Evaluation Question 2

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

We have tried to use similar themes throughout both our print work and our completed music video, to make all three media pieces cohesive. We have done this in many different ways.

A key example that makes our main product cohesive with our ancillary texts is the main character used, for example the 'nerd' from our music video is also included in the one of the inserts for our final printed product. This makes the direct connection between the character in the video and his photo in our print work, allowing the audience to make the link between the similar themes and ideas we have presented. The audience would have had to watch our music video to make this link with the character in print, which connects the different pieces of media work together. The protagonist from our music video gives a key portrayal of the lyrics in the song, and the way we have interpreted them. For example, he has no real friends, and he gets all his power in life through the Internet and the abilities he has with it. So the themes he presents, through showing him in both the music video and in one of our inserts is fantasy vs reality, and being a stereotypical teenager and the everyday problems they would face, i.e. social rejection and isolation.

Our video is also cohesive with our ancillary texts as it uses visuals of the band, for example in the basement, which is where we filmed the band for the non-narrative parts of our music video. This therefore keeps the themes involved within our chosen music genre, punk-rock. By using these particular band visuals we are also making it clear to the audience that the band are the focus of our media products, and that our portrayal of them and their songs is key to representing them in a certain way, a way that would be seen as correct and appealing. These kind of ideas would be that the band are real people and easy to relate to, through the fact that they are performing in a basement, this shows that they are willing to work hard and also seem isolated, as they are not performing to an audience, which means they are not as popular as well known bands would be. This overall theme creates realism, that the band are honest and true to themselves, and do not need the approval of others. So the use of these images in both our music video and our print work emphasizes these themes and ideas.

In our print work we have also included some of the postmodern references used in our music video, for example 'Call of duty', in one of our particular inserts we have introduced the theme of fantasy versus reality, a theme that is touched upon within our chosen song and our music video. The fact that the protagonist in our video sees himself in a different way to the way other people see him is a key theme we have worked with throughout both our music video and our ancillary texts. This reference to 'Call of duty' also links to the main song on our CD, the one that we have focused our music video on (Internet) this makes it known that this is the main song within our media project, and therefore the CD print work is cohesive with our music video through this reference.

Therefore we have made our three different media works cohesive with each other, to portray the overall themes and ideas behind our completed media products and emphasize what we are most importantly trying to portray through our work.