This document summarizes how the author's media products of a digipak, magazine advertisement, and music video used, developed, and challenged conventions of real media products in various ways. For the digipak and magazine ad, the author researched existing examples to incorporate typical features but also added some unique elements. The music video took inspiration from Tom Odell's "Another Love" video in its staging and shots but challenged conventions by not including a female subject and keeping full focus on the artist.

1. 'In what ways does your media product use, develop
or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?'
DIGIPAK
Before creating my own digipak, I undertook both research and planning.
During this process I looked at and analysed a number of existing digipaks in
order to develop a better understanding of what 'real' products look like.
I went for a simplistic style to the whole of my digipak, which does conform to
many existing products. This was inspired by digipaks such as 'XX' by The XX
and 'Lost Sirens' by New Order, which both take a very minimalist approach to
the design used for their front covers. I wanted to incorporate this style into
my digipak as I felt it would fit well with the genre of music I selected (electro-
soul). Another feature of my front cover design was different coloured
squares/rectangles, which was inspired from albums such as 'The Best Of' by
Blur, 'Yes' by The Pet Shop Boys and the self-titled Galantis E.P. This was one
of the most popular aspects within my peer/audience feedback, which is why I
decided to keep it as the main design of my digipak. Other features such as
the barcode, terms and conditions, the record label's logo and serial number
are all 'typical features' found on almost all existing media products,
specifically digipaks. All of the existing products that I had previously all
featured these thing which was why I decided to follow conventions and
include them myself. After analysing album covers by the electro-soul duo
HONNE one feature I really liked was there use of Japanese to display the
album name. I thought that this was a unique and interesting design so I
decided to implement this idea into my digipak. The colour scheme of a black
background with all white text was taken from existing digipaks such as 'XX'
by The XX which features a fully black front cover with a large white 'X' on the
front. Due to the contrast in brightness between the two colours the design
stands out well, which is why I decided to use the same colour scheme of the
background and text. The colour for the main design however does not
conform to any existing product to my knowledge. The combination of blue,
green and purple with a pastel-like effect was something I created whilst
trying a number of different colours together.
After completing my first draft of my digipak, I learnt through my
peer/audience feedback that these colours worked well on top of the black
backing and therefore I decided to keep this design for my final version. The
three-line design that I used on two of the inside panels was inspired bye the
logo for the band No Wyld which is three vertical lines next to each other but
the middle one is slightly shifted downwards. I liked this design and
implemented into my digipak however I was advised by my teacher to

2. straighten the lines up. After trying this I agreed that it looked more
aesthetically pleasing than before so chose to use that design. In terms of the
CD, mine does conform to existing products as it features aspects such as the
band and album name and the logos of the record labels. This is common for
most digipaks, especially the ones I researched.
MAGAZINE ADVERT
Similarly to my digipak, before creating my magazine advert I researched into
and analysed a number of existing products to see what features and designs
are common with 'real' adverts.
One of the first things I found was that many magazine adverts feature the
related album's cover art. This is commonly used to create a visual link
between the two products, used on existing adverts such as the one for
'Minutes to Midnight' by Linkin Park. Because of the professionalism it
portrays, I decided to use this design on my advert so I added the three-
coloured square design from my digipak onto the advert and made it quite
large so that it would be eye-catching to my audience. I have also used a
number of other 'typical features' that conform to existing products such as
the advert for 'Demon Days' by Gorillaz or 'Night Visions' by Imagine Dragons.
Both of these adverts feature the bands name and album name. I chose to
include these things but it seemed like these were two of the most important
pieces of information to include. However the advert for 'Demon Days'
includes additional conventions such as the albums release date and the logos
of the record labels associated with the band. This is common on many
existing products, which influenced me to implement these features into my
coursework. However I have also included legal/copyright information at the
bottom of my magazine advert, which challenges existing products, as it is
very uncommon for a magazine advert to feature, this
information, especially the products that I researched and analysed.
Overall my magazine advert conforms to existing products which isn't a
negatively thing as I feel due to this it
positively resembles a professional advert.
MUSIC VIDEO
Throughout the entire research and planning stage, I looked at a number of
existing music videos in order to seek inspiration and ideas that I could
directly use or adapt for my final music video. Many of features of my video
come about due to this process whereas others challenge the conventions of

