Proposal for Ancillaries

Digipak

Format: CD Digipak

In order for our digipak to be easily identifiable to an indie audience, we will ensure that we will use imagery related to the genre and our music video. 

This includes using enigmatic images which will entice the audience to learn more about the album. The image will be of tealights in a church to maintain the theme and house colours of our music video. The background will use the blue house colours seen within our production in order to maintain a universal theme. In doing this, we are conforming to the indie genre as it is done by many artists such as Arctic Monkeys and The 1975. The back and insert of our digipak will have an image of the back of a female individual. With her identity being hidden, an enigma is created for the audience, enticing the audience. A mass audience will then be attracted through the cultivation theory as they will want to learn more about the artist each time they see the digipak. They could then go on to watch our music video to uncover the enigma.The use of font in our will remain consistent over our digipak, tour poster and music video. This is to enable fans to quickly identify a product as belonging to the band after a quick glance. Through using the same font, a brand identity is able to be created which will assist the band when marketing and could be used on merchandise to allow the public to quickly identify the band and their ideologies. 

Tour Poster

Format: A1

The tour poster will follow themes and conventions of the indie genre and our other products. We have done this through using religious imagery, similarly used in our digipak and music video. We will use the same house colours and text across all of our products. This will allow viewers to associate the tour poster with the band, creating a brand identity. 

We will follow conventions of indie tour posters through the use of imagery which will allow the audience to recognise the band, as opposed to an image of the band. This is done by bands such as Florence and the Machine and Two Door Cinema Club. Religious imagery will entice an audience as it appears unconventional, and may initially confuse an indie audience but becomes clearer as the message becomes strengthened after viewing our other products. As the viewers must actively look for further information, the cultivation theory can be applied. Moreover, we will include institutional codes and the bands website as this follows the general conventions of tour posters. This will allow active audiences to find out more about the band, book tickets or research into the record label. The inclusion of the website will allow for online advertising to take place on services such as Facebook and Twitter on Web 2.0, assisting with advertising. Some viewers may interact with the poster as they want to discuss it with friends where as other may simply take down its information, meaning the uses and gratification theory can be applied.

Conventions of tour posters will also followed with the inclusion of tour dates in the central third of the poster. This will grab the attention of the audience and give the the most important information at first glance. It is then up to them to decide if they will continue to scan the poster for further information. This follows the conventions of a tour poster and can be seen in products from both older and modern bands such as Oasis and A Day To Remember. 

Music video, Digipak and Tour poster:

In order to create a successful campaign, we will need to include both music video, digipak and tour poster. To do this, we shall be consistent with our house colours, ideally using colours which are conventional to the Indie genre e.g Pale Blue’s or pinks. The similarity of house colours throughout will enable our audience to not only recognise the  Another example of how we could make our campaign successful is by using similar or identical font throughout all three products. In turn, this will enable the audience to recognise the products as interlinking and creates brand awareness. Similarly, we shall also consider using an edited coloured flash throughout our music video which shall be identical to the colours of both our digipak and tour poster. Moreover, this relates to the 1975’s own work as they often include a pink glow consistent throughout their products in order to link their ancillary work to their music videos and merchandise. 

General target audience

Our target audience consists of males and females aged 16 to 21, with some members being slightly older. We will target the C1 to E demographic and the struggler psychographic. 

We will target our age and gender groups through using actors of similar ages to our target audience. This will enable verisimilitude to be created as the audiences will be able to relate to them easily. The inclusion if both genres will also ensure every viewer feels included as inclusion is a common theme explored in the indie genre. We will use images of the eyes of various people, in ranging age groups, at the start of the video to ensure we achieve this. 

The struggler psychographic is conventionally targeted by the indie genre due to the controversial and often unexplored themes it discusses. We will target this psychographic in our digipak through using an image of the back of a girls head. This will entice this audience as they will want to learn about her difficulties and reasoning for hiding her identity. An active audience may then watch the music video to learn more about the difficulties hinted in the digipak. Furthermore, our  music video will attract the same psychogrpahic by exploring themes such as bullying, shoplifting and prostitution. These themes, although complex, may relate to our target audience who become inspired by the product.

The setting of the church and use of religious imagery across our ancillaries creates an enigma for our target audience who may not have seen this used by the indie genre before. As a developmental genre, bands constantly explore new themes, with religion being the focus of this one. Active audiences will be attracted by the ominous portrayal of the location, encouraging them to research into the band and music video, meaning the cultivation theory can be applied.

Furthermore, an indie target audience will be attracted through the use of a universal colour and font scheme across our ancillaries and music video. This is highly conventional to the indie genre as fans are able to adopt the brands identity to display their support, for example, through Twitter. This is important as it will allow viewers to easily identify our products as well as promote the messages of the band to new audiences, expanding their reach.

