My digipak (which includes the front cover of the album), undeniably complements my music video, as it contains screen shots that were directly lifted from my music video, which were then cropped in the construction of my digipak. As previously mentioned, this key relationship, where one media text is representative of the other, helps to increase my artist’s exposure and profitability. For example if an individual appreciated the design of my album cover, they may purchase the album and eventually desire to watch the music video, which serves as the debut single from my artist, the audio of which is included in the track list of the album. Equally, if an individual appreciates my music video, they are more likely to purchase the album, in which the song heard in my music video can be found.
Furthermore, my digipak which includes my front cover, displays the title of the album, which is taken from the title of the song that is heard in my music video. The rhetorical and questioning nature of the title of my music video (“Say It Isn’t So?”) is reflective of the album and of alternative rock music in general. A genre which typically explores questions relating to personal identity and political issues. For example other song titles, found in the track listing of my album include “Society Or Abomination?” and “All I Can Be Is me”, give connotations of a political subtext and individuality which highlights the reoccurring themes of the album and ultimately gives the audience an insight into what they can expect when consuming the album and my music video.
In a similar manner, my magazine advertisement, also promotes my artist and hence the album as well as my music video not only incorporates my digipak into its design, but also displaying positive reviews (“Profoundly Powerful” and “A must own”), ultimately representing the product as appealing and therefore desirable.
My created media products (my music video, digipak which includes the front cover of my album and my magazine advertisement which advertises the album’s release) all are thematically connected through the theme of extreme emotion. For example, throughout my music video, I purposely included multiple facial expressions denoting my male protagonist’s anger, confusion and torment as seen in the screen shots below.
Similarly, my digipak also conveys the theme of extreme emotion by not only incorporating screen shots of my male protagonist’s torment, but also though the emotive design of the front cover. I purposely placed the title of the album close to my artist’s mouth in order to create the impression they are being shouted by him. The combination of the above design feature and my artist’s anguished facial expression as well as agonised body language, communicates that my artist emotions cannot be contained and must be expressed.
My deliberate use of the word “unleashed” instead of released in my advertisement, further references the theme of extreme emotion – the album release signifies the unleashing of my artist’s emotions. This extreme expression of emotions is typical of the alternative rock music genre which I wanted to further develop in the creation of my media texts.
My products are not only linked by theme but also by the aesthetics present in their respective design. For example the shots that denote the present torment of my protagonist in my music video, are dark and shadow infested in order to visually communicate the atmosphere, thus symbolically reflecting the emotional spectrum of my male protagonist. Likewise, my digipak (includes my front cover) and my magazine advertisement, both employ a similar colour scheme found in my music video and therefore builds upon the atmosphere of my music video.
Notably, all of my media products also feature a contrast in their design. For example, the contrast apparent in my music video is created through the contrasting colours, used to signify the narrative shifts (the dream sequence, the present, the past and my protagonist’s psychological delusions) in my music video. Whereas, in both my digipak (which includes my front cover) and in my magazine advertisement, a contrast is achieved by my employment of white and red fonts respectively, which are juxtaposed with the blacks and greys found in the visuals.
I feel that my music video establishes my artist’s identity, whilst my subsequently produced media texts reinforce that identity, an identity which is constituted by the reoccurring themes of extreme emotion, expression and provocative imagery, which is found in all my media texts. This notion of creating an artistic identity through the development of reoccurring motifs links to Goodwin’s ideologies regarding music video production, where he stated that the demands of the record label will require their artist to develop motifs. One could argue that the music industry's demand for an artist to develop motifs is actually a demand for their artist to develop a unique brand in order to increase their profitability. In response to the commercial demands of the music industry, I have essentially laid the foundation of a brand which can be further developed in the future and hopefully increase my artist’s profitability.
The notion of building a brand is closely intertwined with establishing an artist’s true identity. I feel all of my media products reinforce my artist identity. For example my music video contains inter-textual references (posters denoting Slash and Jimmy Hendricks which can be seen in the above screen shot) which pay homage to the rock genre and provides an insight into the origins of alternative rock music. My digipak contains agonised poses taken from my music video, which are synonymous with the rock genre. My magazine advert further helps establish my artist’s identity by introducing him as the “new voice of alternative rock”, thus instantly making communicating the musical genre adopted by my artist.
In my opinion, once an artist’s identity is established, it then becomes possible for the audience to identify with an artist and consequently form a collective identity with other individuals who either consume the products produced by that particular artist or other products relating to the musical genre of that artist.
Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy Of Needs” explains the psychological importance of a collective identity by suggesting that individuals have a need for self esteem and forming a collective identity increases one’s self esteem. Similarly, “The uses and gratification theory” also states that audiences use media texts as a way to explore their own personal identity. The above theories illustrate why I felt it was important to create a coherent identity for my artist within my created media products. I feel I maintained a consistency in the identity of my artist through my use of repeated of images, my employment of motifs and my use of a consistent colour scheme, as I felt it was fundamental that I did not confuse my potential audiences by communicating mixed messages. This clarity should hopefully optimise the number of potential audience’s who identify with my artist and ultimately purchase his products.
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