The document discusses a media project that was created to follow conventions of existing dance music genres and products. Specifically, it chose the song "Heads Will Roll" and portrayed a party lifestyle similar to the film Project X to fit genre conventions. Research was done on music videos by Rihanna and Kanye West regarding fast pacing, flashing lights, and color usage. The resulting video showed students' daily lives across 3 months without a clear narrative, a common theme in dance music videos. Ancillary products like a website, digipak, and headshots maintained consistent branding with colors and logos to clearly link all parts of the project together.

1. Lauren Tejada
Evaluation G324

2. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Our media product follows the conventions of existing products, we choose the song Heads Will Roll; which is a remix from the original track by the Yeah Yeahs and
falls into the genre of dance music. The song was majorly publicised due to being played in the American film Project X in 2012. The film demonstrated the wild
teenage life as it shows a house party which outrageously becomes out of control- but furthermore proved to be very popular with its target audience of young
people. Which similarly is the traditional target market for dance music. We researched both the film and genre in depth and as a result we choose to use the party
life element in our product; this linked the video with the film as well as created a product suitable for its genre as dance music is produced to make you feel good
and literally provide the motion to want to dance. Furthermore our video illustrates the lyrics of the song through the visuals.
Within the research stages we looked closely at existing products that present a similar style to what we was aiming to portray ourselves. Particularly looking at
Rihanna’s We Found Love and Who’s that chick video as we like the fast pace and reoccurring flashing lights. As well as Kanye West’s All Of The Lights video as we
similarly liked the vast use of colour as well as the professional use of text over the video. A common theme we identified from a majority of dance music videos
was that there was no clear narrative – which is also present in our product. Our video shows a range of footage over a period of 3 months, as it follows four
students as they generally enjoy there everyday life displaying a range of parties and outings despite this there is no evident story to follow.
On the left are some of the screen shots of the
effects and use of text we included in our
product. We used coloured filters and layered the
text over the video in order to create the
professional style we admired from existing
products.
On the right are some of the screen shots from existing
products that we found to be the most influential; Kanye
West - All of the Lights and both of Rihanna’s - We Found
Love and Who’s That Chick music videos. You can see the
text from item 1 that is similar to the text we used, we
particularly liked the clear and precise font which we
imitated and furthermore the bright colours in item 2
which is where we gained inspiration for the range of
coloured facial shots.
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3
2

3. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
I think our music video and both ancillary products correspond very well together
this is initially because of image branding. They all have the continuing theme of
bright colours and the standard ‘Mission 808’ logo accompanied with the 4 colour
coordinated head shots which follow the codes and conventions of the genre.
These key features are prominent in all of the products allowing the audience to
primarily establish the genre as well as giving them an in sight of what to expect
from the video and consequently the band. This was created through the use of four
head shots of each band member (which explicitly links the title of the song ‘Heads’
Will Roll) but furthermore it creates a visual link between all three of the products.
As the product was created for “new and upcoming band” the use of the clear
headshots also visually publicises the band instantly as they are aiming to become
recognisable to large audience.
The images to the left are screenshots from all 3 of the ancillary
products: Website, Digipak front cover and headshots from the
music video. There is a clear link between the three as the viewer
can instantly identify the likeness in the colours and cropping of
the particular shots.
The colour scheme and style of shots, relate back to the
conventions that we previously researched to include in our
‘dance/house music genre’ product.

4. The website was designed using the same style and
colour scheme. The website promotes the video
clearly, fitting well with the advertisement and
marketing of our product. In addition to the website
we created a Twitter, Instagram and Facebook page
in order to engage, interact and target our product to
our audience I decided to use the viral marketing
form. social media is essential to the communication
between the band and there, as it is important to
develop a relationship in order to promote and gain
success for the band.
We included many interactive and
personal pages on the website. It is
important to appeal to a new
audience, so therefore by offering
them an initial insight into the
band allows them to feel they are
building a connect with us.
TwitterInstagram
Facebook

5. The digipak also follows the same colour
scheme and includes the standard Mission
808 logo, accompanied by the reoccurring
four headshots. This reinstates the visual
link between the video to the audience.
The album is self titled, this keeps the concept
simple and therefore draws the key focus to the
name of the band. And promotes them as a brand.
The inserts inside the digipak
follow a similar colour scale as
well as including images that
were taken in the filming
process of the Head Will Roll
video. The book is personalised
again allowing the audience to
feel there are developing a
connection with the band
which is essential as they are
aiming to establish themselves
to a wide range of people. The
font is also continuous through
all three of the products again
creating a visual link for the
audience.
Information
links back to
what is
displayed on
the website.