education

1. In what ways does your
media product use, develop
or challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

2. Magazine
Advert:

3. When looking at our music video advert it is clear that we have
gone with a popular advert design. By this I mean that we have
used conventions of the indie/rock genre by using 4 images
with 4 different artists looking away from the camera. The final
design has been stylised and developed from album covers and
adverts from bands such as the Beatles (Let It Be) and The
Gorillaz (Demon Days). Although there have been many
different versions of these covers, I think our main two
influences were these two. This is due to the fact that we liked
the way the musicians (or characters) do not directly address
the camera in which we developed in our music video. As you
can see in our music magazine we all faced in the same
direction (similar to the Gorillaz album cover) however, with
slightly different backgrounds and not being completely
uniform in the way we are turned to the side (similar to The
Beatles album cover).

4. I am comparing the magazine advert
image to album covers due to the fact that
most album covers also tend to be the
magazine advert. This is common in
magazine advertisement in music. This is
because it creates a sense of continuity
throughout the advertising of the artists
new album, as well as creating a sense of
familiarity for when consumers see the
album online or on the shelves. As you can
see our digipak cover and music magazine
image are identical for this reason.

5. Another feature that we decided to
include on our music magazine that is
common for indie magazines was too
include the single off the album as a
way of marketing the album as well as
tying the album back to the song we
created a music video for. This
seemed to be a common marketing
tool in indie rock adverts, for example
Kings of Leon used the same feature
when releasing their fourth album.
One convention that we did challenge
however was the use of the star rating
system on our music magazine. This is
uncommon in the indie rock genre,
with the closest thing to the star
rating system were short 1-2 word
quotations from music critics. I
personally prefer the look of the star
rating because I prefer a more
minimalistic style of advert, so the
stars were a good summary of what
would have been unnecessary extra
words.
As well as the ratings, the advert
states “available now” this is there to
let the target audience know that the
music is available immediately, this
incentivizes the audience to listen to
their music.

6. Digipak:

7. When looking at our digipak, it is immediately obvious that the (like
mentioned before) magazine advert is very similar to the digipak.
The bright colours from the background are immediately
very noticeable when looking at either the digipak or magazine
advert. I think this follows the conventions that real life media
products use especially in more recent indie/ pop albums. This can
be seen in bands such as Babyshambles and Abichan, where their
album covers are entirely bright colours and vintage patterns, which
is what we used when creating our digipak. As well as this, the
colour and design of the digipak gives off a vintage/ scrapbook look
to the digipak. This design links to the name of the album/digipak
“Woodstock” as well as to the lyrics in the music video where they
reference eras such as the 60’s/70’s and 80’s. The background we
chose for the digipak is very striking and contrasting to the discs and
images and while it is a very complex pattern, the blocks of white
around the discs and on the track list help break up the background
enough so that it does not become overwhelming.

8. For the track list, we followed some
conventions as well as challenging a few
minor ones. When designing the digipak we
decided to make the whole back page of
the digipak the track list. This is very
common of most digipaks as it allows the
target audience to focus on the songs on
the album as well as the musicians who
featured on them. Instead of using another
image for the track list background (like the
images used for the discs) we decided that
a plain white background looked a lot
cleaner as well as making it stand out
against the
red/blue/purple/yellow/orange/white
background. It is also a lot easier for the
audience to read, again this allowed the
audience to focus on the music quickly
without them having to struggle reading
the detailed font against the intricate
background.
Unlike a lot of digipak’s we decided not to
include the artists name or the name of the
digipak. We challenged this convention as
we thought it was pretty obvious who’s
track list it was, as well as the fact that the
background is still visible and would be
relatively recognizable to the target
audience as there is a indirect ‘hippie’
theme that runs throughout the media
products.

9. When researching discs of the indie rock genre my
group and I quickly realized that the discs tended to be
relatively minimal, with usually only a simple image or
design on them. As you can see we developed this idea
by using one unbroken image on each disc. Although
this is common for the indie rock genre, we found that
most disc still had the disc number and recording studio
on the disc with the only one without that I could find
was the AM disc.
The reason we wanted a minimalistic disc
was so that the audience could appreciate and
understand what the images were of. We decided to use
a skateboard wheel and a bowling ball as the disc
images, due to the fact that the characters in our music
video are seen doing both of these activities. Again, this
develops the convention of having an ongoing theme
throughout the media products.

10. On the last two remaining sides of our digipak, we decided
to include images of our group in our music video costumes,
this is to conform to the convention that usually in digipaks,
indie bands will have behind the scenes photographs of
them recording the album or music videos. I think the
images are a nice touch as it makes the digipak feel like a
scrapbook from the 70’s/80’s (ongoing theme). It also allows
the audience to connect to the band they are listening to as
it make the album feel more personal as the photos are not
supposed to be serious, letting the personalities of the
individuals shine through.

11. Music Video

12. Andrew
Goodwin’s 5
key aspects
to music
videos
Voyeurism and the notion of looking
A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (which
illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics)
The relationship between the music and the visuals
Intertextual references of other media texts
Close ups of the main artists or singer to create a star image
in which they can promote a recognizable brand image.
Genre conventions and iconography

13. Voyeurism & The notion of
looking
• Voyeurism is used sparingly throughout our music video. This is due to the fact that
our music video follows the narrative of 4 friends and their interactions with each
other on a day out. This meant that the audience was not engaged through the
characters looking at the camera, but rather through the audience following them as
the characters go do different activities through the day. Although the characters
tended to only interact with each other, there were a few times when they made eye
contact with the camera. For example one of the most obvious times was at the start
of the music video, when we were all posed in front of graffiti. This is the most
obvious use of the notion of looking in our music video. This is because the first 5
scenes of the music video involve each character looking into the camera as if it was a
mirror, before fading from black into a shot of all 4 characters seemingly pose for the
audience. By using these scenes right at the start of the music video, it allows the
audience to be drawn in and connect with each character while they are getting ready
to go out. By fading from black into a over-staged pose in brightly coloured clothes
suggest that the characters are carefree and fun.
Later on in the video we see Lloyd and I make eye contact with the camera
after playing an arcade game. This camera angle suggests to the audience that they are in
the moment as well, as the pov shot invites them to feel engaged as if they were friends
with the characters.

