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

Music Video

In our music video we decided to conform to a lot of generic stereotypes you would typically expect to see in an illustration styled video, the illustration styled video has been used in music videos such as The fray- How to save a life and Snow Patrol - Run. As these were very similar artists to the band we were trying to re-create we decided that the because the lyrics were simple and had a chronological narrative to them we decided that this would be the best styled video for us to do. Along with this another element that conformed to indie rock videos is the idea of male hegemony, no women are featured in our video at all, because firstly our target audience is male teenagers and we wanted to portray the band as aspiration to them, we used low angle shots to help us do this and we done this because we wanted to create a feeling of when the audience member wants to be part of the band. We also included no women in the video as we wanted to represent the band as rebellious/outsiders, if we had done a narrative that showed a love story then it would of been very conventional and wouldn't portray the band as those who don't fit in with society.

Where we have subverted from many similar music videos is through the use of an enigma within the story, as we wanted the audience to listen to lyrics and come up with their own interpretation of that may be happening in the story and why the man seems to be being chased, we also used this chase sequence as a way of attract attention, as many indie rock videos don't have much high action sequences. Another way in which out video subverts from the norm is with the use of our mirror editing technique, we decided to do this because when we watch other similar products we saw that almost all of them have a hook, something that is quirky but appeals to the audience, most of the time this was the narrative, but we decided to use a clever editing technique instead in order to draw the audiences gaze.





Website

We used the Arctic Monkeys website to spot conventions that we could use and what we could subvert. Whilst looking at the websites I discovered that unlike popular pop stars, a website of an indie rock bands concentrates more on the music and news of the band, this is a convention that we decided to follow, as the website had to look as if we were a new band and we wanted to the audience to know our music as quickly as possible, this is why a feature was added that made the track play as soon as the user logs onto the website. however as we were a new band we also needed to get our image and style out there, and this is why we included a gallery, a feature that not many indie rock band website have, this is an example of use subverting the norm.

Something that we found with nearly all of the websites we looked at, is that they all create a sense of community by using modern technologies, such as Facebook and twitter. We decided to conform to this as it has proven to be so popular with bands like the Arctic Monkeys receiving thousands of followers on twitter. Our website page includes a Facebook link, along with a live twitter post section, which allows the audience to follow or like the band without having to go on the social network site. We believe that this has been a success and that we have create a sense of community using modern technology.



Digi-Pack

Whilst researching similar artists such as Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys I found that the front cover focus's a lot on the band members and how they look as a collective unit. I also found that a lot of emphasis is placed on the facial expression of the band members, in many other front cover direct address is used however members have serious facial expressions and this is exactly what we've done in our front cover, it conveys that we a re serious band and also shows the style of music and genre that the band are. Another way we used to front cover to convey the genre is the placement of the amp in the middle of the image, it shows what the genre is and all conveys to the audience that music is the center of the group and intern each band member. The background behind the band is plain and simple, this puts more emphasis on the band, this has been done especially because the band is relatively unknown.

When I viewed similar Digi-packs, the costumes that the band members would wear would be very similar to each other, they were also dark clothes that didn't have a brand to them, we followed this convention because we want to convey the idea that we are our own brand and that we also don't want to conform to what a stereotypical artist/s would look like.



What have you learned from your audience feedback?

How effective was the combination of your main text and ancillary texts?

How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Digi-pack

30 seconds to mars - A Beautiful Lie

This CD is a conventional rock CD as it encompasses strong iconography such as skulls which cover the front and back of the cover case. This sends a strong message out to the audience about what type of style of rock the band plays, which would be heavy rock. The booklet inside includes 6 pages which show pictures and information about the band, this makes the audience believe that they are getting value for money, something they are getting instead of just downloading it from the Internet. The pictures in the booklet have a single shot of the 4 band member on their own and one of them all together, this is very stereotypical as the final picture shows a sense of community and belonging  between the band but the single shots show the different personality of each

All of the writing on the front and back of the case is in block capitals and is the colour red against a white background, this is too make the case really stand out in the rock section of a store as many of the other Cd's around it would be dark with black colours.

On the front of the case it has 2 sticks both of them are reviews from newspapers for example " 9 out of 10" - from The Guardian, stickers like this encourage the audience to buy this as they believe that their money will be spent and that it would be good quality for what they are paying, these are also an example of purchase incentives.

The cover of the CD does however subvert to what I would expect a conventional CD cover to look like, it still has the skulls on the front but they are coloured in silver instead of ed and are shiny instead of plain. This is so the audience actually look at the art on the CD instead of just putting into play straight away. As this is bands platinum album this could also represent this.

The camera shots of the band are long shots. these are so the audience can see what they are wearing, so that they might buy the same clothes as them, they are also slightly jilted at at low angle making them seem dominant and powerful. The band members are looking right at the camera, this is an example of direct address and is used to create audience recognition. These camera shots combined all conform to the idea of the star construction.

Treatment

Treatment

A Silent Film - Sleeping Pills                
                                              
The target audience for our video is going to be both male and female viewers aged from 15-25, we have chosen this target audience because this is the audience that listens to this type of music as it is conventional pop.

The video for the track is going to be focused primaraly on Performance making more of an amplification video, However there are going to be elements of narrative in the video, this is to drive the video and to stop it from getting too dull for the audience. Our narrative is simply going to be a man walking through london as a he reads his paper and in each different section it will have the band playing in real time. Using clever editing we hope to be able to zoom up on the band playing, this also gives us the opportunity to use a wide range of settings.

We are hoping to shoot in london, but more derilict parts of London this is because we want to include strong iconography. The main theme of the song is government, therefore instead of using government buildings in the video as that might be hard to get permission for, instead through the use of broadsheet newspapers, costumes and props we hope to create the atmosphere of being in a governmental area of London that has elements of government.


We are going to use a blank room to record the band playing to start off, and as the holder of the paper turns into different sections, they band will be there. For example in the political section we can use a boardroom, or in the sports section we can have gym or some example of a sports team.

Comments

Ishmael - I like the idea of filming in london and using unused train/tube stations to indicate where our protagonist is living as he is on the run from the government. The only thing i don't agree with is the newspaper part as I think could be boring. 

Eduardo - The idea of the setting being in London I think is a good one as it helps create narrative and creates the idea of why they are against the government. The use of unused train or tubes stations I think helps show the protagonist and whats he's going through as he's against the government. I believe the newspaper also helps creates narrative and adds creativity and a possible reason to why they are against the government e.g. media.

Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys - When the sun goes down


The music video tells an unconventional narrative about a boy and girl relationship in the 21st century. The video starts with a disequilibrium this is different to Todorov's theory that media texts start with an equilibrium. As the audience only hearing the actress shouting and using foul language. The video doesn't show the band at any point nor does it have the actors lip-synching this shows how it is a illustrative video (Goodwin). The use of famous actors like Lauren Socha and Stephen Graham allow of audience recognition and makes the video more poplar with young audiences as Lauren is widely considered to be a young persons actor starring in TV drama Misfits.


The lighting in the video is mostly dull, grey and low key in the video as it is representing a lower class relationship in a lower class location, however the lighting does turn to high key when Lauren is alone and has an opportunity by herself e.g performing in the circus. This gives the audience the idea that the man is holding her back in her life, this evokes sympathy for Lauren.


Lauren is constantly dressed in lower class clothing where as her male counterpart is seen in smarter dress than her this along with high angle eye lines and shots show how The man is incontrol