IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Evaluation

Conventions of Music Videos

• Before I started making my own music video, I researched some existing, professional, music videos within the genre I wanted to make my video in.

• I found that there are three main types of music video: performance, narrative and concept based, a lot of videos combine two together. My video is a combination of performance and concept.

• There are some basic common features of music videos, which include close ups of the artists, shots that change with the beat and usually visuals to link to the lyrics however, all genres are different and some of these forms and conventions can be challenged or changed.

Specific Genre Conventions

• In my research, I watched and analysed five videos within the genre I wanted to make my video.

• The majority included performance with various combinations of concept and narrative. One video was concept and narrative and another completely narrative however, I felt all of them had a conceptual element because they were surreal and odd, for example Alt-J breezeblocks was in backward motion.

• There seemed to be a focus on moving patterns and colourful surrealist imagery in a lot of the videos, such as in Temples Colours to Life (original) with the kaleidoscope effect, and the hallucinatory animation in Mind Mischief- Tame Impala.

• These features are also associated with the psychedelic music from the 60’s and 70’s, inspired by hallucinogenic drugs that were popular at the time.

Conventions That I Used in My Video

• My own video is a combination of performance and conceptual animation.

• I have used a variety of shots:

Extreme close up of his mouth which is a common feature used in rock music videos (e.g. Foo Fighters and Nirvana). The subgenre Psychedelic rock follows a lot of conventions present in the rock genre so tis shot works well.

Mid and long shots to show Sam playing his guitar which shows that he plays his own music, thus making his star image seem ‘cool’ and attractive to the target audience.

Close up of his face to show the emotion which is relaxed and chilled out to compliment the style of the song. His eye contact with the camera also makes a connection between the audience and the video. I also used a close up of his guitar for similar reasons. This also fits in with the conventions of the genre.

Conventions That I Used in My Video

• I used lighting effects to conform to my genre conventions and as a stylistic device to add colour and make my video more attractive.

• Coloured, psychedelic lighting is often used in psychedelic and acid rock music videos, as it reflects the genre well and recreates the sound of the music through light. It also refers to the hallucinations caused by drugs such as LSD that this genre of music tries to capture.

• Bands such as The Horrors and Toy use heavy colourful lighting effects in their videos and often layer videos and images which also recreates a psychedelic effect to capture the idea of hallucinogenic drugs.

• In psychedelic and acid rock music videos the artists don’t move around a lot in the performance parts, that why I got Sam to stay quite still and sway around a bit so it doesn’t look rigid and matches the relaxed flow of my video.

Conventions That I Used in My Video

• I got Sam to wear clothes that were appropriate for the genre of music, such as his long fur coat and paisley shirt. This was an important aspect of the video as it establishes the 70’s style of the music and creates the ‘cool vintage’ style star image I was aiming for.

• I felt Sam was suitable for this part as his hair is quite long and messy, like most other artists in this genre.

• The stop motion fits with the conventions of the psychedelic rock genre as the videos often focus on conceptual moving imagery, particular Tame impala, which I was mostly inspired by for the concept parts of my video. It also looks like they have used play dough which is what I did and I found that it was very effective.

Conventions That I Have Challenged

• In all sub-genres of rock music videos there is usually a whole band shown performing. I have challenged this convention as I have only shown one person: Singer and guitarist.

• I feel this this works well as the song has a solitary and relaxed feeling that is reflected well with just one musician. The lyrics also relate to dreams which are personal experiences.

• On the whole I have stuck to the conventions as to not alienate my audience.

Conventions of Digipaks and Posters

• Like the music videos, I researched digipaks before I started designing my own.• I found that they follow some key conventions.• Ordinarily the front cover includes an image that fits the whole area of the cover.

Sometimes the image can be conceptual artwork or a photograph of a place, or something that is not the artist; but often the image of of the artist (or features them).

• The front cover commonly includes the name of the album and the band or artists name.

• The back cover usually has a list of the songs, and the information about production and copyright can be anywhere that is discrete however, most commonly on the back cover and the disk. The bar code is always small and placed around the bottom edge of the back cover.

• The logo of the recording company is often featured in a discrete place as well as a website for the company and artist. These websites are commonly found on the poster along with strategically placed links to applications and sites such as youtube, spotify, facebook and iTunes.

• The Video poster usually features the same as -or an image closely related to- the image on the front cover of digipak. This is so there is a simple and clear link between the two to show continuity and make the products easily recognisable to the audience.

Conventions I Used and Developed in My Digipak

• In my digipack I used an edited image of Sam that I feel links in well with my video as it’s surreal and psychedelic colours. This conforms to the conventions of most digipaks. I also included the name of the album on the cover in a font to match the image however, I haven’t put his name on the cover to show the attention of my audience should be focussed on the music and concept of this album more than the artist.

• I have included his name on the spine so that his name does appear on the digipakotherwise the audience may be confused.

• On the inside left cover I included information about the production of the album which is also a common feature of digipaks. I have put the copyright information on the disk which also conforms to the usual conventions however, it is usually presented in a ring around the edge of the disk. I wanted to present it this way, on the right, so it is unobtrusive to the image on the left. By repeating this image throughout the digipak, poster and video, I have created a lasting impact on the audience and made my product distinctive.

• I have listed the songs on the back cover and put the bar code in the bottom corner as it’s a minor focus point. I have included the logo of the recording company twice on my digipak in a complimentary colour. I have featured the websites which is also a common convention.

Conventions in My Video Poster

• I have followed the conventions of a video poster by using the same image that is on the cover of my digipak.

• I have used a simplistic glow on this text while using the same font to continue a theme without making the text overpowering to look at.

• I included links to apps and websites in the bottom two corners so they’re not the main focus however, they still need to be there so my audience know where to find my song and download it and find more information about the artist on the websites.

• The starry background matches the theme of the video and some pages in the digipak, even though it doesn’t appear on the cover. I have done this so that when people see it they can link it to the video (if they’ve already seen it) or it will give them an idea of what it’s like if they haven’t already watched it.