EVALUATION QUESTION 1:
In what ways does your media
products use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
CD COVER AND MAGAZINE ADVERT!
As you can see earlier on in my blog, I analysed other CD
covers to see what the conventions were. This gave
me an insight into what I should add to my own CD
cover to make it look professional, and so it appeals
to the target audience successfully.
I also did some research into music magazine adverts, and made a few conclusions about
the forms and conventions. Some of these conventions I decided to use, but others I
decided to challenge!
PHOTOS
In my research into CD covers I found that having a
main image, or a set of images that cover the whole
page was one of the main conventions of a CD cover.
I used this convention, and had various images of
instruments on the cover. The images of instruments
tends to also be one of the conventions for a CD
cover, especially in this genre of music. I made sure I
used these conventions so that my CD cover
appealed to the target audience.
PHOTO EDITING
In my research into CD cover images, I found that
CD covers of this genre of music tended to use
natural colours, and a lot of the photos tended to
have a sepia or vintage effect. I decided to use this
convention by giving all of the images a sepia effect,
so they looked more vintage and natural, just like the
genre characteristics.
LAYOUT
One of the conventions of acoustic CD
covers is that they tend to use a scrapbook
effect with the images and text; I decided to
use this convention. I layered my images up
so they’re overlapping eachother slightly, so
it created a scrapbook effect.
FONTS
For this I decided to challenge the conventions.
Usually acoustic artists want to go for a ‘natural’
look on their CD covers and adverts, so they tend to
use a font that looks like handwriting. However, I
decided to challenge this by using a normal font that
looked more modern. I did this for both the CD cover
and the magazine advert because I feel that it
represented the artist more – he’s acoustic, but has a
modern edge to him too!
IMAGE OF CD COVER ON ADVERT
I found out in my research that magazine adverts for
CD’s usually include a big image of the CD cover, or
the artist themselves. I decided to challenge this
convention slightly, instead I had a small version of
the CD cover at the side, and used similar photos for
the main part of the page. These images were from
the same photo shoot so they looked similar, and
were edited in the same way, which helped with the
artist’s brand identity, because it’s easy to recognise
who it is.
MUSIC VIDEO!
SEPIA EFFECT
I carried on the convention of the genre by adding a
sepia effect to all the shots that feature an acoustic
guitar, like I also did with my other products. This also
helped to develop the artist’s brand identity, because it
has the same elements throughout the CD cover,
magazine advert and music video.
LIP SYNCHING
In my research I found out that one of the main conventions
of a music video is that there is always lip synching. I decided
to challenge this convention, and no include any at all. I
decided to do this because I wanted my music video to be
different and edgy. I did this by having signs with the lyrics
on instead of the actual lip synching. This way it makes it
more individual and gives it a more natural and less false feel
to it. Also, it draws the audience’s attention to the video more
effectively.
STORYLINE
Usually acoustic music videos tend to have a
storyline to their music video (narrative).
However, I decided to challenge this
convention because I felt like it went with the
mood and atmosphere of the song. I feel that if
I had a complicated storyline it would take the
emphasis off the song, and the audience may
not take as much notice of it.
SHOTS AND TRANSITIONS
Conventions of acoustic music videos suggest
that transitions and shots should be slow,
whereas songs with a faster beat should have
faster transitions and shots. I decided to use
this convention of acoustic music videos,
because it’s better that the song fits the beat of
the song. However, that doesn’t mean that my
video if slow and boring, it’s still quite upbeat
in some parts!