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Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? Bailey Spray A2 Media Studies

Question 1 evaluation

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This slideshare is part of my A2 Media Studies coursework, the slide is part of my evaluation.

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Page 1: Question 1 evaluation

Question 1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

Bailey SprayA2 Media Studies

Page 2: Question 1 evaluation

A brief insight into our Final Products• The basis of the task set was to create a music video to song of our choice (my group), we

were to pick a song and create a music video, digipak and magazine advert (ancillary texts). The song we decided on was ; Endorphins by the dance artist Sub Focus. This song was chosen by the group as we all knew the song and we all had previously watched the music video.

• Through creating our music video we tried to stick to the stereotypical codes and conventions of the music genre through creating a music video. We didn’t want to too heavily challenge the music genre because from our previous genre research we found that music videos within our chosen genre provided a range of dance shots and surrealism such as the song Toulouse by Nicky Romero.

• The digipak…

Figure 1First shot of the music video

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Codes and Conventions of a Dance Music Video • As in any music video to any music genre, there are various elements that

will contribute to make the music genre individual and stand out. For example with a music video for a the music genre of Rock there is stereotypically a live performance from the band and with the Indie Music Genre, the theme is usually casual.

• The main Codes and Conventions displayed in a dance music video are: • Dancing from characters• Surrealism• Mixed Narrative with shots of dancers• Strong, bright lighting• Use of the Male Gaze, can differ from both male and female being subject

to the Male Gaze• Surrealism• Special effects or certain types of editing

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Andrew Goodwin, Music Video Theorist.• Andrew Goodwin wrote the book; Dancing in the Distraction Factory, 1992. The book focuses on

key media concepts, some of the various media concepts into what relates to my groups work is the how Andrew Goodwin talks about music videos. He states that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics and often present relationships to lyrics with the music videos. Andrew Goodwin is also influential in describing that artists demand close ups to show the music video is about them and they are the main focus point the target demographic is to direct their address. Andrew Goodwin develops the idea of intertexuality through references to modern day culture, music videos and television.

• Video conventions will differ according to the genre of music, but there are three key conventions to consider:

• Narrative: The video tells a story.• Performance: The video is dominated by live or band performance.• Concept: There is a theme or concept behind the video.• The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

Figure 2Dancing in the Distraction Factory

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Goodwin’s theory related to our music video• In relation to Goodwin’s theory, I believe that my group’s music video fits within Goodwin’s

theories of genre characteristics. I believe that the main codes and conventions in the music genre my group chose (dance music) are displayed through various characters dancing and showing a reasonably strong narrative. For example in the song Animals by Martin Garix there’s narrative to the video and also a lot of dancing to amplify the genre of the music video.

• My music video develops the music genre as the video we shot has scenes and shots of dancing towards the end of the music video (see figure 3). This is an element of the music genre as it’s what the music is there for, to make people dance so it’s almost important for our music video to include this. An example which is similar to our music video is Gold Dust by DJ Fresh.

• Another genre characteristic I believe my music video develops is the way we display a narrative of the main character being chased by masked characters through a surreal world. We decided upon creating a narrative that slightly intertwines with the lyrics of the song. For example the lyrics say; “The moment I awake I’m chasing signs” and in the music video we have the main character open their and then later in the video they are being chased.

Genre characteristics

Figure 3 Dancing for the genre of Dance music

• Another example of how our music video fit within the music genre is how my music video doesn’t mime the lyrics. An example of this being displayed in another dance music video is in the music video for the Chase and Status song; Blind Faith.

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• As I have already discussed about the narrative, we aimed to tell a loose based story of the main character being chased by masked characters in a surreal world which can develop the music genre as many music videos rely on the surreal dream land as a basis. For example another music video in which develops the music genre is the Avicii song; Levels. The music video shows the main character visit a dream land in which he is successful and escapes the average grey dull work life.

• Our music video includes many narrative features, however it also challenges the music genre. An example of this in the music video is when the narrative starts to make progress it automatically then goes back to a previous shot repeated of the masked characters standing. This challenges the music genre as the music video doesn’t make much progress as there’s a large number of repeated shots.

Goodwin’s theory related to our music videoGoodwin’s Three Key Conventions: Narrative

Figure 4Narrative shots

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Goodwin’s theory related to our music videoGoodwin’s Three Key Conventions: Performance

• Due to me being cast as the main character of the groups music video, I do find it hard to comment on my own performance because I personally find all my shots are bad acting.

• The performance of the rest of the group however I believe contribute and fit within the codes and conventions of dance music as all of the actors we asked to perform danced and acted mysterious, which is what we wanted them to do.

