1. How effective is the combination of your main
product and ancillary texts - Q2
House style and theme
Throughout my products I have get a running house style and
theme. This was to ensure that my target audience could
make a continuing connection between all three of my
products and so that they could recognise that they are all
products promoting the same song and music video. The
metaphor that runs through all of my products is the feel of
being intoxicated which can explain the reason for or a
reason to solve a person’s sadness and loneliness. There is
also an extended metaphor of euphoria, which comes from
being around people that bring you happiness and also can
argued can stem from being intoxicated.
Music Video
One of the main purposes of my music video is to entertain
my target audience (and others). However, when creating my
music video, the main intention was to create a
character/protagonist that my audience could identify and
connect with through her behaviour and actions. Simply, by
using a young woman around the age of 18 who has drunk
herself into a silly state, I feel that my target audience can

2. identify with her as many 16-25 year olds have either
witnessed or been in a similar situation she has. The quickly
cut shots and the fast pace of the song help portray the
speed at which my protagonist is drinking, showing her aim is
really to get drunk. Also the slowness of the shots where my
protagonist is looking straight at the camera takes time out
from the reckless drinking and allows the audience to
connect on a deeper level with her and her conscious mind
through the various stages of her drinking. In contrast, I feel
that they fast paced shots of the crowd reinforce the theme
of loneliness, which many young people experience in their
lives, further making the protagonist more identifiable.
Magazine Advert
The main purpose of the magazine advert was to quite simply
promote the music video and to portray the genre of Drum
and Bass. I feel that my magazine advert successfully does
this, as firstly it includes a photo of my protagonist in the
music video, thus meaning that the audience will recognise
the posters intentions of promoting the video. As well as this,
the house style; purple and white, represents the moody, but
vibrant and different attitude of the genre. Drum and Bass;
until more recently is a very individualistic genre of music and
many of the listeners are defined as individualists as they do
not conform and do not aim to fit in with others, showing
that they are vibrant in the way they wish to stand out from

3. other. Thus the house style represents the target audience I
am trying to reach out to. Having a ‘moody’ theme to my
magazine advert also links to my protagonist in my music
video. The alcohol has changed her from being a vibrant and
happy person to sad and miserable toward the end of the
video. The picture itself was taken in front of black
background which was lit up, as my intentions at the
beginning were to create a, sulky magazine advert, which I
have done. In terms of promotion of the music video, I feel
that my music magazine as done so via the reviews, the date
of release and also where the audience can purchase it from.
The reviews especially will help promote the music video. I
have used music magazine associated with the genre of the
video to give reviews as my target audience, who obviously
enjoy drum and bass, will be able to recognise and see that a
music magazine they trust is giving a good review, in turn
assisting and possibly increasing sales.
Digipak
The digipak that I have created also maintains the purple and
white house style which features of my magazine advert. It
also preserves the intoxicated feel of the music video
through the effect on the images, which I placed on Adobe
Photoshop. I took a picture of my protagonist half smiling
and placed an effect on it to make the audience feel like they
were intoxicated or their vision is blurry, just like how my

4. protagonist feels in the music video, allowing them
empathize more with her and the state she is in. I also placed
a ‘blue tone’ over this picture so that it matches colour and
also the laser lights on the opposite page. The image of the
crowd promotes the music video as the audience will be able
to make a connection from the multiple crowd shots in the
music video through to the digipak. I also felt that having this
two images reinforces the contrasting narratives and feeling
that I have portray in my actual music video, again meaning
that the target audience will be able to recognise that the
digipak refers to the music video. It could be argued that the
digipak does credit the music video to ‘Afterglow’ the most
even though it is advertising other songs. However, as the
prime aspects of Drum and Bass songs and music video
include dancing crowds, intoxication and also laser lights, I
feel that it successfully advertises all the songs, in turn
making it successful in its overall representation of the genre
of Drum and Bass. Moreover, the stages of being intoxicated
which is represent by my protagonist behaviour, facial
expressions and movement in the music video is also
promoted through separating the track list into two parts on
the back of my digipak. The first being named ‘9PM-2AM:
euphoria’. This time lapse usually associated with the first
few stages on being intoxicated, for example feeling positive,
happy and ready for a night out, thus the name of the stage
being called ‘euphoria’. The second part of the track list is
names ‘2AM-5AM: come down’. The words ‘come down’ are

5. heavily associated with the ‘wearing off’ effect of the drugs
and alcohol which again occurs primarily at these times as
this is when clubs shut and people stop what they are taking
and head home. The image itself also portrays the
protagonist’s feelings of isolation as her back is turned from
the audience. This could create the empathy and
identification that I wanted to create with her even when the
target audience are not watching the music video. The image
of my protagonist on the front of my digipak, is similar to the
one of my magazine advert, meaning that my target audience
will be familiar with her face and be able to make the
connection between my music video, poster and digipak.
Over all I feel that the combination of my main product and
ancillary texts work extremely well together as they promote
and maintain each other’s house style, theme and also
metaphors of intoxication, alienation and euphoria; in turn
promoting the identifiable and entertaining narrative to my
target audience.