In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout the process of creating my products and the development of the music video and promotional package I have tried to make my work as professional as possible. I decided early on that I wanted to follow conventions as this would help with making my work professional however the genre that I picked also has the convention of breaking traditional conventions this means to follow conventions I had to break them where possible. Within the post I will discuss how my music video, digipak and magazine advert use, or break conventions within the genre and within the medium.

My music video has followed conventions of other videos within the genre, however broke simple conventions of the form itself. This was because I wanted to break conventions as it itself is conventional within the genre. During my planning and research I drew most of my inspiration from music videos within the genre however I did draw some inspiration from other media forms outside of music videos, such as photos and films. Looking at films for inspiration was good because they are both moving image however looking at photos was different as they are not moving image however I ending up incorporating many of my inspiration from images into my music video. One of my main inspirations in terms of imagery was Eleanor Lonardo the visual style of her images inspired me a lot. I used many styles that she uses within her images in my final video, for example the use of dark black and white on close ups is a method that she uses often in her images of nature, this style also transferred over into my digipak and into my promotional poster. The black and white style is also one that is conventional of many indie music videos. It is also used very often within advertising which fits into poster advert and digipak. My main inspiration for some of my shots is this image.

As you can see I took a lot of inspiration from this images, I even adopted the style of black and white with the really deep blacks and the whites being more grey than standard black and white. The framing of the image I even adopted into my own style too, I used uncomfortable close ups of nature this makes the audience see nature in a different light. This way of black and white is also non conventional specifically for nature as you often see nature in full bright colour, often in more vibrant light than real life however within my video it is shown in a rather dark lighting meaning that you see nature in a non conventional way. This is an example of how I broke conventions, this may not be the biggest break in conventions however it is something that isn’t seen often and might be strange for people who often look at this genre, however I think that because of the genre it is based in it does fit rather well as you often see non convectional framing and styles within music videos of the indie genre.

My music video can be analysed by many theories, as a part of looking if my video challenges or follows conventions I will be applying different theories to it, this is so I can deconstruct the video it terms of genre, and narrative theory. This will display if I have followed or challenged conventions.

Narrative:

My videos has no obvious linear narrative like the Equilibrium model by Todorov suggest as it doesn't have a beginning, disruption or a resolution however it can be viewed in a subjective manor. This is a way in which I deliberately broke conventions, I didn’t want to tell a set story line within my music video but leave the meaning of the video up to interpretation. The video does show signs of narrative in the form of leaving the house and getting ready however this doesn't suggest a beginning or an end, or even a challenge within the characters life. The view is all subjective and I left it up to the audience to decide the motives of the person, this idea of subjective view is rather post-modern as ht music video is just images that’s all I set out for it to be nothing more nothing less however the audience can make up their own narrative based upon this however that narrative will not be true nor false but just one of many views. This links to Andrew Goodwin (1992) as he suggested that modern audiences create their own meaning, this meaning is based upon their understanding of society, this means that the video will get many opinions based on the person experiences with society and key images within the video. This is unconventional in terms of a music video however within the indie genre it is not unusual, indie music videos often adopt this style and disregard structure when it comes to narrative just to break conventions or display some more abstract then and objective view. The reason why I wanted to break the convention of narrative or challenge it is because within music videos the narrative structure is very set, as mentioned earlier most videos have a progression of beginning, problem and equilibrium. However songs within my genre reject this such as Alt-J, many of there videos reject this idea of narrative, for example the video for 'Breezeblocks' has reverse chronology this twists the story of the video, and many views have put in their input of what the narrative is about within the comments of the video of streaming sites such as YouTube. Sven Carlsson (1999) categorised music videos into three sections: narrative, performance and abstract. Many music videos feature performance and narrative with many few focusing solely on abstract. However my music video is heavily abstract focused based on the fact that I challenged the conventions of the form, however I do think that the video has a narrative that is subjective and not clear therefore making the audience active in terms of them creating their own response over the video telling them how to respond, I think this in itself is conventional to the genre. The indie genre and its music videos have active audiences that create subjective views upon images within the music video, this was displayed from audience and genre research and often you see views and opinions more often within comment sections of indie music videos. I felt that my choice to choose abstract suited the genre well and it allowed me to experiment more with the way the video looked without being constrained by the narrative of the video.
The last theorist that applies to my video is Michael Shore (1984), Shore said that music videos are 'audio visual poetry' he also talked about borrowing styles and surface without substance these points are also relevant to my music video. I wanted the visual look of the video to be more important than the meaning of the video This is very conventional within the indie genre as they often focus on the visual style over the narrative.

