question 1

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

2. My Products

3. Concepts
All of my products use, challenge and develop conventions of media products in a variety of
ways. In this question I will explain how I have achieved this through my music video, website
and digi-pack. Firstly I looked at theories that I thought could be of use and influential to my
products.
I looked at multiple theorists including Andrew Goodwin and Laura Mulvey. Andrew Goodwin
came up with a theory that multiple key aspects often occur in music videos. These included….
•A relationship between the lyrics and visuals which either illustrate, amplify or contrast the
lyrics.
•Thought through beat (seeing the sounds) again this either illustrates, amplifies or contrasts the
beat.
•Genre-related style and iconography present.
•Multiple close ups of the main artist or lead singer.
•Voyeurism added in during the editing process (especially females).
•Intertextual references to other media texts may be present (this is done more in humorous
videos).

4. A relationship between the lyrics and visuals
which either illustrate, amplify or contrast the
lyrics
An example where lyrics are amplified is in the Young Money song "Bedrock“. Lloyd
who features in the song says "I'll be stuck to you like glue baby" where in this image
he is very close to a woman making it look like he is stuck to glue to her. I used this
technique within my video by including an element of time, throughout the video this
is especially amplified when there is a shot of me wearing a watch signifying time.

5. Thought through beat (seeing the sounds)
• Andrew Goodwin identified that the visuals within a music video may be edited in time to
the lyrics. He also stated that the chorus often uses the same edit to emphasize the beat and
what the meaning is underneath. An example where this is used is in the Arctic Monkeys
video "Do I Wanna Know". I also used this technique within my music video, I did this by
colour grading the scene with the candles red, orange and black. I kept showing this
particular location by repeating it over and over.
Chorus 1
Chorus 2
Chorus 3

6. genre-related style and
iconography present
Andrew Goodwin recognized that most artists have a trend of repeating particular actions to
make their music videos more iconic and easy to remember. This is a trade mark and is a
marketing strategy to their target audience. An example of this is “JLS”, within most of their
videos they show their chest. I have used this convention by wearing sunglass as my trade
mark symbol as you can see in the images below.

7. Multiple Close Ups Of The Main Artist
Or Lead Singer And Male Gaze
Goodwin identified that it is extremely common for record labels to get a considerable
amount of close up on the main artist. This convention can be used in sexual positions
especially female, this is to create eye candy for the viewer and is known as a "male
gaze“, however this can also be done with male body parts. This is a theory by Laura
Mulvey which is often applied. You could apply the male gaze theory to my video and
say that as a producer I am being conventional by using sexual shots of my main
female artist , however on the flip side I could argue that I am supporting the equality
of women by giving Chanel dominant screen time.

8. Voyeurism added in during the editing
process (especially females)
Andrew Goodwin recognized that many music videos include
voyeuristic angles of women in order to entice a male audience
interest in the artist. The majority of the audience stereo
typically would be female so this helps the artist get more sales
from both sexes. This is used to sexualize the artist and cause
fetishistic connection for the male audience. A few examples of
where this is used are in famous pop artists such as “Beyoncé”
and “Rihanna”.
The top image to the left shows Rihanna with her back turned
walking, this does not show her face so she has become a sexual
object. The focus is on her legs and in the image we can see
drake (a male) looking in the direction of the Rihanna (a female)
walking. This could suggest that this is okay to look and the
audience feeling that this is correct thing to do as others are
doing the same. As for the Beyoncé image the same editing
technique applies. In the original clip the shot is a pano heading
down but still shows the whole of her body as well her head so
she to has become a sexual object. All of the music video is
based in one location as the sex appeal is enough to keep the
viewer entertained, similar to the Rihanna video Jay Z who is
also a male like Drake who is looking at Beyoncé in the same
way that she is a male gaze in the video. This is a convention I
wanted to challenge by giving my female the main role within
my music video.

