Media Task

1. EVALUATION TASK 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. CONVENTIONS
 Conventions are codes and systems of signs which
create meaning.
 There are two main types of conventions symbolic
and technical.
 Symbolic conventions are visual conventions focused
on mise-en-scene. These are: character positioning
(directing), facial expression, props (instruments),
location/setting, costume/hair/make-up, lighting.
 Technical conventions are signs which are focused on
how we used the technology. These are: editing,
camera, sound.
 Conventions allow you to portray your genre and star
image to the target audience.

3. OUR GENRE: INDIE ALTERNATIVE
 In relation to our song ‘Quick Musical Doodles’ our genre is Indie Alternative.
 Indie Alternatives was created in the late 1970’s, early 1980’s in the American and UK culture. It origins
from Alternative Rock, Indie pop, Post-Punk and College rock.
 This meant our technical and symbolic conventions needed to relate to this genre so prior to filming we
looked at similar media products and the conventions that they used.
 In the slide share I demonstrate how we used, challenged or developed these conventions.

4. BANDS AND ARTISTS I LOOKED AT AND COMPARE
IN MY SLIDE SHARE WITH THE SAME GENRE
 Nirvana
 Radiohead
 U2
 R.E.M
 Imagine Dragons
 Banks
 Foster the people
 Sia
 Fitz and the
Tantrums
 Walk the Moon
 The Killers
 Twenty Pilots
 The Weeknd
 Lana Del Ray
 Mumford and
Sons
 Kings of Leon
 Artic Monkeys
 Vampire
Weekend
 Greenday
 Blur

5. MUSIC VIDEO – THE SET
For the set of our music video we developed the symbolic conventions from the music video
‘Radioactive’ by Imagine Dragons as both of our band were set underground. We decided to
develop their set as the background seemed quite dark and glum. As ‘Radioactive’ was filmed on
a location and our music video set was built to try and develop these symbolic conventions we
spray pointed dull brown colours onto our fake wakes and added vines. We thought that this
would suit our music video well as not only would it highlight our genre of Indie Alternative but it
would also give an indication of our star image as being quite casual, dark and ‘rebellious’ to our
target audience.

6. MUSIC VIDEO – PROPS
A symbolic convention that our music video uses along with many other music videos such as The Killers
‘Somebody Told Me’ is the use of instruments as a prop. We thought this would be a good convention to
use as it meant that the audience would be able to identify with each member of the band and their star
image. To help amplify this in a creative way we also developed this idea by giving each member a
different colored T-shirt and using this idea throughout the campaign. Additionally, by using actual
instruments in our music video it made our music video more realistic and believable for the audience.

7. MUSIC VIDEO – COSTUME/HAIR/MAKE-UP
To make our music video more interesting we also added models so that the audience would respect and
idolize the band more as they would be seen as more powerful. Furthermore, they would be able to relate
to the models (as our target audience are females) and want to be like them as they are able to interact
with the band. So it was important that the models costume, hair and make-up had the correct symbolic
conventions. To help with this we used conventions from the music video ‘This is what it feels like’ by Banks.
In her music video she had quite dark, heavy make-up on her eyes, lipstick and straight glossy hair. We
realized that this created a classy allegiant look so we decided to use these in our music video as well.

8. MUSIC VIDEO – FACIAL EXPRESSION
As we wanted our star image of the band to look quite mellow casual to give a ‘cooler’ look. So we asked
the band to pull quite dark gloomy facial expressions. In many ways this actually challenges the symbolic
conventions of many music videos like ‘Smells like teen spirit’ by Nirvana as usually the band players play in
a very aggressive over active way. However, we thought using this more casual darker look better suited our
star image for target audience as they are quite dark and ‘rebellious’.

9. MUSIC VIDEO – CAMERA
As our band were supposed to be below the models we decided to look at the music video ‘Radioactive’
again by Imagine Dragons as their band were also below their second element. For their music video to
demonstrate they were below the room above they used high angle shots of the lead looking up at the
ceiling. So for our music video we decided to develop this technical convention by using a birds eye shot of
the lead singer looking up at the ceiling where a crate was supposed to be located. We thought that this
was more effective than a high angle shot and more visually interesting as it highlighted that band being
lower than the models both physically and in terms of power.