Genre:

The genre my chosen song is placed in has a lot of debate over what can be classed as indie and what does indie feature, therefore it is not as easy to say what is conventional of the indie genre because it is so wide range in compassion to a set in stone genre such as pop or rock. However some genre theory can be applied to my music video.

One of the theorist that applies to my music video is Rick Altman (1999) who states that genres allow audiences to experience a combination of pleasures – emotional, visceral and intellectual. Many music videos focus on emotional pleasure and so does my music video, I tried to encourage an emotional response to my video by showing images of house hold sights and nature this is very relatable for the audience, however at times I distorted the way people look at simple images through the use of black and white and close ups that are not often displayed. This itself is not conventional in music videos however what response it creates it.

Digipak

Front Cover
The conventions I identified when doing my research are:

1. Band Name
2. Album Names
3. Images of the artist
4. On main image
5. Simple colours that are shown through out the pack
6. One to 2 fonts used
7. clear and east to read font

Front covers of albums are often used to show and images that is relevant to the album or is and expression of the style of the artist, therefore they are only a few conventions that are set and often the only difference is the main images used. On the front cover I chose to be as conventional as possible while still linking my album artwork to the music video itself, I put both the album and band name on the front cover, I did this because I thought this was the most important part of the album front cover. This is because people need to know what they are buying, these things should not be difficult to find on the front cover and should instantly be clear when looking at the album. Despite trying to follow as many conventions as possible such as having a simple colour scheme with the blacks and white this links to the style of my music video therefore making a professional continuity. The only convention I broke with the front cover was choosing not to feature my artist on the cover. This has become more popular with recent indie albums and is starting to challenge the conventions of add the artist. The indie genre often chooses not to include the artist as it is more abstract focused and therefore fits with the music videos better than an image of the artist. I personally do not think this makes my product any less professional this is because many indie bands use an abstract image for there album front covers making it become the norm for that genre.

During the process of creating my front cover I was inspired by many existing albums. One of the main influences for my album front cover was the very simplistic XX album X. I personally like this album as it is very simplistic and displays the name of the album and it is instantly known by the audience who the album is by. I adopted this simplistic look ingot my own work however I didn’t go the extreme that XX did as that was one simple image, however within my album I added a single simple image with the artist and album name, therefore the album cover is nice and simple and can be instantly known by the audience. Originally when creating my product I was going to inspiration from the font used also as they used a font very similar to Bebas Neur, this is a font that it very block based and can be seen from far, however I soon decided that I wanted to use a thinner font that makes the product look more individual.

Back Cover

Again I will identify the convention I found when doing research on existing products:

1. Tracklist
2. Position of the track list being centre
3. Album and Band name
4. Main image linked with the front cover image
5. Barcode
6. Copyright information
7. Record Label
8. Website of social media links

With my back cover there was a lot of conventions that needed to be followed as many of them are essential to making the product look like an album itself for example track list. I chose not to directly challenge the conventions of a back cover however I did change some ways in which these conventions are presented. This is because I wanted my digipak overall to look professional and I think if I challenged conventions heavily in this aspect it would have made my digipak look unprofessional. I did the traditional track list and centred the tracks in the middle of the back. When doing my research I found that it is often 50/50 if the tracklist features numbers next to the song, however I personally think it is useful and add an element of professionalism therefore I chose to add numbers onto my tracklist. Social media links and websites are now becoming more and more popular on the back of albums therefore I made the decision to add one, with Web 2.0 audience now like to interact with artists in a way they couldn't before therefore websites and social media are the easiest ways of doing that and often artists use them to interact with fans and promote albums making it very important to advertise on an album. I also followed some very simple conventions such as barcode and copyright information, you cannot break conventions with these as they are both needed for the product to function as an album and for it to look professional. From a design preservative I wanted to make my back cover look and have the same style as my front therefore I decided to reverse the design on the front, I believe this follows conventions as my product has continuity from front cover to back cover.

