1: In what
ways does your media product, use, develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
For my music video I chose to use
the style performance. This follows conventions of similar music videos in the
genre. Examples of similar bands/ artists that have made performance videos
are; Kings of Leon – Supersoaker, Kasabian – Club Foot, Nirvana – Smells Like
Teen Spirit. All of these music videos use the band performing as the main
content of their video, with the main focus of the performance on the lead
singer. My video follows similar conventions to the Kings of Leon video in that
there are more shots of the lead singer than anyone else in the video. Much the
same as Supersoaker I have chosen to use a variety of different shots of the lead
singer, ranging from extreme close ups to long shots.
The lighting I chose to use also
follows conventions of similar genre music videos. I chose to use low lighting which
creates an eerie feel on stage. I used this in my music video to add to the vibe
given by the transgressive lyrics which are a key part of the genre. The low
lighting made the dark stage look powerful which I thought added well to the
effect I wanted to give.
The band itself follows some forms,
whilst challenging others, in that they have been styled to dress like a rock
band. Rock bands tend to dress in dark clothes, dark shirt and dark jeans etc… They
follow the forms in the way they are dressed, but they don’t have the right
image in the face or hair. Common rock bands have long dark hair and beards,
and are styled to look like a rock band. The chosen members of my band all have
different images and different looks about them. They look more like a band
called Weezer, which is a band of the same genre. Each individual in the band
looks different, so in a way yes they follow some conventions and yes they
challenge some conventions, but so do real professional bands.
When doing my research and planning
for my music video we looked at a theory by Andrew Goodwin. We looked at 7
different key aspects, that an audience should be aware of in music videos. I
used a grid to make comments and show evidence of these aspects in music videos
I analysed. When completing my music videos I had to take these into account
and work out which were the best to follow.
I used 2 of the ideas in my music video, which were close-ups and
central focus on the star, (in my case the star was the lead singer) and I
tried to follow genre characteristics with the low lighting. I found when
looking at similar videos to mine, analysing and finding out what key aspects
they used helped. I feel that I could have incorporated more of the 7 key
aspects by doing a narrative video. Most of the videos I researched used 4 or
more of the 7 aspects of Goodwins theory, so in the sense that I used only 2 my
video challenges conventions of real media products.
My magazine advert strongly follows
conventions of real media products. From my posts on my blog you can see that I
have recreated a professional advert. Things I have included that follow
conventions is: The front cover picture from the digipack, the bands twitter,
the record company logo, the record company website and the album release date.
There are several magazine articles I have seen that use these in their own
professional magazines. I used the style from on magazine as well as the
conventions from others, which highlights the fact that my magazine strongly
follows conventions.
My digipack also follows
conventions, which I have illustrated throughout my research and planning blog
posts. There are many examples on my digipack of conventions used in different
media products. I have taken several conventions and put them all together in
one digipack. I used the black and white idea that has been used on several
digipacks, examples include: Kasabian, Linkin Park, Arctic Monkeys, Example
etc… This also proves that I am using conventions from real media products. As
well as the black and white, I also had the text on the front in a bright
colour and in the centre. This follows conventions also as there are examples
of artists on my blog that have used the same conventions, again Example and
Kasabian have done this. There are also several bands that put their song
lyrics on the digipack; I chose to do the same. The conventions are that they have
all the lyrics to every song. This means that the letters have to be in a small
font as to fit them all on the page. I followed this convention and explained
why in my blog posts. I feel it adds to the overall effect of my digipack and adds
professionalism as well. Examples of bands that have used the small lyrics on
the digipack are The Avalanches and The Beasty Boys.
Another convention I followed with
both the magazine advert and the digipack was using the minimalist style. This
creates a simple, readable and easy to understand magazine advert as well as
creates a simple but well thought out digipack. Overall I feel that using this
style was key, as it made sure I didn’t over complicate my work or make it not
achievable.