In what way does my media product use, develop or change forms and conventions or real media products

EVALUATION TASK !

What are media forms & conventions?Media forms and conventions within a music video are very basic common features that can be seen within all music videos.

A media Form means the way in which the “media product” exists such as a music video, digipak and a website.

A convention simply makes it easier for an audience to understand what they are consuming and link the music/artist to a specific genre. There are two types of conventions, symbolic and technical. Symbolic conventions are how the performance is based, the costumes the artist/band member wear ( is there a specific style, theme or colour?) And technical conventions are how the music video is filmed for example the type of editing e.g. rhythmic editing or the lighting used, natural or artificial.The main conventions for music videos relate to Camera shots and angles, Editing, lyric interpretation, extending and making the meaning of the song stronger.

Music video - Camera and Angles • In my music video we used Close ups to help

promote and iconize the main singer close ups also help to show each expression and emotion on the artists face which further help show the songs emotional meaning and in my case shows how much the ‘busker’ wants make it big time in the music industry.

• Similarly long shots can be used to establish a location or a scene in the music video as well as keeping focus on the main person at the same time, For example in my music video we open up with a long shot of Alec the busker sitting on the streets busking, within the next few seconds we cut to a close up of him. These shots are often very useful as they do not break your attention away for too long and can have two different effects at the same time. for example the close up of the artist singing and then cut to a long shot of the location, your focus stays on the artist busking but will also show you their surrounding area, which further pushes along the meaning to a song, in my case it establishes that my artist isn't yet a very well known singer and he is having to work for it.

Music Video – Effects of editing • Editing is a very important aspect in the creating of

a music video, unless they are all done in one long shot which can be done. All the shots taken on the day of the shoot are cut together to make the final product. In my music video we used rhythmic editing, cut on the beat this reflects the structure of the track from the structure of the editing. We also used discontinuity editing in our music video when we used the vertical wipe when it changes from summer to winter, this edit has been put their to be purposely noticed, the costume and lighting emphasizes the change in scenery. This edit has been done to make it much more visually interesting.

In a music video many editing techniques can be used in many ways however usually they rely on effects more so than editing and transitions. In our music video we wanted to portray our artist as very down to earth, natural and organic. In order to do this we de saturated all the footage on our music video. This helps the audience relate to the artist as it makes him seem normal and ordinary just like everyone else, therefore it make it easier for fans to aspire to be like him.

• An example of a famous music video we took inspiration from which has used the de-saturated tool is Lorde ‘Royals’. The key in this music video is the ‘flat’ look. Their goal was to give a more natural, authentic feel to the video. However, this isn't the case if you’re shooting something involving a stylized action sequence with a very fast pace, in this case high contrast and bright colors should be used.

Music video – Props and CostumesWe purposely chose our artist to wear casual clothes, this is purely because he is a busker, therefore he doesn’t have a lot of money and and lacks the style the big artists have these days. However as our artist develops throughout the music video so does his style therefore we made him wear a costume which showed he was becoming more of a successful musician. This is a aspect to help the audience recognize that he is growing as a artist, without this convention it would be much harder for the viewer to catch on with the story, therefore it would be harder for them to emotionally connect and relate to the artist. When doing our research into costumes as a group we all immediately associated out artist with Ed Sheeran. He was a busker who made his way big time into the music industry, his style developed as he did which helped to show the narrative of his life.

Our music video is split in two with two different locations. In the first location our artist has one main prop which is a guitar, we see him busking on the stairs and walking downs a street holding the guitar. This convention helps the audience to understand that not only can he sing, he can also play a music instrument. When we move into the pub location our artist is still using the same guitar, this shows that as he grows throughout his journey he is keeping the same guitar making him look very stable and down to earth. Within the pup scene we uses lots of props which were specific to the season we were shooting for example in summer all the extras had to wear summary clothes and sunglasses, we had flowers and white wine whereas in winter we themed this section around Christmas, everyone wore jackets and hats and I brought many Christmas decorations

Summer outfits

Winter outfit

Music video – set and locationour music video we chose two specific locations, the first was on the streets of Guildford and the second what inside a pub. The locations suited our narrative very well as they tell the truth and make our artist look very honest and down to earth, the viewer can easily relate to these locations as simply most everyone has walked on a street or been inside a pub with in their life. Similarly the locations we chose represent our artist as a up and coming artist who is new to the music industry, you can immediately tell that he is a hard worker who wants to succeed and will do anything to reach his dreams, playing a small gig in a pub is the first steps towards being successful, therefore his fans feel like they are traveling on his journey to success with him. Without the location it is hard to establish the storyline, artists aspirations, needs and as well the genre of the music video.

