In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of media products?
The purpose of producing a range of media products very often is linked to advertising and production. I looked at a range of examples as regards to music promotion and it is through the case study analysis that I was able to identify the conventions which facilitated planning and production of my music video and the other two ancillary tasks, digi-pack and magazine advert. I also looked at genre conventions and noticed how in the bid to remain original; many producers attempt to challenge conventions. Equally some conventions are re-used so that the audience can identify the form and type of product being promoted.
As part of my research, I noticed that slow motion was of common use to emphasise on the allure of artist.
For example in ‘Beyonce – Me, Myself and I' it is also used in Chris Browns music video ‘turn up the music’ where the slow motion is used as a build-up for the main part; dance sequence.
I also saw fit to use slow motion in some of the shots in my MV to emphasise on her style. Also offering the audience time identifies and recognises her.
In Taylor Swifts’ video I was quite inspired by the juxtaposition of nature and glamour. People ted to associate pretty girls in RnB music videos to glitter and gold but I really liked the concept of using nature to keep a fresh look as well as challenging conventions. In this shot from my video, the establishing shot immediately conveys her sense of style and the pose suggests her confidence too. This pose challenges female representation of pop artists as she comes across as rather masculine in terms of her confidence and strength yet feminine with her hair, makeup as well as how she directly addresses the audience by looking straight at the camera. Unlike the Taylor Swift video where she wore her princess gown, my artist wore black leather jacket and leggings creating a more urban look. I developed the concept of filming outside juxtaposing nature versus the idea of rebellion. This I thought was a creative decision I made which challenged conventions well.
Another common convention that I used was tracking back/memories. These are really popular especially with music videos with a narrative as it pieces up the music video. It has been used in recent music video ‘Give your heart a break’ by Demi Lovato. These allow you to make a mini snapshot of the past to engage the audience, reinforcing the narrative structure. I also developed the concept of using tracking to involve the audience into the world of film. I saw this being effectively used in Demi Lovato’s “Give your heart a break” MV and “T-shirt” by Shontelle.
Instead of using tracking to convey the present, I used my creativity to reverse the timeline to refer to the past. I thought this would be much more interesting than a chronological order. Light leaks have begun to be used more often in pop music videos as it helps create a bubblier feel to the song making it more enjoyable to watch. These leaks give a disco-like feel to the music video.
With development of SFX as a result of technologies, I noticed in my case studies that light leaks were becoming increasingly popular in videos to create a livelier atmosphere and sometimes it can help connote this idea of fairy tale chemistry between lovers.
These leaks have primarily been used in disco dance videos such as ‘Nelly Furtado - Promiscuous ft. Timbaland’
[This adds more of nightlife, party aspect to the music video]
As my music video is about the stereotypical romance, I believed it would complement the overall effect of my video if I added light leaks in certain shots. For example Demi Lovato (Give your heart a break) and the one Rebecca Black (Friday) have made use of light leaks to make their video more interesting to watch. In my music video I have used a range of different colour leaks to convey different atmosphere. I noticed at times varying the colour of the light leaks helped in reinforcing understanding of the action and lyrics. The way I believed I have challenged this concept is by attempting to use this effect for RnB track which is rather unconventional for this genre of music.
Demi Lovato 'Give your heart a break'
Rebecca Back 'Friday'
I used a darker leak in shots where my artist is classy as the colours and leaks create more of an edge to the shot.
In shots where my artist is wearing casual clothing I used more green/yellow coloured leaks as it helps to portray my artist as a young and fun character.
360 degrees rule is one camera movement I experienced wit for the representation of my artist. In fact I noticed how such types of movements are seen as very powerful in the way it presents the character. In my video, I wanted to empower her personality by using this camera technique as it also allowed the audience to enter her work and hence relate more closely to the action.
Across a range of case studies, I noticed a common convention: close-ups where the artist is looking directly at the camera. This image below is from the MV Shontelle ‘T-shirt’ shows this clearly.
This shot gives the audience this exclusive view of her emotions.
The other image of Shontelle is of Shontelle looking up facing the camera, the audience feels completely taken into her world and her state of mind.
I realised how this notion of looking straight into the camera creates a lasting impression on the audience.