'Loving Someone' Music Video Treatment

Title: Loving Someone - The 1975

Genre: Indie/ Alternative

Format: Music Video

Running time: 4mins 

Synopsis  

Video begins with three teenagers attempting to break into a church to do drugs. Their break in is documented over the 3 chorus' within the song. Once the group successfully break in to the church and begin to take drugs, a mysterious holy figure appears. He appears to talk to the teenagers as they all stare into the distance. The holy figure then disappears leaving the teenagers confused and seeking guidance. Moreover, after this strange event occurs the teen the narrative begins to unravel into each of their lives. 

The first character shown throughout the first verse of Loving Someone, is Jason an 18 year old boy who suffers from alcohol abuse. He first appears sitting outside a shop lighting and smoking a cigarette. Anxious and fragile he struggles to get cigarettes out of the packet dropping them on the floor and shaking as he does so. Jason pulls up his hood as he puts out his cigarette. The scene then cuts to a preoccupied shopkeeper arguing with a customer as Jason enters the store. He then slips a bottle of vodka into his jacket, stealing the item, he runs out the shop. Shots of Jason down the end of an ally way drinking. Breaking down against the wall he places his head in his hands as his facial expression becomes angry and frustrated. 

Similarly, throughout the second verse of the song a second character is represented, yet this time with a different personal issue. Anna, 18 is a victim of child neglect, due to lack of income she leads a life of prostitution. The shot begins with a male walking into a room with lights and bedsheets, she leaves the room covered in lights with smoke in the background, signifying her vulnerability. The wall in the room appears covered in bedsheets making the lights brighter and highlighting her issue. Towards the end of the shot she looks up towards the camera and the lights.

Finally, the final verse introduces the final character Yioda who is battling with depression and insecurities about her body image. After being bullied at school and constantly called names, she spirals into sadness and a state of self hatred. Moreover, when she arrives home from school, out of rage and frustration he smashes her mirror. Yioda is followed running a bath filled with red liquid in which she submerges her whole body. As she lifts her head above the water her face appears stained red and red splashes of water to represent her pain and suffering from self harm to the excessive bullying. Moreover, as she enters a room, projections of models and the 'ideal' body image appear on the wall to connote how body perception has gone too far and teenagers worldwide are suffering from deep insecurities.

The new equilibrium of the video consists of all three of the characters being seen together in the church, after an insight into each of their lives it appears that they have stopped doing drugs and are still listening to this figure of hope. Each teenagers difficult situation appears to be resolved as they are seen to reform. Anna is seen applying for a job. Jason returns to the shop to take back the stolen vodka, and Yioda is seen to wash the red dye off her skin. After this, close up shots of the eyes of the three teenagers while smiling, signifying their strength and happiness of having the ability to overcome their troubles.

Key Scenes

Key scene one: Begins with long shot of church isle with mysterious character dressed in white at the head of the church. Cut to establishing panning shot church from outside. As the lyrics begin ('loving someone' repeated 4 times) cutting close up shots of various eyes of people in society are shown; including the three protagonists e.g. old, young, teenage, middle age. We are then introduced to 3 main protagonists via close ups and cuts of them walking towards and breaking into a church. The cutting shots of the teens breaking into the church are spread out across the three chorus' which state "Loving Someone" in order to connote, not only their mental struggle but physical struggle in finding that person they should be loving; in this case the holy figure who guides them.

Key Scene Two: This scene begins with a close up shot of Jason smoking, showing a tracking shot of smoke drifting into the air highlighted by low key lighting. It shows him sat on a bench in distress while trying to take out a cigarette. A close up shot reveals his hands shaking causing him to drop the cigarette onto the floor. It then cuts to a mid shot of him standing up, allowing the audience to see that he is wearing a black hoodie and jeans. A tracking shot then follows him from behind into a local convenient store. With the tracking shot from behind his shoulder continuing to follow him through the isles of the store, a close up shot of alcohol makes it apparent for the audience that he is going to shop lift. There is then a close up shot from the front of him sneaking vodka into his jacket pocket. 