Another artist who we can relate our busker to is ‘passenger’ he started busking on the streets, got recognized as ‘talent’ and now he performs in front of thousands up on a huge stage.

PassengerAlec

Music video – lighting When we shot our scenes outside we used natural lighting to convey Alec as an artist. Unfortunately when we were shooting the long shots of Alec busking the sun was beaming through from behind him under the arch resulting in Alec being very dark. Nevertheless we didn’t think this negatively effected our video as our artist could be seen as ‘unknown at the beginning, which he is as he is a new artist and throughout the music video we grow a connection with him as he becomes more visible. Similarly the sun only had a problem on the opening long establishing shot, with the help of reflectors on the close up shots his face was lit up perfectly.

Inside the pub for the summer scene we allowed the light from outside to peer through the windows lighting up the room, whereas for the winder scenes we needed the room to be much darker, therefore we sellotaped plastic bags to the outside of the windows and just used candles as a source of light.

DigiPak – Camera & EditingWhen it came to Designing the digipak we had several attempts at getting it right. After many discussions through class feedback and focus groups we discovered how we needed to shoot the photos in order to meet the needs of our target audience. Adobe Photoshop played a important role in creating the perfect front cover photo. Through this piece of software I was abled to desaturate the photos I took as well as using the Blur tool to create a depth of field in the background of the photo, this was to further emphasize the artists and make him stand out clearly. Our inspiration came from the album cover of Tom Odell. He used the depth of field tool as well as adding de saturation to his photo. This made him look more youthful and innocent, therefore his target audience can appeal to him resulting in more albums sold.

Digipak – Costume

The outfit on the digipak is very simple and plain, supporting his organic and natural style. This is because we want our audience to know that he is up and coming and hasn’t already made it into the music industry. If we portrayed Alec as wealthy through his clothes then the wrong impression would be given off. Hence the plain black very relaxed outfit.

Above is JLS’s first album cover, they had not yet been established as it was only their first one, therefore they only had a small fan base. They aren't wearing expensive clothes and look very natural and plain simply like Alec in our front cover.

Digipak - LocationAs show in our front cover we chose to shoot the location in an urban area, the target audience can then relate back to the music video as that is too shot in a urban area, simply because bukers want to gain recognition and a public place is needed. We specifically chose to shoot our photoshoot in the streets of the urban vibe to portray that he is staying loyal to his roots of where his music career first began, this emphasises how honest and down to earth he is.

Similarly another artist who used the urban style and shot his front cover on a street was Tom Odell. Our intentions are very similar to his, he wanted his audience to know where he came from, therefore they feel more connected to him and he gains a bigger fan base, purly on the baasis that they feel they can relate to him

VS

Website – Style

The main purpose of the website was to allow our audience to gather information about our artist and have them relate to the other products such as digipak and music video. Our goal was to represent the vibe of the indie pop genre. Therefore our website is very mainstream and simplistic with photos of our artist in that category. Our website is very easy to navigate, simply by scrolling down you can reach each tab. The straightforwardness represents the artists personality and career, there is no complexity that comes with him.

Website – Colour Scheme

As our music video and digipak have all been destaurated, we thought it was best not to use bright bold colours on our website and stick to the low key mellow colours. Similarly this represents him as a artist, he is up and coming, therefore these low key colours give him plenty of room to improve and develop, hypothetically. Bold colours are to in your face and this isn’t how we want to represent our very down to earth and organic artist. Furthermore bold colours will distract our viewers eyes from the important information on the website, we want him to grow as a artist and this can’t be done without fans, a simple way to gain fans would be for them to feel like they know him and can relate to him, this can be done through the information on the website.

Website – Editing Our website layout very much resembles the scripts current layout. Its easy to follow and the template is very traditional. Similarly to the script we wanted to add a personal touch so we added a informational biography. Inside this you can find anything you want to know about him. We also chose to include very down to earth photos where there are a few of him on holiday, in order for his fans to feel close to him and be able to relate to him. The pictures we took aren’t very professional but this was done on purpose as the pictures of Alec further emphasis how he is a organic, up and coming artist.

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