Outfit is extremely important in meeting with conventions. In my music video I mixed the typical casual clothing with the elegant image. By doing this it allows the viewers to understand that the artist is independent and is also very fashionable. When I analysed music video like Shontelle’s ‘T-Shirt’, I observed that even a simple item of clothing styled correctly can really make a fashion statement. As the title states, Shontelle uses a tee-shirt as well as a sexy short dress to emphasise her style. Lady Gaga for instance is known for her new wave fashion trend which is futuristic – suggesting her style.
Having understood how costume and make-up can play an important role, I made selective choices about what my artist will wear. As my target audience was mainly teenagers and up, I decided to includes a combination of casual and smart clothes – one to match with the narrative and secondly to allow the audience to relate to her more. Her dress with platform boots and elaborate make-up stresses on her sexiness and femininity which the audience expects to see in a romantic story of an RnB video.
I was inspired by my case studies; Mariyah Carey “We belong together” and Beyonce’s “Listen”
This was to make sure that my artist carried elegance and sophistication in her style. For instance, I really liked the idea of my artist wearing faux-fur as it connotes class ad wealth as seen in Beyonce’s ‘Naughty girl’. Very often especially the female audience looks up to music artists as they are seen as fashion trend setters. For example Lady Gaga’s studded boots and weirdly designed platforms have inspired high street fashion. In my video, my artist wears what’s considered as chic and accessible too – therefore this is another selling point of my artist in the bid to promote her in the best way possible. As music artists are every often trend setters, and to appeal to my young audience, both characters in my MV are wearing accessories such as rings, chains and bracelets to make a fashion statement.
Similarly the male character was dressed in a stylish, wearing a combination of high street fashion as well as an elegant suit to show his fashion sense which would equally be an attractive feature for my audience-escapism.
In order to consolidate understanding of the narrative, when planning, props play an important role.
Not only did I get inspiration from other music videos but also was enthused by television programmes and romantic films. The surprise keychain idea was inspired by a Korean drama ‘Boys before flowers’ where the man gives the girl his jacket and tells her to put her hands in the pocket creating a surprise for the girl to find the necklace. This helped me create a loving scene in my MV.
I noticed how in Taylor Swift’s video ‘You belong to me’; the use of paper notes written for the love powerfully conveyed the emotions that she encountered. When I watched the Korean drama ‘Boys before flowers’, I noticed how the use of a necklace pieced together the narrative giving more of a symbolic meaning to the text. I was inspired by Taylor Swift’s video and adapted that concept of love notes when my two characters see each other in one of the scenes. This worked well as it emphasised the stereotypical young love and the chemistry was made even more evident with the use of the props. I also used a keychain in one of the shots to emphasise their union and their sense of commitment to each other.
Taylor Swift 'You belong with me'
When I looked at a range of music videos;
Carly Rae Jepson 'Call me maybe'
Kelly Rowland 'Stole'
Lil Wayne 'How to love'
Avril Lavigne 'Girlfriend'
Some of these videos are similar to the genre of my track and some totally different – I noticed a common convention across all music videos – the overall quality and narrative of the music video is pieced together through creative editing decisions. One of the camera movements I used to allow the audience to enter the world of the lovers and to establish special relations in the video. To complement the viewing experience and to stress on the fairy tale love, I used the 360 degree rule which creates the sensation of spinning as the audience understands the romance and chemistry that the lovers show on screen. To add the magical aspect of their romance, I included fireworks in the scene.
I noticed that such SFX were common in Disney stories and I believed this effect worked well for my audience. Even if all music videos attempt to create something new to put a stamp on their product at times some recurring elements are effective as they allow the audience to relate to the ideas and concepts in the video if they can link it to something they have seen before. However, I challenged the conventions by not ending the video with the romance and fireworks by adding extra shots of the couple in casual clothes to bring back an element of realism.
When it came to my ancillary products, I explored a range of examples to identify the conventions of print and noticed that most dig-packs tend to use a close-up of the artist as the front cover as this is a common way for the audience to identify the artist as part of the promotional campaign.
