the website for promotion, whether it be a new album or a tour. Normally the artist will have similar conventions on their website to the thing they are trying to promote, this is to make it as recognisable to the audience as possible, for example websites of artists usually have a style very similar to that of their latest album.

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Radiohead are a band that has normally stayed away from conventions of any kind of style, other than abstract. The single which i analysed for the video was taken off the album Ok computer. The style and mood of the track I think fits perfectly with the design of the Album cover, it looks cold and spacey with colours and imagery that feels depressing. I think this is synergy as the album cover gives the audience an idea of what they are about to hear.

The Radiohead website however doesn’t particularly share any conventions. It however portrays the same cold atmosphere as their music and abstract ideas. With a computer glitch being the entrance page. As i went into the homepage I looked at the 1997 page, it had no real link in any way to the album other than its lack of colour. I think however this is a way of shoeing the audience the bands nature. Not sticking to conventions within a genre.

I liked the album because of its digital glitches which make it look futuristic, I also like the fact that the website doesn’t show the band, it still has an atmosphere that is definitely Radiohead like and so easily identifiable.

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The Strokes website design is as we can see almost identical to that of the bands album they are promoting, with the colours of red and faded gold being the most prominent.The website isn’t very subtle or well made specifically however it is very practical unlike Radiohead’s and very easy to use. This could try to represent what the band wanted to achieve musically, with bold simple songs that were easy to listen to rather than the abstract sound of radiohead. The colour red is also quite masculine and so perhaps it shows their overall target audience which are typically teenage males.

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The Arctic Monkeys released their album AM a year ago and the website seems to be mainly affected by that. The album cover is very similar to that of the website. A video we used for our audience survey was R U Mine, a video that has many of the same conventions as the website, for example the black and white camera as well as the basic production, similar to the basic set out of the website, this basic principle has also been prominent on another analysed video “cornerstone” which although an earlier release, features the same DIY tendencies.

The band may have chose this kind of set out because of the albums theme, which was supposed to be a late night record which would make sense. Bright colours wouldn’t fit the description. Also they perhaps want to stick to their original identity of being an indie band and therefore not going over the top, keeping things simple. The black and white set out is now a convention in other indie bands, whether they are videos or websites e.g. The NBHD, perhaps this was a way of fitting in with that genre more by making it

more identifiable.

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The Libertines album cover says a lot about the music on the album, and also about the singles they released, including what became of the likely lads which is a song about the relationship between the two men on the cover. The Libertines album cover is quite rough and unglamorous, it also the two front men look incredibly sad. Maybe this describes the music on the album, which is rough and unpolished and ultimately quite sad. Even the bands logo looks like it is falling apart, which could describe the messy and chaotic music the libertines made. The libertines broke up so they don’t have a website available, however the same sort of things are found on all there posters, the old fashioned writing and usually a few of them smoking or drinking. It is a way of giving the band a certain image.

The what became of the likely lads single poster also has the same conventions of the libertines other work and features the same vintage look and the two front men as it is about them. I think this would be a good thing to use for our ancillary task. To make the promotional work be related in the story that is being told however not in a way that is too obvious and in your face

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Summary

• What I have found from my research is that artists try to create an linked image between the different products. I think that it is important to make the two products similar in style so the audience can find it as recognisable as possible. They normally have a theme linked to the two, whether it is in colour or images, just something that can be linked to the band immediately. This helps for branding and overall success.