• Performing with the mise-en-scene and the location we decided upon was an ideal place for us to get the best shots of the actors we could. What I’m trying to say by this is that due to the mysteriousness of the Knavesmire (set location) we were able to film the music video we wanted full of mystery and surreal chases. Therefore we could bring the best out of our performers willing too act as our ‘masked man and woman’.

Figure 5Performance image

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Goodwin’s theory related to our music videoGoodwin’s Three Key Conventions: Concept

• As I have mentioned previously, the main theme and idea behind the music video me and my group was surrealism and dreams. The concept of the main character waking up in a woodland and then being chased by people in masked only to then give up to the cause and join the masked foe.

• The idea of surrealism in music videos is quite a common convention and is often displayed by various artists such as; Nicky Romero, Chase and Status and also Avvici. Two examples of which I believe influenced the making of this music video is Tidal Wave by Sub Focus and Tolouse by Nicky Romero. These two songs both fit within the music genre of dance and they both include features of our music video such as the use of masks (Tolouse) and quick edits at the beginning of the video (Tidal Wave).

• By intertextualy combining the idea of both Toulouse and Tidal Wave we have being able to compound an idea that suits the music genre and our own satisfaction.

• On research alone, I did also find that some dance music videos displayed the inclusion of miming the words of the song, this shows that the concept we developed for my music video is that it challeneges conventions.

Figure 6Tolouse, Nicky Romero

Figure 7Tidal Wave, Sub Focus

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Goodwin’s theory related to our music video“Close Ups” • Goodwin proclaimed that in music videos, record

labels will try and get as many close-ups of the artist. Within the music video that I produced, we didn’t have the artist singing in the video as obviously we couldn't get hold of the artist and we didn’t want anyone to impersonate the artist.

• Instead of having close ups of the artist in our shots we decided to project our close ups of the main character and also the masked people following him. In doing this we challenged conventions as we got all the characters in close ups.

• This also suggests that the music video doesn’t promote the brand of the musician or band and the record label isn’t promoting the artist.

Figure 8Images of a range of close up shots from the music video

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Notable Codes and Conventions of a Dance Music VideoEDITING • Through the editing phase of the music video we decided

quite early in production we were going to use quick fast cuts like seen in the Sub Focus music video for Tidal Wave. Using fast cuts showing the characters in our music video allowed the target demographic to distinguish intertextuality from previous videos.

• Towards the end of the music video there is a use of a match on action shot. The scene when this is displayed is when the main character is given a mask and then the matched cut straight after shows him dancing with the other characters. This is a convention used in many music videos as it indicates the progression of the narrative and what will come next in the music video.

• Another code and convention we used in our music video in which I usually displayed in other music videos are the use of cut away shots. We used the cut away shot to cut to an irrelevant shot of something else happening. An example of this in the music video is when we would always refer back to the repeated shots of the characters in masks looking into the camera. This technique was also used in the Sub Focus original video for Endorphins as the video cuts from rebels to armed characters.

Figure 9Example of quick cut shots

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Notable Codes and Conventions of a Dance Music VideoSpecial Effects • Through the duration of the music video, we

incorporated a range of effects in which show a special effects element. For example we added effects to the colouring of various shots like in the beginning we used a black and white fade. This added mystery and surrealism to the music video. The use of colouring effects have been seen in other various dance music videos such as the Disclosure song; F For You (see figure 11).

• As well as using black and white we also used various fade effects on the music video. An example of this is during one for the dancing shots, the camera almost blurs and makes the video look and feel blurry and different. I feel this challenges the codes and conventions of a normal dance music video as many dance videos don’t include a blurry effect as they are too busy trying to focus on the singer or main character.

Figure 10The use of black and white special effects shown in the Disclosure music video for; F For You and my final music video.

Black and White special effect

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Notable Codes and Conventions of a Dance Music VideoMise-En-Scene (Briefly)• Characters: The characters within the music videos we produced I feel lack

depth in the building of who they are. By this I mean there is no character development and they just stay masked characters only out to chase the main character. This is a genre convention of many music videos as there is little time for character development as the average song lasts for 3 minutes. However this can challenge the conventions as some music videos give deep character development like in the music video for the band Kodaline’s song All I want where the characters are given depth and a good story line. However this does not share the same music genre of our own music video.

• Costumes: The costumes we used were not as effective as we would have liked, for example we aimed to make all the characters where black, however the music video showed some characters wearing cream coloured chinos, which wasn’t the plan, at all. This challenges the music genre conventions because usually all of the characters have a set costume and know what they have to wear.

