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

My music video was narrative based which is conventional to my genre of rock, the use of a male and a female also kept my music video very conventional, although it was conventional I meant that my product was appealing to a large audience, it will become more appealing to a larger audience because when there are two genders used it means that everybody can relate to the products, this is why when filming I made sure to show that there was a relationship struggle, this developed the conventions of my genre.

Looking at real media products I can see that there are a lot of songs about relationships, however I found that mine was different because the singer was singing about her life, through the use of cuts I was able to show her singing and also being involved in an abusive relationship, I used a relationship mainly to get a broader audience interested in out product

Looking at real media products such as ‘Three Days grace’ music video we can see that my music video develops the conventions my genre, keeping in with the theme of switching between the music video and the singer himself, I wanted to keep these conventions to make a traditonal rock music video.

Looking at the mis-en-scene of this music video I can see that the characters costumes are all similair and keep with in the same style as each other, when filming my music video I made suremy characters costumes were modern so it would appeal to a large audience, I also looked at the setting and made it as dark as possible to keep the conventions all of these were were used to attract my target audience.

Looking at Goodwins theory i made my music video and the lyrics link I found that making my muisc video link with the lyrics. The lyrics depict a woman who is is suffering. “Save me from the dark”. Using this in my video meant that the audience could relate to it, I also found that by using a female and male character within my music video meant that it would

be more appealing to broader audience, this is because the when there is a direct link between the music video and the lyrics it makes it the video easier to watch and it also increases appeal because conevtionally in rock music videos there is a narrative.

Goodwins theory also looks at the genre characteristics and keeping them within the use of my music video to make my product more appealing to my audience. One of the ways I developed the rock genre was through the use of camera shots, used a combination of extreme close ups and close ups within my music video, Looking at other music videos of my genre I can see that there are a lot of the same shots used, this is because it helps portray the emotions of the characters in the narrative clearly. This was also done with the combination of lighting within my music video. I used a dark lighting and the use of a spot light within my music video to set the focus on the singer, dingy and eery lighting are stereotypical convention in a rock music video, this is because I want to convey the emotions of sadness across.

One of the way that I challenged the conventions was with the use of special effects and filters, one of the filters that I used was the black and white effect, this was to show the audience the difference between reality and what was going on in the charaters head, this was to highlihgt the use of drugs, in my music video I didn’t show the chracacters taking any drungs and this was to keep the certification low, keeping the certification low is useful in making the music video available to a broad audience, looking at my genre I can see that there are not many videos that show the use of drugs. I developed the conventions of my genre in my music video with the ending, I did this through the use of an unhappy ending, I did this to show that the use of drugs has a negative effect on peoplea lifes and I didn’t want to promote drug use. Through out the music video there are cut backs and flash backs of the main character taking drugs, looking again at the band ‘Three days grace’ I can seee that the use of flash back are very conventional to my genre, this is because it gives the audience insight into the characters lives. In addition I found that through the use of a flash back and cuts within my product it meant that my audience could get more of an understanding/insight into why people take drugs.

I develped one of the conventions of the rock genre which was portraying a message the audience, a lot of rock music videos have a lot of educational value and show viewers that aggressive behavior, domestic violance and drugs happen a lot and also that there is punishment for it, I also found out that in a lot of real media products there are not a lot of resolutions witbin the videos, this is done on purpose to scare anyone from getting envoled with the highlighted issues.

When designing my digipak I developed a lot of the conventions of the rock genre this was because I wanted the product to appeal to a mass audience and to also attract existing rock genre fans, the use of reds and blacks are stereo typical colours to my genre, the colours

also help convey the emotions that I want to be portrayed, this is so that the audience can see what the songs are going to be like.

I also developed one of the conventions of my genre this was done through the use of the band members in the digipak, having the band in the digipak makes it more appealing; I also challenged a lot of the genre conventions the use of an eye was done, because a person eyes are meant to be what you see first.

I wanted to capture the audience’s attention and also create a product that was unique, the use of an eye also created a surreal effect which helped emphasis on the themes of domestic violence and drug abuse.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary text?

The combination of my main product and ancillary texts was effective this was through the use of texts and the use of branding that I created.

