1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

Joan Lynch and Jon Gow

Joan Lynch identified three main basic structures for music videos. They were, performance, narrative and concept music

videos. Mine fits under the narrative structure as it has no performance within it and just portrays a story all the way

through it. This then brings me on to Jon Gow, he identifies six genres of music video. Mine fits under the ‘anti-performance piece’, this means the video doesn’t contain any performance

of the song. (In other words, there is no dancing or lip-synching involved the music video.)

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin came up with some typical codes and conventions that are shared by many music

videos. My music video covers the idea that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals and the music and the visuals of the music video. This is because my story follows exactly what the lyrics are saying. In terms of the music and the visuals I have

matched my shots to the beat of the music. For example they change to a different shot on any

obvious beat of the music.

Section 1 – Used and challenged generic

conventions in my music video First of all my target audience was

16 – 25 year olds; because of this my genre was romance as I felt they could connect with this more due to the age they are at. To create this I used some generic conventions and some of them not so conventional. For example for lighting I found that in some music videos they edit the light to look hazy. (I found this when I researched “Waves” by Mr Probz.)

As you can see in the image above I did achieve this look in some of the shots but I didn’t want to edit the light in post-production so I used all natural light. This hazy look was achieved by pointing the camera in the direction of the sun. By using natural lighting I felt it made it feel more real and that meant the audience could relate to it more.

Location and PropsMy main location was a park, I used this as it is peaceful and quiet meaning there was no interruptions and the audience could just focus on and connect with the two main actors. It’s also just an everyday place where people can go meaning they can also connect with this through there own experiences. (David Buckingham, researcher) The only props I used was at the end where the main actor is carrying chocolates and flowers. This is a very generic and universal sign for when someone really wants to make up with someone else. Again many people would have experiences of a boyfriend buying them chocolates and flowers to make up with them, which is why it is a generic convention of the genre, romance.

Costume The costume used is very generic to there age group, (18 years old), there age is also why I choose them as they fit perfectly with

the target market (16-25 year olds) which means the audience will be able to relate to it more . Also this represents the genre of romance as no person in those types of music videos wears wacky costumes, also seeming as it is a narrative music video it creates verisimilitude; this is because it makes it seem real, meaning the audience can identify with it as this is real life to them.

I decided to make the second guys costume a lot scruffier I wanted to make him look less attractive than the primary boyfriend. This goes along with the generic structure of the genre of romance as the second boy is always not up to scratch and this implies she may go

back to her original boyfriend.

Titles and use of colourI used font for the title that looked like hand writing. In a way this is a convention because when you play it, it also writes it’s self across the screen. I feel like this makes it look personal and like someone is writing this for you much like a love letter. But when the credits come at the end I have used normal standard font as I wanted to make it look more like a short film in a way and make it look professional.

In the genre of romance the lighting is generally soft and bright which is what I have tried to capture through the use of sun flares and I didn’t alter any of the colours at all, they are natural which definitely develops the sense of verisimilitude so that they can easily connect with it.

Narrative StructureMy narrative structure is very straight forward and conventional. The story of the couple goes directly in order because I used continuity editing throughout the video. I didn’t feel that using flashbacks would be relevant as nothing is referring to the past. In a way though I could of used flashbacks to show she is still thinking of him but I wanted it to be unclear about whether they will get back together or not. To go with the flashbacks I could of used a fragmented narrative which would mean the audience would be even more confused about what is happening until the very end. A lot of romantic music videos use this as they tend to start from the end of the story and gradually build in what happened in the past and it also jumps around a lot to different people which is why it doesn’t come together till the very end. (Two music videos like this, which I analysed when planning the music video, are maps by Maroon 5 and Waves by Mr probz, they both have fragmented narratives and flashbacks included throughout.)

Narrative Structure ContinuedBut I did use the convention of compressing time and space. This is very common and conventional amongst music videos with a narrative structure. This is because it allows for a whole story that may be over days or weeks to be compressed in to 4 minutes for example. I have done this several times within my music video. For example after the girlfriend storms of, the story jumps to her at her house which cuts out about half a day, also when the boyfriend sees his girlfriend with another guy it cuts another chunk of the day out. But the main one is when it jumps a couple of days and he comes to the house with flowers and chocolate to try and get his girlfriend back. Following on from this I have also used a closed ending meaning the audience know how the story has ended and there is no cliff-hangers at the end. This would of made it really emotional and the story would of had to be told in a lot more depth, which is what I wanted avoid. Most people just want a simple love story like in the movies so I didn’t want to go overboard with the storyline and potentially anger or upset people because they don’t know what the ending is or they don’t understand it all together.

RepresentationI have one main contemporary issue represented throughout my music video. This is the issue of an unstable relationship. This is a common issue among young people in our society today which is why it is relevant to my target audience (16-25 year olds). I have used quiet a few close ups in the music video which emphasises this more as you can see the emotions in the actors faces; by showing this the audience will connect with the character and there for the music video as this will remind them of their own experiences with any unstable relationships they have experienced themselves. I have also used the slow motion effect when the boyfriend walks away from the girls house. This represents the struggle he is going through and the slow motion effect reinforces this to the audience as it gives them a chance to think about how he is feeling and then apply it again to their own experiences.

