Q1: In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Korima Begum

http://youtu.be/ggfGuGbYbCk

The Music Video!

Vernallis believes that the usual rules of ‘continuity’ editing are broken in order to keep a music video entertaining and interesting. Continuity editing is something that is usually found in TV and film.

Edits that are used are very obvious to make it clear to the viewers. Jumps cuts are often used in music videos Base tracks are used to give the video a structure Camera moves in time with the music

This video of Right There by Ariana Grande proves this theory as it follows the conventions stated above.http://youtu.be/fhcpubAVdmc

Vernallis’s Theory

We decided to follow Vernallis’s theory as it would help us create a structure for the song. Main ideas we took from this are:- A lot of edits- Use of base tracks- Jump cuts

We were influenced by Our Song by Taylor Swift as it had many base tracks and a lot of jump cuts and other edits which make it clear to the viewers that it is a music video. Also it is a song within the same genre of the song that we are making a video for so we felt that this would be great to use for inspiration.

http://youtu.be/Jb2stN7kH28

The main ideas used from this…

Andrew Goodwin believes that pop videos are built around the song and don’t follow a traditional narrative as novels or films

Pop videos use the singer as both the narrator and a character Singer often looks into the camera to involve viewers at home Rely on repetition Has closure; climax created which then fades into an end There are three types of relations between song and video;

illustration, disjuncture and amplification

An example of Goodwin’s theory being used in a music video is Lost Without U by Robin Thicke - http://youtu.be/0DdCoNbbRvQYou can see the use of repetition in the guitar base tracks and a few base tracks within the verses as well as the singer looking into the camera.

Goodwin’s Theory

We followed this theory as our music video showcases Eva (the artist) looking into the camera numerous times to engage the audience.

We also used a lot of repetition as we had a lot of base tracks that we cut between throughout the video.

However, we also challenged this theory as we didn’t have a narrative for the video. We decided on portraying our video through disjuncture as we felt that as our artist is new and want to focus on selling her talent. We wanted to do this by focusing solely on her and her performance of the song. Therefore we felt a narrative wasn’t really necessary.

How we used this theory…

Mulvey believes that when a female is performing in music videos, it is usually seen in the point of view of a male. This view is seen as being ideal across all videos. This representation is often seen in many Hip Hop and R&B videos however it is not only subjected to those genres.

In order to create this ‘ideal’ vision of a woman, a lot of thought is put into what she wears and her make up and her posture in the video.

Quite often you would see women in very provocative clothing and acting in a sexual way towards men to get their attention or you would see close ups of certain aspects of their body for men to focus on.

A video that proves Mulvey’s theory is Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell . This is because you can see girls parading around in skimpy clothing being as seen as objects of pleasure for the men.http://youtu.be/yyDUC1LUXSU

Mulvey’s Theory of Representation

We decided to follow Mulvey’s Theory so we could attract our wider audience (men). We decided to dismember aspects of Eva’s body which would this apply the ‘male gaze’ on to it.

Taylor Swifts video ‘Tim McGraw’ influenced us on our decision to do this as you can see Taylor laying in the grass as the camera pans up and down her body. We thought this was a great execution of the male gaze and it was done in a very classy and subtle way so we thought we would use this idea in our video.http://youtu.be/GkD20ajVxnY

How we used Mulvey’s Theory

Nicole Scherzinger – Try With Me - http://youtu.be/R7sYiTyBjTY Rihanna – Only Girl In The World - http://youtu.be/pa14VNsdSYM Florence and the Machines – Rabbit Heart - http://youtu.be/GF6kBNLTvaU

These songs used their location and scenery in a very effective way. I liked the way the flowers were incorporated into the videos because it looks very elegant and sophisticated. Although in these videos flowers are used (something we were initially going to do) we will be trying to create the same effect using leaves to fit in with our autumnal theme. I liked the angles used in Nicole’s video as they stood out to me and looked very interesting. These shots influenced some of the shots used in our music video too. In Rihanna’s video you can see flower petals floating around and we thought it would be a good idea to do this with leaves so it can tie in with our theme. In the Florence and the Machine video I liked the filter used in the video. We used a filter like this on our music video to bring out the greens even more and give a little yellowish tint to make it seem a little vintage-ish.

Other Videos That Influenced Us

Screenshots from the videos on next slides

The Ancillary Products!

The conventions of Digipaks and Advertisements

Digipak Image of the artist(s) Album name smaller than the artist

name Track list Copyright information Barcode & record label logo Catalogue number on the spine

( + artist and album name and record label logo)

Making the inside and outside connect

CD Housing Synergetic aspects from music video Artist looking at the camera

Advertisement Image of the album cover Social media links Name of artist and album Download links Release date Record label logo Review from a magazine Making it connect to the advert Barcode

I followed all if not most of the conventions mentioned in the previous slide.

The genre specific conventions that I followed for my ancillary products were that I stuck to the natural themed setting or had an element of green in it. Also another convention would be to have an instrument as this is what is usually associated with an indie-pop artist. Another thing with indie –pop artists is that they tend to keep it quite simple.

How I followed these conventions

Initially, I had planned on having a digipak with my artist against a plain background on the front but I felt that it suited the genre better to have a greener background. For the instrument aspect of it we used a guitar because it would both connect to the music video and be conventional to the genre. Another way I connected it to the music video was by using the same font for the text that was in the music video in the ancillary products.

Examples….

Here is an example of a digipak having an element of green in it as well as the artist looking directly into the camera. It is also quite simplistic in a sense as all you see is the artist, the name of the artist and the album title against a natural background. Also you see the same colour palette being used in the print ad. This is what I also did with my advert as I used the red font to make the two items connect. However, this advert is very basic as it doesn’t provide a lot of information about the artist or album. This is something I challenged as I wanted to have as much detail possible because she was a brand new artist that many people wouldn’t have heard of.

Here is an example of a digipak being simple as well as effective. I also like the positioning of the titles. This is something I applied to my own digipak but I did it at the bottom. However, the unconventional thing about this album is that the artist isn’t looking into the camera. The idea behind having the artist looking into the camera is so the buyer would feel as though the artist is looking directly at them and therefore making you attracted to it. I made sure to use an image of the artist looking at the camera so this could happen. Also, in the advert, the album cover is anchored very well with the release date of the album. Also it has all the things that you would see in a conventional advert.

In this album cover you can see a lot of greens and other earthy colours in the background. Also I like the way they had a unique font on the front of it as well as on the advert to make it easier to connect with the artist. I had done this with my artist as well so the audience can make a direct visual link. I also like how the positioning of the texts in this advert is placed at the bottom. This is to make it look like he top half is the cover of the album (which is does look like).One thing all of these adverts have in common is

that it is done in portrait style. I have decided to not follow this convention and do it in landscape. This is so you can position the text even better by using the rule of thirds. Doing this helps people find the important information quicker because it would all be on one side.