evaluation - question 1
Post on 24-May-2015
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In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
QUESTION 1
MUSIC VIDEO
Using conventio
ns
I filmed my whole video outdoors, in multiple locations, but with a particular focus on
natural surroundings e.g beach, forest, lake. This fits with the indie-rock style of music video in the way that they don’t focus on artificial backdrops and extravagant
music sets. They are generally much more relaxed and have a
realistic feel to them.
By using multiple
locations, I also used
the conventions of a typical travelling
video. This shows
movement and creates a sense of
journey and time passing
for the audience.
For the outfit, I was inspired by a mix of 90s rock grunge and the
modern-day ‘indie’ style of clothing. I chose to style an outfit that was casual to fit with the laid-
back style of the genre (hoody, jeans and casual t-shirt). I also
used layers as this is typical of the ‘indie’ style for men. We chose to
have a preppy loafer style shoe for our actor to add a certain edge to the outfit - this is conventional for bands such as Mumford and Sons who dress quite smartly. We kept our actors hair messy and filmed
him running his hands through it as this seemed appropriate for the style of artist we were trying to
portray. We made use of natural lighting
throughout the shoot - luckily we had a sunny day for the beach location.
This is typical of the indie-rock genre; videos in this style tend not to use
lots of artificial light as they are commonly filmed outside in similar
locations.
Using conventio
ns
We filmed a variety of different angles and frames for the bike shots in all locations to portray movement - a common feature of
travelling videos.
For the opening instrumental section of the song, we only included shots that concealed the actor’s face, and
cutaway shots. This is not necessarily a convention of the indie-rock genre in particular, but whilst researching I did find that this technique is commonly
used in music videos to build up mystery surrounding the protagonist.
Using Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0, we added a ‘ghosting’ effect to one of our panning shots of the sand, sea and sky. We also used the time stretch tool to speed the clip up slightly. This created a dreamlike quality to the clip, which we matched to an
appropriate part of the song - an instrumental piece with soft backing vocals faded in. This is a common feature of a music
video as it provides the music with a moving image that represents it.
WEBSITE
Artist/band websites tend to stick to a certain theme
- in terms of images, colours, fonts and logos. In
line with this, I chose a limited number of colours to feature on my website, which we inspired by the
music video and the choice of outfit for our actor.
The bone logo which I designed features on every page of the website. This is
a common feature of an artist website, used to
strengthen brand identity.
I also included social networking logos, feeds and share
buttons throughout the website - one of the most commonly found features of an artist website when I
was researching conventions.
Most websites include plenty of embedded Youtube and Soundcloud links, so under the
‘music’ page I decided to follow this convention.
My website features links to purchase tickets and merchandise for the artist - something
that is becoming more common in artist websites, allowing fans to access products
easily.
Using conventio
ns
Using conventio
ns
My website, similarly to those that I analysed in my research, includes plenty of large, high
quality images, both of the artist, and the merchandise in the ‘store’ section.
A feature that I thought was particularly important after conducting my research was the use of dividers on each page to
section out different parts of the website. These usually consisted of bold, horizontal
lines. I used this feature in my own website to make it easy to follow for the
audience.
I included a fairly short and concise information section about
my artist, as I found that artist websites don’t usually include a
full biography - they aim to provide a brief overview of the
type of artist, musical influences and past and future projects.
Most artist websites include a variety of ways to get in touch with the artist, through management
contact details, social networking, forums, blogs or email dropboxes. I made use of some of these
features on the ‘contact’ page.
Developing
conventions
Some websites that I researched featured a ‘gallery’ or ‘photos’ page in the menu bar. Instead of using the conventional and perhaps slightly old-fashioned way of organising images on a website, I
decided to use a slideshow to present my images of the artist. This was inspired by the Bastille website, in which slideshows were a
common feature. I placed it on the homepage rather than create a new page for it, and I think it works well - giving the website a
uniqueness.
DIGIPAK
Using conventio
ns
In line with the conventions of a digipak, I included a barcode,
logo, credits, record label information and copyright
symbols on the back cover.
I also followed the convention of a full tracklist on the back
cover.
The name of the artist and album title is clearly displayed on the front
cover.
I also followed the convention of the
spine of the digipak. I included the name of the artist at the top, then the album
title, and put the logo at the very
bottom. This would be useful to the
audience for when the digipak is
stacked on a shelf in a store, for
example.
My choice of image for the front cover is
conventional for my genre in the way that the actor is looking away from the
camera and also how there is a plain white
background (implying it has been taken during a
professional photoshoot).
Images used on digipaks are
usually edited to give them a more clean, professional feel. I edited both
images (back cover and inside left
panel) using the same effect, so that my digipak would stick to a certain colour
pallette.
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