• Props: The props we used were very minimal as we basically only used masks and images on string. The use of props is quite essential to the narrative of the music video as research ahs shown many music videos use props to enhance the narrative. An example in which we considered when pre –producing our music video was the song; Animals by Martin Garix as I have already previously mentioned. This music video displayed the characters in animal masks much like our own music video, therefore showing this happens in the music genre and sub music genre we share.

Figure 12Martin Garix; Animals, Masks

Figure 11Costumes (trousers)

Figure 11Characters

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Notable Codes and Conventions of a Dance Music VideoMise-En-Scene (Briefly continued)• Location: I have already discussed the location and setting however the

location and setting of the music video we decided upon was very influential in creating the narrative of our music video. This is because the Knavesmire Wood (location) created a surreal backdrop as it was so dense with trees and there was no one else around. The idea of being alone in a mysterious place is common in music videos of this genre and subgenre because usually the lyrics talk about dreams.

• Lighting: The lighting we used in our music video is entirely reliant on the outside and the sun. We didn’t add any artificial lighting to the music video as we shot the whole music video. However we did enhance some shots with effects to make them seem lighter within production. This isn’t common in the conventions of this genre as many videos use artificial lighting like for example in the Chase and Status song; Let You Go, there is use of artificial light as it bodes well with the narrative.

• Composition: The overall composition of the music video gives the connotations of mystery and dreams as the main character experiences various emotions from being scared to acceptance by the masked characters. This is displayed through composing a range of shots in which adds saturation in special effects and a various narrative. All of the shots were placed and designed for a reason and were developed with the narrative in mind. The connotations for this were that we could create a music video that fits well with the music genre and also can challenge key conventions.

Figure 13Location settings, York Knavesmire Wood

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Digipak Evaluation Brief Description of final product

• The aim of the Digipak we created was to make it as much like the music video as possible, by doing the we allowed the target demographic to understand a level of repetition and familiarity from seeing the music video. This convention of having it the same as the music video allowed us to choose the shots we wanted from the selection we had from filming. For example we have used the same shot of the close up of one of the masked characters in the music video as well as the Digipak (bottom left). This use of repetition is a distinct formality throughout the music video and the Digipak because we believed it allows the target demographic to recognise the artists work.

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Digipak Evaluation Common Conventions of A Digipak• I decided upon pairing these two squares of the digipak to evaluate together because they both

resemble similarities of one and other.

Figure 15Disks shots of the Digipak

Circular CD Ring: The Digipak square shows a circular areas as to where the disk is set to be place, this sis a common code and convention of a digipak as the disk must be placed somewhere on the album work. Normally in a normal CD there would be a plastic indicator that the CD would slot into.

Background Imagery: The background of this shot of the digipak shows parts of the music video. This was intended and we meant for this effect to take place as it allows the digipak to give evidence that it’s related to the music video. The Images we decided to use on one of the shots below shows one of the masked character. It’s a common convention to include characters from the music video to the digipak. Therefore showing that the digipak my group created doesn’t challenge conventions.

The right images: We decided upon choosing these images for the background of the digipak because they gave the right image for the band and the song it was advertising. This means that it gives off the right image of dance music and promotes the right music gnere and sub genre.

Use of Special Effects: The use of special effects used in these shots chosen show how we used black and white and a mirroring effect. The connotations for this were that we used these effects in the music video and as we wanted to make the digipak to be as similar to the music video as possible, this seemed logic. Another digipak in which uses special effects within a similar music genre would be the digipak for Latch by Disclosure, the artist uses special effects to show graphics on peoples faces.

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Digipak Evaluation Common Conventions of A Digipak (Continued)• I decided upon pairing these two squares of the digipak to evaluate together because they both

resemble similarities of one and other.

Figure 16Filler shots in the Digipak

Use of Characters: On both of these images it shots it shows the same characters as were in the music video and the male character from the magazine advert. This is often a code and convention as it adds familiarity through products and products.

Mise-En-Scene: Within both of the shots I have picked from the digipak, the mise-en-scene is represented from the music video and on the rest of the images on the digipak. This use of intertexuality between the music video and digipak allows the target demographic to understand the similarity between the main product (the song) and by products. This is also synergy as the digipak is just a by-product of the song and so is the magazine advert and music video.

Direct Address: Even though you can not see the characters faces, it’s evident through the masks they are looking directly into the camera. This gives the target demographic the idea they are being looked at and the aspects of the digipak are aimed at them because of this.

Special Effects: In these two shots, the special effects are relied on heavily as these two shots are the only two images on the digipak that aren’t related to either the disk or the front/back cover. The use of special effects makes the digipak look professional and well planned out. Many digipaks for the dance music genre and many sub genres like dubstep use special effects and graphics to enhance their digipaks, for example Modestep (sub genre of Dubstep) use graphics for their album cover.

