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

Music VideoWhen creating our media products we took a lot of influence from the substantial amount of

research we carried out into the indie genre and bands which feature within this. We analysed their products and established a range of codes and convections which they all used to fit in with the genre specifics. Using these codes and conventions we planned and created accordingly for each of out products included in the promotional package. As we stuck quite strongly to our planning and initial ideas on the completion of our products we expect the codes and conventions used within our work in some cases reflect those featured in real media products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJs69CU-9yU

Overall our video follows many of the conventions which appeared from the music videos from the indie genre this specifically includes the locations we chose to film and feature throughout. In our planning we referred to our research and found areas around York that would be suitable for us to film but also relate to the genre conventions.

LocationsWhen researching we found that Bombay Bicycle Club’s videos feature a large range of location shots. In our video we have also carried this convention through including a variety of shots in different locations.

The Band use shots of streets in a city area capturing the reality of everyday life within them and not adapting it for their own purpose. These naturalistic shots are something we used in our video capturing our own shots which reveal similar day to day life.

In their video Shuffle the band use a range of fast paced shots simply of the locations they appear to be in this includes housing estates which could to the audience add a sense of personality. This is something we used taking a location shot which matches the narrative

In Bombay Bicycle Club’s video Always like This they incorporate shots of more vacant areas rather than focusing solely on built up we used this and filmed our character walking through an unoccupied wood areas this links to the narrative of the main character as it represents the vacancy of thoughts in the characters head as goes on his journey

Performance ElementOur video does not include any live performances or cutaway shots of the band performing separately from the video we have included a performance element as part of the narrative and each character as a member of the band. This element challenges the conventions of many real music videos which commonly include separate performance and narrative like that featured in Bombay Bicycle Club’s video Shuffle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDuif301F-8&feature=relmfuHowever the indie genre music videos we researched had a range of different styles including wholly performance or narrative therefore we decided to add combine the two

Our video doesn't use this convention instead we decided to put a twist on this and have each busker (band member) performing separately in a naturalistic style staged performance to coincide with the narrative.

In the Bands videos they commonly perform as a group in a staged performance always using their instruments.

In the video Shuffle the band feature both staged performances throughout the ain of the video however some shots are of the bands live performances at a gig. This is a convention which we challenged , by not using any naturalistic performing shots.

Narrative structureMany of Bombay Bicycle Clubs Videos don't follow a particular narrative in favour for more

realistic ‘home video’ shots featuring the band performing or on a journey. This is something we wanted to interpret in our own way and because of this use a band member as the main character and showed his personal journey which is concluded by the forming of the band and him finding his place. This narrative structure both challenges and plays up to the structure of narrative in indie genre videos as it follows the band member on a journey like that featured in their video Shuffle but uses a narrative to portray this journey.

Their video Shuffle features the bands literal personal journey form what could be their tour.

Our video challenges this as we have created a narrative for the band to be included in

Costumes

In our video we have dressed the characters accordingly to fit into the indie genre. The clothes are all de-saturated naturalistic colours none of them challenge genre conventions but simply follow them to create the correct image for the band.

DigipakWhen creating our Digipak we

followed a lot of the conventions included in the album covers which we had analysed as part of our research. In order to create a final product which looked professional whilst also appealing to the specific audience we had researched.

Photography

When we researched the album covers for Bombay Bicycle Club we found that the majority of their album covers used hand drawn artwork as a preference to photographs our use of photographs therefore challenges this convention. However some of the other covers we researched within the indie genre including Mumford and Sons Included photograph of the band in relation to the video.

We decided to create a sense of intertextuality with the rest of our products (whilst also following some conventions) and use photographs as part of the digipak design. We used an iconic shot for the front cover this close up heavily draws upon indie genre conventions such as the style of shoe and the warm tint we applied to the photo in post production.

Although Bombay bicycle club use hand drawn artwork they usually use one iconic piece of imagery creating and overall simplistic cover.

The photograph depicts upon many genre features in relation to mise en scene such as costume and location

FontWe used two different fonts for our digipak both of which were san serif style fonts.The name of the band ‘Bombay Bicycle Club’ was set in a box style logo which appeared on two of the Band’s previous album covers. We followed this convention as it is easily relatable for the audience who will be able to identify it. We used Photoshop to replicate the logo, using our own colours to fit in with out photographs and the colour scheme of the text. The font used for the song list was a san serif font to keep

the appearance of the back cover as minimalistic and simple as possible as this is a reoccurring convention we found from our research.

Colour schemeThe colour scheme of our digipak

draws heavily on conventions of the indie genre as we have used a lot of brows and de-saturated colours to give a vintage feel to it. We have also played around with the saturation of the photographs to create the desired effect which fits in with the warm vintage colours. To further develop this convention we have used textured paper on two areas of the digipak which would otherwise be white. The colour and appearance reinforces the vintage theme as it looks worn fitting in with the rest of the media text.

Changing the saturation of the photographs gives a warm look to it like that used in the bands previous album artwork

Although some on the bands previous album work use block colours for the background which influences the overall colour scheme we have developed this convention by using a textured paper effect .

Promotional Print AdvertThe overall composition of our magazine

advert has been influenced by those of the indie genre and therefore uses conventions similar to those.

We found that the name of the band is usually positioned at the very top of the page in the largest font usually followed by the single/ album name of which the band are promoting as these are the two most significant pieces of information.

Beneath there is commonly extra information about the album however some Bombay Bicycle Club posters are very minimalistic and do not feature this text.

Many of the adverts feature a photograph of the band further down the page this is a convention we have used.

PhotographyFrom out research we have found the

majority of posters from the indie genre feature a photograph of the band themselves posing together in an iconic setting creating a sense of unity between the band members. We used this convention by taking a photograph of the band together with their instruments, this convention allows the audience to instantly identify the band but it also to re -introduces them to fans.

Using Photoshop we changed the saturation of the photograph to create a more vintage look therefore fitting in with the genre.

Changing the saturation crates a warm vintage effect

Including a photograph of the whole band reinforces the sense of unity between them