The document discusses genre conventions in media products, specifically in the music industry. It provides examples of conventions used in music videos, digipaks, and websites. Conventions discussed include symbolic elements like character positioning and technical elements like camera angles. The document argues that while it is important to adhere to some conventions to establish genre, artists also develop and challenge conventions to distinguish themselves and attract audiences. The high-level summary is: 1) Genre conventions in media include symbolic and technical elements that help target audiences. 2) Artists must follow some conventions to establish genre but also develop conventions to attract audiences. 3) The document discusses conventions used, developed, and challenged in a music video, digipak,

1. Evaluation Task 1:
In what way does your media produce use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. Genre conventions are details common within particular
genres helping establish a target audience based on common
appealing factors.
These details can be divided into symbolic and technical,
symbolic referring to the mise en scene elements such as
character positioning, facial expression, set/location, props,
costumed and lighting. Technical refers to camera angles,
composition and movement as well as editing and sound.
The music industry use conventions in order to create and
establish certain meanings and entice audiences. Using
particular conventions can aid in the development of an
artist’s/band’s following as they play to the stereotypes that
they know target audiences will ultimately find appealing.
Throughout a music campaign, it is easiest to establish a star
image and genre by manipulating various conventions but the
difficulty comes when you introduce the website and digipak.
The conventions have to stay consistent in order to continue
to appeal to an audience.
Genre Conventions

3. Although it is important to adhere to some conventions in order to establish the genre of a media
text, an artist must have something unique about them in order to attract an audience. An audience
won’t find an artist appealing if they’re are an exact copy of another artist within the same genre. So,
artist’s exploit, develop and challenge conventions in order to find their demographic and gain a
following.
In the music video it is much easier to explore various conventions through editing, camera angles,
movement and any additional sound.
When it comes to the digipak and website however, the still images making the exploitation of
conventions more challenging working more with symbolic conventions such as character
positioning, lighting and colour.
Using Conventions

4. — Lykee Li
— Lorde
— Maggie Rogers
— Lana Del Rey
— Grimes
— Tov Lo
— Halsey
— St Vincent
— Kimbra
— LP
— SIA
Similar Female Indie Pop Artists:

5. Conventions In Our
Music Video

6. One of the conventions that we felt we had
to adhere to in order for our product to
comply to the ‘indie pop’ genre were our use
of camera work, specifically close ups
otherwise know as beauty shot.
These shots are very common within our
chosen genre and add a personal element
making her appear more connected with her
audience as a partially organic artist. Media
theorist Richard Negus believes that an artist
is either a commodity or is…
As we were creating a video for a new artist,
it is important create an audience to artist
relationship, something that close ups
enable an artist to do.
Close ups can also be used to assist any
narrative present within the song allowing
the audience to see the depth within the
artist’s work.
Conventions we USED

7. Conventions we USED
Another convention that we followed was
the inclusion of performance elements. In
some genres, the artist isn’t present
therefore suggesting that it is the music
being sold rather than the star image.
However, as indie pop is a sub genre of Pop
itself, there are conventions that we have to
use such as a performance element
essentially aiding us in selling a commodity
rather than the music itself.
A performance element can help an
audience engage and grow close to an artist
increasing their interest into their content.
This element can also create a similar
atmosphere of which the artist would create
on a tour performance therefore promoting
live events.

8. Conventions we DEVELOPED
The presence of dancers further establishes the sense of a live performance enticing the audiences as
well as allowing them to find the content more engaging.
Typically, ‘Indie Pop’ videos incorporate a loose narrative, less so than Pop but still display some sense
of the journey. Using the two additional elements involving dancers of different styles creates a slight
narrative as well as giving us options for more create camera movement and composition.

9. Conventions we DEVELOPED
Indie Pop videos tend to have relatively simplistic settings constructed to look like their typical
surroundings such as a forest, a city or field. There are however, other videos from the same genre that
use elaborate studio sets. We took both ideas and combined the two by creating relatively simplistic
sets within a studio.
This allowed us to exploit the control that we had over lighting creating sets and developing ideas on
lighting designs alone.
Location Studio SetsOur Sets

10. Conventions we CHALLENGED
The main convention that we challenged was
the framing and composition of our camera
work. In most Indie Pop videos, the artist is
framed predominantly in the centre third of
the frame, forcing them to be the focus of the
video.
We explored what connotations would arise by using these shots and although we found that it was
important to introduce our artist as the main focus, we wanted there to be a transition, a journey for the
artist.
With all the low key lighting used throughout the video, there was already an ora of mystery presented
by the fact that she wasn’t fully visible consistently. This allowed her to appear both present and absent
simultaneously, a paradox theorised by Richard Dyer.
However, by also viewing her in certain
elements with either extreme close ups
or by our use of the cameras composition,
we heightened this effect.