Key Scene Three: Focuses on Anna, a prostitute who is reliant on her business for income. Long shot of female standing on a street corner, wearing provocative clothing and is waiting for a client to arrive in his car. Once he arrives, an over the shoulder shot across the male sees the female enter his car, and highlights her vulnerability. Cut to a time-lapse shot of cars on the road, to signify how lost and alone she is in the world. Cut to a close up establishing shot of a bedroom interrupted by Anna leading a male to the bed covered in fairy lights. a blurred over the shoulder shot displays the male on the bed whilst Anna is covered in high key colourful fairy lights. A slow zoom in shot see's him walk over and stands behind her body. The rule of thirds is applied here as she is placed in the middle section of the three framed shot in order to display her to the audience as the primary image and main character of this particular scene. Anna slowly looks towards the camera as she closes her eyes cut shots displaying of child neglect and her alone in a room as a child appear. Anna opens her eyes and directly addresses the camera as the man behind switches off the lights representing all control over her as a prostitute.

Key Scene Four: Towards the end of the music video, a close up of the three characters faces appear in high key lighting highlighting their shocked facial expressions, staring into huge beam of holy light. Each teenagers situation is revealed 

Character Profiles:

Jason: 18 year old white teen, dark hair and beard. His mental state is unstable due to use of drugs and constant smoking. Throughout the video he shoplifts stealing alcohol displaying his desperate lifestyle.

Yioda: 18 year old white teen, dark brown hair, petite. Victim of bullying and name calling results to depression and self harm.

Anna:18 year old white teen, brown hair. Being abused as a child has lead her to a life of prostitution. 

Target audience:

The target audience for our music video consists fans of the indie genre and The 1975. A stereotypical audience member would be a female aged between 16 and 18. Despite the stereotypical audience of female we have also decided to target male by making one of our characters male in order for this particular audience to relate to. Both genders would belong to the E demographic, as many will be students watching our music video in their free time or if they follow the band; music videos are part of their daily viewing habits as they find the content of the videos either aspirational or relatable and as a means of escapism. Teenagers nowadays use social media very often and follow many artists in order to keep updated with tours and song releases hence why we have decided to target 16-18 year olds. This means that the Uses and Gratification theory can be applied as viewers will watch the video for different purposes for example for pleasure or escapism or to help highlight social issues which are included within the production e.g depression and prostitution. The psychographics for the target audience are Explorers and Reformers. Explorers prefer discovery, challenges and new frontiers therefore will love the variation of enigma's weaved into our production. Furthermore, a Reformer has there own independent judgement meaning if they enjoy the narrative they are more likely to get attached; here we can apply the hypodermic needle theory, as due to our intriguing narrative the audience want to watch on in order to view the outcome. However in order to apply our film to a mass audience we shall include conventions of the Indie genre for example pale colours, use of smoke and drugs and a location which is familiar to the audience targeted.

Certification:

Our film is classified as a 15, as our target audience is teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16 and 18. According to the BBFC guidelines our film is classed as a 15 due to the scenes of drug taking which will be shown but the work as a whole does not promote or encourage drug misuse, brief scenes of sexual activity and snippets of self harm and body abuse. Drug taking and substance abuse is portrayed when Jason is seen outside the shop smoking a cigarette and when he is drinking alcohol in the ally way, this substance abuse motif is seen throughout through cuts of smoke and constant use of alcohol.

Moreover, sexual activity is briefly suggested throughout Anna's prostitution scene as she leads a man into a room however this is displayed with the use of lights and no strong detail is displayed. These scenes could be influential to younger children and could frighten them due to their lack of understanding. Finally, the use of self harm and body abuse within Yioda's scene as she battles through bullying and depression, this kind of activity should not be exposed to young vulnerable children as it could make them think that self hatred is the only way out of being bullied and may think harming themselves is permitted because they may not understand the concept of depression.

Research Evaluation

Research Evaluation:

As part of our research, we completed:

• 9 Textual Analysis

• 3 Artist Profiles

• Questionnaire with Analysis

• 3 Poster and Digipak Analysis

• 3 Music Video Key Changes
• 3 Ancillary Key Changes

Artist Profiles:

From gathering information from our artist within the Indie genre, we have now developed and broadened knowledge of how artists attract their audience through techniques and trademarks. Also how artists are influenced and adapt a product for their audience.

Andrew discovered that The 1975’s authentic sound was derived by the lead singers upbringing, after being surrounded by artists such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and The Vandellas. This has enabled the band to progress the indie genre through introducing new sounds and instruments which would previously be considered unconventional. The 1975’s approach to the genre incorporates sounds from the electro-pop and synth-pop genre, but with an indie undertone. These new sounds could suggest why the band attract such a large audience. 

Sophia found out that ‘The 1975’ are inspired by older artists and take inspiration from various genres e.g Hip-hop, Funk and Electro Pop.  This enables their music to stand out as the Indie genre focuses on unique ideologies making it a progressive genre.

Anna identified that ‘ The 1975’  focus on the ideologies of ‘the dark and youthful themes of sex, love, and fear’ aiming their music at teenagers and young adults. The lead singer Matty often sings about his past unfortunate experience to build a relationship with the audience and attract them not only to the music but the band themselves.

