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

When creating my music video I looked at my research to help guide me in what I wanted to achieve from my own music video. I did this by doing research looking into other music videos out there. What I noticed from my music video research was that music videos fall into a concept based video, a performance based video or a narrative based video. For my chosen genre (Melodic hardcore) I found out that a lot of the music video in this scene tend to be performance based rather than concept or narrative videos. For my music video I have decided to challenge the conventions for my chosen music genre.

Music video

For my music video I have chosen to do a narrative based music video. I have chosen to do this because I think the theme of this song to me has a story like feel to it as it has references of the past, present and future. I have also chosen to do a narrative music video as it lets the audience focus on the themes of the song rather than what’s happening in the video but also it complements each other as you understand the meaning of the song. There are themes of love in this song so I have tried to show this in the visuals.

Typical videos from the melodic hardcore genre of music

This is a typical music video for a melodic hardcore video they feature the band playing a live show in front of a crowd at one of their tightly compacted venues where there are activities such as

crowd surfing, moshing and mic grabs from the band to the audience. This image is from the melodic hardcore band, More Than

Life.

Conventions I have used in my music video

In my music video I was strongly drawn to use black and white for my music video. I chose to

do black and white as I think it has connotations of the past as it’s used to show events from a long time ago. I think this was important for my music video as the song I have chosen has references to the past. For

this black and white I was strongly influenced by Green Day’s Macy Day Parade video.

In my music video I got inspiration from Green Day’s Macy Day video. This shot features my model seen in a mid shot which then zooms out

slowly so we see this upper torso. The setting for this image was chosen is in an outside location. I think that because the lighting is

outside that the natural lighting highlights parts of his face. The costume chosen also has a casual feel about it but also because of the clothing worn is fashionable it makes us think that this is the clothing which people who listen to this genre of music will look like. Also, the

model chosen is in the age brackets of my audiences so it makes it relatable. There is direct eye contact between the model and the

camera as he looks directly into the camera as if he is looking at us.

For the shots for the video I have looked at My Chemical Romances video for ‘I Don’t Love You’ as I liked the different shot choices which they have chosen for the video which compliment the lyrics well. Also, I think out of all the music videos I did look at for inspiration for my own music video this one is probably the most similar one as a lot of the setting and the shots are alike. The image below I think looks a lot like the still shot I have chosen in my music video as the black and white colour, shot type and the height of the camera is the same.

In this scene of my music video we see the artist looking into the camera from an angle which gives us a higher authority as we look

down on him making him look defenceless and helpless which is what comes across from the song. This defenceless and helplessness is also

shown in the music video which I was inspired by My Chemical Romance as he looks up to the camera which highlights his sad

emotions which indicate the meaning of the song which I think this shot shows. The setting for this shot was set outside but also the

background is very similar to the My Chemical Romance one as you can see the darker colours in the bark which is also shown in my

video, this is because of the black and white colour.

For the next shot I did I looked at My Chemical Romances video for ‘I Don’t Love You’. What I liked about this shoot was the falling of leaves as I think it’s a symbol of death or dying in the case for the shot this song was from was the dying love between two people. When creating my music video I didn’t want to show dying so I picked leaves still on the trees with the sun glistening off them as it has connotations of spring and rebirth.

When looking at the themes of my song there were references to the past and future but also the structure of the song works in a story sort of way as it has a beginning and an end. I have tried representing this by using leaves to show this. I think because the season I filmed my

music video which was autumn the changing leaves colour has journey connotations as they die but come back again the following year. Also, the nature in the video compliments the song as it makes it a lot more

calming and relaxing.

The next shot I liked in My Chemical Romances music video was the touching of hands. I liked the touching of hands and wanted it in my music video as I think that hands act as binding each other and has connotations of closeness and relationship. I didn’t want to have the distance in my music video as I think it makes it look like they are growing apart from each other but instead I wanted the hands which look like the male put his hand on top of the girls by accident which is typical from movies.

I have chosen to have hand holding in my music video as I was inspired by the music video for My Chemical Romance as I think that there is references in the song I have chosen about taking their time and I think that the way I have shown this is by making my models do an action which is how the guy makes the first move. The angle of the shot I have chosen was a low angle shot. I chose to do this so that the camera focuses on the action of the two models than anything in the background. I think this shot makes it a significant scene in my music video.

For the next shoot I got inspiration from the music video by Lana Del Ray – Blue Jeans. What I liked about this water shot was the ripples of the water which was emphasised by the black and white colouring as it also showed on the light reflecting of the water but it also has connotations of calming.

As my video has references to journey I wanted to show this by using water to show this as water has a journey as it moves from town to

town. I think that this was quite effective as it brought the nature but also as my music video was filmed by the riverside it made my music have the references of journey throughout it. What I like about this

shot is that the black and white colouring of the music video highlights the sun hitting the water. This shot was inspired by Lana

Del Ray’s – Blue Jeans music video.

