Ellie McCarthy A2 Coursework Evaluation : 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I think that throughout this entire process, I have used, developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products in my video, digipack and advertisement.

During the process at AS, I researched and analysed many existing media examples of music magazines. This was in order to gain the basic knowledge in order to make my magazine a reality. I researched magazines such as 'Q' and 'Mojo'

What I gained from this was the professional layout that I could use on my own product. Despite this, I should have analysed more pop genre magazines instead of rock and blues genre magazines for my research to have been more effective and beneficial to my own magazine. Therefore, during my A2 coursework, whilst analysing current digipaks and advertisements, I researched bands and artists that were of a similar genre to the music that was going to be featuring in my project, which was indie. I therefore analysed artists such as 'Two door cinema club' and 'Coldplay'.

As you can see, there are similarities, as my media product uses and develops certain forms of current media products such as:

Black and White colour scheme
Consistency between fonts
Multiple images for effect
Bright neon colours

Compared to a pop artist such as Gwen Stefani, who tends to use lots of bright colours with a young, girly vibe to it.

Firstly, I think that in my video, I used a variety of different camera angle and editing techniques. When I first analysed music videos, I made spider diagrams on the different range of angles that I could use. I also completed a table to show the variety and the effects that they would have on the audience (please see blog)

I also created a focus group of five people between the ages of 16-19 to watch the music video 'Diamonds' by Rihanna. This was very successful as it allowed my to analyse the conventions, but I had feedback on real media texts from my target audience. One specific piece of feedback was the effect of the pan within the video, therefore, I challenged this convention and shot my own pan for my video. This is another example of how the analysis of real media texts informed my own creative media practise.

For example, at the beginning of my video, I used a pan to introduce the band to the audience:

I think that this is effective, because it is night time, and therefore, the pan slowly unveils the artists to the audience and creates suspense.

Another example of an effective shot that I used was when Molly was applying lipstick, there was a close up of her face:

This shows more detail to the audience and the range of movement creates more interest for the eye. An effective angle that was used throughout the course of my video was during the camp fire scene, when there is a low angle looking down on Andy and Molly:

A point of view shot was used by Molly to Andy. This effect allows the audience to be in the position of Molly and understand the emotions which she is feeling, which in this case, is love. It is important for a young audience such as my target audience to have relateable visuals within the narrative not only to engage them, but make the video more realisitc and therefore memorable.

Slow motion is often used throughout the video to emphasise particular features of the video and narrative. For example, when Molly and Andy are caught running away from the camera in slow motion, it allows the audience to process what is going on- Why are they running and what from? Therefore, it creates suspense!

The black and white effect is used twice throughout the video. This is just to add different visuals to the video to make it more appealing. It also links with the synergy of the black and white theme throughout the digipak and advertisement.

A hand-held camera is used by Andy, showing Molly running. This shows how they are running together and suggests the intimacy between them, but the audience can also feel this as they are looking at the scene from Andy's perspective.

The reason I did this was because I thought this was quite a harmonious scene, therefore I wanted to portray them as looking peaceful rather than dominating.

Another way in which my media product uses forms and conventions of real media products is the life band. Throughout the video, there is a life band performing. I emailed the O2 Academy Venue in Oxford, and told them about the project and if there was any possibility of me filming one of their gigs? The Manager contacted me and said that I could go along and film

Here is my Guest badge and a small piece of footage that I took on the day. Therefore, I am using current conventions in my video, as many other music videos include this for example:

Therefore, this is another way how I used conventions from real media products in my video.

In the advertisement, I used forms and conventions of real media products, for example in the information that I used. I included the name of the album and when it was going to be released. I also mentioned that it could be preordered. However, I also developed and challenged real media products, as I included a Blackberry scan barcode, so that smartphones can interact and find out more about the album. I also involved the Twitter and Facebook logos, so that viewers and readers are more aware of the ways that they can connect and learn more about the album. Also, from analysing other advertisements, some of them had deals and special offers to entice people to buy their products. Therefore, I made a deal on the advert to pre-order the album on iTunes and as an incentive, consumers would receive the single 'Saint Era' for free. I think that this is a good marketing strategy but also a good incentive, and will persuade people to buy the product. In this way I have challenged and developed real media conventions.

Throughout the digipack, I have used the same font for continuity purposes. When analysing the digipacks and the advertisements almost all of them had the same font throughout. i think that this is effective, as the font becomes associated with the band and is a good marketing strategy. Therefore, I used forms and conventions of real media products and used the same font throughout the whole process.

Another way that I used forms and conventions of real media products is with the CD. I thought that it was very important to include the 'All rights reserved' notice about copyright and piracy, as piracy has such an negative impact on the industry. Therefore, I included this on the CD around the outside of it. It said: "All rights of the producer and the owner of the recorded work reserved unauthorised copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited." Therefore, I used this convention from previous real media products in order to protect my work against copyright and piracy. Similarly, I also included the name of the producer, editor, designer etc (in this case all me) on the inside of the digipack, as I this is something that I noted when analysing other digipacks.

I used a varied amount of different locations in my video. This is one thing that I have used and developed from real media products, as there are often about 3 or four different locations in a music video and I use around 5. The reason that I did this was because I thought that they worked well with one another and they also created diversity. With this, I developed forms of real media products as I had the idea of using a projector throughout my video to create different shapes and motions I think that this was effective, as it made simple singing more interesting and creative, therefore my media product developed the conventional lip-singing, and made it more interesting with the use of the projector.

My media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products as I have a theme which runs throughout the digipak, advertisement and video, as an example of synergy. The band are called Plan X. I decided that the 'X' could be displayed as a roman numeral for 10. Therefore, on the advertisement, there is a clock, on the digipak it features 3 clocks and in the video, a clock is projected on to Andy's face. As well as this, Molly is seen walking round in a large circle in the video, which is meant to replicate a clock, with the roman numerals coming up at different intervals. Therefore, I think that this works well with the name of the album 'after dark', as 10 o'clock represents after dark. Therefore, there is a pattern and link amongst the merchandise. I think that this challenges real media conventions because it is memorable for the viewers and fans, and it is a strong selling point, as it is turned in to a brand.

From AS, the analysis of the conventions of real media texts helped my to establish what caught people's eyes and attention. One thing that particularly stood out to my target market was the design of the set and costumes. From this, I learnt that image was very important to ages in my target, as they were teenagers and therefore looked up to the artist. Therefore, in A2, I carefully considered the set and costume design. I used many different sets in the video, such as in woodland areas but also in a graffitied tunnel, which fitted well with the a young, care-free vibe! The costume on the other hand, differed from AS, as i kept it minimalistic This was from looking at similar bands and analysing their outfits.

THis is because I thought that it fitted much better with the indie genre, and from the research I had done prior on real media texts, this was evident.

From every band that I researched, every band similar to mine contained an all-boy band. For examples:

The 1975

Bastille

Kaiser Chiefs

Coldplay

Muse

Consequently, records show that these bands are in fact more popular to girls as a result. I wanted to challenge this convention, as my target audience was both male and females between the ages of 16-19. Therefore I had a girl and boy within my band.

Narrative:
The narrative in the video is a typical stereotypical young relationship between Molly and Andy.
This is extremely relatable for both boys and girls within my target market.
The story adds to the visuals of the video, and is a memorable aspect of the song and lyrics.

Their relationship is displayed through different camera angles and editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer.
Some examples of this is:

This pan illustrates Andy and Molly running closely together. Perhaps an interpretation is that they can run on forever, just like their love for one another will.