10. MUSIC VIDEO – EDITING
To give a music video more rhythmic
emphasis we decided to cut everything to
the beat and speed the pace up at the end
to give the video more energy. This is a
common technical convention used in many
music videos, however, generally Indie
Alternative editing pace to be quite slow so
this also challenges our genre conventions.
Additionally, when editing our music video
the models were sitting on chairs so we cut
between wide shots and close up as we
thought this created good shot contrast and
highlighted the set as well and the models
faces. This technical convention was also
used in ‘Born to Die’ by Lana Del Rey.

11. DIGIPAK – FRONT COVER
A symbolic convention that many CD covers of Indie Alternative bands use is instead of showing the actual
band members they highlight the band name and their image. We thought that this created an effective
artistic cover so we did the same with our front cover. However, we challenged the technical convention of
using large establishing as the cover as many Indie Alternative bands do (for example Mumford and Sons
album ‘Wilder Mind’). Instead we decided to a use a close up of a skull as we thought it would help enforce
our star image throughout our campaign of being very dark and ‘rebellious’. Furthermore, our band isn’t
just a rock band it is an Indie Alternative so we thought that different colours on a skull would emphasize
this more than an establishing shot.

12. DIGIPAK – BACK COVER
For the back cover of our albums we used the technical convention that many Indie Alternative bands use
of having all of the songs in the album listed on the left hand side of the cover with a symbolic convention
on the right hand side. We decided to use this as well as we thought it would create a good layout for the
target audience whilst also displaying everything that they needed to see. Furthermore, it allowed to
highlight our symbolic convention which challenges other album back covers to the right of the layout. This
symbolic convention developed our whole album cover from the rest of other albums as we technically
connected the front cover of our album with the back cover showing half the skull on each side. Making our
whole Digipak visually more interesting for the target audience.

13. OUR WEBSITE HOMEPAGE
Our website homepage consists of video which the pictures below demonstrate.
To watch the video please visit our website:
https://nandiclarkecouliba.wixsite.com/mysite-5

14. SIMILAR WEBSITE HOMEPAGES
Our website has very similar media conventions as the Nirvana website:
http://www.nirvana.com

15. COMPARING WEBSITE HOMEPAGES
Our website homepage consists of a video playing in the background behind all of the information. This
technical convention is also used in Nirvana’s homepage as they play their music videos in the background
of their website. However, we decided to develop this idea further by creating a whole new shorter video
for our website consisting of images used in our music video and footage we took separately. To make the
video more visually interesting we also added some of the shots of the models from our music video with
very fast cuts to create energy on screen with a fast pace. Nirvana had also used this technique of fast cuts
in their website so as to attract the target audience. Furthermore, like Nirvana by having our website video
link back to our music video it highlighted the importance of our music video to our target audience.

16. COMPARING WEBSITE HOMEPAGES
We created more symbolic conventions of each band member walking up to a piece of glass in front of the camera
and tapping or scratching on it on a close up shot so that the audience could identify with each band member
further. Nirvana also used this symbolic convention by having close ups of all of the band members, however, by
developing this convention and having the band coming up to the glass like they were trying to communicate with
the audience meant that the target audience could further connect with and followed Dyer’s star theory of the band
feeling like they were really present to the audience, but not actually there with them in real life. Moreover, it gave
the bands overall star image and ‘edge’ with a sense to ‘coolness’ to them emphasizing on our genre of Indi
Alternative. Our font being quite bold an standing out with a slight slant to our album name additionally helped
with emphasizing. This symbolic with challenged with Nirvana’s website as even though their title was bold and
stood out it was similar colouring to the video behind so it did not stand out as much as out title did.

17. CONCLUSION
 This Slide Share demonstrated that we used, challenged and developed technical and
symbolic conventions in all three of our media products varying from close ups and fast
cuts to costume and facial expression.
 I think that although there were more conventions we could have elaborated on we
succeeded in highlighting our genre of Alternative Indi to our target audience through the
conventions that we did use.
 Furthermore, these conventions not only helped us highlight our genre but also our star
image.