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

2. Digipak - Front Cover
The front cover of my digipak features the same image as the front
cover of my booklet to clearly link them. It also carries on the
house style of the rest of my digipak through the inclusion of the
recurring pink colour, the recurring font and the cross which serves
a strong use of iconography throughout my digipak. I also bled the
colour across from my back cover as I thought that this was a very
interesting and unconventional idea, the cover is dark and the
colours are quite psychedelic, this represents the way that the
psychedelic themes in the music seep into the dark themes and
messages.
The digipak also opens to the right instead of the left which is very
unique and unconventional, like the music of the group. Opening
the digipak the ‘wrong way’ also links to the upside down/inverted
crosses.

3. Digipak - Back Cover
My back cover for my digipak has a psychedelic coloured gradient on
it, this is due to the fact that the Flatbush Zombies have lots of drug
references and themes in their music, they have also used bright
colours on album covers in the past so this links well with the artist
image. This theory of a star image / artist image was created by
Andrew Goodwin. I used the same font for the track list as I did on
other areas of the digipak and my advert, but this time I twisted the
words slightly so that it seemed more ‘trippy’/psychedelic and
linked well with the colours in the background. I also looked at their
newest album and included similar copyright information as well as
the names of the independent labels the group owns. I also placed
the barcode central below the track list so that it didn’t ruin the flow
of the track list.

4. Digipak – Other Panels
The spine on the outside of the cover carries on the style of the
coloured gradient and also continues the use of the same typeface
that is used on the front and back covers as well as the insert.
The panel with the image represents the ‘hood’, by showing a
derelict area and vandalism. The purple tint was used to carry on
the drug-like aesthetic as the colour purple is often used to
represent drugs like marijuana and ‘lean’ in rap music.
The colours from the spine/back cover bleed over onto the panel
(like they do on the front cover), I did this to represent the way that
their music crosses dark themes with psychedelic drug themes and
that these styles merge together in their music.

5. The panels on the left and on the right are supposed to contrast each other. The image on the right was converted into
black & white and then tinted slightly, this panel is supposed to represent the ‘hood’ and the fence is supposed to
represent the way that people feel trapped in this environment. The image on the left is supposed to represent the bright
lights and fun that you experience after you become famous. There is a cross on the right picture to represent the fact
that when people are trapped in these negative environments they turn to god, and the inverted cross on the left panel is
supposed to represent the fact that when people reach this fame and freedom they leave their beliefs behind and do
whatever they want to do. The spines are also supposed to represent similar themes, for example the black to white one
is supposed to represent the fact that the world looks dull to these trapped people and the coloured one is supposed to
represent the bright lights and the drugs that the Flatbush Zombies now have access to. The cross and inverted cross also
fit in with the groups music as they often share their views on religion in their music.

6. The image behind the disk and the disk fit
together to make a cross, I designed it in a
certain way though so that when the disk is
inserted the fan can decide weather they want
this to make a regular cross or an inverted
cross. This cross is the same colour as the
others on the digipak, this is to keep a simple
iconic theme and house style running
throughout and to link the panels together
well. The cross is the purple colour and is an
outline so that it looks like it’s a neon light
which links to the lights the Flatbush Zombies
would use when performing and the lights that
they see when they go to the club and party in
their spare time.

7. Booklet/Insert
I carried on the use of purple and the use of the crosses
throughout my insert. I also used the same font as the rest of
the digipak when writing the song titles. I used a more simple
font and put it in white when I was writing the song lyrics so
that they would be easier to read.
On the front cover of my booklet I wrote “A Flatbush Zombies
Production” so that it almost seems like a film or a script
because the Flatbush Zombies frequently include intertextual
references to old films in their music and use film style images
in their music videos.
I also left a message to the fans in the booklet to make it feel
more personal, I even included a slightly comical element which
is appropriate for the Flatbush Zombies as they frequently make
jokes and leave things like this in their work.

8. Poster/Advert
I decided to have my advert landscape, this is very
unconventional but I thought that for the image it was much
more effective and was much more striking. This use of
unconventional things is also very fitting for the group as
they often do strange things and rap about unconventional
topics.
I decided to have an image like this for my advert as it is very
simple but also eye catching, the image is very
unconventional and has strong connotations of drugs due to
the pills and violence (cut out letters are often used by
murderers in film, both drugs and violence are common in
the group’s music so this advert fits their star image well.