Textual Analysis:

Watching and analysing music videos allowed us to get an insight into what works well when captivating an audience from the outset.

Sophia examined how conventions were used within Indie music video. This includes both performance and narrative based videos, performance influenced by the rock genre and narrative by the hip-hop genre. This discovery of conventions have broadened our understanding of how directors incorporate features like pale cloud and lighting or social issues to captivate an audience. We will use some of these conventions in our product to create a similar feel and impact for the audience. 

The analysis of the ‘Sex' music video by The 1975 allowed Andrew to examine how the band incorporate their iconography seamlessly into their products. He realised that this allows active audiences to identify the band easily and adopt their iconography into their online profiles. Andrew also explored how the conventions of the indie genre are displayed in their music videos, such as drug use and volatile relationships. He will use this as inspiration for his final product. 

Whilst analysing ‘ This Is Gospel’ by Panic At The Disco, Anna discovered the use of direct address as the lead singer Brendon Urie first appears through a birds eye mid shot. The direct address therefore breaks the fourth wall and allows him to speak the lyrics directly to the camera. In turn, this helps relate to the audience assisting in building a relationship with them from the moment he opens his eyes. This feature would be significant to adopt in our own production to capture the audiences attention from the outset.

Ancillary and Music Video Key Changes:

Our Key Changes helped us to further develop our knowledge into the conventions of the Indie genre, displaying the progression of music video and ancillary from the 1980’s to 2016. When completing our planning, we took our Key Changes 

Sophia noticed that the artists such as ‘Kings Of Leon’ relate their ancillary work from the 2000’s to the 1980’s attracting an older audience as they progress through the Indie genre. This is further reflected within ‘The1975’  through their music  as they commonly include old funk soul relating back to the 1980’s idea of the Indie genre/ Alternative Rock.

Anna discovered the constant use of san serif blocked typography throughout the 1980’s for example in the ‘Duran Duran’ ancillary. She found that this type of typography highlighted the artists name, making it stand out in red text binary opposing the dark background it has been placed over. This then created brand awareness as the audience and was subverted within 2016 as artists went for a thinner font. Both however enabled the audience to clearly view the title and could go away and search the film using their convergent media deices through the use of web 2.0. 

While completing research into the key changes of indie music videos, Andrew discovered that the indie genre is highly progressive, changing dramatically since the 1980’s. Key conventions such as lyrics about drugs and relationships have maintained throughout the eras, but the style in which the music videos are filmed have changed. The cinematography and editing has become more advanced, with music videos takin the style and conventions of films. However, the type of music video has used the narrative format throughout the years. This effectively attracts the struggler psychographic, the target audience for the indie audience, and will be the style I will use in my music video. 

Poster and Digipak Analysis:

Completing poster and digipak gave us the opportunity to complete research which will ultimately expand our understanding of how to create a ancillary. Through finding out about conventions in depth, we now feel comfortable with using them in our product as we know them to be proven to captivate audiences.

Through completing the analysis of indie posters and digipaks through the decades, Andrew discovered that the use of vibrant colours peaked in the 1990’s, where as subtle house colours and simple designs were used during other decades. During the 00’s, he found that artists use iconic images as a form of brand identity and to attract fans of the band. This is evident in both albums from The 1975. Andrew also found that the use of social media handles such as Twitter and Facebook were included on digipaks in the 00’s to promote social interaction. 

Sophia discovered that the artists show a deeper emotion, for example on the Arctic Monkeys ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s Exactly What I’m Not’ the emotion of stress is being conveyed. Through carrying out this research, I have discovered that portraying emotion allows an indie target audience to relate to the individual and find escapism through the imagery. Therefore the uses and gratification theory is being applied often within their posters and digipaks.  

Anna explored that consistency between image and text is significantly important. The Mumford and Sons Sigh No More digipak denotes the back and front of a shop. The continuity and familiar locations create a sense of verisimilitude within the audience allowing them too connect and build a relationship with the audience. The equality of the four windows suggests the importance of each band member, and their balance as a band. 

Questionnaire with Analysis:

Completing a questionnaire and analysing the results helped us to fully understand our target audience. It also allowed us to see their preferences, as well as what they do not like about the indie genre, allowing us to tailor our product towards them. When planning our production our questionnaire analysis allow us decide what you audience desired to include.

Andrew examined how the questionnaire respondents identified the indie genre digipaks. He found that simple designs and consistent house colours, such as black and white, were essential to gripping the audiences attention. Moreover, he found that both genders had to be targeted, and that 15-17 year olds are primary audience. He will consider these details when designing the digipak.

