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EVALUATION: QUESTION 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
IntroFor my A2 coursework I had three products. The main product is the music video I did where I use DubiozaKolektiv’s song “U.S.A.”. My secondary products were the digipack and the poster. The three products are connected by the use of different generic conventions which support the genre of the song. Moreover, I have combined these conventions in a way that my ancillary text and my main product could be interesting and exciting to be watch by the audience and therefor make it a successful product. First convention-a)Video In my main product I used different conventions which I have applied in my secondary product (ancillary text). The first convention I have used could be seen by the way the actors are represented. In my video, the members of the band are represented as a working class people who in their free time they like to play cards, they drink the traditional Balkan drink “Rakia” and they argue on important intellectual issues concerning their country.
b) Poster Such representation could be notice also in my poster where the facial expression of some of the actors look as they are wise and intellectually able to argue in every possible problematical topic connected to politics. Moreover, the audience could notice the traditional Balkan drink carried and consumed by the lead singer. The other convention I have used is the Props and costumes. To create the feeling that my actors are a working class people both in my video and poster, I bought costumes which later I made them all muddy and dirty to look as they have been working the whole day. Furthermore, I asked them to wear sports kit which is also considered as a working class clothing and special accessories like moustache and a golden neckless which is another stereotype of the Eastern European men.
My main aim in the creation the video was to use humor to represent the stereotypes of the Eastern European culture. To make this possible I wanted to perpetuate how messy can be the Balkan man which could be linked to the punk genre. In the video, the actors make a mess on the table where they play cards, they dance and spill their drinks everywhere and so on and so forth. PUNK-A MESSY GENRE As the audience could notice, the table is messy; spilled alcohol everywhere; flying money.
Similar message I aimed to send to the audience in my Digipak. There I have used different animation figures, untraditional font with different colors on every letter and photos which look as they have been thrown to the table. The reason to add the animation on the digipak was from the album covers I looked my research on the punk genre. There I decided to add a punk-man like most of the “Control” album covers where it is considered as their logo. For that reason I added some animation to the video. In that way the audience could easily understand the genre of the song and I could create my own personal style of the band.
The Logo Once I added the animation I looked closely at one of my biggest Balkan punk bands on my list which was “Control”. Then I realize that every big band has its own logo. “Control” had their punk-man, “S.A.R.S.” logo was the chopped hand and “Hypodil”’s logo is an old golden coin. So I started researching and looking closely both on my video and my poster. Finally I chose my logo to be a Red Star which was known well as the communism sign. The reason to add this is because the Balkans were under the communist regime in the 19 century. I thought It will be appropriate with the architecture and the location of the place where my poster and part of the shooting took place.
Conclusion Overall, by using different generic conventions I aimed to represent the Eastern European Punk culture both in my main product and ancillary text. The first focus was on the way the actors are seen by the audience. Their clothing represents the idea of them being from the working class. After that I moved to adding some humor in the video to make it more interesting for the audience. I represent a stereotypical view created by the western Europeans that Eastern Europeans are messy and dirty. Therefore, I added some animations on my digipak which contributed in creating positive and funny look. And finally, to make it more professional and to follow the traditions of the punk genre I chose a logo which symbolizes the dark ages of the Balkans-the communist regime.