9. Intertextual references to other media texts
may be present (this is done more in humorous
videos)
• Andrew Goodwin recognized that on particular occasions either the visuals or the lyrics were
a direct reference to something else. This is used to keep the audience engaged and gives
satisfaction to people if they have worked out what particular part is from a completely
different media. At the start of the year I can remember being shown an example in class
where this happened. This was in the Madonna song "Material Girl“, it was influenced by
Marilyn Monroe's song "Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend" (from the film “Gentlemen prefer
blondes”). This is the final theory that Andrew Goodwin created. I used this within my music
video by including a classic telephone at the start of it, although I did not reference anything
specific it is clearly highlighted that I have been inspired by the 60’s and 70’s. A further object
that I Included was a pair of sunglasses that were also from this era. On the other hand I also
included a pair of neon lit glasses in reference to the 80’s. So on the whole I've looked at and
been inspired by several different decades.

10. Clothing And Makeup
I had to consider what clothing and make up Chanel and I were going to wear when creating my
video. I had to bare in mind that my genre was dance/electronic and this would have an affect on
the clothing I choose. Conventionally the dance genre typically shows visuals of people dressing
up as if they were going to a party. I looked at what typical EDM DJ’s such Disclosure, DJ Khaled,
Avicii, Calvin Harris and David Guetta would wear. The most conventional clothing involved jeans
and shirts so this is what I decided to go for. A further convention that I found with most DJ’s is
that they wear watches I to also did this. Furthermore I challenged stereotypical conventions by
dying my hair blonde, normally this would be conceded as risky however I saw it as an
opportunity to stand out from other artists.

11. Clothing And Makeup Continued
Chanel my featuring artist also had to consider clothing and make up. The clothing and make up
Chanel used for the video had to relate to the genre of electronic/dance. Singers who feature on
these type of tracks are often admired by a younger audience even if they are not the intended
target market. I tried to make Chanel the star within my video, as she was my main performer. I
would say you could definitely apply Andrew Goodwin's star image theory to my video. I also did
the same with makeup, Chanel wore bright makeup to highlight the her face as this helped create
a star image. This goes well with the lighting within the video.

12. Locations
A key factor within my video was where I would shoot it. This can change the whole look of a
video, I researched and looked at a variety of locations including the pit studio, Nottingham city
centre, the late lounge, Mansfield town, the Co-Op Distribution Centre and my own house.
Through my research I found that conventional locations were either clubs or futuristic buildings.
The editing used along with these locations supported either the club atmosphere or the
futuristic look. I did look at hiring out a club such as the late lounge however it was to expensive
and was fairly conventional. In the end I filmed at the Co-Op warehouse as my mum works there
so I could hire out a room for a cheap price of £10 as well as get a futuristic look with the help of
post production. I feel I am challenging the conventional location because very few (if any) music
video’s use an office as their main location. I also used my house for one of the scenes because
my house is much more capable of blocking out light so this was useful for the glow in the dark
scene.

13. Editing
When it came to editing my music video I wanted to include quick cuts and colour grading to a
high standard. I was inspired by Madonna's video”Give It To Me” along with others including
Drake “Headlines”, Rita Ora “I will never let you down” and M.R Probz “Waves”. The editing in
particular within Madonna's video featuring Pharrell was really inspirational to me as I thought it
was appealing the way it uses conventional cuts. “Give it to me”by Madonna edits to the beat.
The video flicks between the two artists and in my opinion a more varied video which ultimately
is more entertaining. In dance music a featuring artist are more conventional and often dominate
screen time. This is what I have done in my video.

14. Editing Continued
Before I created my music video I had to practice my editing skills, to do this I created a practice
music video which was 30 seconds of my track. I used a variety of camera angles when shooting
both my practice and real music video. When I was filming I kept in mind Steve Archer’s star
image theory. I filmed multiple types of shots including mid shots and close ups to help create a
star.
Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 gave me the ability to add zoom effects in post production opposed to
doing it with the camera on set. I also learnt to apply the razor tool to cut my clips up. I was
inspired by Iggy Azalea’s video “Black Widow”. I liked the way the shots zoom in and out quickly, I
also liked the fast cuts that made the video engaging. On the other hand I have gone against
conventional music videos by including little movement within my camera shots, this is an
example where I have been unconventional within my genre.

