In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Vic's Media - A2

1.  

2.  Conventions are technical or symbolical elements in a media
product that represent the expected style/structure of a media
form typically employed within a genre.
 They are used to subconsciously communicate with the audience,
give them an idea of the genre, narrative, artist's image, time
period, etc. Based on those the audience has makes
expectations of a particular media form. For example dark
lighting, fast editing pace, non-diegetic low pitched soundtrack,
blood and cemetery are conventions of a horror genre.
 In this task I am going to look at which conventions are used in
my music campaign and how are they used to represent the
image of the artist and the genre they are performing in to the
audience.

4.  The first thing that stands out about a music video as a media form are
the close ups of the performing artist that are present in most of the
music videos. These display the artist to the audience. Close ups are
more often put in chorus than anywhere else.
 For instance, in Imagine by John Lennon one of the most famous lines
is "Imagine all the people living life in piece" and this is the part of the
song where a long close up of the artist is revealed.

5.  Another technique that is often
combined with the close ups is a
direct addressing. This is when a
artist stares into the camera. This
breaks the "invisible wall" between
the artist and the mass audience,
makes the audience dazzled, gives
them an impression about the artist's
personality, etc.
 This may be combined with a close
up, like in Girls by Beatrice Eli (top) or
it can be used with any other camera
angle, e.g. direct address + mid shot
in If I Die Young by The Band
Perry (bottom)

6.  In our video we combined close ups with direct address
several times.
 Firstly, in this way we displayed the artist to the audience, so
the close ups function as a form of marketing/advertising the
artist.
 Secondly, the lyrics had a lot of meaning, so for the audience
to assimilate them we accompanied the song with the visual
representation of the lyrics. For instance, the first catchy line
"All I feel is emptiness here", is the longest close up of the
artist in the whole music video. This is because by combining
a shot of the artist lip-syncing a line with a diegetic
soundtrack, we achieved a visual image of that verse, so the
audience is more likely to remember it. We thought that it is
important to introduce the audience to the first line to
subconsciously instil the importance of the meaning behind
them. The subsequent close ups conveyed the same idea
throughout the song.
 Thirdly, the detailed facial expression conveyed the artist's
image of isolation, desolation and despair in the narrative of
the music video and in general. Close ups enabled us to
emphasize that look even further and attract the target
audience to that image.

7.  Extreme close ups of different objects have been
heavily used in our music video. Extreme close ups
are usually used for two reasons:
1) To transfer the meaning of the objects to the
audience - for instance, in Real
Love by Delorean (top) there is a narrative and
an extreme close up of a dog's paw print gives
the audience a hint about the plot - ECU is a
convention of an upcoming plot twist.
2) To create an aesthetic look - objects are
demonstrated in a great detail, often in slow
motion. In Gravity by Odd Beholder (bottom)
there is no particular meaning given to the
cave and water drops, but these shots convey
to the audience the thoughts, image and
personality of the artist.

8.  There was a lot of deep meaning in the objects we
used - e.g. the snake, the pheasant (described in
symbolic conventions section) - and extreme close ups
were the best way to demonstrate these - those
objects closely framed grasp the audience's attention
straight away.
 For example, the first shot in the video is an extreme
close up of the ink in water. Straight away it creates
mysteriousness, as the artists hasn't been shown yet,
but it already gives an impression about the genre and
the artist through the colours and objects. The ECU
camera angle itself helps to emphasize those effects
as it focuses on the object/process, almost pointing at
it and not allowing the audience to focus on any other
detail of the video. So by using ECUs we could be sure
that the audience will receive the core message of the
video.
 The image of our artist is also very artistic and
inspiring, so some of the ECUs didn't have any
particular meaning but were simply added to make a
complete, aesthetic image - e.g. the falling red rose,
the ink.

9.  Editing pace of a music video usually follows the structure of the
song. It is often used to emphasize certain details of the soundtrack
or to accompany a change in the mood of the song and/or the
narrative.
 In the first example, which is a music video to How To Save A
Life by The Fray, you can see that in the first verse the editing pace
is moderate, there is quite a long shot of the girl's face. However, as
the soundtrack comes to the second chorus the length of the shots
is mostly less than a second.