Spine

Identifying the conventions for a spine was very simple as not many are present however the ones that I did identify are very important as its how much shops stack there albums with the spine facing out. These conventions are:

• Album and band name
• Background that is consistent with the front and back
• Serial Code
• Record label

With the spine I wanted to be as conventional as possible because of what I mentioned earlier, this is often how CD's are advertised within shops, stacked spine facing outwards toward the consumer. With the spine being a rather small section you do not have much room for experiment. I included the simple conventions such as album and band name, with this I used the same font as featured on front cover and back cover to follow simple conventions of continuity through the album. I added a serial number at the far end of the spine to follow conventions. However I did not decide to add a record label to my spine, this was based on the aesthetic of my spine with me using a very thin font throughout adding a rather bold image would have distracted the customer from the name of the band and the album name therefore they are not directly engaging with the product as soon as they see it. The positioning and size of the elements features on the spine is another thing that I kept conventional, I put the band name in a larger font as the customer often recognises the band name before the album name specifically if it is a new release. The the album name directly after, this means that you can notice the band and then the album, making it easy for the customer to spot on the self within a store.

Overall I feel like my digipak has followed most conventions that I have discovered through my research of existing media products. The only time I challenged conventions throughout my digipak was when I made the creative choice to not feature the artist on the front cover of my album. I felt this was appropriate because of the genre that my music video is placed within, the indie genre often challenges conventions therefore making this not unusual for the genre, but as a whole it may be classed as challenging conventions within other genres. Overall I feel like I have produced a professional looking product that is conventional within my genre and conventional of a digipak that you would see within a shop environment.

Magazine Advert

As with the digipak I wanted to be conventional as possible with my magazine advert, I also wanted to create a product that was professional and look like it could be printed within a magazine or on a billboard.

I followed some very simple conventions when creating my magazine advert for example continuity between my entire promotional package through the use of the same font and similar images and styles. The artists name is at the top of the poster in the largest font size and is very easy to see from a far. The album name is clear to see and follow the same colour and font scheme as my entire promotional package. I added an 'Out Now' tagline to my advert this will encourage people to buy it and check for its availability on the website or stores I have advertised on the advert. I also decided to list a few singles that are featured on the album, this includes the song the music video is for therefore making the poster consistent with the rest of my promotional package. The next convention I followed with my magazine advert was featuring a rating on the poster itself, I used an existing magazine Q that is know for rating albums and is often trust, I also added a quote to my star rating, this is often done in film posters and is starting to be seen in magazine adverts for albums. At the bottom of the poster I placed the logos of distributors, I used the most common ones which is iTunes and Google Play, I used these digital distribution outlets instead of stores such as HMV because of my target audience, my target audience will be young therefore they are more likely to purchase the album straight from there phone in a digital formate instead of getting a physical copy, I know this because of my audience research that I did many people preferred to download the album over having a 'real' copy of it just to save time and for it to be instantly available.

With my magazine advert I have decided to follow conventions very closely as I thought that challenging them wasn't needed and may have made my product look unprofessional. I think that overall my magazine advert is conventional in comparison with existing products, I used the adverts that I analysed in my “ANCILLARY TEXT: Poster Advert – Conventions” to see if my product was conventional. Just like in the magazine adverts I have used all the same conventions, therefore making it look professional.

Conclusion

Overall I think that I have produced a set of cohesive and conventional media texts that are conventional based on existing media products. However I have chosen to challenege conventions at points but only when I felt it was needed for my creative style or if I have seen the convention been broken before in existing products. I do not think this takes away from the professionalism of the work.