The document discusses various elements of the student's music video and accompanying digipak for their media production project. For the music video, the student used locations, costumes, lighting, and colors that both conformed to and broke conventions of the hip-hop genre. The locations featured urban areas and nature to provide contrast. Costumes featured popular branded clothing. Lighting was dim to provide grittiness. Colors sometimes featured unnatural tones like dark red for added visual interest. For the digipak, front and back covers featured the artist and necessary information. Inside panels included photos, tracklist, and messages in language appropriate for the genre. The magazine advertisement centered on promoting the artist through image, font, location, and draw attention

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

2. Music Video - Genre
The genre of the song for my music video
is British Hip-Hop. This is more independent
than that of normal Hip-Hop, so there are
often a lot of differences between the
genres.
Location:
The location of my music video took part
in two main locations- the woods and a
park surrounded in an urban area. The
urban location that the park is situated in
is very typical of the Hip-Hop genre, and
the feature of a graffiti wall within the
video also adds to this. The target
audience for this genre will also hang
around in these areas, so a video using
these locations will appeal to them
because they can relate to it. These
locations were also similar to the
locations used in the video I researched
called ‘What If I Go’ by Mura Masa,
although they aren’t the same genre of
music, the videos give out a similar
message. The woodland location that I
used is slightly unconventional for this
particular genre, but I decided to use it
as I wanted to break conventions of the
stereotypical view of Hip-Hop. The artist of
my song is also quite indie within the
genre so I thought breaking conventions
would suit this.
Costumes:
My video focused on the idea of labels and
youth’s view on them today. Therefore the
costumes in my video reflected this and that
of the Hip-Hop genre. I put my cast in
recognised casual branded sports style
clothing, which is typically associated with
this genre. All of the labels of the brands were
on show and I focused on this through the
use of close-ups to show the importance of
the costumes in my video. Again, this is
extremely similar to the costumes used in the
Mura Masa video that I analysed. The main
cast in that video are wearing the popular
North Face puffer jacket, which the main
person in my video is also seen wearing. He is
also dressed in casual tracksuit bottoms and
Nike trainers, and the girl featured is wearing
Nike trainers as well as a Stussy hoodie-
another popular brand amongst young
people. The target audience for my video will
typically wear these kinds of clothes. So I
have used generic conventions in this
element of my video, which strengthens
audience appeal as they easily recognise
the video as relatable to them.

3. Music Video - Genre
Lighting:
The lighting in my video remained
similar throughout- faded and
quite dull. This is conventional of
the genre because it makes the
video look more gritty and
realistic which is what I wanted to
achieve. Similar lighting was used
in Loyle Carner’s video ‘Ain’t
Nothing Changed’ which I
analysed in my research. This dull
lighting gives a certain mood
when watching the video, and
also highlights the darker side of
urban life and youth hanging
around in parks. As the song is
talking about a boy going down
the wrong path, I thought that
this lighting would represent that
and would also be relatable to
the target audience which
therefore strengthens the appeal
by using generic conventions.
Colour:
Colour played an important role in my
video. A few shots in the video were
completely red- which I did by placing red
gels over the camera lens. I was inspired
by this effect from the Mura Masa video
that I analysed ‘What If I Go?’ which used
a similar effect. This is quite unconventional
of the Hip-Hop genre, so I decided to
break conventions by using dark red tones.
I think this strengthens the audience
appeal because it’s different and so
therefore it stands out. The red was used to
connote the danger of youth of today but
could also be read as a sign of love
between the members of cast in the
video. I also experimented with brighter
colours in the video, such as vivid blue,
where the actor was wearing a matching
blue jumper, which I think makes the video
more visually exciting. This use of colour
was effective in breaking conventions
because it will attract the eye of a further
audience.
Most Hip-Hop videos are usually a performance-
narrative under Joan Lynch’s theory which my video falls
under, however, I only had limited lip-synching in the
video, which is unconventional to the genre because I
wanted to focus more on the meaning of the video
rather than the artist itself.

4. Music Video - Narrative
My video follows a loose narrative and tells a story of a
boy, delinquency and him meeting up with a friend and
hanging round in typical locations associated with the
genre. The video is edited following the narrative in a
linear fashion- first the boy is on his own and we then see
the girl making her way to go and meet him. However I
have intercepted these shots with shots of the main cast
member (the boy) focusing on him and his
clothing/performance (lip-synching) to make the video
more interesting and not too much of the same. This was
different to that of the videos that I analysed in my
research, they focused either on just the narrative on it’s
own, or tied in the performance with the narrative at the
same time. I wanted my performance elements to be
separate from the narrative, so that the focus was solely
on the meaning of the video. This is a typical convention
used in music videos- having parts of the video cut away
to performance shots so here I have used generic
conventions which strengthens audience appeal
because it is what they would typically see in other music
videos.

5. Music Video - Representation
My video has a clear representation of youth
culture and delinquency. I have tried to get
across the way that young people are stuck in
a rut, loitering on the streets and getting into
trouble. I have given examples of this through
the locations used in my video- the urban park
location is a place that youth typically hang
out in. I have also shown this through close-ups
of the brands of clothing, which young people
typically wear. I wanted to show the
importance of clothing brands to young
people and the fact that they are always
striving after wearing the most expensive and
popular brands. The casual stances of my cast
also reflected youth culture and the act of
smoking seen in the video helps to represent
this further.

