media

1. Question 1
“In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?”
By Lauren Evans

2. Conventions of Music Video
• In my music video, I follow most conventions of an ordinary music video
that may have a song in the indie pop genre; there is a consistency in
setting choice that seems to tell a story, and the editing and mise en scene
largely fit the song choice and the stylistic choice that the genre often
follows.
• My inspiration/style model, Marina and the Diamonds, is primarily classed
as indie pop, “Diamandis has described herself as an “indie artist with pop
goals””. Marina subverts the usual genre of pop music, as typically pop
music is light and upbeat, Marina is the opposite and typically tries to
capture “components of human behavior in her music”. As I used a song
she made, this is the genre of the song and therefore I attempted to make
the music video match with it as best as I could. My music video often
sees the actor/model wearing conventional clothes that someone may
wear in a pop music video, such as a skirt, however usually I tried to get
her to wear more neutral colors or darker colors to fit this genre better –
the setting is fitting too, as it’s a stage in the dark, which is a flipped
version of what may be seen in a music video; a stage in a light, and more
joyful setting.
• My music video follows similar conventions to my style model; Marina and
the Diamonds, in terms of editing and cinematography, I followed similar
conventions to her “Primadonna Girl” video, but I also used conventions
from other videos of hers

3. Conventions of Music Video Pt 2
• The primary comparison that can be made in terms of relation to the style
model and the inspiration drawn from it can be seen in the setting of the
stage and the glitch effect I edited into the video, this can even be seen
from the first few seconds into the video;
• But I didn’t want it to be entirely similar and like a carbon copy, the color
palate for the Primadonna Girl video seems to be primarily dull blues,
greens and pinks, in my video I tried to make it more purple and pink and
lacking less color; this was my own style choice I made in order to try and
make the video more original. A convention of indie pop is usually how it
tries to take the conventions of ordinary pop music then flip it to give it a
darker twist, I did this in my video with the dull purple and pink colors.

4. Conventions of Music Video Pt 3
• In terms of setting, the area I mainly used (the stage area in the dark) is not too much
different from the setting that can be found in Marina’s music videos; the actual choice I
made to use a stage is from another video and song of hers; Forget. In some scenes of the
video I actually planned to use a microphone, like how Marina does in the video, however I
was unable to find one in the end so this idea was scrapped.
• However the stage was not all inspired by the style model; the choice of making only the
models face appear in the dark was mine as I thought it’d add to the ominous effect, arguably
this was better as a concept as now it has been filmed and edited, I personally I find the
footage to look a bit too dark, however I still like the choice I made; the idea of using a model
in a dark area is a typical thing seen in indie pop. I thought the lack of movement from the
camera for this scene was particularly noticeable too, I deliberately gave these segments
longer allotted time in the video than some other scenes to add to the discomfort; as though
she was staring at you, a creepy or off-putting atmosphere fits with the dark lyrics of the song
and conventions of indie pop; the camera angle in the dark segments with the model is an
eye level angle, and a close up; meant to magnify and draw importance to her face.
• The lighting of the whole video is important; indie pop uses low, dim lighting, or at least the
particular style that Marina follows does, and since she was my style model and indie pop
was the genre I was trying to fit into, I used low lighting, although perhaps too low at some
points.

5. Conventions of Music Video Pt 4
• There are some scenes and clips in the video that show the area around the stage and
sometimes look a bit cluttered; this was deliberate, as Marina’s Primadonna Girl video
also shows the area around her and shows the cluttered house that she’s in, this was a
slight attempt to replicate this through the usage of showing the area around the stage.
• However, in contrast to this, my location was a stage, so I decided to use signs and the
light rather than anything else, as I felt like items such as chairs wouldn’t fit the scene. I
do use some of the stage background though, as the current Drama production at the
time fitted with the dark theme of my music video, so there are some clips of my model
with the stage behind her visible. But this was heavily edited by me to incorporate the
pink glitch theme, so this isn’t too noticeable.

6. Conventions of Music Video Pt 5
• In terms of further contrast with the style model in
comparison with my own work is that in terms of mise en
scene, the outfits are not entirely the same; Marina wears
feminine, bright colors in most of her videos, whereas it’s a
contrast to my model as she rarely wears too much color.
It’s a convention of the indie pop genre for bright colors to
be dulled in order to represent a more dark tone, however
indie pop is also largely defined by pop music taking on a
more fluid, personal and open attitude, hence why me
using darker outfits would be considered valid for the genre
I am aiming for.

7. Conventions of Music Video Pt 6
• Another convention of Marina that I attempted to recreate is
a small dance she does in her “Oh No” video, it was harder
than it first appeared to choreograph so I was unable to do
much of it. I also tried to put a cartoon-y effect over this
section of the video, again, much like the “Oh No” video style.
However this ended up looking bad to I changed it to a darker
color and just put a filter on it. I thought emphasizing the
white and blacks would make the video look more haunting in
these segments.

8. Conventions of Poster
• I again drew inspiration from Marina and the Diamonds with the floral and the
yellow theme, this would fit in with the feminine indie theme I was overall going
for that fits the genre, I also made my model look transparent in the poster advert
because a ghostly theme is a reoccurring one in my project.
The main images shows the
artist which should be the
main focus of the album and
video, the rest of the images
are used for a floral effect,
and I thought the crown
would also fit in with the
floral and theme.
The font choice is not
entirely the same, I wanted
to put my own twist on the
genre conventions too. The
font is still traditional though
as this fits with the feminine
theme of the album.

9. Conventions of Poster Pt 2
• The title of the album is actually a title of one of Marina’s songs, however it’s not a copyrighted title so I
was able to use it. I also put logos in the corner, one is my own fictional company and the other is Sony
Music logo. I also placed the names of the songs in a similar place, to try and advertise the album songs
better. I deliberately didn’t put a date on the poster, by doing this I challenged the convention of a poster
advert, I figured this would make the poster look better in terms of later sales when the fictional magazine
gets old.
In terms of effects, I put a
shine like effect on my
poster in order not to make
the gradient I used too
repetitive. I put a glow effect
on the text and image as I
felt it looked rather bland
without.
For layout, I positioned it in
the same way an ordinary
magazine poster may be
made. This is the design that
is the most easy to follow
with the eyes if it were in an
actual magazine – people
will see the title first.

10. Conventions of Digipak
• The digipack is where I started to not follow
Marina as much, I still used the conventions
of “The Family Jewels” album slightly, but the
traditional images and the like are my own
idea and don’t really follow Marina’s
traditions entirely.
• There is a continuation of yellow again in the
digipak which fits in with the poster I used.
• The images on the sides (not the main image)
are more of a break of convention and the
style I’m following as it is more of my own
personal style put on there, this outlet of
own personal style however is in itself a
convention of the genre.
• The flora, and the mannequins are what
helps to define the feminine image of the
album and music video.
• The song names are fitting again of the
feminine style of the album too. I used some
of Marina’s other song names too to show
influence from her.

11. In conclusion
• I believe I have both used and challenged
conventions of real media products on the
tasks that I have done; through a combination
of both using and going against such
conventions it makes the products fit into my
chosen genre but also standout as their own
personal products.