Sophia discovered the participants views towards location and how they believe a serious, dark and mysterious location is more conventional for the indie genre due to it relating to the artists ideology. The location not having many people around is also an expected convention from the indie genre as this would allow an audience member to relate to the individual as they are alone. This would link to the demographic of the indie target audience as they would categorise themselves within the ‘strugglers’ demographic. 

Anna determined that the participants to a certain extent preferred mainly image to text. Within a magazine of mainly text it would be significant to add a mainly image ancillary in order for it to catch the eye of an audience; less is more will entice the audience to read the small text on the ancillary if the image is large.

Digipak Questionnaire

Digipak Questionnaire Analysis

What is your gender?

Our questionnaire results discovered that interest in the indie genre is from a predominantly female audience. However, there remains a large amount of male viewers, suggesting that we must cater for all audiences. We can do this through using colours and imagery both genders find appealing. This can be achievable through a simplistic design which does not specifically target a gender such as The 1975’s latest album which uses their iconic box design to attract their audience. The digipak can also attract both genders though including images of males and females on the album cover art, such as London Grammar and Paramore’s covers. This enables all audiences to relate to the band and their message as the viewer is able to identify with them. Laura Mulveys Male and Female Gaze theory can also be applied as the images may be seen as attractive or desirable to an audience, which would entice them further. 

What is your age?

The indie rock genre has the ability to attract an audience aged between 15 to 21, however, it can also appeal to viewers older than this. I discovered this through the analysis of key changes of the indie genre where I found that many artists aim their ancillaries and digipaks at older audiences. In order to attract the majority of this audience to our digipak, iconic images and colours of the genre should be used. This will ensure that all fans of the genre are attracted, rather than specific age groups. Examples of this includes the xx’s album cover, where the design and house colours remains consistent across all of their albums. This simplicity has the ability to quickly attract active audiences of all ages who can identify with the iconography of the album. This simplicity is a convention of the indie music genre.

Moreover, Fall Out Boy albums attract audiences from all ages through using young characters, facing mature, adult issues. For example, their Save Rock and Roll album sees two young boys, one is a monk robe and the other smoking. The use of young males would attract a young audience, where as the element of social protest within the album, as conveyed through the cover, will attract an older audience.

Have you ever purchased a digipak?

The vast majority of our audience (71%) have purchased digipak. This informs me that producing a digipak will be essential for the success of our album. Many audiences of the indie genre are encouraged to purchase digipaks due to the exclusive content available on them, such as bonus tracks. An example of this is on The 1975’s self-titled album, which includes five bonus songs when purchased from specific outlets.

Other reasons audiences enjoy digipaks could be due to them wanting to own a physical copy of the album and its content. This includes an infill, many of which contain a message from the band and the song lyrics. This is highly conventional to the genre and could encourage audiences to purchase a copy as it allows the band to interact with the audience through their message. The whole production process is essential to the fans of the genre as they are able to appreciate the artwork and lyrics in a physical product. Many then go on to adopt their visuals into their online presence, which is an example of the uses and gratification theory. 

Moreover, sales of albums are encouraged though album signings across the world. The chance to meet the band and purchase a signed copy of the album drives sales and allows a direct relationship to be built between the artist and audience. Examples of this include Foals and James Bay. These various reasons for purchasing a digipak means that the Uses and Gratification theory can be applied.

When thinking about digipaks from the Indie genre, what comes to mind first?

While thinking about digipaks from the indie genre, many respondents think about images of the band. This is highly conventional to album covers from this genre as they are seen across albums such as The Kooks and The Vaccines. Active audiences may want to see this as it allows them to identify the band instantly and form a relationship with them. A passive audience may not take interest in the image of the band at first, but may wish to research further into the band as they gain interest over time, meaning the Cultivation theory can be applied.

Religious imagery is also a popular response from our respondents and suggests that religion and the questioning of religion is a popular theme across the indie genre. However, this is not conventional to digipaks from within the genre, but is common in music videos. Due to this, we will use religious imagery within our music video. 

Which codes and conventions of an indie digipak can you identify with?

Respondents reported identifying with all codes and conventions of indie digipaks in our questionnaire. However, the most popular responses were ‘universal colour scheme’ and ‘social media handles’, both with 10 votes.

A universal colour scheme includes using the same house colours across all platforms the band present themselves on, such as on posters, social media and music videos. This encourages a band identity to be created, allowing them to establish their own iconography which can be easily identified. Active audiences will be able to identify with a colour scheme, and may replicate it on their social media platforms in order to express their dedication to the artist, strengthening the relationship between artist and audience. The Neighbourhood is an example of a band that does this as their black and white theme is used across their digipak, Twitter page and  music video. 