6. Digipak

7. Digipak – Front Cover
On the front cover of my digipak I included
a photo of the main cast member in my
video which is a typical convention used on
album covers to help promote the artist. I
wanted to conform to this convention
because as he isn’t hugely famous yet, I
thought it would be important to include his
face on the front so he becomes
recognisable to the target audience.
I placed him on the front cover slightly right
of the frame rather than sticking to the
obvious centre frame position. I wanted to
break these conventions because I thought
it would make it more interesting having the
artist where you wouldn’t expect them. This
isn’t typical of the genre as Hip-Hop artists
are usually the centre of attention but seeing
as Loyle Carner is indie Hip-Hop, I thought
having something different would suit this
genre.
I used the same consistent font style
throughout the whole of my digipak. I
decided to use a sans serif bold font
(century gothic). This font style is slightly
unconventional for the genre, but I thought
that with my own digipak using a graffiti style
typical Hip-Hop font would make it look
tacky.
I kept all of my font in capital letters which is
highly conventional of this genre. Capital
letters were also used in the digipaks that I
analysed so therefore this conforms to
conventions.
On the bottom right hand corner of the
front cover I have included a parental
advisory sticker. This is essential if the album
contains any swear words/explicit
language, as my album does I need to
include this. It is also highly conventional for
this to be seen on Hip-Hop albums as they
tend to use this kind of language in their
songs.

8. Digipak First Frame
I included social media logos on the
first frame of the digipak which was
suggested in my audience feedback.
This is a conventional feature of
digipaks aimed at young people.
Seeing as my target audience is young
people, this will appeal to them as they
are keen users of the internet.
The lighting used in the
images makes them look
slightly more gritty e.g. the
dull, grey sky. This relates to
the urban culture that is
associated with Hip-Hop.
The images I used have been
taken in the same location as
my video. The urban location
ties in with the Hip-Hop genre
as these types of locations
are associated with the
genre. I also used costume
that represents the genre, the
casual branded clothing is a
typical outfit that the target
audience may wear so
therefore this would appeal
to them as they can relate to
it.
For my digipak I wanted to give out
the same message of youth and
delinquency as I did in my music
video. As the digipak is for the entire
album, I didn’t want it to look exactly
like my video but I wanted them to
have definite links so that it has a
consistent house style.

9. Digipak – Back Cover
The colour of the back cover is a
grey/blue and I matched this with
the colour of the hoodie is wearing
to give consistence to the digipak,
therefore making it look more
professional and appealing.
On the back cover of my
digipak, I included highly
conventional and necessary
features such as copyright
information and a barcode.
These must be included on a
digipak and were on both the
digipaks that I analysed.
I included the track list on the
back cover of my digipak. This is
a highly conventional place to
put the track list because the
audience will instantly know
what is included in the digipak
before they buy it. Twelve songs
feature in the album which is a
conventional amount of songs to
use because people want to get
their money’s worth.
On the spine of my digipak, I
included the artist’s name and
the album title. This is a very
conventional feature because it
means that people can easily
identify the album when it is
placed on a shelf with other
digipaks/CDs for example.

10. Digipak – Inside Panels
On the inside three panels of my digipak I
included a photo of a graffiti wall spread out
across three frames. This relates to the Hip-Hop
genre because graffiti is typically associated
with this. I placed it along the three frames
because it was a long landscape picture so
worked best this way.
I have placed the CD in the middle of the
digipak, which is highly conventional as it
is wear the CD would sit best. For this
reason, I didn’t place any text on this
frame as it would just be covered by the
CD.
On the second
frame of the digipak,
I included a
message from the
artist. This is usually
seen in albums
because it adds a
personal touch and
therefore appeals to
the reader. The
language I used is
very typical of that
of Hip-Hop. Using
slang words gives
away the genre
easily and I used
words such as ‘yo’
and ‘big ups’ to
show this. This
language will also
appeal to the target
audience because it
will be language
that they are familiar
with.
I decided to put my image in
black and white because it looks
more professional and less busy
that in colour. Black and white
was also used in the Arctic
Monkeys digipak that I analysed,
so is therefore conventional.
I decided to add
a website to the
record label inside
the digipak,
because the
target audience
use the internet so
this will appeal to
them. I have used
a convention here
that is seen in
many albums as it
helps to promote
the label.

11. Magazine Advertisement
The main image used on my
advertisement is the actor pictured
centre frame. This is a conventional
feature of advertisements because it
helps to promote the artist and people
can instantly recognise who it is. On
both the adverts that I analysed, they
included images of the artist so this
conforms to conventions.
The font that I used is large and simplistic, which
was also used in both the magazines that I
analysed. This stands out and attracts attention
from the audience. I kept the colours of the font
minimal so that they stood out well against the
coloured background.
The location of the image takes place in front of
some blue sheds- the urban location ties in with the
genre so has conformed to conventions. The
colours used in this are minimal, with only the splash
of blue on the sheds which I makes it stand out.
Brighter colours such as these were seen on the
Verb T ‘Morning Process’ advertisement that I
looked at.
The costume that the main actor is wearing is
typical of the genre because it is casual and
the sports brands are typical outfits that the
target audience may wear, which means it
relates to them.
I have included the release date and
the record labels website on the
advert. It is always necessary to show
the release date on the front of the
advert so that people know when
they can buy the album. The website
promotes the record label and was a
prominent promotional tool in the
both the adverts that I analysed in
my research.