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

Video:

I decided to analyse three existing media products in the form of music videos in order to gain inspiration when producing our own; I chose to analyse Settle Down by The 1975, Lego House by Ed Sheeran and A Song About Love by Jake Bugg. I think that Settle Down by The 1975 was my main source of inspiration; I replicated a variety of shots from this video and gathered editing ideas and possibilities. Both Lego House and A Song About Love were both used mainly for investigating different ways of shooting a man walking by himself; I feel these were both helpful yet Settle Down was definitely my main source of inspiration. I chose Settle Down because the video is set in a lot of social realist surroundings in the North East of England, just like the section of our video where the man will be stuck in Tyne and Wear, wanting to leave. I think that the surroundings are illustrated perfectly in the video and are incorporated into the movement of the artist very well. This video also features a constant variety of shots of a man wandering aimlessly, much like ours; I used this research to also be inspired by shot types and explore options used by professionals. The first thing I noticed about this video is that there are some establishing shots e.g. of the artist walking that are edited in slow motion. I think this helped add emotional value to the video and the case of the narrative was able to fit with the music. During post-production we decided to apply this to our video and slow down some important shots; I think this has given our video a good structure as the pace is not too fast by simply cutting from one shot to another. I think that by slowing down a few shots our video appears more professional, this is a small development we have taken from this product research yet one that I think makes a huge difference. Another key thing I noticed instantly when watching this video is the numerous head shots of the artist which feature intruding light beams from the sun. I think this is a contemporary twist on a standard classic shot which gives the video a fresh youthful feel, whist still sticking to traditional shot types and angles. When shooting in New York I decided to try and mimic this shot through the trees in Union Square and at Ground Zero, these clips can be found at 1:43 and 2:22. Much like the music video by The 1975 we also decided to try and incorporate sunlight with headshot of our actor Aidan, I think these were successful and can be found at 2:15. I think without researching this particular music video they idea of filming rays of sunlight would never have occurred and I think our video would have been more generic and simple therefore we have definitely used and developed and used traditional media conventions here. Another shot I decided to try and mimic was the tracking headshot of the man walking alongside a brick wall; I thought it was classic yet effective as facial expression could be clearly seen and it showed that the man was determined to head in a certain direction which is what our narrative is about; the man wanting to return home. At 1:24 in the music Settle Down music video there is a shot of the artist walking straight out of shot behind a wall. I was instantly attracted to this shot as it is definitely not something I would think of myself, yet it is so simple. I decided to shoot this same shot a couple of times during our filming days in different locations and am pleased with the outcome; it features in our video at 0:39 and 1:02. There are numerous shots in our video of the man wandering around back lanes; we were intertextual here by referencing the shots in the film Bill Elliot. Billy is always dreaming of change, much like the man in our video; the characters are similar therefore I wanted to research the shot types and take influence them where I could in ways which would benefit our video and help clarify the narrative. Our music video does have a narrative however the video by The 1975 is more elliptical. I was inspired by the video due to the lack of live performance; I thought this was effective and helped keep the story directed on the narrative. I decided to also not record any live recording and include only lip singing as it is required by the exam board. As well as the original three music videos I research I also took inspiration from the iconic images New York from the opening sequence of Woody Allen’s Manhattan, they’re typical yet effective by highlighting the most famous landmarks whilst remaining sophisticated and skilled.

Ultimately, I think that my music video develops and replicates the conventions of real media products as I have been largely inspired by the three videos I have researched and in my final video, I have mimicked numerous shots, edits and scene sequences. 

Social realist surrounding

Slow motion whilst walking the streets

Light beam reflections from the sun

Walking behind a wall

Billy Elliot

Woody AllenManhattan

Digipack:I have analysed the digipack for Rihanna's album 'Loud' for one reason - there is a variety of human shot types included: extreme close up, medium and long shots. Regardless of the fact that Rihanna is a female and our video will feature a male, the same types of shot can be used. I have also decided to analyse the back page of a digipack by Amiee Mann, the dark simplistic style with a single main landscape image is an appearance similar to the one I aimed to achieve. On the front cover of the digipack by Rihanna there is an extreme close-up of the artists face; this instantly drew me in and I decided I definitely did want to include a close-up headshot in my digipack on at least one page. I decided to include this image on the inside left-hand page to introduce the artist alongside the disk. I originally planned to use an extreme close up much like the one by Rihanna however I suffered problems with this looking strange due to the lack of hair to fill up the surrounding areas around the face. I decided to just use a close-up instead making the style standard and simplistic. The face is centred, sticking to traditional media product style which I think is classic and professional-looking.

With regards too the back page of my digipack I did use some simple conventions from another aspect of my research, this being the back page of an album by Amiee Mann. I liked how the track list was in the top left corner and decided to also do this; this is a normal typical album convention which I think has made my album appear more professional. The only other thing I have used from my back page research is mirrored the use of one single image across the entire page. Although my image used is a photograph and not a cartoon, I thought it still gave a unified effect and didn't make the back page too cluttered with numerous images as it holds the most important information and text. 

Amiee Mann Rihanna

Poster:When conducting my research I analysed two professional album posters, Only By The Night by Kings of Leon and Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons. Both posters have a dark colour scheme which is the type of house style I wanted to go for as well as a variety of male images which I knew I needed to somehow incorporate.

Firstly, on both posters the artist's name is at the top of the page; I decided to use this convention in my poster and mimic the classic style. It is easy to recognise the clear font in the colour white on a black background making the promotion eye catching for passers by. The artists name is arguably the most important element of a album promotional poster therefore I think it is important to follow existing popular conventions of professional posters in recognising where it is placed to guarantee success. Secondly on both of the posters I researched have any other relevant information at the bottom of the page; this information being things such as release dates or track listings. I also decided to stick with this convention in order to avoid any confusion with the information on the page, I wanted it to be clear and concise and I think the presentation of a title at the top, imagery in the middle and informative text at the bottom is clean cut and professional. With regards to the dominating image on my poster I decided to challenge any typical imagery conventions I had seen and develop my own ideas. I wanted to include a headshot as I thought any sort of location shot or imagery with very detailed surroundings may make the poster appear cluttered and the attention may be drawn off the important information and make the purpose less clear. I developed my own ideas with the design of the image as I wanted to use synergy to link it to the music video. I decided to use photoshop to edit a photograph I took in New York into the mans head as a representation of the thoughts surrounding his mind of wanting to return home. In order to do this I did conduct some additional research in the form of film posters to see how face image merging had been produced professionally. I looked at the films ‘Macbeth’ and ‘Gone’ which were posted on my blog on 24/10/15. Although I did not analyse these in depth they simply helped me see how the technique and similar ideas were used professionally. 

Face-merging research examples