9. I also wanted the advert to be quite minimalist due to its dull colour pallet so I used very little text but in the
text that I did use I wrote in a purple colour to make it stand out and to fit the use of the colour purple in the
other elements of my media package.
I also included a link to the Flatbush Zombies’ website ‘www.thegloriousdead.com’ as this idea was mentioned
in the feedback that I received for my advert draft and I thought that this was a very good idea and would
make the poster look more professional. I wrote the website name in black so that it was clear but did not
stand out too much and didn’t looked muddled in with the rest of the other text as it may have if it was the
same colour.
To create the image I printed out the text from a Microsoft Word document with size 3 text, I then had to use a
scalpel to cut out each letter and then had to careful put them in place. I did this because I thought it would
look interesting and would stand out, as well as linking it to the group’s star image as I mentioned before. I
decided to break the pill that I used for the image as I thought that it would stand out well and would be eye
catching and leave a bigger impact than a normal picture of a pill. With the pill packet at the top I also made
sure to frame the image so that it was clear that the majority of these pills had been taken to suggest addiction
and extreme drug use.
I also included the crosses which are prominent in the artwork of the digipak to create excitement for the
album because the same symbol is used in the music video. Both the video and the poster would be released
before the album so the presence of these crosses would build speculation about the album among fans.
I also shot the image so that the letters were not all perfect as I thought it would be interesting and so that the
bottom was out of focus as I thought that this was effective and made the image seem quite aperture while
still looking quite high quality because the Flatbush Zombies are an independent group (not signed to a major
label) but are still renowned for the quality of their productions.

10. Music Video
The video starts with a phone on a wall and the number 6 is pressed 3 times, this does not link to
the story of the music video and is actually just an interesting intro which is very unconventional.
The number 666 is used as the Flatbush Zombies frequently reference this number in their work and
it also links the video to the inverted crosses used in the digipak.
We then see some title cards so that people watching can easily see the name of the group and the
title of the song which could help advertise the album as people watching can identify what to
search for easily.
The first verse of my music video features our ‘good’ character/personality while Erick raps. The
character is performing in this section of the video which is a typical convention of most music
videos, particularly within the rap genre. Our character is wearing a casual shirt which is also typical
for the genre (see image above) as this was popular within hip-hop during the 1990’s and Flatbush
Zombies take a lot of inspiration from this era of rap music. This intertextual reference to 90’s rap
was effective as it fits the genre but our character also looks smartly dressed which links well to him
being the ‘good’ version of the character, this theory of intertextuality was created by Andrew
Goodwin who said that many post modern texts will frequently make references to each other.
(Image of 90’s hip-hop legend Eazy-E and
some of his friends/fellow artists)

11. The second personality/ character is introduced just before the second verse.
He is signified as being the bad character by the fact that he is dressed in a more stereotypically
thuggish way as well as the fact that our first shots of him show him with drugs. The fact that this
character is bad is also highlighted by the fact that Meech has a much more powerful and
aggressive lyrical delivery than Erick therefore making the badness of the character seem more
obvious. The use of black & white during Meech’s verse also helps to show that he is a different
character and that he is bad as well as relating to the fact that being ‘faded’ is a common metaphor
for being under the influence od drugs and the black & white filter literally fades the colour out of
the shots.
The use of effects/overlays is also apparent during Meech’s verse as the character is on drugs and
these effects highlight the unpredictable effects of drugs and the way that they can make the world
seem different or less real.
During the outro the colour fades back in and we see that our good character has returned which
shows that drugs are only temporary and also highlights the fact that we see this character is good
which shows that drugs are negative and that it is good that the character is back to himself.
The video shows drugs quite negatively, for example black & white is used when the character is
high which shows that drugs are bad and we also open the scene with the character passed out, the
return to equilibrium (following Todorov’s narrative theory) is seen as the drugs wearing off.

12. The video fits into Joan Lynch’s theories on the 3 different types of music video but also shows that
music videos don’t have to fit into just one as my music video features a narrative and is also a
performance music video. Elements of my music video could even be seen as concept due to the
surreal element of my character having multiple personalities and almost being two different
people within the music videos narrative.
Within Jon Gow’s theories my music video fits into his ‘Enhanced Performance’ category as it is a
performance music video but it features a narrative and is also quite surreal.
Noam Chomsky said that narrative is a fundamental aspect of human existence and that we need
stories with recognizable structures to make sense of and describe human life, this is one of the
reasons that I decided to include a narrative within my music video, I thought people would find it
much more interesting if it had a structure and a narrative.

13. Conclusion
I would say that overall my media package is very unconventional, this is due to the fact that some of the
artwork and themes could be seen as controversial and many groups may be afraid to do something like
this, however due to the nature of the Flatbush Zombies’ other work and the fact that they are not
controlled by a major label makes risky things like this easier for them to attempt.
The multiple personalities in the music video is also unique and unconventional, the fact that these
personalities are such strong binary opposites but are also the same person challenges conventions in a
very strong way.
One of the few conventional elements of my products is the fact that all three pieces are linked by similar
themes and colours and therefore have a strong house style.
The use of images of derelict places and graffiti in the digipak are also quite conventional within rap, as is
the use of the colour purple, but the strong contrasts to these elements are actually very unconventional.
Small elements like the digipak opening the opposite way to usual and the fact that the poster even looks
almost like a medical poster offering help to addicts are also very unconventional and unique but there
are also strong references to the rap genre through things like clothing. For example the camouflage
jacket, black clothing and informal shirt are all very typical elements of hip-hop, particularly classic rap.
The inclusion of the lyric booklet is also very conventional as this is very conventional within rap and has
been a common feature within rap albums throughout the history of the genre.