2. Music Video
Referencing other artists in music videos has
become a convention in the rock genre. In some
cases artists might appear in other artists’ videos
as guest appearances. Of course we could not do
such a thing, but we did want to reference other
artists so we have decided to dress the characters
in merchandise clothes and show promotional
posters of artists in the background. This also part
of creating the characters, being a part of their
personality.
Once again, because we did not have the band in
the video, we could not film them performing the
song. However, we wanted to go with the
convention of characters miming the lyrics of the
song in the video. We did not want this to be a
big part of the video, so we picked a line from the
lyrics that fits the character and the storyline and
decided to have the character mime that one
single line from the song.
Skating has become a part of many artists’ image
since the 1990s, and many music video either
include characters skating or some footage of
people skating. As skating is mainly seen as a
negative thing by people and seen as a ‘rebellious’
activity, we wanted to challenge that have a
character in our video that is quite passive and
neutral. As the character Matt is not as evolved as
the other two in our video, we thought we could
give him some personality simply by his actions;
skating. The way we challenge the convention
however, is by having the character just mind his
own business and go about his life peacefully.
We wanted the end scene to be peaceful and
calm, as both the music and the story is settled
towards the end. In order to ensure this comes
across, we decided to have longer clips with
fewer cuts, as well as fade-ins and fade-outs
instead of simple jump cuts. In my opinion the
fades are much more calm than just jumping
from one shot to another. This goes with
conventions in to some extent, as video editing
normally dictates that calm scenes have less cuts
and longer shots.
3. Digipak
Quite a lot of CD albums feature a form of artwork on them as a way to create an image for the artist and to
make their work look unique. Especially in the rock genre of music, it is a convention to have some sort of
artwork on the design of their album cover. We have decided to follow the convention and have produced our
own pieces to use in the final design of our digipak.
Having a barcode and a record company logo on the back panel of a CD cover
is a convention as it gives the producers credit for their work, while the
barcode is useful for identifying the product. It is almost a requirement for
digipaks to have these items displayed.
In addition we have added the contact information of the band, which
includes management, as well as the names of the band members on the
back panel. Including the contact information of the band is a convention
with smaller artists, who are perhaps not so well known, as famous bands are
most likely managed by large companies. We thought including the names of
band members could be something that is useful or interesting to know.
Most album cover will
have an image of the
artist on the front cover
(or anywhere else) of
the digipak. We have
decided to challenge
this convention and
have went with the
solution of including a
minimalistic version of
one of the band’s main
photos. This way there
is still the identity of
the band on the front
cover, but with a sense
of mystery, as you
cannot see the original
image.
A track list is a
requirement in
album cover
design. It has been
a component of
albums since a
long time ago and
has proven to be
useful. It is easily
one of the biggest
conventions of
album cover
design, which is
why we have
decided to use it.
We have decided to
go with a blue based
house style for our
digipak design as we
wanted to create a
unique image for
the re-release of the
album. As the
magazine advert
design is based on
the digipak, we have
used the same
house style for it as
the digipak.
4. Magazine Advert
A big convention in album promotion is
to have the release date with the
album title and artist’s name displayed
clearly on the advert. We have decided
to go with this as it is a good idea to
present the important information to
the viewers clearly. We have used a
dark background for the text so that it
stands out for the viewers because of
the contrast between the colours.
It is becoming more and more common
to have typography that has the worn
down look. We quite like the way this
looks and it is proven to be effective, so
we have decided to use it in our design.
The outcome has turned out well.
This is the same with the ‘splatter’
look. It has started appearing more
often, which is why we wanted to
include it. It looks good and makes a
great background for any text which
needs to stand out.
As with the digipak, having the recording company logo on the design
is almost a requirement, as it gives people credit for their work as
well as let people know who to contact with any inquiries about the
text.
Most album promotion material has the front cover clearly displayed so the
viewers focus on it. This is a part of promotion, which makes people interested in
the product and want to known more about it. We have taken this a step further
and have included the custom logo we have produced in order to maximize the
amount of promotion for the re-release of the album.
In order to link the digipak and the
advert together as much as we
could, we have included some of the
custom artwork we have used in the
design of the digipak. Because we
did not want the artwork to take
away the focus from the front cover
and the band logo – and therefore
ruin the promotion of the main
product – we have made the
artwork somewhat transparent. This
ensures that they aren’t the
dominant components of the
design. Also, we have used the same
house style, with the same gradient
colours as in the digipak design. This
ties the two texts together and
further promotes the purchase of
the digipak. In addition, it is a
convention to link the promotional
material with the main product as
much as possible to maximize the
effectiveness of the promotion.
5. Conclusion
Overall, I think the we have mainly challenged conventions with our main product but
on the other hand we have followed conventions with our two ancillary products. We
wanted to challenge conventions with the music video in order to show that
stereotypes are not always correct. With two of our main characters we wanted to
show that teenagers often have problems that in most cases adults have to deal with.
This is challenging the stereotype of careless teenagers which is often shown in rock
music videos. Similarly we have shown a skater character who simply gets on with his
business in contrast to what is usually shown, which is skaters getting in the way of
people and generally being obnoxious to the public.
In the ancillary products however, we have followed the conventions of the genre in
order to ensure they will be appealing to our target audience. We were hoping that if
we create a product similar to existing texts then the audience will appreciate them
more and therefore be more successful.