10.  In the second example, which is The Time To
Sleep by Marble Sounds the same occurs - the editing pace
is slow in the first verse, but as the narrative proceeds
along with the soundtrack, the average shot length
increases.

11.  We have employed this convention within our music video. You can
see that in the first verse the editing pace is slow - it feeds the
audience some mysteriousness and suspense. By using slow pace
at the beginning we've created a relaxed, calm mood, which fits the
aesthetic images. It represents and connotes indie genre as the
soundtrack is also calm and female vocals are predominant.
 When the soundtrack transitions into the chorus the editing pace
also increases and it reaches its peak more towards the end. Then,
the soundtrack also transitions into a more alternative genre with
many beats and with an increased speed. Along with the image of
the beating heart it gives a more disturbing impression; the video
reaches the climax of the song and the narrative at the same time.
Long shots at the beginning introduced the audience into the
setting, objects framed and the artist herself, while at the end the
editing pace increased as the focus shifted from visible mise en
scene (e.g. props) to the narrative (link between the shots, tension,
the heart, etc).
 Overall, the editing pace of our music video was at first a
convention of suspense, introducing the audience into mise en
scene and then a convention of tension, transferring the unrest to
the audience.

12.  Jump cuts are usually used to either transfer a
sense of time that passed between the shots or to
convey a futuristic genre. With the first case, an
example is a music video to a song Complicated
by Trentemøller (top). A man moves a mat quite
slowly and to shorten this sequence, discontinuity
is applied in a form of jump cuts.
 As regards the futurism or abnormality that jump
cuts can transfer, a good example is in a video to
Put It In The Past by Soular System (middle). The
music video's setting is the space, so to convey the
"space feel" and the sci-fi genre, jump cuts are
applied so that the character moves
discontinuously, which looks abnormal and
therefore fits with the genre.
 Another example is A Copy For Collapse by Silent
Wander (bottom). Like in our video, the character
is made mentally unstable and jump cuts are used
as a straightforward convention of this.

13.  In our music video mental instability
is a metaphor for fragility and
abnormality, craziness, rather than
actual mental illness. Jump cuts act
as a convention of distorted mind.
Moreover, the feeling of time passing
also exists. By making the footage of
the girl in the padded cell
discontinuous we made it look like
she's been going crazy there for a lot
longer than what is shown in the
video. Also, it makes the video more
visually interesting.
 Overall, the jump cuts convey the
alternative/futuristic genre of the
music, as well as the fragile and
disturbing image of the artist.

14.  The lighting in our music video was very simple, however
we've selected it intentionally. We used a basic, slightly
cold white plain lighting from above and from the front. You
can see the same lighting being used in the examples of
the music videos to It Took Me So Long To Get Here But
Here I Am by KT Tunstall (left) and Upplyst by Bam
Spacey (right).

15.  In both the examples and in our music video the emphasis is in the objects
and people framed as well as the processes happening. If more complex
lighting was applied, it would distract the audience from focusing on other
aspects of mise en scene. For example, I've mentioned before that the facial
expression was used as a convention of the artist's image, mood, feelings.
Use of neutral lighting didn't draw attention away from the facial expression
and at the same time it exposed all the details of the artist's face to convey
that expression in the most effective and explicit way.
 Also there were various
scenes/strands and we wanted to
connect them to transfer the core
message. If we used varied lighting we
would have to split the scenes,
meaning the correlation would be lost
and a united stark, white image of all
the scenes wouldn't be achieved.

17.  The props that we've used were one of the
central elements of the whole video. Many of
them were very disturbing. It is a very popular
tendency to add disturbing elements and to
contrast them with the genre of the song or
other elements of mise en scene. For instance
a beautiful girl and a live maggot or a sheep
skull - Utopia by Austra (top right); The Drug by
Royksop (bottom left); Fake Blood – I Think I
Like It (bottom right)

18.  We used the same principles in our music video.
The main contrast is between the image of a
pretty, young girl, that looks innocent (white
dress costume, caressing gestures, sad facial
expression) and disturbing, obnoxious props: a
raw heart, a dead pheasant, a snake, etc.
 These contrasts create an image of the artist
that is unique and controversial. Also, the props
act as a convention of alternative genre - the
genre itself suggests removal of genre
limitations and altering it, and we matched this
with the visual representation of the artist which
is beyond the frame of positive indie artists'
music videos. Also, props that we've used
transferred the core message of an inverse
battle between life and death, but only older
audience can understand it, so we also used
props as a symbolic convention of life and death
to target and attract more mature audiences as
they are more likely to be interested in
alternative/indie genre our artist performs in.

