The document summarizes how the student's media products for a digipack, magazine advertisement, and music video both challenged and conformed to conventions of existing media in the R&B and hip-hop genres. For the digipack, the front cover drew inspiration from album covers by Trey Songz and Usher but challenged conventions by placing the artist in front of broken glass. Typography and layout drew from Toni Braxton but challenged flashy displays of wealth. Inside photos portrayed the artist's emotions through a unique high-angle shot. The magazine ad drew from Jessie J but provided more information on social media and reviews. It portrayed the artist in streetwear to appeal to different audiences.

1. Evaluation Q1
Evaluation 1: in what ways are your media products uses, develop of challenge forms and
conventions of real media texts? Visually compare your finished products to existing ones
DIGIPACK
My Chosen genre was R&B and Hip-Hop however my artist specialised in R&B, with my
digipak I decided to gain my inspiration from artist like Chris Brown, Usher and Drake. I
chose these artists due to the fact they’re the same genre as mine also they appeal to the
same target audience as mine. When creating the actual digipak I would use conventions of
an R&B album covers by using dark and gloomy colours to give a sense of sadness coming
from the artist I decided to keep this theme throughout the whole digipak. In this evaluation
question I will be speaking how I challenge and conform to existing media products.
When it comes to the front of my digipak I gained my inspiration from Trey songz album
cover due to the fact it was quite simple but was able to display the feelings he felt when
creating the album as his album cover had a close up of his face and rain in front of him as
like he was looking out a window, you could get an idea that he was sad. This inspiration
allowed me to create my Front Cover as I took a mid-close up of my artist paying direct
address to his audience because from his stare you should be able to see how he is feeling.
Not only in Trey Songz album is the artist generally the main cover this is something which is
quite common in R&B album Covers therefore, by using my artist as the main cover it will
give my target audience familiarity with the genre. This is good because in R&B genre men
are used to appeal to the female audience as they’re seen as attractive and ‘sexy’. However,
I challenge the common conventions of R&B albums as I decided not to have my Artist in the
centre of the front cover. This is because I decided to put broken glass behind him to
emphasis to my audience the feelings he is feeling. Therefore, allowing my audience to feel
more emotions towards the artist album cover. I decided to allow my artist to appeal to the
female gaze by giving him a more mature look within this genre so I decided to have him
dressed similar to Usher and his album cover “8701”.
When it comes to the Typography I was inspired to by Toni Braxton’s album cover as I found
out that it would stand out among other album covers as even know it is quite dark it is also
bold and stands out. As the writing is serif writing it will generally appeal to my target
audience which is women as commonly they tend to be attracted to things which seem
pretty. Also as it is a R&B albums cover it is common that they tend to use serif writing with
curly letters similar to joint up hand writing. With my tittle I decided to use a font called
“Mistral“ to give off a writing similar to hand writing to give an audience an idea as he
personally wrote signed all these albums himself. I done this due to the fact it gives the
album a personal approach to each member of the audience differently. Overall, I decided to
make my front cover look simple, this is because I have seen from existing album covers
that simple is effective as it gives the audience a clear understanding of the feelings which
are represented instead of compacting several different meanings onto one side of the
album cover.
For the front cover I decided to have my artist portray himself as a grown man by not putting
him in too much jewellery and keeping him in simple clothes which aren’t too bright. I didn’t
try to overly sexualise my artist due to the fact that it would subvert from the actual meaning
trying to be portrayed in album cover. His outfit didn’t cost him anything too expensive as he
wasn’t trying to be too flashy. This challenges the general conventions of new R&B album

2. Evaluation Q1
covers as the artist is usually seen showing of their wealth with expensive clothing and
jewellery for example Rick Ross album “Rather You Than Me”.
Generally the inside of R&B album cover there is usually a lot writing explaining what made
him write this album and their feelings. In my digipak I decided to challenge this idea by
writing lyrics and choruses of the some of his favourite songs. I done this because it allows
the audience to feel like they’re friends with the artist instead of a fan as they will have
similar opinions with the artist with the favourite songs which was put in the digipak.
With the Inside of my digipak I took a high-angle wide shot of my artist. This is an original
idea which I decided upon myself, I kept the theme of my front cover through to the inside by
keeping the black. However, I changed the images to black and white as it these dark
colours help represents the sadness I am trying to portray throughout my album. The wide
shot I took of him climbing up stairs allows him to be seen as he is escaping from the
sadness trying to move from the spot which he is in. However, as it is taken from a high-
angle can suggest that he has a very long way to go till he escapes from where he is. (Use
Picture 4). Also as I kept images of him throughout the whole digipak it allows the audience
to have more familiarity and interaction with artist.
Finally for my CD and back I gained inspiration from Kid Ink album “Full Speed” as I decided
to keep the image of my artist as the back of my album cover. I did this because I enjoyed
the fact that my audience would be able to see the artist in many different aspects. I decided
to keep the same colour scheme of black yellow and white throughout as it wouldn’t be
confusing for the audience. With the theme of broken glass I decided to put it on the back of
the album cover and the CD as it keeps the theme strong and doesn’t change the feelings of
which the audience may feel this is something which is done in nearly every digipak as it is
consistent.