Codes and Conventions of the Digipak –

Integration of text/imagesOn every tab I have used has an image on it that

corresponds to the music video which were taken after it was shot or whilst on set as taking stills from the music video would have lowered the quality of the images and I wanted to take some, such as the bench image behind this block of text, this implied they are to do with the music video but where easily linked to it as well so that people where not guessing why those images where included in the digipak. This is a typical convention of a digipak, for example, the katy perry digipak album I analysed did exactly the same thing by putting cakes and sweets in it which corresponded with the main song of the music video. The text in my digipak also matches the normal codes and conventions of a digipak as I have left it to a minimum. The text I have used is a list of songs on the back of the digipak, a letter from the artist and of course the name of the artist and album on the front cover and on all of the spins of the digipak.

Fonts and use of colourI have used fairly modern text within my

Digipak as the font is sans-Serif meaning that at the end of each letter there isn’t a line coming of it just like this font here. This is a typical convention of pop music as it is very modern and generally appeals to a young target audience such as mine because the font looks modern and bold instead of sweat and pretty which young people are not interested in as much. An example of a pop digipak, which uses Sans-Serif is Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’. Digipaks also generally have a colour theme which runs all the way through it. For example in Rihanna’s ‘Loud’ digipak the colour theme is pink. The convention applies to mine as well has even though all the images are of different things they all have the bright, sunny hazy effect to them.

Conventions of each panelOn this panel I have put a letter from the artist. This is a generic convention of

most digipaks as they are only generally bought by the dedicated fans so they want to put something personal on there to feel like they are being talked to directly by the artist. This is exactly why I did it as it makes the fans more likely to buy it as well. I also added another personal touch at the end with the artists signature so that it actually feels like they wrote it themselves.

The front cover of the digipak I feel fits the codes and conventions very well. This is because generically there is a big image covering the whole of the front or at least some kind of graphic design and then they normally just have the name of the album and the name of the artist on the front cover, (one at the top and one at the bottom).

Continued…Sometimes in a digipak the panel that holds the CD will have an

image behind the plastic and sometimes it will not. In this case I went with putting an image behind the CD (even though it is not a main convention) as then the owner, of the digipak, will still have something interesting to look at even though they are listening to the CD.

The Back cover I feel is very conventional as well. This is because I have written the word ‘song’ at the top in big bold letters that explains the words listed below are of the songs included within this digipak. Other conventions I have included is the barcode at the bottom with the price along the top of it with the artists website and the record labels logo along with the copyright logo and information at the bottom of the panel.

Continued…In every digipak there is always a couple (or at least one panel) with

just a picture on it. These images are always relevant to the main song and music video, in most cases. This is why I took these images as I didn’t want all of them to be of the actors, I took the shots after we had finished filming without anybody in them but they still represent the music video and song as they are both of key scenes from the music video. In a way this will make it seem more personal to the owner of the dipgipak as first of all, it will reinforce in there heads that the story is real in the music video and also they may feel like these images of the location where it is filmed is unique to them and that not many people will have access to them.

On every spine (inside and out) I have also included the name of the artist and the title of the album. This means that when displayed in a shop and has been put on it’s side people can still identify it and spot it easily; what also helps with this is the hearts used and the white background I put behind the text and hearts.

Conventions of the music magazine advertisement

I feel like my magazine advert fits all the codes and conventions and doesn’t really stray far from them. First is, most magazine adverts have a big image right across the page which is usually of the artist/band or something the audience can identify them with for example a logo. I have used the two actors from the music video as the audience will be able to identify with them as normally the main single will be released before the album and therefore the music video as well, so they will already associate them with Chaz Robinson and Love will come back again as it is the name of the main song but the album as well. Another convention I have stuck with is putting all the details at the bottom of the page. Both magazine adverts I analysed do this, (Jessie J and you me at six), this is because if you put it all at the top or right across the page you will not see the image and the advertisement may not stick in the readers mind. With this it directs the readers eyes down the page and then they see the information meaning they have time to take everything in meaning it is more likely to stick into their brain as well.

Continued…

In the adverts I analysed I also found they put the name of the artist in big letters and the name of the album in small letters underneath the name, I decided to do this as well because in a way you want them to remember the artist more than the album as they are more likely to buy there past or future songs, in this case it would be future songs/albums. They both also put the main information, (debut album and out 30th Feb), in bold. I decided to put them in a different colour as well as it will make the dates stick into the audiences brains more, making them more likely to remember them as well. This is also incredibly important as this is his first album so he isn’t well known at the moment. Last of all in small print at the bottom I put the copy right information, the artists website and iTunes website so that the reader will know where the album will be released, who the record label is and where you can find more information about the artist, Chaz Robinson.