19.  The main colours that we used in our music
video were white and red. Firstly, we used
negative spacing in most of the shots. The
examples are music videos to songs Looking
For A Dream by Nick Cannon and Utopia by
Austra (on the right).
 Leaving a lot of white space means that the
object in frame stands out much more. In
terms of colours there is a greater contrast
between an object and a dead, white space
than if there was something on the
background. This emphasises the meaning of
mise en scene involved. Also, the image
created looks more aesthetic, non-real and
futuristic. By leaving most of the shots blank,
we ensured that the audience's attention is
attracted to the objects in frame. Moreover,
this positioned the artist in a "limbo", without
any linkage to a real location or time frame,
which gave a scope for interpretation to the
audience.

20.  Then we added red/orange accents in a form of props. Those included: the
heart, ink, pheasants's feathers, snake, goldfish, glitter, roses. From the
example below (Cold Cold Cold by Cage The Elephant) you can already see
what effect does the red colour have on the overall atmosphere and mood of
the video.
 Red by itself has connotations of danger, energy, battle and power as opposed
to white colour that has connotations of light, innocence and purity. The white
colour in our video convey's the artist's image of innocence, youth, fragility,
while the red props act as conventions of danger to her and hint about a crazy
climax. You can see from the GIFs below how the contrast between the two
colours not only makes the video visually interesting but also creates a feeling
of conflict, which is a part of the core message and the artist's image we've
been aiming at transferring.

22.  Using hand-drawn or digitally
drawn images on digipaks is a
common convention of rock, indie
and alternative genres. They may
be done in colour or B&W and a
range of styles and materials may
be used: from acrylic
hyperrealistic paintings to simple
pencil drawings. Pictures are often
combined with photos in this
genre e.g. to reveal an artistic
image of the artist to the audience
as shown in the example on the
left.
We have chosen to create two drawings using watercolour pens and water
and then use them on the inside and the cover of our digipak.

23.  We've selected drawings
instead of photos to represent
the artistry and creativeness of
the artist. Images that look
hand drawn represent the
artist as a "protagonist" from
the audience's perspective.
The natural look brought in by
the drawings makes the
audience feel closer to the
artist i.e. having and using the
skills that the audience does
to create a music campaign,
thus promotion of the
"underground", indie
philosophy.
 Also, the particular rough,
messy, but clean style of the
drawings, which makes them
look like sketches is a strong
convention of an indie artist,
who are creative, free, have
lots of ideas, etc.
Peter Doherty - Grace Wastelands (indie) The Loom - Teeth (indie)
Ecosmith - Talking Dreams (indie)

24.  At the same time, we tried to avoid making the images over-
complicated. For instance, the example on the right is also
a painting, however in comparison to our drawing it is very
colourful and detailed. Our images are, on the contrary,
rather simple, blurry and limited in terms of the colour
palette, which is an intentionally made look. As may be
seen from other music videos analysed above, simplicity
and clarity of the image are one of the main, very strong
conventions of indie/alternative genres. Overall, a
combination of an artistic images and blurred, clear, white
look acts as a convention of alternative indie genre in our
digipak.
Babyshambles - Sequel To The Prequel (alternative)
OUR digipak

26.  We used Helvetica like font
throughout our website
excluding the album cover. It is a
very simplistic font that is very
often chosen for websites in
indie, alternative and/or pop
genre in particular. The
examples below display the
headers of websites of Jamie
Cullum, Two Door Cinema Club,
Oh Wonder and others, which
contain very similar font.

27.  As I mentioned before, clarity is one of the main conventions of
indie and alternative genres. We added clarity in terms of the
font by making it thin (small line width) and standard. In other
words, we avoided complicated, shaped, decorative or
calligraphic font, such as the one in the example on the right.
 In this way we encouraged the audience to pay more attention
to other elements of the website, such as the promotions, e.g.
new album release; tour dates.
 Choosing simplistic font was another step to creating a
cohesion in clarity and added to a contemporary look of the
music campaign.