For the next shot I looked at I again got inspiration from Lana Del Rey’s Blue Jeans video. Even though Lana Del Ray doesn’t fit into my chosen genre of music I liked the way the video was filmed by the use of different angles and scenery. I chose to do a similar scenery to this video as it made the video look unreal and natural. Obviously I couldn’t do a palm tree setting but it wouldn’t have matched the themes of my song anyway so I think choosing trees from a forest looked more effective as it was in locations which would surround the areas where I filmed my music video. I also liked the silhouette effect which the light gives the trees and I wanted that in my music video.

This shot from my music video starts by having the camera unfocused then focusing on the sun. What I think was effective

about this shot was that the suns rays as it came into focus it all became one making the sun. This coming of different sun rays could be a symbol for two people becoming one. Also, I think that it shows

off the nature side of my music video which is quite calming just like the song.

For my next shot in my music video I got inspiration from My Chemical Romances video. I haven’t used their camera shot or but the lighting used in this video I thought looked really effective and I wanted to have that in my own music video. Also, the setting used in their video I liked as it looked more professional and more clean and crisp in comparison to the more outside locations. The black and white also emphasises the light hitting off the models but also their clothing.

This shot was set in a studio setting. I chose to do a studio setting as my feedback suggested that this is what I could have done to make my

music video better by breaking down the amount of outside locations with more professional like settings. I think that this shot shows off the music video conventions of my chosen genre (melodic hardcore) as a

common thing which was apart in the music video from melodic hardcore was the showing of instruments but also the videos from

melodic hardcore was a performance. The lighting used in this shot was studio lighting which I have experience using as I am currently studying

photography A level.

In Andrew Goodwins Theory he says that music videos demonstrate the genre characteristics. In my music video I think I have shown the genre of my song by using models which would listen to this music but they would also represent the audience allowing them to relate to my main model as he looks and is the same age as the people who would listen to this music. I have challenged the conventions by not having my artist doing a stage performance as I didn’t think it would fit the theme of my song. He also says that the visuals represents the song. I think I have shown this for example when the song goes “let’s go walking on the boardwalk” I have shown this by my model walking along the board walk.

ANDREW GOODWINS

Digipak

This is the digipak for my artist. I have taken inspiration from another band which is also from the same record company as my own artist. What I think is similar about my digipak in comparison to this real media product is the

edgy font which a lot of the bands in the chosen recording company (Bridge Nine Records) use. The reason why I looked at this digipak for inspiration

for my own was that it shows off the genre of the artist because of the slow shutter speed used on the real media product which has connotations of

speed and anger. In my digipak I wanted to show off my genre for my digipak by showing the instruments for my digipak as it shows what

instruments are played in this album. Because I picked an acoustic guitar it doesn’t match my chosen genre which tends to have electric guitars which challenges the conventions of real media products but my font makes the

audience think that the band has an edgy feel to it which is also emphasized by the black and white colouring as it’s quite dark which the genre for my

chosen genre has connotations for.

This is the back of my digipak which was inspired by Florence and The Machines back cover/ Even though Florence and The Machine isn’t in the same genre of music as my chosen genre the album is black and white but also is quite dark with the image of the lungs. What I liked about this image

was the black and white emphasized the lungs but also the writing. This was something which I wanted to include in my own digipak. I also liked the layout for this digipak as the writing was

beneath the image drawing attention to the image but also the way the songs of the album were in like a paragraph I really liked. For my own digipak I used a similar layout to Florence and The

Machine as I liked that it drew attention to the image. I have also made my digipak conventional by using the barcode which is seen on all digipaks. I placed mine on the top right hand corner as I wanted to include my record company's logo. Adding the recording company was something which was conventional to real media products but especially to my chosen recording company who have their logo on the back of their own digipaks. The image chosen for my digipak isn’t conventional because the melodic hardcore genre tends to be about gigs and the more energetic angry side of the genre but I felt that my song didn’t fit in with that energetic side of the genre so I wanted to

have images of love and couples which wasn’t conventional but it worked for my song.

Advert

For my advert I chose to a double page spread for my advert. I also included a image of my digipak so my audience know what to look for after seeing my

advert in a magazine. I chose to do a double page spread as I think it allowed me to have a lot more room to space all my writing and images. When creating

my advert I did chose to use the same photo for my digipak as well as my advert because I looked at the You Me At Six advert which has used their image for

their advert. I think this was effective as if someone saw the advert they would know what they were looking for as they have seen the front cover of the

digipak. What I took from the You Me At Six advert was the ‘New Album Out 12th June CD/Downlaod’ I chose to copy this as it was adverting the digital copy of the song as well as the hard album copy which you could buy in stores but

also it was a way of showing the date it was out without it looking out of place. From the Ellie Goulding advert I took the star rating as I think that having a big company reviewing a album giving it 5 stars would make people want to buy my album as it has good reviews. I have also put the same writing which was on the

back of my album digipak as it promotes the cd, band and merch.