Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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



The creation of my music video and its accompanying products was a long and strenuous process, that began with the consolidation of ideas that would become the basis of my project as a whole. Whilst I was sure on my genre of choice (Indie/Rock), I was unsure on how I would structure my music video as a whole, and used this as an opportunity to look at media theory, which would allow me to recognise the conventions of my chosen genre.
 I looked at the theorist Andrew Goodwin, who has a range of views on music videos themselves. I used his theory as a basis of which to build my music video. His theory, in part, suggests; there should be a link between the music video and its accompanying lyrics, usually by telling a story, close up’s on the artists will help to build relationships and intertexual references are common, and these provide further gratification and pleasure for the viewer of the video

These factors of music video, suggested by Goodwin, became the basis on which I would create my music video. In particular, the focus on close up’s and protagonist/audience relationship, as this also complied with the conventions of Indie music video, as I discovered through my similar product research. The entirety of my music video was narrative based, as my similar product research suggested that this was very common in my genre, and this also allowed me to focus on my main protagonist, who I implied was also the lead singer of my band. This also allowed me to follow the ‘close up’ clause of Goodwin’s theory, as the opportunity to focus on the protagonist was presented and made clear throughout the video. In terms of locations, these were picked automatically due to the narrative base that I decided on for my music video, with the fairly conventional male-female love story scenario being the main theme of my music video. Due to the fairly simple nature of these locations, I was sure to use camera shots that are both conventional to my genre, such as close ups and long shots, but also film in a way that was aesthetically pleasing for the audience. In terms of picking my Actors for my music video, I made sure that they were similar to my target audience, which is mostly made up of young adults and teenagers, and as a result the audience will likely be empathetic towards the artist, or in some way feel a relationship with them.

 Following on from the filming of my music video and the planning and research of my topic as a whole, I began to piece together my ancillary texts, in the form of a Digipak and Magazine advert. From the beginning of the project, I had the theme of opposites in my head, a theme which was also included in my music video. This alludes from the title of my song, ‘Evening/Morning’, portraying the opposite times of day, and as a result, I adapted this in each of my texts, and instantly gave me a strategy in which I could link each of my tasks together. I decided on the same models for each of my tasks, with the same people featured in my music video, as in my secondary and tertiary text, which further stated this fact. A split image of both characters originated for my Digipak, to both display the artists, but also the mixed personality/opposites theme for the project as a whole. This also allowed as a means to display the target audience of the piece to the viewer, with, as typically in my genre, both genders, within the age range, featured as a potential target audience member. I also adopted this mutual viewer approach with the general layout of the piece, including images of both artists, but also, in particular, the font I chose was a fairly neutral black font, displaying no clear directive audience was being stated.

The institutional conventions that are present on all musical texts such as those that I created I also made sure were present in each of my texts. These include barcodes and institutional details of the record labels/artists being present throughout each product, particularly the ancillary texts. Particularly on my magazine advert, I adopted the conventions of including a date of release and reviews of listeners to the advert, which would add to the sell ability of the product. I attempted to focus more heavily on a link between each of the products, similar to what I had created between the Digipak and the Music Video. I further added to this by using the same image that was on my Digipak case and CD on my magazine advert. This, I found, was a very conventional feature of Indie Music, and is used to not only add a link between the products, but also show the audience an image of the product they are trying to sell, rather than just the artist. The mise en scene of my music video also representative here, with the urban environment of the park, and the homely
nature of the houses, emphasising the split nature of the characters, as presented on the cover of the digipak. 

In conclusion, whilst In many cases I did attempt to go against conventions, in the form of performance based videos in particular, the majority of my music video was conventional of a music video, and in particular that of a music video particular to my chosen genre. I personally view each of my texts, particularly my ancillary texts, in being successful in their roles of trying to promote the song and video, which in turn highlight the successful nature of the link between the products, a conventional feature of music video.