15. WebsiteThroughout my research into websites I generally found that they all use the same conventions within the
dance/electronic genre and often contained the same information. The conventions of the websites I
looked at included links to social media, a home page with picture of them or their name, an info page,
gallery and a tour page. With social media intergraded into websites make the viewer interact with the
content, this is much more satisfying than just being told the information. Follow and subscription buttons
were a vital part of my integrated media, this helps advertise products such as videos, tickets and posters.
A few websites I analysed included Tiesto, Disclosure, David Guetta and Avicii. I took the conventions of
these websites and applied them to my own. I felt the social technologies that would be of use to me
would be Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I feel these sites are what my audience would use as they are
embedded on similar musicians web pages.

16. Website Continued
The conventions for dance/electronic websites would typically include neon and bright colours, fairly simple
layouts and multiple images of the artist. I used the same colour scheme and theme throughout all of my
productions. Many artists do this as they are then more recognisable by trying to create a branded image as
this is a key marketing tool. My theme included one main photograph of me for each production along with the
same font and colours (blue, black and purple).
Like Avicii’s homepage I wanted to include an image gallery to engage the audience. I used the high and low
key studio to take these, I then edited these in Photoshop and placed them on the website. My website is split
into five pages the home page, information page, gallery, music and the tour page. By having five different
areas within the website the viewer can easily engage with the particular section they would like to view.

17. Digi-Pack
Throughout my research I looked at a variety of digi-packs, this
is because when it came to creating my own I wanted to be both
conventional and unconventional in different ways.
After looking at a variety of digi-packs I found the conventions to
include a colour scheme of three colours (which I followed by
using purple, blue and black) and the front of the album would
often be some sort of pattern or light effect instead of a picture
of the main artist. To challenge the conventions of real media
texts I decided on including the artist on my front cover (which
was me) to be unconventional. I created my digi-pack on
Photoshop, although I made an appearance on the front of the
album I did also include text along side the image of myself, the
reason for this is because it tells the viewer of the art work of
who the album is by and what it is called. This is very
conventional across all genres however there are a few
exceptions.

18. Here Are All Four Panels To
My Digi-Pack

19. Here is the first panel of my digital pack I am creating as part of
my media course work. The theme for my digital pack will be
blue, purple and black, I decided this by looking at my research..
This is the front cover, the photograph was taken in the low key
studio, I then went on to add text and a parental advisory logo
through Photoshop. I got my text from DaFont.com, I took screen
shots of the text so I then could turn these into JPEG files.
This is the second panel to my digital pack. This will act as my
back cover. I found this much more difficult to create than my
front cover as a lot more was involved when making this panel.
The background image consists of two pictures combined, one
is of lights and one is of a computer close up. After combining
the photographs into one I then changed the opacity levels.
After doing this I then added a blue tint. Once I had the image I
added the track list which includes the single" IT'S TIME"which
is the track I used in my music video. I then went on to add a
bar code, additional thank you's and record label logo's. The
conventions of this panel include the bar code, colours, the
font, recording information and company logo’s. On the other
hand I have been unconventional by layering multiple images
to act as my background.

20. This is the third panel of my digi-pack. Again running with the theme
of blue, black and purple I created my album art. This particular panel
is what held the CD in place. To create this I photographed a picture of
a crystal ball type object in the low key studio and then went and did
some post production work. I changed a few things within the editing
stage, I added contrast, the two purple lines at the top and bottom of
the panel as well as overlaying a purple tint on the top. This panel is
very unconventional in my opinion, what I did take inspiration from is
Now 77’s placement of imagery in regards to where the disc goes, this
inspired me to do something like this. So I used the crystal ball within
my video and transferred the theme across to a further one of my
products which was the digi-pack.
My final panel is going to be placed on the inside of the
album. This panel is of Chanel and I against a wall with
added text around us, this is my favourite panel and took
the longest to make. In the production of creating the image
I did several things. These included tinting the picture purple
as well as overlaying text in multiple colours. My final panel
was both conventional and unconventional. It was
conventional in the way it contained the necessary
information but on the other hand the way it is presented
looks very different and unique to other digi-packs.