3. Evaluation Q1
MAGAZINE ADVERT
For my magazine advert I gained my inspiration from Jessie J’s “Who are you“ advert,
however I added my own aspects which gives it a unique touch for my own advert. Also as
me and Jessie j’s have two different genres I had to use different colour schemes when
creating my magazine advert. With Jessie J’s(JJ) advert she had a mid-shot of her in the
centre paying direct address to the audience. With this magazine advert you can tell that she
is the main focus as she takes up most of the page this is a good aspect as it allows the
focus to remain on her at all times. I conformed to the conventions which are shown in this
magazine as I allowed my artist to remain as the main focus of the magazine advert. I
decided to keep the same colour scheme which I used for my digipak on my magazine
advert this is because I wanted to keep the similarity throughout this is because if my
audience who have seen my digipak will be able to gain recognition with the advert as well
and be more interested in the magazine.
With Jessie J’s album she used a small strip to give information on the album and what the
whole advert was about. I liked this idea as it didn’t divert the audience attention massively
as it wasn’t very big and it also was very informal and allowed the audience to find out ways
to access the album and the artist. This was good because I could use a strip similar like this
to promote my artist social media icons and where the music is available.
When working with the strip of my advert I saw that Jessie J’s advert was quite bare and
didn’t have a lot of information on it I decided to challenge this aspect of the music advert
and offer my audience some abundance as I gave them a lot of information in how to reach
the artist such as using the 4 main social media sites and also adding pictures for places
where they can find the artist music. This is something which I felt my advert needed
because it would give the audience many ways to follow the artist. Also as now people don’t
tend to buy albums it gives people other platforms to listen to their artist. I added reviews
from companies whom have a great establishment in the music business. I did this because
it gives the audience a type of reassurance and safety in the artist album. This is different to
existing magazine adverts as magazine adverts don’t tend to compact the advert with a lot of
information, however I believe this is required as my audience wouldn’t gain anything from
the advert and it would be more similar to a poster.
For the Magazine advert I decided to change his clothing and give him more of a street look.
This was because I felt it would appeal to the
Female Gaze theory as he looks quite rough and
like someone who doesn’t follow rules therefore, is
appealing to the “Bad Boy” stereotype which girls
tend to like. My advert just doesn’t only appeal to a
female audience this advert also appeals to a male
audience as some males may see him as an
inspirational due to the fact he lives a lifestyle that
most people would want, also he is wearing
jewellery which shows that he is wealthy.

4. Evaluation Q1
MUSIC VIDEO
With our music video we decided to follow other music videos and keep the artist the centre
of attention however, we also added several shots of a model who was supposedly his
“girlfriend” for the purpose of the music video. Keeping him the main focus is effective this is
because it will engage the audience attention by seeing their favourite artist who they may
aspire to be with or may want to be like him. With my music video I added several different
types of shot types and scenery so I can keep my audience intrigued in what’s going on in
the music video. When it came to areas where I shot my video I decided use urban street
videos areas because even know my artist was an R&B artist I wanted to give him a bit of a
rough persona by using the streets. I also decided to use tourist attractions due to the fact
that pretty places will attract my female audience more.
For our groups music video we decided to conform to music videos from artist such as Ne-
Yo, Chris Brown and 50 Cent this is because these videos was best suited for my song and
you would be able to identify the song lyrics to the actual story of the video very easily.
Therefore, from gathering these ideas we decided to create a story in which to people have
broken up and are both trying to get over this situation. This style of video is a narrative style
due to the fact we are telling a story throughout the whole video. We believe this was best
due to the fact It would build emotions within my audience as they can relate to similar
situations of their own, like break ups. This aspect of my music video conformed to my genre
very well because commonly R&B videos will be done in a narrative style as it allows the
music to interact with the story of the video.
When it came to mise-en-scene we decided to use the environment around us as we didn’t
have a very big budget. The props which we used was my car, artist phone and a free
telephone box. Everything else we used was part of our environment.

5. Evaluation Q1
With our editing we decided to take some inspiration from Kanye west and Ne-yo’s music
video ‘Together’. We done this by starting of the story with two separate shots one of the
artist in his car and the other of his ‘girlfriend’ at the phone box which shows to different
scenes however both being played at the same time. This conformed to my genre as usually
in R&B music videos they’re intros which give the audience information in to what has
happened for the song to be written. We conformed to other typical conventions by uses
editing techniques such as fading two different scenes. This was done to give the two sides
of the story showing how they was in the past and how they’re now.
We decided to add several types of camera shots which is quite common in our genre as it
allows the audience to see the artist in different angles and also gives different information to
the audience. For example we had a lot of mid-shots, close-ups and long shots. We decided
to shoot these within many different places for example the street and the car so it would
look like he went different places within the story. However, as my main focus throughout the
video was to allow my audience to feel the emotions that my artist was feeling I made him
pay direct address at the audience 65% of the time and also give facial expressions which
people could identify with anger, sadness and depression.

6. Evaluation Q1