EVALUATION: QUESTION

2
How effective is the combination of your main product and
ancillary texts?

Intro
For my A2 coursework I constructed three products. The main product is the music video to
Dubioza Kolektivs 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 therefore 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
The facial expression of some of the actors look as they are wise and intellectually able to argue in every
possible problematic 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.

PUNK-A MESSY GENRE

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.

As the audience could notice, the table is messy; spilled alcohol everywhere; flying money.

 I aimed to send a similar message to the audience in my Digipak. 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 Hypodils 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.