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Digipak Evaluation Common Conventions of A Digipak (Continued)• I decided upon pairing these two squares of the digipak to evaluate together because they both

resemble similarities of one and other.

Figure 17Front Cover and Back shots of the Digipak

The use of Font: The font used on the digipak are classic conventions of a digipak as they enable the target demographic to understand what they are buying. The fonts we used for the digipak is the same for the conventions of a track list and main title of the digipak, this font would be represented with the artist.

Composition: The overall composition of the front cover and back of this digipak tells the target demographic a lot about the artist. The images used are from the narrative of the music video. The font used gives the target demographic the idea of what type of music they will be experiencing. The font we used challenges the music genre as it appears to be more suited to the rock genre as it has a loud edged look that would be stereotyped in the rock music genre.

Barcode: Barcodes have been used for years on CD’s and magazines, we decided to add a barcode to our digipak as it’s a key convention of digipaks in any music genre. The placement of the barcode shows that it’s out of the way and doesn’t cover any key information to the target demographic like the track list.

Relevant Information: On the digipak we had the record label in the bottom as well as the information needed from whom helped produce the album.

Use of Imagery: We used imagery from the music video to promote familiarity. This convention is often seen in digipaks of this music genre to promote familiarity, for example the Avicci song; Levels had a shot of where the music video was filmed on its digipak.

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Magazine Advert EvaluationMagazine Advert

The main codes and conventions of a magazine advert include: • Record company logo• Reviews/Ratings• Retailer details (HMV, iTunes etc)• Facebook/Myspace/Website details• A picture of the album• Release date• Tracks details• Tour details

Figure 18Final finished Magazine Advert for our chosen song

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Magazine Advert EvaluationMagazine Advert , key conventions

Social Networking sites to; like/follow/watch the album on.

Image relating either the music video or the song shown clearly.

Title of the artist.

Name of the album the advert is promoting.

Record labels shown on the bottom of the advert.

A quote from a reliable source explaining how good the album is. A main character/image

that draws the target demographics attention

Figure 19The Magazine advert conventions

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Magazine Advert EvaluationMagazine Advert , key conventions (evaluated) • Social Networking sites to; like/follow/watch the album on: This

is a well know convention seen on many magazine adverts. This convention allows the target audience understand they can develop their involvement with the artist via social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. This cross convergence of social networking sites issued through various media advertising like; Television adverts, websites and posters, see figure 20.

• A quote from a reliable source explaining how good the album is: Through using this convention it shows everyone that a reliable source such as Q Magazine highly rate the product. We decided to choose Q Magazine as it was a reliable well known music related magazine, see figure 21.

• Image relating either the music video or the song shown clearly: Having an image that well represents the artist and the song it’s advertising is a key and crucial area to the advert. We decided to use the main character of the music video to be displayed onto our magazine advert. This showed consistency and is often used with an artist’s logo if they have one, for example the Blink 182 symbol is a dysfunctional smile and they use that logo on nearly all of their albums and advertisements, see figure 22.

• Title of the artist: It seems only logic for the magazine advertisement to have the name of the artist somewhere on the advert. Therefore showing this is one of the main and large conventions of advertisements. We opted to use the same font as in the digipak, this is because the repetition of fonts would look relatable and inmost cases artists will use the same fonts for their names and album names, see figure 20.

Figure 23Artist name

Figure 20Social networking sites

Figure 21Reliable Source Compliments

Figure 22Image relating to song

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Magazine Advert EvaluationMagazine Advert , key conventions (evaluated) • Name of the album the advert is promoting:

This convention is very similar to having the same of the artist on the advertisement. This convention takes almost identical reasoning to the convention of having the artist of the song’s name on the advert. It allows the target demographic to see what product the artist is trying to sell and promote through magazine advertising.

• A main character/image that draws the target demographics attention: The use of showing the target demographic the main character draws their direct address towards the centre of the image. The main focus point of this advert is the main character in the centre of the advert. The connotations for having the main character from the music video on the magazine advert is that it promotes the surreal theme of the music video as in, the scene where the main character is looking at that certain tree and sees the masked characters. However in this shot there are no masked characters in which suggests that it’s all in the main characters imagination and it’s not real.

• Record labels shown on the bottom of the advert: Promoting the name of the record label is a necessity in music advertising as it shows that ultimately they have the power and the artist can not produce synergy of sorts without having to stick the record label’s name on the product. Therefore showing we developed the conventions of this aspect of the music advertisement as we have an image of the record label in the bottom right of the advertisement.

Figure 24Album name

Figure 25Main character, music video

Figure 26Record label