IN WHAT WAY DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, CHALLENGE OR

DEVELOP CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS.

Evaluation Question 1 – Madison Arnold

My Initial DecisionsI began by looking back at my initial research of music video conventions. I used prior research into Andrew Goodwin to influence my pre-production choices for my product. I learnt that after conducting this research it made me much more aware of what is needed before creating a music video. Including how it will appear to my target audience and how they will respond to my product. As my chosen artist is a part of the ‘Indie/Alternative’ genre I chose to conduct my own research into that genre and identify as many conventions that I could find. Meaning that in the long run I could apply these conventions when looking at Seafret’s work and see which are present and which are not. Following this I also decided to look into other media texts from other artists and learnt how these fir to the conventions of Andrew Goodwins theory. I came to the conclusion that most music videos fit at least some if not all of the conventions that Goodwin suggests. Here is my own research into real media texts and the way they use the conventions.

What Conventions Do Seafret Use and Challenge?What they use…■ Narrative – Seafret use a narrative

This is something which is featured in most music videos, however seen very often in Indie/Alternative genres . Often in this genre the narrative is more likely to be relationship based or a confusing plot, which will prolong across multiple music videos.

■ Close Ups – All of their music video’s tell their narrative through a series of close ups of the actresses. This partly conforms to Goodwin's theory, as he states there are ‘lots of close ups’.

■ Performance Element – Seafret have released music videos with them performing their song which fits to both the genre and Goodwins theory.

■ Links between visuals, lyrics and music – Seafret’s songs feature links between the lyrics and the visuals shown by the narrative, these can be found in songs such as ‘Atlantis’

■ Mise En Scene – All of Seafret’s video’s contain a water element, which links with the title of their name eg Sea.

What they challenge… Voyeuristic treatment of the female body –

Due to the genre, Seafret do not form to the conventions of exploiting the female body, due to their song styles and narratives.

■ Close ups – Goodwins theory states that there is lots of close ups of the artist, however Seafret challenge this by using close ups of an actress to portray a narrative.

Seafret’s Work VS Mine Looking back at the previous slide, and the conventions that Seafret used I then undertook some research into the comparison of the conventions that Seafret used in their music videos vs what I used in mine.

My Conventions.■ Close ups – Throughout my music video, there were a consistent amount of close ups that I used to

create the narrative. Although this does not directly form to Andrew Goodwin’s conventions, I have challenged it. I challenged it as I personally feel that music videos with a narrative are more effective on the audience. Especially with videos with our themes.

■ Links between ‘Visuals, Lyrics and Music’ – When making the initial planning, we made sure that there were links between the lyrics and the visuals. This is because due to the themes we have chosen it would have greater impact on the audience. An example of this is during the line ‘It feels like there’s oceans, between you and me’ We chose to turn on the tap, linking with the later element. Including this, on the line ‘We hide our emotions, under the surface and try to pretend’ We see the girl, looking at her bruises and walk over to the bath, emerge herself in water and brush her face off like nothing is wrong.

■ Narrative – During my music video there is a very clear narrative to show the themes and stories behind our ideas. We did this by using a range of shots, actors and characters and locations that portray the narrative to the audience. We chose to do this as we felt it would have more of an impact on the audience if they had a clear and in depth narrative to follow.

■ Mise-En-Scene – The primary location for my music video was a family home, and not only does this fit with one of Seafret’s video’s its also a common location for the Indie/Alternative genre, as seen is music videos by artists such as ‘Amber Run’ in their video ‘I found’. Not only is it conventional, we chose to do this as we felt that it would have more of an impact on our audience given the fact that it is in a location that we all use daily, and is such an innocent location that means we would not suspect anything of such as our themes.

What Conventions I Challenged?

■ Performance Element – I chose not to form to the convention for using a performance element because I felt that not only would this not fit with my chosen genre and themes, I also felt that it would deter away from the narrative of the music video, which I feel to be extremely strong and important. I personally enjoy watching music videos with a narrative as I feel that they make the song more interesting and memorable, I also find that when watching a music video it makes me reflect upon the words of the song more even if there is no link between the visuals and the lyrics.

