The document discusses how the media product challenges and uses conventions of real media. It created a music video for an indie song that challenged conventions by using a different, comedic narrative and character. It also used some conventions like including performance shots. The video challenged conventions around close-ups and representation of band members. The digipak design challenged conventions around identity and direct address while using conventions like layout, font and information inclusion. The poster challenged conventions like direct address while including modern conventions such as QR codes and reviews. Barthes codes like mystery and action were incorporated.

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

2. Conventions of genre and music style
Throughout my music video I challenge many aspects from Andrew Goodwin’s theory of how genre or music style is represented through
visuals. I also use some of the theory in my music video. My song choice for the music video is classified as indie, so I attempted to make my
video as ‘different’ as possible to many other music videos. This way the indie audience would possibly take interest in the video. So to do this
I chose to use a completely different narrative that other videos I seen haven’t used. My character personality is also different, he is comedic
and has the personality which you would not have seen in anyone in the real world. Performance is also involved in the video, to connote this
I simply made my character hold a guitar and play it in most of the video. The reason for this is because I noticed that many indie bands have
made performance music videos and this is what represents their indie genre. Most indie performance videos involve the actual band
members playing, I didn’t have access to the real band members so I had no choice but to go against this convention which I’m happy with
since going against conventions is also part of idea of being indie.
My music video
The character in my video wears a mask, this is the most
iconic feature that represents him as well as the whole video.
Usually in horror movies the mask would be a symbolic
feature that represents the killer, murderer or even the villain,
e.g. the Scream series. In this case my video is not a horror
genre so I challenged Goodwin’s theory. The mask is just to
simply make the character humorous looking and also to
represent his current identity as the video is about the
character finding a new identity or a new life.

3. Filmmaking Conventions
For my video I wanted to attempt to make my video look professional so I concentrated on the variety of camera shots,
continuity and the rule of thirds. Throughout my video, the shots are carefully chosen to fit that current scene. For example
I use a medium tracking shot to follow the character to make it seem that the audience is progressing with the character,
and a point of view shot to create a view of which the audience can also experience. There are quite a few close up shots
of the main protagonist in my music video. According to Goodwin's theory some record labels require close up shots to
represent the star as being unique. I challenge this aspect as I don’t have any of the band members as the actors for the
video, so they can’t be uniquely represented in front of the audience. For the continuity I made sure the character would
be moving consistently without looking unbroken. Another thing I looked out for is the character’s clothing, these had to
remain the same throughout the video. Composition is vital, I used the rule of thirds to position my subjects. I attempted
to fill up most of the framing so there wouldn’t be too much head space or ground space between the character. Most of
the shots will contain the main protagonist in the framing. Because this is a narrative that hugely involves this character I
wanted to make the audience focus on him making them almost feel as if their on a journey with the character, which is
why he is in most shots.
I didn’t do any advanced editing for my music video. Putting the clips together so there wouldn’t be any continuity error is
one of the conventions for editing. I did this so the clips transition smoothly, though a few clips do suddenly jump to
another scene but I think the result looks effective as the I believe that the audience would have guessed what happen
since the main protagonist is quite predictable. I added a black and white filter onto my music video. Nowadays many
music videos from all genres have filters or effects to enhance the video, I followed this convention so it would appeal more
to the audience, without it the video will look plain and boring… The black and white connotes realism, documentary and
possibly negativity. You might not notice but I added black bars on the top and bottom of the video, making the video
appear more wider. This is actually a film convention but I noticed that a lot of music videos I seen on YouTube also have
black bars. I decided to add it on my own video as I thought that it would suit a narrative video, films are always narrative
so I thought I would create a cinematic feel to the video… An example of a music video that contains that black bars and
black and white filters would be ‘Maybe In The Dark’ by The Crookes which is the band I chose to do.

