Evaluation Question 1: "In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"
TRANSCRIPT
"The products that I have created, both main and ancillary, conform to the conventions observed through products relevant to the specific genre that I have been inspired by through my own research. My music video satisfies the genre conventions of “Dream-Pop” and “Indie”, as seen through my postproduction editing using Final Cut Pro and the specific choice of camera angles. Through postproduction editing, I layered a combination of cool hued filters, including Luma Keyer, to conform to the convention of “dream-pop”. I drew inspiration from The 1975’s music video for “Somebody Else” in which the editing focused heavily on Colour Psychology to evoke an emotional response from audiences. For example, in my video, happier times are reflected through environments that exhibit high-key lighting in order to coerce audiences into feeling uplifted and satisfied. However, I have contrasted this uplifting emotional response by including scenes that were edited in a way that evoked sadness and melancholy. This was completed through exaggerating the Luma Keyer filter so that it was transformed into a cooler hue that in turn, deepened the blue – a colour associated with sadness.
I also challenged an orthodox music video convention of having band members performing or lip-synching to the song, and instead, decided to utilise my creative flair by basing the video entirely on a narrative without any performance elements. My music video loosely follows a narrative structure reminiscent of Tzvetan Todorov Equilibrium Theory, in the sense that the video depicts equilibrium, disequilibrium and a resolution; however, I have not produced the video in accordance to Todorov’s structure. The video opens with footage that elicits melancholy, implying disequilibrium, but then transitions into equilibrium that is established through high-key lighting and extreme close-up camera shots of the actors rejoicing in their relationship. Disequilibrium is then set up through quick-cut shots of an argument in a car, complemented with low-key lighting and a change in the tone of the song. To conclude my music video, I then re-established an equilibrium where the actors move forward in their relationships and look to happier times. This is reinforced again through high-key lighting and an extreme-low angled camera shot that empowers the characters on screen. I made a conscious decision to subvert the traditional conventions of a performance style music video, as I wanted to focus more on conveying an emotional journey of two characters; intensified through the brooding tunes of Cigarettes After Sex.
Another convention that I subverted in my music video was the notion of looking, or “mode of address”. Typically, in a performance style music video, you would see the artist look directly into the camera lens, however, in my conceptual product, I have not utilised this notion. The reason why I made the conscious decision to have my actors avoid looking at the camera throughout the video was because I wanted to reiterate the private nature of their relationship, highlighting the disconnect from the audience as they journey through their relationship.
To familiarise myself with the traditional conventions of magazine adverts and DigiPaks, I underwent external research that would help me create the most appropriate ancillary products. Throughout my design process, I adhered to the typical conventions of DigiPaks, such as including the artists name in appropriate font and size, a track list, copyright and publishing information, the record label the artist is assigned to and of course, a barcode that allows the audience to interact and purchase the product. As well as these conventions, in order to maintain a close relationship between my main product and my ancillary products, I adhered to a simple colour scheme that feature on all of the products. I specifically utilised monochromatic and dull colours that in turn conformed to the genre of the music video and the artist that I am representing.
In some cases, DigiPaks feature relevant iconography to the artist, however, I challenged this convention and instead used iconography that features within the music video. I focused on the repeated motif of the hands and included them on my DigiPak design. The hand images came from my own personal photography and I edited the images in a way that enhanced the wedding rings on the actors’ fingers. This was completed through Photoshop – utilising the selective tool and Curves. In terms of the colour scheme, I drew inspiration from the bands original tour posters and adapted their contrasting pastel colour scheme of baby blue and white to suit my DigiPak design – noted through the alternating colour seen on the track list. I also conformed to the convention of simple and bold font. Through my research I actually came across the original font used by the band in their tour posters: ITC Mendoza Roman Book SC. I decided to utilise the same font so that their already established fan base would associate my DigiPak design with their music and image relatively easily. After a lot of exploration for the Typography that I was going to use on the designs, I knew that I had to keep it relatively simple, as I didn’t want to detract from my intention of advertising the artist by using outlandish fonts.
As with the production of DigiPak design, I also conducted independent research concerning the codes and conventions that feature on magazine adverts. I created my magazine advert and conformed to the conventions of this media text. These included external platforms that audiences can use to interact with and purchase the product (such as iTunes, Amazon and Soundcloud), appropriate titles and font sizes, relevant images (I continued to use the motif of hands), reviews from relevant and reliable sources (such as Rolling Stone), social media links, the record label, links to their official website, featured songs and a QR code. As well as this, to enhance my own understanding and knowledge of professionally made magazine adverts; I did my own analysis of different adverts from a range of different genres.
A convention that I challenged, that is similar to the DigiPak design, was making the conscious choice of not having the artist at the front and centre of the advert, and instead opted to continue the motif of the hands as seen through all of my products. I made this choice because Cigarettes After Sex are a band that are relatively subdued and quiet and favour the use of enigmatic, thought-provoking symbolism such as the ambiguous feather and collarbones featured on their album covers. I also want to adopt their relatively simple style and not alter that – as a sudden, dramatic change in design or intention could cause the already established fan base to become confused, as there would be a disruption in continuity.
By including a QR code on the advert makes the product relevant to todays society – as this is rapidly growing technology that makes it easier for audience to access the product. The QR code links audiences to the bands official website, where they can find out more information about the artist, such as new or imminent releases and merchandise etc. By including the convention of reviews from reliable sources increases audience interaction with the artist, as they are made aware of the success of the band and potential to break out into the wider music industry. I also included one of their more popular songs on the front of the magazine cover. The song, ‘Keep On Loving You’ is a song that was originally performed by REO Speedwagon, but Cigarettes After Sex made a cover of the song that resulted in their newfound fame. By including the song that I used for my music video on the forefront of the magazine ties the products together. A conscious decision was made to mention REO Speedwagon, as an older audience demographic is coerced into listening to the new cover – thus advertising my products to the widest possible audience demographic.
Overall, I believe that my media products conform, challenge and develop the conventions of real media products; but are tailored to what I deemed as appropriate based on my independent audience and artist research."
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