Question 1

G324 - QUESTION 1

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

MUSIC VIDEO Andrew Goodwin’s idea of clear link between the lyrics and visuals can be applied to my music video.

The ballet performance helps the lyrics visually be understood, there is a part of the song ‘feel the tears roll down’, the ballerina signifies this lyric by performing a step where she her arms gradually go down as she is representing the tears rolling down.

Andrew Goodwin also established that there can be links between the music and visuals. This is regarding pace and how often cuts are made and the speed of these cuts. The pace varies throughout my video and on the slow parts and verses, longer cuts are shown to allow the

audience to take in what is being shown and connect with the singer. The chorus and faster parts of the song tend to have faster cuts so that the visuals don’t contradict with the beat of the song.

Alongside, Andrew Goodwin’s narrative theory can be applied; Goodwin talks about the 5 key aspects for music videos, 1. Thought beats, seeing the sound 2.

Narrative and Performance – some sense of narrative can be applied where it shows the performer becoming a stronger and getting over a break up 3. The Star Image – the performer is portrayed as a star who is sharing her emotions with the audience. 4. Relations of visuals to song – The ballet performance have been a big aspect to visually relating to the song. 5. Technical aspects of music video – the use of wide variety of technical equipment to create a technical meaning to the music

video.

My music video uses, develops and also challenges forms and conventions of real media products in terms of using different aspects of techniques to construct meaning, Firstly, my music video uses different techniques to construct meaning, both techniques; symbolic and technical are used to portray some sort of meaning however there is more focus on technical technique, where meaning is constructed using technical equipment used to shoot the music video.

Furthermore, through the use of key concept areas such as Camera, Editing and Mise-en-scene have been taken into consideration and those forms and conventions of real media texts have been followed, developed into my own or been challenged for my own media products.

Camera angles, camera movement, types of shot and the pace and style of editing used to not only match the genre but to create meaning. I have used a wide variety of angles and camera shots, especially

low angles and close ups to emphasis the facial expression of the actor, whereas long shots were used for the ballet performance.

My music video leans more over to the performance convention of music videos. This style mainly consist of the actor performing, In my video I used this conventions and have two performers, one as the music artist and one as a ballet performer.

Using technical equipment such as steadicam has benefited me into getting a close up shot of the performance and zooming out gradually. In my music video, there is a lot of steadicam shots used especially for the artist performer, this is because a steadicam can creates one continuous shots, and as there is direct

address in my music video, it also gives this sense of the audience being part of this performance.

When I researched into R&B music videos from popular artists such as Rihanna and Beyoncé.

I decided to adapt those conventions into my own music video, however I feel like I have challenged them because the song I have chosen ‘Crying for no Reason by Katy B’ as it has an element of breaking up but has a fast tempo. It’s very different to a typical break up song hence why I chose this song, as I got to adapt and challenge some conventions of a break up R&B song.

Furthermore, I also found out that if a song is a

typical break up song, it is usually shot in a plain black room with minimal items or no items as the song tends to focus on the artist by using close up to show significant figure expressions. Another common conventions seen is all videos is when the artist is singing to the camera, it cuts to another part of the music video or a narrative that flows along with the song, this is evident in my music video however it is challenged, because my whole music video is a performance based video, so there are many close ups of the performer singing in few locations and then it cuts to the ballerina performing in a studio.

MUSIC VIDEO In terms of editing of my music video, in order to match the pace of the audio and ensure the ballet performance in is sync such effects like slow motion creates this smooth and graceful effect of the ballet performance, I have used slow motion mainly at the beginning where there is also the use of cross dissolve of the artist and the ballet performance.

This effect also introduces the music video and suits the opening of the audio where it is instrumental and low tempo and gives the audience a chance to take in the video and focus solely on the artist’s movement.

I also followed a conventions of using colour filters throughout the

music video, I have used a blue/purple filter to create a cool atmosphere. I have also added a sepia tone to the ballet performance.

it comes to the outfits and the make-up looks, in a break up song, the artist would be wearing dark clothes. A lot of nude coloured/natural makeup will be used to convey the sense of natural beauty, because there a lot of close ups on the artists face. For my own music video I have somehow chalTime Remapping gave a lenged this convention great effect to slow certain in terms of mise-enparts of the ballet perforscene, the performer mance, especially when the of my music video is ballerina pirouettes few wearing make-up to times on the spot and then emphasise her beauty. then smoothly go back to The typical make-up its original speed. look of smokey eyes and red lips with her Mise-en-scene hasn’t hair out has been folbeen a big contribution lowed due to the ‘dance’ in terms of specific props element in the song. to create meaning however as it’s a performance video, the visual look of the performance and locations are needed to be taken into consideration.

The locations I have used; Where lighting is conthe studio for both artist sidered, when it came performance and studio to shooting in the performance to match up drama studio, I had set to the typical convention the lights differently for of a break up song. When both studio shoots. For

the artist performer, I had two lights besides her, roughly around 3 metres away from her, alongside one behind her right shoulder, slight in the corner.