Social media also plays an essential role in connecting audiences with the artist and is why it is desired by my questionnaire respondents. The ability for audiences to connect in this way is a modern trend, and is expected by active audiences of the indie genre. Including social media handles on the digipak invites audiences to communicate with the band, allowing them to feel involved and influential. Many audiences may voice their support of the band through social media, which could grow their following as passive audiences grow more interested in the band and begin to research more about them, allowing the Cultivation theory to be applied. 

Which digipak cover do you prefer?

Why have you chosen this digipak cover?

The most popular album cover was Daughter's Let You Leave, followed closely by The 1975's latest album. 

Daughter's Let You Leave denotes a blurred image of a girl with a sepia filter. The typography is sans serif and in a thin font. Comments from respondents who preferred this cover liked the 'brown and yellow colours' and 'woods location' This is unconventional as it is not typical of the indie genre. This progresses the genre by introducing new colours and themes to album artwork. This could be why it has proven to be a popular choice among respondents who may take interest to the cover. The dark, autumnal colours and blurred image create an enigma which an active audience will want to unravel. This is typical of an indie album cover which entices audiences through mystery and enigma codes. This is also seen true in Arcade Fire's Suburbs album. 

The 1975's newest album uses the same, iconic imagery from it first album which rose to success within the indie genre. The colour scheme across the two albums is the only difference. This has the ability to attract their audience quickly as they will already identify with the album cover, associating it with the band. Comments from respondents who preferred The 1975's album mentioned liking its 'simplicity' and 'neon lighting'. The simplistic design is a common theme within the indie genre, and is seen in album artwork from artists such as Foster the People and The xx. The following of this convention will attract an indie audience. The neon lighting is a lighting effect adopted by The 1975 and is used across their social media sites and album artwork. This aesthetic is easily reproduced by fans, allowing them to interact with the band use this to announce their support for the band. Because of the positive effect this creates, I will use a common theme across my ancillaries. 

Would you prefer a digipak to include song lyrics or the artists message?

The majority of respondents at 64% reported preferring song lyrics rather than a message from the artist in the infill to the digipak. This is highly conventional to digipaks of all genres and has become an expectation for audiences. However, the remaining respondents at 36% wanted to see a message from the artist and desire this direct communication with the artist. 

Song lyrics enable the audience to interpret the meaning of the artists songs, enabling them to be debated and discussed amongst active audiences. This causes controversy and allows fans of the band to discuss relevant issues through communicating with each other over social media. 

However, the remaining 36% of respondents may use Web 2.0 for the searching of song lyrics and instead, prefer a message from the artist in the digipak infill. This allows direct communication between the artist and the audience which our respondents desire. This could be because active audiences may want to discover more about the artists inspiration and messages behind the album. 

What house style (overall colours of the product) would you expect to see on an Indie digipack?

House style on digipaks make them recognisable to the target audience. Respondents reported looking for simple designs and black and white colours. Including these in our digipak will ensure that we target our intended indie audience.

Black and white colour schemes have been used throughout the indie genre, being adopted by artists such as Radiohead and David Bowie and modern artists such as The 1975 and Arctic Monkeys. Due to this, it has become a conventional colour scheme within the indie genre and is almost exclusive to the genre. This means that active audiences would be able to identify the genre after simply glancing at the cover, allowing audiences to be quickly attracted. 

Simplicity was also a popular response in our questionnaire, suggesting that the most successful album covers are aesthetically pleasing, rather than overwhelmed with information. This is true for Arctic Monkey's most successful album: AM album which simply featured sound waves in black and white. The success for this album was also contributed to by the popularity of the logo, which became a popular print on t-shirts and posters, allowing the albums promotion to be highly successful.

 Should a digipak cover be mainly text or mainly image?

The vast majority of our audience at 80% preferred digipak covers which are predominantly image, as opposed to text. This is highly conventional within the indie genre and an expectation from modern audiences. Many genres also follow this convention, with artists such as Kanye West from the Hip-Hop genre being the first to subvert it with his Life Of Pablo album.

Audiences like to see images on album covers as they can entice audiences through iconography and symbolism. For example, The 1975 use the same image across their albums to make them instantly identifiable to an audience, and assist in building their brand identity. This is successful as it displays a progression between albums, moving from black and white to light pink. Active audiences will be able to enjoy this change as they feel their support is playing an active role in their development. 

Respondents that reported preferring text to images may be able to relate to a genre through 

typography, therefore understanding its ideologies. Vampire Weekend are able to do this by using the same font across all of their albums. This entices their fans, as well as active audiences of the indie genre who may be able to identify with them through this typography.