11. Conventions In Our
Digipak

12. The majority of digipaks that we viewed in our
research entail a relatively minimalistic and/or
simplistic layout.
If the artist is present on the album cover, a
technical convention use is a mid shot
displaying the artist. In terms of symbolic
conventions, their facial expression is frequently
quite serious as they stare into the camera
creating a sense of intimacy between star and
audience.
We found it was useful to follow the technical
conventions within the cover as it helps instantly
establish the genre conventions as well as her
strong image.
Symbolically, we wanted to use the conventional
intensity as it would isolate our artist from other
Pop artist’s who play to a ‘pretty’ and
synthesised image.
Conventions we USED

13. Through the use of lighting and camera composition in the music video,
we created a sense of presence and absence for our artist because there
were moments where she wasn’t entirely visible. This was a feature that we
wanted to carry through the campaign as we felt it would entice
audiences.
This convention is used predominantly on the back cover of an album
allowing the audience and artist to connect with the front cover but reveal
another trait of the star image with the back cover.
Conventions we USED
For our back cover, we chose an
image where our artist is
positioned away from the camera
with low key lighting creating the
mysterious aesthetic. Other
artists approach this in slightly
different ways by maybe simply
turning their head slightly but the
premise stays the same; the
aren’t facing the audience like
the front cover.

14. The very fact that we chose to have our
artist present on the front cover is
appealing to a genre convention. As a
sub genre of Pop, artists are still sold
partially as a commodity rather than
simply selling their music therefore, the
image comes with the music.
Her fierce look helps convey the female
empowering sense that we wanted whilst
also having an unorthodox element in
comparison to straight Pop artists.
Conventions we CHALLENGED
On the other hand, there are other Indie
Pop artists that don’t play the the Pop
convention and instead force an audience
to accept their music without a glamorous
face in front of it.
We knew that with the characteristics that
we wanted our artist to have, she would
have to be seen rather than comply with
this convention and stay hidden.
Conventions we USED

15. Conventions In Our
Website

16. One of the conventions that we felt we had to
adhere to in order for our product to comply to the
‘indie pop’ genre was the presence of the two other
products within the campaign; the digipak and the
music video. Similarly to other similar artist’s
websites, the front cover of the album is present in
the centre of the homepage. This draws the viewers
directly to the artist’s music for sales.
The overall layout of the homepages are very similar
with a very simple look. The album is present, there
are links to various social media accounts and tabs
such as ‘Home’, ‘About’, ‘Music’, ‘Tour’ and ‘Gallery’.
Following these conventions enables our site to be
easily navigated, a feature than our target would
find appealing do to their lack of patience, a change
created through the proliferation of hardware and
content.
By having everything around the artist as simple as
we can allows us to use a complicated background
whilst not having anything else there to distract from
the artist.
Conventions we USED

17. The website is one of the most important
products within the campaign in terms of tying
it all together. It is important to keep the star
image and colour scheme consistent.
This is a convention that we felt was necessary
to use so as to avoid not disorient the viewer
whilst also aiding the develop of our new
artist’s image. As we’re creating a new artist
within the genre, it is especially important to
keep the campaign consistent.
Therefore, the use of the red and black colour
scheme in something as bold as the
background, instantly reflects the music video
as well as the photos used in the digipak.
Linking the colours also aids the creation of
the artist’s style within the genre suggesting
the kind of atmosphere that would be created
at these shows with a very similar colour
scheme.
Conventions we USED

18. One of the most significant conventions that
we challenged was the background. Nearly
every other homepage that we viewed from
similar artists is a plain colour reflecting the
general campaign.
The reason why we wanted to go against this
convention is because we wanted there do be
a distinct difference between ours and others.
Through our process in researching various
other albums from some slightly different
genres, we found the digipaks and websites
that involved a more personal, artwork design
to them appealing. We felt that this would add
a more organic feeling to our site as well as
standing out within the genre.
There are multiple conventions that you almost
have to apply in order for the campaign to
work however, in the industry artist’s often
adopt elements of other genres to make their
campaign unique in comparison to others in
the same genre.
Conventions we CHALLENGED

19. Conventions we CHALLENGED
Due to Indie Pop being a sub genre of Pop
itself, there are obviously some distinct
similarities particularly with female artists; one
of which being a sexual appeal.
In order to attract a secondary male audience,
some artist’s images are designed and
manipulated to meet this demographic,
essentially making the artist more successful.
For our artist, we wanted to avoid this largely
because we don’t want her to appear entirely
synthesised but present an image that we find
her target audience would find more relatable
breaking down the idea that a star is
completely extraordinary allowing them to
simultaneously be ordinary, a paradox stated
by Dyer.
We didn’t totally abandon the idea of creating
a sexual appeal as it is a way of increasing
views however, we didn’t want it to come
across as a central feature of our artists largely
as it would disrupt the empowering message
we wanted to convey.