Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Evaluation: Q1.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In order for my music video and ancillary products to look professional and be successful in their target demographic they needed to use many of the forms and conventions that existing products use. As I was producing a music video for the dance/remix genre I wanted to include the conventions of dancing and artistic videos, whilst challenging the conventions of including ‘sexy girls’ with very little clothing as, while that is the stereotype that appears to ‘sell’, I wanted to progress from this idea as in 2012 I felt that women are more equal to men and therefore my target audience would appreciate a more intelligent look. In terms of big conventions that music videos use I featured lots of lip syncing and editing on the beat as well as having a narrative that reflected the content of the music... 


Comparison
I've created this presentation to compare in more detail my product with existing products...
Sound: Music videos often not only have the song that they are promoting but also diagetic sound that you would find in a short film, such as footsteps or the ‘real’ sounds of a location. I incorporated this by using sounds such as waves crashing and seagulls to fully set the scene of the beach - a key location in the video.
Text: In the video I’ve chose a more personal, impacting font style which I have edited together to look more contemporary and to feel more professional and important. The inclusion of the artist’s name and title of the song is often used in modern music videos, especially alternative artists, in order for the audience to remember the artist after viewing the song as these days audiences can be fickle as they flick through music video after music video. Thus in order to make any audience impact it is important to keep them engaged and to be bold, which I have tried to do.
I've continued this throughout the video as well to keep the theme running:
An example of existing products using this technique
In my ancillary tasks, I didn’t use any text for the single cover which, while against the generic conventions of mainstream products fitted in with Jamie xx’s existing covers. I went for simplicity and kept the ‘x’ brand in order for the cover to be recognisable to my target audience - both fans of jamie xx’s music and listeners to dance music who are mostly used to seeing stills from the music video as well as something more artistic and simple. However in my advert I did use text as the advert was to attract a more wider audience that may not have heard jamie xx’s music before. I still tried to keep it simple and so went for a black and white theme with font that suggested an established artist to give it more credibility. The colour red stands out which is why I used it for the words ‘out now’ in order to prompt readers to buy the song. I included reviews from well-known and respected magazines and newspapers in order to stand out to the audience that it is a good song. As is the convention, I included the website details of the artist so the audience can find out more. This is often done and is an example of the growth in multi-platform media: it is expected for artists to have an online presence.
I placed my advert into a real newspaper music section (The Daily Telegraph's Review section) and while the majority of the music reviewed there is aimed at an older audience, my advert stands out on the page and the inclusion of reviews from established institutions may help further to draw the average reader in and be interested in the advert. The ideal place for my advert to be situated would be in music magazines such as NME, Mojo and Mixmag as readers would be interested in music already and in the case of Mixmag specifically interested in dance music. Other ideas may be teen magazines or free newspapers such as the London Metro as creative types who are open to new things may be attracted. Otherwise a newspaper/magazine advert may not be the right way to promote this song in the modern market and an online advert such as the trailers before YouTube videos would be the ideal way to promote the song as my target audience (16-24 year olds) use social network sites such as YouTube daily, whereas market research I've conducted has shown me that very few 16-24 year olds read newspapers and magazines and that sales for magazines are dropping as the world gradually turns digital.


Genre: The music genre that I was working in was perhaps more complex than most because it wasn’t just a dance song but also a remix of a mainstream song and so I wanted to include both dance and pop music conventions to develop something more interesting and original. I swayed towards the dance music genre when creating my single cover, but when putting together my advert I also used elements of Adele’s advertising campaign - using an understated and sophisticated black and white palate, which meant that the blues in the cover image stood out and the advert and connections with Adele as well as Jamie xx - combining both their styles effectively.
The genre conventions I’ve used in my music video are as followed: lip-syncing, editing to the beat, engagement with audience, artist/character shown, music playing and some form of narrative/message.
The video genre I’m working in is romantic, however it is moving away from conventions by looking at the break up and not the ‘falling in love’ part of romance.
My video conforms to some conventions of a romance by including a couple in love (these portions making up the flashbacks) which builds audience expectations for the video. But then the rest of the video subverts the conventions by showing a strong single female who is moving on from the relationship. It plays with the conventions by showing her in similar conventions used in romantic videos and then showing herself happy in them on her own.
I put together this comic strip showing my process of production...




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