3. existing videos.
One video that largely influenced our final video was the video for Tom
Odell's 'Another Love'. The video consists of the artist sat in a chair singing the
entirety of the song whilst making constant eye contact with the camera as it
pans in and out. Our video conforms to this as the one of the two settings we
used featured the artist (Alex) sat in a chair making eye contact with the
camera. We also used a number shots in which the camera pans around him.
In terms of the setting, we also took inspiration from the 'Another Love' video
as it features props such as a table, some plants and a bookshelf. We liked
this surrounding and so decided to dress one of our settings in a similar way
using a table with a clock on top (positioned to the left of Alex to replicate
Odell's video). This helped to add to the aesthetics of the video and make the
otherwise empty room more interesting for the viewer to look as it was not
just the visuals that we were inspired by from the video, it also led us to
choose an entirely performance based video instead of our previous idea
which was to have a combination of both performance and narrative which we
did try for our first draft but decided thanks too the feedback we received that
it did not work as well. This in itself challenges existing electro-soul music
videos such as 'Warm On a Cold Night' by HONNE as most are often narrative
based or at least feature some form of narrative whereas ours does not. There
is also an intertextual reference within our video to Tom Odell's video in terms
of the body language of the artist. After analysing his video, we decided to
replicate a number of the positions that Tom is sat in as well as his other
movement as we felt it matched the tone of the song nicely.
A convention that we did follow was the use of close-ups or 'star imagery'
within our video. Again, similarly to Tom Odell's 'Another Love' video we
featured a large number of close ups of the artist either signing or looking
directly at the camera. We did this in order to build a stronger relationship
between the artist and the viewer simply through his gaze. An existing video
that showcases this is the recently released 'No Place Like Home' by HONNE
(feat. JONES). Are video also conforms to Sven E Carlsson's theory of
'performance clip' since it is entirely performance based and consists of the
artist performing in a number of locations. We also conformed to the use of a
white backdrop, which is fairly common, especially in recent videos. From the
start we knew that we wanted to utilise multiple locations and that one of
them should be or should at least look like a studio. This was because we felt
it would help the video to appear more visually professional due to its use in
'real' music videos. As well as this, we also decided on the artist (Alex) wearing
multiple outfits since this is often the case in music videos plus, since we were

4. filming in two locations it seemed like it was the smartest and most realistic
thing to do. For the studio shots we had Alex dressed in much more casual
clothing whereas for the shots filmed in front of the brick wall we decided to
dress Alex in a white shirt, a black trench coat and black jeans which conforms
to the clothing that Tom Odell is wearing in this similar setting during his
'Another Lover' video. This was a style inspired also by the members of
HONNE who often wear dark and smart clothing. This style/colour worked
well is this location since it contrasted well with the brick background as well
as helping to portray the mood/tone of the song.
A common convention that our video did challenge however was the inclusion
of a female in the music video. It is common for videos of this genre such as
the original video for HONNE's 'All In The Value' to feature a female in
someway, often as the focus of the video. We decided not to conform to this
and instead placed all of the focus on the artist such as the video for 'Another
Lover'. Because of this we also challenged Laura Mulvey's theory about
the presence of women in films and music videos often solely for the
purposes of display rather than the narrative.
Thought the video we use a number of shots that fit with Goodwin's theory
about a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. For instance at 0:21
there is a shot of the camera panning up as the lyric "what goes up" is sang
and once the artist's head is in frame he lowers it he sings the lyric "comes
down you know". Another example of this would be at 0:47 at which the lyric
"but given all the time that I gave you, I can no longer wait for approval" and
during this shot both the artist and clock are in frame. Both of these shots
were filmed this way in order to add depth to the video and to create a visual
amplification of the lyrics.