14. A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
A relationship between the visual and lyrics
were very important to us when we were
filming our music video. This is because we
were conscious of the fact that our idea did
not have a strong narrative that had a string
storyline. This is because our story was about
friends on a day out. Therefore this meant that
we had to tie the story back to the lyrics of the
song to make sure our video had some
structure. In the end we only ended up doing
it a few times as we did not want to just relay
the lyrics onto the screen.
The first example of this is when
the lyrics say “Got another mouth to feed”,
this is where a more comical shot of Lloyds
mouth as he eats his food in the lunch scene.
This is the most obvious relationship between
the visuals and the lyrics, where as they
become less noticeable as the video goes on,
with other examples showing tickets flying out
an arcade machine with the lyrics “is it
coming”.

15. The relationship between the music and
the visuals
The relationship between the music and the visuals was mainly a concern in post
production when editing our music video. This is because we relied heavily on editing
to cut in time with the beat of the song. Two of the most recognizable examples of
this in our music video was when a shot of me releasing a bowling ball in time with
the start of a new verse. This low angle shot was used as an establishing shot, as it
showed the audience where we were through the movement and the costumes we
were wearing. The relationship between the music and visuals is important here, as
when the music changes so does the time of day and place where the characters are.
This was an effective method of making the music video look smooth with the music.
Another example of the relationship between the music and visuals, is the elliptical
editing at the end of the music video. These recap shots of the day are cut in time
with the fast paced beat of the song to suggest to the audience that they are
flashbacks. It was not just the cutting to the music that made the video successful
however. Little moments in the video, such as when Amelia stamps her feet to the
beat as she rides a skateboard makes the video seem polished and stylized as they
subtly tie together the music and the visuals

16. Genre conventions
• In our music video, we tended to challenge indie rock conventions
rather than conform to them genre conventions such as the fact
that it is common in indie rock music videos for the band to
perform the song as well as being accompanied by a deeper music
video than of a rap song for example. However we decided to
challenge these conventions due to the fact that the song we
chose was very upbeat and the fact that we thought the idea of
the band playing along side our narrative would not be as effective
as just the narrative by itself. Another convention we challenged
was that there were 2 boys and 2 girls however there were no love
interests or coupling off, just 4 friends having a good time. This
challenges the indie rock stereotype of the popular girl falling in
love with the boy at the end of the music video. This also
important as there is no real signs of a power struggle between the
two sexes. By this I mean that although we see the girls as not very
good at skateboarding, they are equals to the boys in everything
else they do in the video, this is different to most conventions as
the girls are usually shown to be weaker or less capable in what
they do on tv or in other videos.
The girls high five after
scoring on air hockey
(shows power balance
challenged normal
conventions)

17. Iconography
There is iconography throughout our music video, as well as through
the rest of the media products. This is mainly through the costumes
we wear throughout the music video. Aspects of the indie rock
genre are noticeable in these clothes, for example the vintage look
of the clothes are worn by fans of the indie rock genre (this can be
seen by Lloyd and Amelia). While the brightness of the clothes was
inspired by the references to the 60’s,70’,s and 80’s in “Feel It Still”
(this can be seen in Emma and I).
However one convention we do develop through
iconography is through the mise en scene. Indie rock music videos
tend to be filmed in low budget/ simple locations, in which we have
done through the first half of the video, however as the video
develops the locations become increasingly more complex. This
could be seen as us challenging conventions as they are not
“simple”, however I think it is still developing the convention as the
locations we used were very low budget and were available to the
public.

18. Iconography
It could also be said that we added
other genre conventions iconography
throughout. An example of this are
the skate park in the first scene, this
could be said that this is iconography
of punk rock music could mean that
the music video would reach a wider
audience due to the fact that the
video includes iconography such as
skateparks and graffiti. Other genres
our music video “infringed upon”
could also include rap due to the
graffiti and our first scene taking
place in an urban environment under
a bridge.

19. Close ups
One convention we struggle to use was that
of close ups and motifs throughout the music
video. The only real close ups we had of each
of us was at the start of the music video.
These close ups helped introduce our
characters and costumes to the audience by
each of us getting ready to go out in our own
homes. Binary opposition is the main thing
that sticks out in these close ups. We see a
very feminine side to the women in pink and
putting on makeup, whereas the males seem
to be more carless by the way we brush our
teeth and dry our hair.

20. Intertextuality
Looking back at our music video, it is clear that we
struggled to include many references to other media
texts/platforms in our video. My favourite example
of us managing to get some references in would be
in the last scene where we dance. Each type of
dance each of us do is a reference to a more classic
move or in contrast to a very modern dance move.
When dancing Emma and Amelia decided to do
older dance moves. With Amelia dancing in the style
of films such as Pulp fiction, and Emma dancing in a
Abba like disco style. These moves were interjected
by Lloyd’s and I’s modern internet craze dances, such
as “the whip” and the newer sensation “the floss”.
By including modern and old dance moves into our
music video, it allowed us to link the video back to
the lyrics and visuals of the song, while the modern
dance moves added a bit of comedy and internet
sensation, that would help the video to become
more popular within the younger audience.