The use of the eye throughout my work helped bring together and effective image, which is all relatable I kept the same colour scheme through the whole media product this was to create an image that was identifiable.

Creating an unconventional digipak and magazine advert means that it is more memorable for my target audience.

When creating my digipak I wanted it to be representative to the themes and issues that I wanted the audience to receive whist viewing my products the use of the eye helped create a surreal effect which I wanted because my music video is about how drugs can ruin people’s lives, i have chosen to keep the same

image flowing through my work this is because a conventional rock genre digipak has this included, I wanted to keep to some rock genre conventions and to also go outside the box and make something that it appealing to a broad audience.

Looking other artists such as three days grace I can see that they have also kept an ongoing theme throughout there digipak, I found that when this was done effectively then it gave a professional look to the work.

Having the band members incorporated within my ancillary text helps the audience relate to my music video. The use of the Greyscale within my digipak and magazine advert helps the audience relate to my music video where there is a black and white effect used, this is done to show that there are two side of a person. Having a direct link between all of my products is important because it create an image which consumers remember

When creating my video I included a range of different shots to add variety to my music video I also included an variety of narrative and performance sections to give the audience a conventional rock music video, which includes narrative and also the singer. To make my music video interesting i chose a few places that would help signify the darkness of domestic violence also to help highlight the fact that taking drugs does not have a happy ending.

The continuation of the same text throughout my ancillaries and also the begging of my music video helped to create a link between all of my products, the use of the 50/50 colour I use is to that there are always different out comes to every decision someone makes, I wanted to make the combination of my products easy to see and to also portray the same image.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

New media technologies such as the cannon 600d has helped with my research this is because it has allowed me to take in depth photos of eyes, I chose and eye because it is what people see first when looking at one another. Using the camera I took a lot of photos of different people’s eyes and using a macro lens enabled me to get very clear high definition songs.

Whilst planning out my digipak I used a combination of media technologies to help create my product, firstly I drew out my digipak and all of the panels then I scanned them to my computer using an Epson series scanner, I then opened up the pictures in photo shop, using tools like the magnetic lasso in photo shop I was able to work around my drawings and create realistic and effective digipak.

The use of Macs and my laptop gave me the availability to the adobe line of software and also web 2.0, this helped with the construction of piece I was able to learn new skills and able to develop my photo shop skills through web 2.0, I could also access websites such as

dafont to add into Photoshop, so I could have genre specific fonts. Web 2.0 was very helpful in my research because I could look at a lot of digipaks and try and get a general idea of what I should include within my front, back and inside panes.

The use of adobe Photoshop meant that I could place several layers on top of one another which helped create the image on the left which was the back pane, the use of web 2.0 helped me find out what information was needed to be placed on the back of the product such as copyright information and the barcode, I also used it to find out what times the songs were.

Whilst creating my digipak I used new media technologies such as adobe illustrator to place texts over my existing images, I did this to create a crisp image and to also make it easily viewable.

Using tools such as blur, I was able to create a warped effect within the eye; this was to create a surreal effect and which fits in with the theme and issue of drugs that we are trying to highlight.

Using web 2.0 I was able to look at existing magazine articles and find out what they consisted of, I found out that if there is the use of consistent profanities than there has to be the use of a parental guidance logo which I placed on the right side of the magazine advert.

Using new media technologies such as Microsoft word I was able to write up my discoveries in the evaluation stages of my work, I found that word was easier than

power point because it meant my work was easily read and understandable.

Whilst constructing my product I used new media technologies such as the cannon 600d camera with a tripod with wheels this allowed us to have smooth panning and tracking shots, I used this with the combination of a steady cam, this was to get a shots with increased stability making it easier to view for the audience, gathering all of my footage I exported it all onto the macs.

Using the timeline I was able to create smooth transitons and also do cuts to place the videos together.

Holding the shift button whilst dragging the video alowed me to change the duration of the clips creating a slowmotion effect, I was also able to use effects such as balck and white, this was use ful in creating the effect of taking drugs. On some of the video clips I had to correct the clour this was due to a mistake in filming where there were different iso setting on the cameras which gave off different exposures within the videos, this was easily done with simple colour correcting techniques such as changing the exposure and contrast to make all of my scenes match.