■ Voyeuristic treatment of the female body – This is another convention that I have chosen not to conform to. I chose not to conform to this convention as I feel it would not fit with the genre or the theme. It would especially not fit with my narrative. As we have breached upon themes of rape and abuse, I could argue that I have challenged these conventions by portraying the female body in a different way. Eg; Goodwin meant that the female body was often exploited and used to attract the opposite sex, however I have shown a young innocent girl who’s body is being exploited to her father. This means that I have made a complete contrast the convention.

■ Intertextual References – I chose not to conform to using intertextual references as not only did I have access to a suited film I could choose, I feel that this would not fit with my music video.

Ancillary Products.■ Following this I then looked into the conventions that I followed during

the creative process of my ancillary products. Here are my products

What are the conventions of Digipak’s and Magazine Adverts?.

Digipak’s■ Consistent images across all 3 products –

To create a successful digipak, it must use imagery that links to all 3 things; Video, Digipak and Magazine Advert. The main image that is used is generally eye catching, relevant to the product and will contain vital information such as the titles, name of album, name of artist, and their record labels.

■ Reviews – By using a review on a digipak it will be more likely to get interest. This is because it may influence audiences based on the quality of the review.

■ Relevant to the genre – This can happen in several ways, such as colours, layout and information. These 3 things will inform the audience of the genre and in the process will entice them and encourage them to listen and buy the album.

■ Conforms the rule of thirds

Magazine Adverts■ Consistent images across all 3 products – 9/10

Magazine Adverts contain images of the artist on, as the will help the audience to connect and engage in what they are buying. However some magazine adverts often contain still images from the artists music video.

■ Social Media – Must inform the audience where to buy and get the album, such as Spotify, itunes and follow the artist on twitter or facebook ect…

■ Information – It must contain relevant information such as release dates, artist name, album titles, reviews ect.

■ Text – The text must also be consistent over all 3 products this will make it more memorable for the audience.

■ Conforms to the rule of thirds.

What Conventions Do Seafret Use?As Seafret are still an up and coming band, they have not yet released an actual Digipak or featured in any magazines. Therefore I cannot find much relevant information for the conventions that they use.■ Relevant to the genre – With their genre being Indie/Alternative and

the majority of their songs being acoustic, this suggests a very calm and quirkly mood. Seafret use a consistent theme of colours to link to their genre.

■ Seafret also conform the the rule of thirds by having their relevant information placed at the top of the album cover.

Conventions That I Used…As shown by the use of arrows, both our magazine advert and digipak conform to the rule of thirds. As we have placed the relevantinformation at the top and bottom. This is so that the audience find the relevant information first, as it will be the information that sticks out tothem most. Including this, across both of our products we have used a consistent image, which also features in our music video. This is to ensure that the audience find the album easy enough as they are memorable. Our magazine advert features all of the correct information,such as album and artist title, record label, release date, reviews, social medialinks, a website, price and barcode. And we can also see that our digipak also features the same relevant information. Across both ancillary products there is also a clear colour scheme which also links with our music video.

Conventions That I Challenged…

■ Our group chose to challenge the convention of having the artists face on the magazine advert and instead chose to use the actress. We chose to do this as we felt that with ‘Oceans’ being Seafret’s debut single, and their Ep being titled after it, we felt that this is an important song to focus on. Having chosen to make a music video for the song Oceans we then felt it would be a good idea to link our music video, digipak and magazine as this would them be more memorable for the audience as Oceans is such a strong song on the album.

To Conclude…

Overall I feel that there are definite conventions shown and used across all 3 of my products. I feel that this is because of the prior research I had undertaken and just a general knowledge of music videos in general, means that you make your self more influenced by other real media texts. The research I undertook helped me to gain a better understanding of what conventions I did and didn’t like such as using a performance element rather than a narrative. This being said, the genre that I had chosen made it difficult for me not to conform to the conventions of that genre as the ideas that I had in mine came naturally styled around the genre. The fact that I have stuck to my genre and kept it relevant means that my target audience will enjoy the music video and find it interesting to watch as it is suited to the genre. Whilst I enjoyed challenging the conventions of Andrew Goodwins theory I am also glad that I stuck to it mostly, as I feel it is an accurate representation of the way the all audiences view music videos, and without it they would not connect or understand the video as easy.