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

Brooke Patrick

MUSIC VIDEOFor our music video we tried to follow the basic indie rock genres and music video conventions as closely as we possibly could. We did this by identifying both indie rock genres and simple music video genres in our research prior to creating our music video. Following genre conventions are key within making a music video, Jacque Derrida’s theory states that “A text cannot belong to no genre, it cannot be without… a genre. Every text participates in one or several genres, there is no genreless text”, our products support this by including key genre conventions

One of the most identifiable indie rock genre conventions that our product used was the live performance aspect. After doing our research into music videos it became apparent to us that for our product to be instantly recognisable it was necessary for us to follow this convention. In following this convention it made the band appear skilled instrumentally to their audience giving the video a sense of realism.

MUSIC VIDEO

Keeping the music video simplistic and minimal is another way in which our media product uses key genre conventions of indie rock. Our music video along with the live performance has a simple storyline about an artist trying to find inspiration to paint. Within the indie genre we found in our research that within indie rock music videos are kept simplistic so that the focus on the artists live performance is not lost as their music skill is the most important thing to them

Another theorist who backs up the idea that genre conventions are key within music videos is Andrew Goodwin and his 5 characteristics of music videos in which he states that it’s a music video characteristic to demonstrate genre conventions.

MUSIC VIDEO

Along with the simplistic story line, locations also are kept very minimal and basic normally due to the fact that indie bands are normally on a low budget therefore avoid using large amounts of money on locations and special effects within their music videos. Common locations tend to be studios or rural environments e.g. old buildings, parks etc. We have followed this convention to portray our video as indie as possible. As seen below we used an old building for the storyline scenes and a studio for the live performance parts.

MUSIC VIDEO

Another way in which our media product followed music video conventions comes from theorist Andrew Goodwin who talks about the idea of record labels demanding close-ups of the band so that they become more recognisable, also called iconography. We thought this is one of the key conventions especially for indie genre as most indie rock bands tend to me quite small and so are in need of getting their faces known and recognisable, having multiple close-ups is one method of boosting this. We tried to include close-ups of all band members but more specifically the lead singer which is quite often what most videos of indie rock genre do.

MUSIC VIDEO

Within our research we found that Tzvetan Todorov argues that conventional narratives are structured in the 4 narrative stages.1) A state of equilibrium from the outset2) A disruption of the equilibrium3) Recognition of disruption4) Attempt to fix disruption5) New equilibriumOur music video follows the narrative of1)He paints2) He has a mental block 3) He seeks inspiration4) He find inspiration5) He finishes and is content with artwork

We decided to follow Todorov’s simplistic narrative structure as we felt it worked well with the indie genre. As mentioned before it’s a convention of indie rock to keep the video simplistic so by following a simple narrative as well we knew would be following all indie rock conventions as well as a conventional narrative style.

MUSIC VIDEOTo keep to the indie rock clothing genre we did further research into popular bands and popular indie looks so that we could dress our actors appropriately. I feel like we managed to keep to this convention as our band was dressed appropriately. All of them wore minimal coloured tops with skinny jeans. Two of the members had stereotypical indie styled jackets (denim) and all has appropriate footwear. I feel that it was important that we kept to this convention as it made the video and aesthetic more realistic and less of a student made music video. “Different genres specify different ‘contracts‘ to be negotiated  between the text and the reader… which set up expectations on each side for the form of the communication…” commented by theorist Sonia Livingstone about mise-en-scene

ALBUM ADVERT

When creating our album advert it was key to follow the main conventions so that key details and information were included. To collect what conventions album adverts had I researched 3 different album adverts to see what common features appeared in each one.

For example one key conventions is to make sure the bands name is clear and large at the top of the advert so that people are immediately aware who the albums about and promotes the band. Not only does the text have to be clear, the font and colours are the same as the digi-pak giving the band a house style. These are two examples of how we used conventions of real media products.

ALBUM ADVERT

Another convention that we used within this media product was putting the release date on the poster. This meant that audience would be immediately aware of when the album will be coming out, and is seen on nearly every poster album advert.

ALBUM ADVERT

We wanted to develop the conventions further to make our media product modern which is quite important within the industry these days. To do this we decided to add on this download logo to make people aware that the album is also downloadable. This followed the conventions by giving the audience necessary information like the date, but also developed them further as it linked the album to another type of media which appeals to the younger generation. Going out and buying an album would be somewhat considered to be outdated so allowing people to download the album opens up the product to a wider range of audience. As well as this we also followed the convention of including the bands website onto the bottom of the poster, not only does this again link to another platform of media but it allows loyal fans to go and find out more information about the band.

ALBUM ADVERT

A common convention of album adverts is to list popular singles included onto the poster which persuades the audience further to buy the album. This is extremely good for gaining more fans, by showing popular songs that more people will recognise it will encourage them to give the whole album a listen.

We also developed this convention further by also adding on a list of what the DVD includes. This once again appeals to the more loyal fans as they will believe this album is giving them more information about the band on a personal level.

ALBUM ADVERT

To follow the indie rock conventions of an album advert we decided to keep the aesthetic simplistic yet still eye catching. We use simple black background with white lettering so that words stood out with there being a great contrast. Another convention followed was the fact that the album advert is the same imaging and lettering as the digi-pack front cover. This convention was followed in our media product and is done to keep the same style throughout each media product

DIGI-PAK

For the front cover we followed the basic conventions of a digi-pak. We made sure that the band name and album title was bold and stands out by using two contrasting colours (black and white). We also kept to the indie rock convention by sticking to a simplistic style, often bands do this to show that their raw music is the main promotion instead of filling the cover with over the top and bright colours/images to leer audiences in.

DIGI-PAK

For the back of the digi-pak it is a common convention to include the CD contents. We used this convention as we felt it was important for our audience’s to be aware of which songs were featured on the CD meaning they knew exactly what they were buying. This is important especially as we are making an “essentials” CD. This was the same for the first inside square, because it is a DVD and CD we need to include what other extras the audience are getting for the same reasons.

We challenged the conventions of a digi-pak by adding in more loyal fan aimed features, for example adding in a short documentary about the band will appeal to loyal fans as they will be receiving extra information about their favourite band, persuading them to buy the digi-pak.

DIGI-PAK

We also decided to use a full image of the band over these two pages. A common indie rock convention especially for smaller indie bands is to make sure that their faces appear somewhere on the album, this heightens their iconography and makes them more recognisable. We have used this convention by inserting an image of the band performing behind the contents sections. However we have slightly challenged this convention by making it so that the image isn’t too prominent, this means that no attention will be taken away from the real information of the pages but also the image is noticeable enough for it to stick with the audience.

DIGI-PAK

Similarly to the previous comment, we used more images of the band to increase their popularity and iconography. We also challenged the normal conventions of an indie rock digi-pak by adding in some more complex colours subtly. I feel that by doing this we managed to make the album slightly link into our music video and also make our digi-pak different and unique. The middle image is also a reference to our music video and again goes against the usual conventions, normally a digi-pak would not make reference to any music videos of the band (or is rare that they would) but I feel it links together our media products nicely.