Selena Gomez ‘Kiss & tell’
Demi Lovato ‘Skyscraper’
Lee Hi ‘First Love’
In fact the selection of photo of the artist requires careful consideration as the picture must best represent him or her as any misrepresentation can prove disastrous for the promoter. So bearing that in mind, I also conformed to the convention and used a close-up picture of Maribelle where her femininity is emphasised by her curls and make-up. Her looking straight at the camera creates this notion of her looking straight at the audience – a way to attract the audience towards her. I chose this picture as this also makes a statement about her style. The jewellery and make-up also add to her star image conforming to the conventions of the genre.
The spine has the name of the artist so that it will be easily identified on the shelf in shops. In the front the name is in bold as well as the name of the album to make it match the name of the product to the face too as part of the promotion campaign. In the inside cover, I have used a faded picture of a close-up of Maribelle tinted in turquoise to keep to the colour scheme. The inside back cover/CD has a heart that looks like it is painted in turquoise colour to link to the nail varnish. All these decisions stemmed from making notes of the common conventions identified in my case studies.
front cover
inside cover
back cover
I noticed that the designers and promoters tend to establish a close link between MV and other promotional products to create that sense of continuity, so I also carried on with the turquoise colour scheme as seen in the nail varnish she is wearing in the back cover. One of the common convention is promoting female artists is a bit of skin show and the back cover is cropped so that her bare shoulders are shown but to keep the enigma and encourage the audience to look back at the front cover, I have decided to exclude her face in that picture.
Like all digi-packs, I followed institutional conventions where I included barcode, copyright logo and information as well as sponsors and promoters.
Britey Spears Beyonce
Finally the magazine advertisement has also been constructed by looking at a range of real texts in order to make it recognisable as a promotional product. I have used a photograph of Maribelle wearing sports top with a bit of cleavage showing to emphasise her femininity as well as displaying a strong and confident personality. The heavy eye make-up highlights the action of directly looking at the camera addressing the audience. The arm over the head also connotes sexiness as well as confidence which would appeal to the audience. Once more, the turquoise nails create a close link with the other decisions made for the other products and this was continued with the writing being of a combination of white and turquoise.
My Poster challenges conventions as it goes against the girly look and shows a more hip and bold look but shows femininity through make-up and voyeurism through what she is wearing. Her hat supports the hip look, which is very trendy for young people at the moment with artists such as Rita Ora.
The colours of her nails are sky blue which is linked with the colour of typography. This colour expresses youth, freedom and fun. Her top is voyeuristic as it shows a large amount of skin which goes with conventions of a female pop artist as they tend to show some skin. By her not looking straight at the camera it creates mystery this draws the viewers as it alluring. I used HMV ad itunes as they are associated with music and take a big part on the music industry in the UK ad some places abroad.
The font used for ‘I Got You’ is ‘monotype corsia’. The reason I used this is because it looks feminine which contrasts with the background image but suits the image she has in the music video. For ‘Maribelle Anes’ I used ‘myriad pro’ font as it was simple which will make it easy to read. I made this font bigger then ‘I Got You’ as I want her name to be more important as the poser is all about her and the focus is on her.
However despite the fact that my print products visibly follow codes and conventions, I tried to challenge the representation of women where they very often tend to be portrayed as sexy and sensual. I tried to change that by showing my character to be more independent and strong not so much under the male gaze for her sexual appeal.
I was inspired by all three of these CD covers and used parts of them to complete my CD cover. In my CD cover the image is at face value with straight eye-contact which makes it engaging as it creates a relationship with the audience. This is similar to Demi lovatos CD cover as she has strong eye-contact as the eye make-up creates a bolder image. For my CD the artist has simple make-up and the CD cover its self is in pastel colours which suggest innocence similarly to Ailees’ cover. The artist in my cover also has a neutral expression which a slight smile which displays a welcoming image. The lightness of the image allows you to focus on the typography similar to Selena gomez’ CD. The curly hair of my artist suggests she is fun as curly hair is associated with youth.
The blue font and font styles are the same as the poster which shows continuity and allows the audience to familiarise.
All three media products are recognisable for what they represent in the promotion of my artist and much of this is due to the study and understanding of real texts and the conventions that have allowed me to realise these projects.