In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?
Description
Mind Map on In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media?, created by frankiealexiex on 20/02/2015.
In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media?
Camera Work
For the conventions of camera work we used a lot of close ups on both the band members and the boy who was portraying the
narrative side of the music video. Close ups are conventional in music videos as they help the audience engage with the band
members along with the boy who presents a lot of emotion throughout our music video. Close ups of the main band member,
who was the singer are very important as it shows that he is the most dominant one and is filling the frame of the music video.
We also used group shots of the band members in
medium close ups and long shots so that the entire band
was able to be identified and present how close they are
together to be able to successfully perform together,
Long shots also allow the entire narrative to be shown
as all actions and movements are presented.
Mise en scene
In the knowledge that conventions are key in replicating a genre, we watched Keane's music
videos as they are the artists of the track we used in our music video. We also looked at
alternative bands for inspiration such as Coldplay and blink 182 to see what they wore in their
music videos. We wanted our band members to be smart but slightly rough looking, so we
looked further afield by researching actors such as Zack Efron and business men such as
Scott Disick.. From our research we decided on a smart casual look which is conventional in
alternative music videos. Furthermore we planned for our members to wear a shirt with a
jumper over it, dark coloured jeans and possibly a beard depending on the people we had
availability to. Our band members are also all male which is the typical demographic you would
see in an alternative band.
The lighting we used when filming the band was conventional as we used artificial lighting which is lighting that is used when filming in a
studio. We used conventional three point lighting to create an effective looking performance. Dimmers were added to the back and key light so
that we could create an effective contrast between them. On the back lights we also added purple and red gels which complimented the mise
en scene of our costume and setting, as well as tying in with our brand image and ancillary tasks. We was fully aware that by adding this
type of lighting it will create a calm and mellow mood which we wanted to portray as is conventional in an alternative music videos. When
directing the music video we wanted the main singer to appear passionate about the lyrics however we wanted his body language to look low
key, so that he represents the alternative genre in which his band belongs in.
Alternative music videos tend to be on a
low budget and are usually filmed in
studios or outside areas such as a
woodland location, we have been
successful to meeting this convention.
Settings are kept simple so that all the
viwers attension is on the narrative and
the band members who are most
important.
The mise en scene for the ancillary task had to match the genre of the band, therefore we decided to use men to
represent the band as this is conventional for a alternative pop promo. As we didn't want to use busy colours we
decided to stick to dull plain colours, which also complimented the sinister mood in the narrative of the pop promo. For
the poster and digi pack we stuck to beige colours and greys, for the band name on the poster we decided to use red so
that it stands out and the audience can easily identify who the band are. Furthermore we also used red to link in and
match the red lighting which is presented in the mise en scene of the pop promo. We made sure all our colours tied in
so it was clear and professional.
For our ancillary task we looked at current alternative band posters and digi packs. We looked at Red Hot Chilli Peppers and
Coldplay. From researching alternative digi packs and posters it gave us more of an understanding to what ours should look
like, this helped us decided to the layout and conventions to what is typically seen in digi packs and posters. After finding all
the conventions of a digi pack such as band name, image, record label, production information it helped me to produce a
professional dogi pack for our band
Editing
As for editing we was fully aware that we had to edit to the beat of the song to make it appear
professional and also in sync with the music. We edited on Adobe after affects to sort out the
contrast and colour of the footage. We also edited on Adobe Premier Pro which is a programme we
got confident with after hours of practise. We also made sure the speed of the editing went with the
tension and narrative. For example when the boy is thinking about ending his life and reflecting on his
time at school the editing is fast pace, as we are building tension within the narrative. This related to
Andrew Godwin's theory, as we used many close ups at this point of the narrative.
We challenged Laura Mulvey
theory of 'Male gaze' as we did
not objectify women in our
music video. This may have
been because it was filmed
from our perspective as
women
A QR code was added to our poster. This is conventional of a music poster espically nowadays, this adversises the band as it can be scanned and then takes the audience to the bands website, however a website for the band was not made.
We met convenuons
within our digi pack by
including images, band
name, back and front
cover, tracks with the
track number. These are
all conventions of a digi
pack we have included in
order for our digi pack to
appear professional and
conventional..
For the ancillary task of the digi pack and poster I took individual images of the band members, I took the images agasint a
plain white background and also made the band members central to the image so that its clear to the audicence that they are
the main subject point. We used photshop to manipulate the images. Each photograph was layered so that it formed one
entire image instead of separate ones, The colour of the images was disaturated to keep the ongoing sinister mood which is
portrayed throughout, linking to the narrative side of the pop promo.
Its conventional for a poster to clearly present the bands name, therefore I have successfully
done this by placing the bands name central to the poster so its easily identified and clear to the
audience. The typographic of the band name is in capitals and has bold lettering. The colour of
the band name is a vibrant red, this is so it stands out against the pale ground. The red also
relates to the red light which was used in the mise en scene when filming the bands
performance in the music video.
How I met conventions in line with Godwin's theory
1) Lyrics have been illustrated, this means we have created a
relationship between the music and visuals. 2) Our
iconography applies as we meet the genre of alternative by
presenting the band members performing and highlight the
fact that the band members are playing instruments. 3) We
have lots of close ups of lead singer, our star is developed with
a sense of status iconography throughout the music video.
4)We used intersexual referencing through other music videos
such as Kelly Rowland-Stole and the film called Disconnect.