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

1. In What Ways Does Your
Media Product Use,
Develop or Challenge
Forms and Conventions
of Real Media Products?
JESSICA LEE

2. Digipak Conventions
Before creating the digipak, I carried out in depth research on other album covers. I looked at Jay-Z, Rihanna
and Iron Maiden as I wanted to know what the conventions where for different genres. I noticed that there is
always an image of some sort, whether it be an image of the artist of an image that symbolises the artist or the
album. I wanted to use and develop this convention as I believe it is important for the album to be able to be
recognised and this easily makes the album recognisable. Secondly, the artist name and name of the album is
usually on the screen, usually with the artists name being larger than the other text. I also used and developed
this convention and I think the name of the band/artist should catch the audiences eye. This makes people
look at the album cover, whereas if the name of the song was the larger text, people may not recognise it.
Thirdly, the background image usually remains quite simplistic so that the audience can focus on the main
artist/main image. I have decided to also use and develop this convention as I believe it is effective in not
drawing away the audiences attention onto anything but the main image/ artist. Fourthly, like on Rihannas L O
U D album and Rita Ora’s album, they have an extreme close up shot of herself which focuses all of the
audiences attention onto her. I decided to challenge this convention as it doesn’t suit the theme I was going
for.

3. Large text stating
the artist name with
a smaller text saying
the name of the
album.
Extreme close up
shot of the artist
Simplistic
background colour
to not take away
from the artist in the
main image.

4. Front Cover
For my front cover design, which is on the right, I decided
to both use and challenge the conventions of real media
products. I used the conventions, by making the band
name larger the album name, in order to make “Chay-
Tay” the first thing that the audience recognises. I also
conformed to the convention of having a simplistic
background which I thought was crucial with my front
cover due to the many images which take up the space. I
decided to challenge the of having an extreme close up
shot of the artist as I wanted to show the fun side to “Ain’t
It Fun”. I used Dyer’s star theory as I have the artist on the
front cover being fun with her friends. This allows the
younger audience to be able to relate with the artist.

5. Back Cover
By looking through the back of album covers, I have
seen that there is always a barcode positioned
somewhere along the bottom of the back cover. I
conformed to this convention as the barcode is
necessary as the album needs to be scanned in a shop.
Also, most of the back covers to albums, do not include
an image of the main artist. However, I decided to
include an image of the back of the artist just like
Beyonce. I decided to have the artist on the back to
show that in the end, the artist did not change who she
was for a boy. However, I decided to challenge the
convention of having the acknowledgment listings. I
decided to challenge this convention as I had already
included this on the CD disk and didn’t think I needed
to repeat this information again.

6. Website Conventions
 On most artists webpages, the artist has a large image which is immediately noticeable when going
onto the website. This is usually accompanied with the artists / band name. This lets the audience know
immediately who’s website they are visiting.

7. Website Conventions
 I decided that I was going to challenge this convention on Chay-Tay’s website as I thought it was
important to promote the new single that has been released. As this will constantly be changing
when Chay-Tay release new songs, it will make the website interesting as something new will be
there every few months. This keeps audiences interested and makes them keep checking the
website.

8. Website Conventions
The artist will definitely have somewhere on their website about tour dates and
information. If the artist is currently on tour like Chay – Tay, then the tour
information is more than likely going to be on the opening page on the website. I
conformed to this convention as I believe the fans should be able to easily see
the tour information as the artist wants people to go to the tour dates. Therefore,
why would you make it difficult for this information to be found. However, if the
artist is not currently on tour, but is touring soon, like Beyonce’s website below,
there will more than likely be a separate tab holding this information.

9. Website Conventions
 I do not have loads of tabs on my website which is a common convention on websites. I did this
because all of the information is provided within the tabs making it easier for the user to navigate
around the website. Also, it makes it less daunting for novice users as all they need to do is keep
scrolling for more information. Therefore, I created two tabs. The ‘Home’ tab provides my audience
with everything that they need to know about Chay-Tay and the ‘Newsletter’ tab is for the fans who
want to be given regular updates personally to them and also to be entered into competitions.

10. Website Conventions
 Many artists have a gallery page which is dedicated to showing the audience the artists pictures
mainly from their Instagram feed. However, I did not feel like I needed to dedicate a whole new
tab to this, therefore I created a gallery within the homepage which means that any fans that go
onto the website, will immediately see the images from Chay-Tays Instagram. This also advertises
the artists social networking site which allows fans to interact with the artist and vice versa. Also, by
having a gallery I am promoting the star theory and encouraging the audience to be able to
relate with the star. There is also space by the gallery for the
audience to send comments to the star, encouraging
interaction.

11. Website Conventions
 Many artists promote their social media accounts via their websites, which
is a convention I have conformed to. I have advertised them, however I
have not really given a direct platform to communicate with on the
website except through Facebook. I did this because I want people to
actually follow the accounts instead of going through the website to
interact with Chay-Tay. This is a way of advertising the social networking
accounts. Also, I want people to go onto the website to focus on Chay-
Tays music, not just the social networking accounts.

12. Music Video Conventions

13. Music Video Conventions
 As I looked through other videos, I noticed that text in the opening clip of
the video was common. I conformed to this convention as I think it makes
the music video look professional, sets the scene of what the song is
called, the artist, etc. I got this idea from Jess Glynne in her video for “Hold
My Hand”. So long as the text is neat, I think it makes the video look and
feel professional.

14. Music Video Conventions

15. Music Video Conventions
 Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey:
Male gaze is a theory that I conformed to, just like the images that I presented
in the previous slide, male gaze is when the camera ‘lingers’ on the curves of a
females body. The male gaze is largely for the reaction from the male viewer. I
added this into my music video but not as extreme as the examples in the
previous slide because I did not want to make the whole video according to
the male gaze. I added a scanning shot of the artist showing off the back and
front of her outfit and also a walking leg shot of a girl collecting the flyer.

16. Music Video Conventions
 Music videos more often than not, have fast paced shots. I also conformed to
this convention as I believe the fast paced shots are what keep the audience
interested and make then able to sit and watch the video again and again
without losing interest.
 Camera shots and angles are also varied, which is another convention that I
conformed to because again, if the video contained shots that were all the
same, it would not be interesting for the audience and therefore I conformed.
 A convention that we did not conform to was having performance in the
music video. We chose to not have performance in our music video as the
artist was playing the role of a ‘geeky’ girl. We therefore wanted to emphasise
her role by not making her perform in the song. We felt it may have made the
audience a bit confused and could have blurred our narrative.

17. Music Video Conventions
 The narrative throughout our music video is clear. We thought this we a
necessary convention as without a narrative, the music video would be
pointless as no one would find it interesting to watch.