Tour Poster Questionnaire

Tour Poster Questionnaire Analysis

What is your gender?

This question displays who the majority of our demographic are between the binary opposition of males and females. The information depicts that 55% of females answered our questionnaire and 45% of males, suggesting that females in this case are the more dominant genre however in order to appeal to a mass audience we will aim our ancillaries to both genders. Representing both genders allows the audience to relate and allows the uses and gratification entertainment and information to be applied as different conventions and stereotypes will be added in order to conform to each gender role. In turn, Laura Mulvey's male gaze can be applied as if the protagonist is an attractive woman men are more likely to watch our production. This is also relevant for females, applying the female gaze and putting an attractive male into our audience is likely to attract a larger male audience.Similarly, the information reinforces the female girly stereotype as conventionally they would be expected to read and be more interested in magasine adverts rather than a male; as displayed within the graph.

What is your age?

Moreover, this feedback showed us the general ages of people who responded which gave us a good idea of who are target audience would be and who would be interested in consuming our product and reviewing our ancillaries. These results illustrate that the most popular age range would be from 15-17 with 68% of people being displayed at this age. In turn, this indicates that our target audience is in the D/E demographic. People within these two demographics are more likely to be unemployed or working class people meaning they will have more time to listen too and take in music. Taking this information into account it would be most suited if our age range was 15 and above as this is the minimum age on the most popular age range therefore widening our mass audience.

In addition , if our rating is a 15 then it is open to all ages above and due to teenagers and young adults being the most active on social media, we can publish our advertisement and promote products online. In turn the audience can view this on their convergent media devices via web 2.0. In addition, an audience under 12 or 12-14 would be too immature, meaning violence and sexual references would have to be limited, therefore this is unsuitable for our horror production. Similarly, we would not aim our advertisement at children under 12 as the questionnaire reinforces, posters and magazine covers for indie music do not necessarily appeal to them due to their inexperience within the music world. Aiming our ancillaries at under 12's does not include the target audience illustrated by the data and therefore would lower interest in our production as it would be deemed too inappropriate. In conclusion 15 and above would be the ideal age range for our production as it includes the target audience and allows us to display the right amount of sexual, religious and controversial imagery to conform to the indie genre within our ancillary.

What attracts you to magazines the most?

This question enabled us to gain an insight into the makeup of creating a magazine ancillary for our music video. The results shown on the graph depict that the most attractive element of a magazine advert, is the image peaking at 45% followed up closely by the colour at 40%. In order to capture an audience, these factors are significant. The image assists in either portraying the band through direct address building a relationship with the audience or image linking to the album creating brand awareness and identity. In turn, an audience can recognise that image and be able to access in on their convergent media devices via web 2.0 as a form of promotion. Similarly, the image may include a familiar setting to the target audience creating a sense of verisimilitude as if they can put themselves in the position of the image. Magazines consist of text and small photos hence why a large glossy image is more likely to catch an audience attention rather than typography or style. The second most favoured option colour is also a benefit within a magazine advert and is what we will be focusing on closely in order for the colours to match the album artwork and the song. Here we can apply hypodermic needle theory as if we incorporate both colour and image into a magazine advert an audience are more likely to be directly drawn towards it.

Furthermore, the other two options of typography and style scored only 10 and 5 % suggesting they are not important elements that our audience would like to see within our magazine advert. Both these factors are subjective when it comes to the Indie and can be portrayed how they like due to the conceptual nature of the Indie genre.

  

How would you identify the Indie genre in a magazine advert?

In order to promote our genre we asked this question to help us understand how our target audience perceive the genre itself. The largest word which appears to be 'Colour' represents the most requested result. Like the previous question asked the colour came up as the second most important factor on a magazine advertisement. Colours within the indie genre are binary opposed black and whites, calm and pale ; pale being the third most suggested word. Due to the high demand of colour we shall incorporate this into our production as this is what our target audience would prefer to see. In turn, the more colours used which conform to the genre the more identifiable the genre will be to the audience creating brand awareness and identity. Here we can apply the hypodermic needle theory as the colour will trigger an instant reaction and realisation of the band or the album being seen. The second most prominent word is 'Band', usually within the Indie genre artists focus more on instrument or the production value of the music rather than the band themselves, however as this is highly requested we will adapt some photos of either the band or the music video into the magazine advert in order for the audience to associate the genre with the band and recognise it. Here we can apply Dyer's star theory as the celebrity endorsed advertisement with features the band allows the audience to be drawn in and recognise the Indie genre.

