1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS.
By Kezia Hamisi
2. MUSIC VIDEO
I am very pleased with my music video and I feel that as a product it uses,
develops and challenges current convention of real media products. After
researching around my Star and the genre of the music, I collected together
ideas that I could use in my music video from other successful artists and Ellie
Goulding herself. I used conventions such as complete focus on ‘Star image’
by making it all about my star. I also used the convention of the star singing in
the video rather than making it a narrative style video, which is less common
in indie/pop. After researching into Ellie Goulding’s music videos, I noticed
that she is normally isolated in a very intimate and natural setting so I decided
to use this feature in my video. In terms of location I feel that I have used and
developed conventions of indie pop and RnB. The isolated natural setting is a
common feature of all three genres I mentioned so therefore shows I used my
market research well and incorporated this in my video.
3. CONVENTIONS USED
Use of
natural
lighting
Sunshine
and
sunrays
Isolated
natural
setting
4. CONTINUED…
I challenged current conventions by not including a male protagonist, side
actors or any choreography in my music video because I feel that it takes away
from the focus of the star and could potentially make the video look a bit
messy with too much going on. The fact that I only have a female protagonist
dominating the whole video goes against Mulvey’s feminist theory (1975)
about how ‘women are presented as passive objects of the male gaze’. I made
sure my star was not perceived as an object for male viewing pleasure through
mise en scene. I ensured that she wore limited makeup and that her clothing
was not revealing. I also used a wide range of close up to keep the focus on
her face and also long shots to ensure notice of the setting was taken.
5. CONT..
I Developed conventions of real media products by using the idea of split
screen in my video like I saw used in some of the videos I researched but to
develop this feature I played around with the size and speed of the shot to
make it more dynamic and interesting to watch.
my version of the split screen
technique is a lot more varied in size
and speed. Whereas Beyonce’s is the
same image and is neat identical
measurements.
6. POSTER (ALBUM ADVERT)
I am also happy with my album advert because it
looks rather professional by using and developing
current media conventions used in the industry. I
used current conventions by carrying out the
colour scheme of the digipak to the poster for
product awareness so its easy for the audience to
know that its all part of the same product.
Same font and
colour
Use of colour
on a black and
white picture
Black and
white photos.
7. CONT…
I also included the same type of information you would find on a professional
album poster with things like the album name, artist name, where its available
and how to contact the artist via a social networking site. I felt that I added
just the right amount of information because it got the point across with out
looking crammed. I did this through a variation of font sizes, I made sure to
have the most important pieces of text in big bold writing and the less
important text in a smaller font. This not only helped with getting the write
type of information across but also with the presentation of the poster.
Real album poster
My product
8. CONT…
I developed my product by adding affects on Photoshop, which is something
you don’t see that often on album posters. I made my photo black and white
with coloured writing and added some bright colours to give it that ‘out in
space’ feel because the song is called ‘Starry Eyed’. I also made my picture
black and white with coloured text to go with my digipak.
before
after
9. DIGIPAK
I am very pleased with the outcome of my Digipak as it looks like a realistic
product of the media industry. My main focus fro this task was to keep my
product simple but to the point. I carried out plenty of research on how digipaks
should look like and the type information that needs to be included on it. I used
the common feature of having a close up shot of the artist on the cover of my
digipak and included the artist's name and album name on the cover. I wanted to
keep the theme of the whole ‘Starry Eyed’ thing going so I added a black starry
background. I have also used real media convention by including all the necessary
information on the back cover too for example I included a bar code, a track list,
the record label logo and the copyright logo for the legal side of the product.
I challenged conventions by having coloured text on the black and white album
cover, something that is not commonly done in the industry. I did this to show
that I have my own ideas that work and to ensure that my digipak cover is eye
catching because black and white is not very exciting.