4. Digipak
I have made use of many conventions form existing cd albums as well as going against them. Some of the obvious
conventions I have included are is a title and front cover image. The font I have used is similar to the ones used in The
Crookes’s older albums. I did this because the font represents the band and so it would link with the older albums. I also
used white coloured text, again to link with the older albums and so it would contrast with the background.
For the spine I simply put the title
of the album and the band name
like most albums do. The font and
colour scheme is the same as the
front cover.
The back cover contains typical conventions of an album such
as the track names. To make the album more realistic or to
resemble an actual product I even put copyright information,
bar code, record label and a compact disc logo. These will give
an impression to the audience that the product looks
professional as existing products also usually include these
conventions.
Usually in existing products you would see that many
albums that contain images of the artist or band
members have their identity clearly shown. I
challenged this convention as the subject on my album
cover has the bottom half of the face cut off which
keeps half of his identity hidden. Another convention I
challenged is direct address which many album covers
have - my character is looking towards the right.
Examples that actually use this convention as
I have used an InDesign template to create my Digipak so that all of the
measurements would be accurate and would closely resemble an actual cd
album. The major difference is that my album has six sides whereas most
albums in the real world have 4.

5. Poster (Print Advert)
My poster contains many conventions from actual products as well as a few I developed. The colour scheme and theme is similar to
my album cover, most real life products also do this so I decided to follow this.
The only direct address is the small ‘join us’ text on the bottom right corner, most people in the modern age would
have Facebook or twitter so the direct address would apply to them. Usually in most posters the subject on the
poster would be looking directly at us but I challenged this convention as my characters are looking at the bottom
direction.
Some modern conventions I also added is a QR code, the website, review/rating and social website logos. a
mention of the available cd versions to buy. The ‘New album’ and ‘out now’ are just below the bands name. The
new album being a bigger font so that it stands out and also make the audience understand what the posters all
about.
Most people would have android mobile phones and they would have the ability to read QR codes so that they
could gain information using this method if their comfortable with it. The internet is also something most people
would have access to as it’s easy and quick to use so I also added a web address which most print adverts would
typically have.
The ratings are from actual music magazines, these magazines are indie genre so therefore creating a link with the
poster and my band genre.
Other than the title and ‘new album out now’, the rest of the text is smaller as these are the information that the
audience would only be interested in if the band image or title captured their attention.
The layout of my poster is unique (I believe), the images are on each side of the poster which creates a sense of balance. The title is the key signifier of
the poster, the images are on each side of the poster meaning that the viewer will have to look at the title instead since they won’t be able to look at
each image at the same time. Another reason the title stands out more is that it overlaps the image almost making it look as if it’s coming out of the
page.

6. Barthes Codes
Hermeneutic code (enigma code)
The hermeneutic code is the main code that I have focused on within my products. Reason being is that I believe that the audience will be more
hooked into watching the video or looking at the album cover and poster if there is mystery or hidden meaning to it. In my music video the mask is
used to hide the main protagonist’s identity making the audience wonder who is behind that mask. The Identity of the characters on my Digipak are
also half hidden creating a similar link of the ambiguous theme. There is also enigma to the narrative, my character walks around searching in
people’s houses we don’t actually know why and that is what makes us want to keep watching and find out. A similar video I found and analysed is
Kasabian’s Man of Simple Pleasures music video. My music video is actually influenced by this as the main character in the video also wears a mask
and travels around.
Proairetic Code (action code)
The proairetic code is in the narrative of the video. The action in the narrative is the character
Walking, we don’t know where but he is walking but the audience will eventually realise that he
is heading towards more houses, there is still enigma left as we don’t know why he’s going to the
houses.
Semantic Code
The semantic code could possibly be the mask of the video as it connotes humour. This could
also be the guitar as it represents performance which connotes that the genre is indie.
Cultural Code
In my music video I intended to represent the indie culture by creating a narrative that is
unexpected or different to many other videos. The band is from England and I also filmed in
England therefore creating a cultural link.

7. Conclusion
In conclusion I have used, challenged and developed conventions
from existing products to fit with my target audience. I’ve chosen my
conventions carefully in order to represent the indie genre and also
to create a successful final product. I