In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1. EVALUATION:
QUESTION 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. USE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS
Within my music video my actors wore clothes that would be
associated with the conventions of a the typical ‘indie rock’
genre to be able to appear to the audience, and due to the age
that I have aimed my products at, I also used actors within the
music video that would be around the age of my target
audience, as they may be able to relate to the story line due to it
being about teenage break up’s and their ‘first love’, which is a
theme we focused on in relation to the song. Within our
magazine advertisement and digipak, we used the logos of real
labels that the artist we based our project on belonged to, to
make our products seem authentic and follow the conventions
of real media products. At the start of our music video we also
introduced the title of the song, the band and the artist and
record company, once again following the conventions of a
typical music video.

3. DEVELOP FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS
My music video develops the forms and conventions of Todrov’s
narrative structure, as it follows a non linear storyline, although,
there’s events within the video such as the equilibrium and the
disruption of events that was mentioned in his theory. My media
products also develop Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory, especially the
music video as it focuses on the main male character within the
video when he’s in the bath rather than using a female. This then
allows women to have something to look at within a media product
rather the other way round, although in my digipak I used to males
as part of the band, so women also have something to ‘gaze upon’
within my media package. My media products also challenge
gender stereotypes, as within my music video it’s the girl that
appears as the stronger one in the relationship, quickly getting
over her previous love, whilst the male character remains
heartbroken. This is similar to that of the film 500 Days of Summer,
which influenced the theme of our video.

4. CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS
In some ways my products has challenged the forms and
conventions of real media products is that I had adopted the diary
style within my two ancillary tasks, which although can be a house
style within products, yet we challenged this convention and made
the album and magazine advertisment, aimed at a wide age range
and both genders, seem although it is a females diary. Although this
may make the male audience wary about purchasing the album, it
can also make them feel as though they are getting an insight into a
females diary, bearing in mind Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, as it
may lead to personal growth.
Another convention we challenged within our media products is
that instead of using a band in our video, which was, as I found out
from our textual analysis a common feature among music videos of
the ‘indie rock’ genre, and instead used miming in some parts
which we felt was more fitting to the theme of our video.