Furthermore, the less dominant words in the background of the image feature the words 'black, clothing, alcohol, smoke' all significant stereotypes of the Indie genre yet none which our audience feel represent the genre the most. Due to this reason , will we attempt not to feature too much of these limited conventions within our magazine cover as they may not attract the same realisation of the genre as colours or a band which conform to the Indie Genre. Here we can apply Stuart Hall's reception theory negotiated as with images such as alcohol and drugs which do represent the genre, certain people may agree or disagree due to social or political reasons and there would be controversial to act as our main magazine ancillary.

Should an ancillary contain...

This question was proposed about ancillaries in magazines and wether they should consist of mainly text or image. Our target audience responded 85% mainly text and 15% mainly image. Due to our audience requesting mainly image we shall adopt this into our ancillaries in order to gain a mass audience. Within a magazine of mainly text it would be significant to add a mainly image ancillary in order for it to catch the eye of an audience; less is more will entice the audience to read the small text on the ancillary if the image is large. Here we can apply cultivation theory as if the image is large, it is more likely to be viewed and the audience will slowly gain enough information to look into the band. However the image cannot be overpowering or include too many conceptual ideas as this does not conform to the indie genre ; this genre is simplistic. The mode of address used within an image is significant within the Indie genre and may influence these results, being able to connect with the audience is an important part of already established Indie magazine ancillaries as they focus on gaining mass audience and promotion. The popularity of images in my questionnaire has allowed me to think about how we could incorporate them into our ancillary page as a way of connecting with the target audience.

Should an ancillary contain social network links e.g Twitter and Facebook?

Magazine ancillaries are forms of print advertisement meaning that they often lack ways to be accessed online. However, nowadays website and social networking links on print advertisement are giving people access to information online; hence the question should an ancillary include social network links. The entirety of our audience voted yes in regard to social networking links meaning we shall incorporate them within our ancillaries. Twitter/ Facebook or website links to the band will enable brand awareness to be created and can allow our target audience to access the music on their convergent media devices via web 2.0. Likewise, Spotify and merchandise links can be added in order for the audience to access as much information as possible about the band and music in order to promote them to a mass audience.Within our target audience of 15 and above, social media is very popular and very important. The majority of our audience would be using these networks allowing the application of the uses and gratification theory identification as the more social networking links the more widespread the product becomes and the more the audience talk about it. Surprisingly, none of our audience requested no, as some people do not have access to the internet, suggesting that those who do not use the internet, or social media would not be that interested with our product.

What images/motifs would you pair with the Indie genre?

The significance of this question allows us to understand how our audience perceive the Indie genre through symbols and motifs. The majority of our audience requested religious imagery as a motif for our magazine ancillary. Due to our music video and song being focused around religious iconography, the audiences result works in our favour. We shall focus our ancillary around religious symbols for example cross', candles and white lights; here we can apply a sense of verisimilitude as these are everyday objects and can be related with by an audience putting them almost inside the ancillary. However we have to be aware, not over exaggerate the iconography as several other conventions must be included as we need our ancillary to be unique. The second most prominent word is instrument, this common Indie element is recognised by the audience, allowing the application of the uses and gratification theory, identification due to the sense of verisimilitude created by the high quality production and the idea that instruments are not only played by music stars. Moreover, two smaller words white and natural, are still important and can be classed as conventional. However if this ancillary is made for the purpose of certain genre and the ancillary does not conform it will be pointless in its purpose and won't relate to that particular audience, therefore in our own ancillaries we must stick to the conventions of the Indie genre and attempt not to subvert them too often. In contrast, drug and simplistic where two conventions which do not necessarily fit with our ancillary. Despite the fact there may be drug abuse shown within the video, the print advertisement will steer clear of substance abuse and simple imagery as they are not highly requested by the audience and simple imagery subverts the Indie genre. 

Which advertisement do you prefer? Why?

The first question proposed assists in giving us an example of an advertisement which our audience like so we can base our own ancillary on the following. The advertisement which came on top was Lana Del Ray's Born To Die reaching 45% in comparison with The 1975 who gained 30%, The Killers who gained 15% and Bombay Bicycle Club which gained only 10% of the vote. The second question explains why the audience preferred the suggested advertisements. Lana Del Ray's ancillary paired with the most prominent word 'colour' and second most prominent 'image' suggests that the audience preferred this advert due to its use of pale colours and large primary image of the artist. In turn, we shall adapt these techniques into our own production in order to appeal to our target audience. Moreover , the use of a large image of the artist creates brand awareness and allows them to form a brand identity. Here we can apply Uses and gratification Identification as the audience will be able to relate to the advertisement and recognise it due to its large image. In contrast the Killer advertisement and Bombay bicycle club which used less image and more text came out less popular therefore will ensure we have more image to text.