media

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

2. MUSIC VIDEO
For our music video we tried to follow the basic indie rock genres and
music video conventions as closely as we possibly could. We did this by
identifying both indie rock genres and simple music video genres in our
research prior to creating our music video. Following genre conventions
are key within making a music video, Jacque Derrida’s theory states that
“A text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without… a genre. Every
text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text”, our
products support this by including key genre conventions
One of the most identifiable indie rock genre conventions that our
product used was the live performance aspect. After doing our research
into music videos it became apparent to us that for our product to be
instantly recognisable it was necessary for us to follow this convention.
In following this convention it made the band appear skilled
instrumentally to their audience giving the video a sense of realism.

3. MUSIC VIDEO
Keeping the music video simplistic and minimal is another way in which
our media product uses key genre conventions of indie rock. Our music
video along with the live performance has a simple storyline about an
artist trying to find inspiration to paint. Within the indie genre we found
in our research that within indie rock music videos are kept simplistic so
that the focus on the artists live performance is not lost as their music
skill is the most important thing to them
Another theorist who backs up the idea that genre conventions are key
within music videos is Andrew Goodwin and his 5 characteristics of music
videos in which he states that it’s a music video characteristic to
demonstrate genre conventions.

4. MUSIC VIDEO
Along with the simplistic story line, locations also are kept very minimal
and basic normally due to the fact that indie bands are normally on a low
budget therefore avoid using large amounts of money on locations and
special effects within their music videos. Common locations tend to be
studios or rural environments e.g. old buildings, parks etc. We have
followed this convention to portray our video as indie as possible. As
seen below we used an old building for the storyline scenes and a studio
for the live performance parts.

5. MUSIC VIDEO
Another way in which our media product followed music video
conventions comes from theorist Andrew Goodwin who talks about the
idea of record labels demanding close-ups of the band so that they
become more recognisable, also called iconography. We thought this is
one of the key conventions especially for indie genre as most indie rock
bands tend to me quite small and so are in need of getting their faces
known and recognisable, having multiple close-ups is one method of
boosting this. We tried to include close-ups of all band members but
more specifically the lead singer which is quite often what most videos
of indie rock genre do.

6. MUSIC VIDEO
Within our research we found that Tzvetan Todorov argues that
conventional narratives are structured in the 4 narrative stages.
1) A state of equilibrium from the outset
2) A disruption of the equilibrium
3) Recognition of disruption
4) Attempt to fix disruption
5) New equilibrium
Our music video follows the narrative of
1)He paints
2) He has a mental block
3) He seeks inspiration
4) He find inspiration
5) He finishes and is content with artwork
We decided to follow Todorov’s simplistic narrative structure as we felt it
worked well with the indie genre. As mentioned before it’s a convention
of indie rock to keep the video simplistic so by following a simple
narrative as well we knew would be following all indie rock conventions
as well as a conventional narrative style.

7. MUSIC VIDEO
To keep to the indie rock clothing genre we did further research into
popular bands and popular indie looks so that we could dress our actors
appropriately. I feel like we managed to keep to this convention as our
band was dressed appropriately. All of them wore minimal coloured tops
with skinny jeans. Two of the members had stereotypical indie styled
jackets (denim) and all has appropriate footwear. I feel that it was
important that we kept to this convention as it made the video and
aesthetic more realistic and less of a student made music video.
“Different genres specify different ‘contracts‘ to be
negotiated between the text and the reader… which set up
expectations on each side for the form of the communication…”
commented by theorist Sonia Livingstone about mise-en-scene

8. ALBUM ADVERT
When creating our album advert it was key to follow the main
conventions so that key details and information were included. To collect
what conventions album adverts had I researched 3 different album
adverts to see what common features appeared in each one.
For example one key conventions is to make sure the bands name is clear
and large at the top of the advert so that people are immediately aware
who the albums about and promotes the band. Not only does the text
have to be clear, the font and colours are the same as the digi-pak giving
the band a house style. These are two examples of how we used
conventions of real media products.

9. ALBUM ADVERT
Another convention that we used within this media product was putting
the release date on the poster. This meant that audience would be
immediately aware of when the album will be coming out, and is seen on
nearly every poster album advert.

10. ALBUM ADVERT
We wanted to develop the conventions further to make our media
product modern which is quite important within the industry these days.
To do this we decided to add on this download logo to make people
aware that the album is also downloadable. This followed the
conventions by giving the audience necessary information like the date,
but also developed them further as it linked the album to another type
of media which appeals to the younger generation. Going out and buying
an album would be somewhat considered to be outdated so allowing
people to download the album opens up the product to a wider range of
audience. As well as this we also followed the convention of including
the bands website onto the bottom of the poster, not only does this
again link to another platform of media but it allows loyal fans to go and
find out more information about the band.

11. ALBUM ADVERT
A common convention of album adverts is to list popular singles included
onto the poster which persuades the audience further to buy the album.
This is extremely good for gaining more fans, by showing popular songs
that more people will recognise it will encourage them to give the whole
album a listen.
We also developed this convention further by also adding on a list of
what the DVD includes. This once again appeals to the more loyal
fans as they will believe this album is giving them more information
about the band on a personal level.

12. ALBUM ADVERT
To follow the indie rock conventions of an album advert we decided to
keep the aesthetic simplistic yet still eye catching. We use simple black
background with white lettering so that words stood out with there being
a great contrast. Another convention followed was the fact that the
album advert is the same imaging and lettering as the digi-pack front
cover. This convention was followed in our media product and is done to
keep the same style throughout each media product

13. DIGI-PAK
For the front cover we followed the basic conventions of a digi-pak. We
made sure that the band name and album title was bold and stands out
by using two contrasting colours (black and white). We also kept to the
indie rock convention by sticking to a simplistic style, often bands do this
to show that their raw music is the main promotion instead of filling the
cover with over the top and bright colours/images to leer audiences in.

14. DIGI-PAK
For the back of the digi-pak it is a common convention to include the CD
contents. We used this convention as we felt it was important for our
audience’s to be aware of which songs were featured on the CD meaning
they knew exactly what they were buying. This is important especially as
we are making an “essentials” CD. This was the same for the first inside
square, because it is a DVD and CD we need to include what other extras
the audience are getting for the same reasons.
We challenged the conventions of a digi-pak by adding in more loyal fan
aimed features, for example adding in a short documentary about the
band will appeal to loyal fans as they will be receiving extra information
about their favourite band, persuading them to buy the digi-pak.

15. DIGI-PAK
We also decided to use a full image of the band over these two pages. A
common indie rock convention especially for smaller indie bands is to
make sure that their faces appear somewhere on the album, this
heightens their iconography and makes them more recognisable. We
have used this convention by inserting an image of the band performing
behind the contents sections. However we have slightly challenged this
convention by making it so that the image isn’t too prominent, this
means that no attention will be taken away from the real information of
the pages but also the image is noticeable enough for it to stick with the
audience.

16. DIGI-PAK
Similarly to the previous comment, we used more images of the band to
increase their popularity and iconography. We also challenged the normal
conventions of an indie rock digi-pak by adding in some more complex
colours subtly. I feel that by doing this we managed to make the album
slightly link into our music video and also make our digi-pak different
and unique. The middle image is also a reference to our music video and
again goes against the usual conventions, normally a digi-pak would not
make reference to any music videos of the band (or is rare that they
would) but I feel it links together our media products nicely.