I wanted a black background with the performer standing out which went successful as I wanted to a connection between the performer and the audience, with the emotion created with the black studio as it puts the performer in the spotlight as the audience would only be focused on them instead of the extra props. In the ballet performance, the lighting is similar however there are few scenes where one light is on the left or in the centre.

The performer has to be key aspect of the music video as they need to be able to portray the emotions and feelings of the song through clearly. Looking at music videos by Rihanna (Diamonds), Katy B (Still), Ellie Goulding (Beating Heart)

emotions through her performance/ dance routine.

and The Script (Hall of Fame), they all have an element of performance which I have been inspired to use and develop into my own music video. I needed someone who can clearly portray a typical ‘break up’ feeling. Natalie is a drama student and she is great in performing, her confidence proved she can fit perfect in the part; furthermore Holly is an experienced ballerina who also showed confidence and had bought in some

Overall, I believe that I have used, developed and challenged all conventions of real media products; there is a strong use of relations of visuals and music alongside the performance being on spot, to create a relationship with the audience. Typical camera shots, editing and miseen-scene were conventions where I have developed and slightly challenged for my own media product.

MAGAZINE ADVERT

looked into few album adverts which I was inspired by, furthermore, When it came to the creation of my magazine advert, as a target audience myself, I was able to know what could typically attracts the audience and with this option, the conventions were clearly used and somehow developed in not only fit in with the genre but to also create a great consistency between the ancillary tasks and the main media product.

Before I started to create my own magazine advert, I

top music platforms such as iTunes to a promotional method of a ‘bonus’ track are all typically conventions which I have used for my own media product. Furthermore, the grey stars represent the ratings I have placed on all the versions of my adverts are of newspapers/magazine that follows music and the typical audience and I would possibly read.

the magazine adverts I was inspired me also fits in the genre of R&B, so there were some conventions which adapted to fit in with the consisitency of my media products. For instance the use of a greyscale image was a convention I used from the exisiting The ratings on my magazine adverts. magazine advert don’t follow the With references to typical convention of ‘yellow’ stars, as it didn’t seem to blend in with the other colours, therefore a grey/silver star looked

better and gave it more of a theme and make it look professional.

When I researched and analysed the real life magazine adverts, there was a strong connection built between the video and the magazine advert, which could be evidently seen through the use of colours and the theme.

This element was taken and developed further in my own magazine advert. I planned to keep the consistency between the media products, so therefore I planned to have a black background with Natalie with her eyes closed to create a ‘mysterious’ look. The black background was achievable by planning a photoshoot which required a black background and with a continuous light.

Furthermore, the image was then manipulated to be black and white to give it an even more feel of a ‘breakup’ theme.

This is a convention taken that has a clear link between the advert and the music video, as the outfit Natalie wore in the music video is the same for the pictures. The advert is very simple, with a consistent theme of red, white and black, which is also similar to my digipak.

I decided to create a portrait and a landscape version of the same magazine advert; however I also created a landscape version of another magazine advert but with a different image. This time, the image is on the left rather than on the centre of the page. The image has Natalie looking out rather than looking

straight through the camera for direct address, once again another ‘mysterious’ emotion created through the use of non-direct address.

Overall, my magazine advert seems to follow, develop and challenge conventions of a magazine advert in real life as there are elements such as ratings, the image choice and the overall discourse of the advert, which can link to how it appeals the audience.

DIGIPAK My digipak can be seen very similar to my magazine advert as it has this continuous flow of the same effective house style which also can create an ‘identity’ for the artist and make it recognisable.

The fonts I have used vary the title of the artist and the album names alongside the track list are in ‘century gothic’ whereas the rest of the text such as the Thank you message and the credits are all in ‘minion pro’. I wanted to represent the passion of music the artist has and by using conventions from different genres of digipak has helped me create an own identity of my music artist.

As my music artist is very passionate about music and would be credited for her talent rather than lean towards the promotional and typical ‘pop’ genre,

there were mixtures of conventions used such as credits to acknowledge the people behind the creation of her album. I used the same image as the magazine advert to once again create this consistency with another

image of Natalie in one of the inside pages.

On the front cover, the name of the artist is on the top and the name of the album at the bottom, the font is spread out, alongside the same image used in the magazine advert. In the inside pages, there is another image of Natalie however she is once again placed on the left, with the credits and the thank you message beside it.

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The thank you message is another convention I used in my digipak, as nowadays in order for the fans to be more appreciated, they need to be mentioned by the artist, this creates a relationship between the artist and the target audience as they celebrate the their success with their fans, family and friends. The CD insert page has got the name of the album alongside the artist name with industrial information for instance the copyright details along the edges of the CD to make it look realistic as possible. The back of the digipak also has additional industrial information such as ‘all

rights reserved’ and website links such as ‘www.rinsefm.com’ for the audience to access the record label website and receive more information, in addition with a barcode and the symbols of the production company and the record label.

This gives the digipak an overall realistic and professional look.

Overall, the digipak uses the majority of conventions that are associat-

with real life’s digipak such as the copyright details, barcode, production company details, track list, credits and a thank you message.