Blog Task One: In what ways do your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For our pop video we researched online and analysed the major conventions of a pop video. We also looked at other pop videos to give us an idea of how these conventions are used.

http://www.slideshare.net/jamsjamsjams/conventions-of-music-videos-2935597

These are some of the pop videos we looked at:

Britney Spears-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Xp6mmLvLk&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brYTO6JHMHs

Madonna-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWTDR6ztcnQ

Florence and the Machine-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SmxVCM39j4

Mumford and Sons-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KCg_QEHtkY


Through looking at these pop videos we could get a good idea at how some of these major conventions are used in real pop videos. For example in Britney Spear’s ‘Circus’ music video she noticeable uses some of the major conventions for example:

You can see in this shot from the video that it already covers the obvious convention of featuring the artist in the video. As well as that it is using a range of shots as you can see here there is a close-up of Britney and as well as this there are mid-shots and full length body shots of her in this element of the video.

In this shot you can see that more conventions are used in the video such as a performance element of Britney dancing, it also covers the convention of high impact instantly and also special effects of lighting. As well as that it also covers having a carefully constructed mise en scene appropriate to the content of the track as they are in a circus and the track is ‘Circus’.
In this shot here you can see Britney putting on her perfume which just so happens to be her own brand of perfume so she is in fact not only promoting her image but also promoting her brand.

Britney Spears ‘Circus’ video in fact covers just about every major pop video convention that Keith Negus mentions. These are:

• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption
  
• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)


• A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement


• Repetition of reoccuring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)


• A possible narrative structure


• A possible performance element


• The flexibility to disregard Realism!
  
• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track
  
• Use of special effects (lighting, annimation, CGIs, in-camera effects)
  
• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track
  
• High impact instantly! (Don’t forget that competition for airplay on the main music channel outlets is intense)

We hope that within our pop video we can imitate and subvert the conventions set up by Negus and follow Barthes theory of plaisir and jouissance. By imitating the convention we essentially would give the audience the expected pleasure of what they want to see and then by subverting the conventions we would give the audience jouissance that is something new or unexpected in Barthes terms.

In our song I believe our message was about the guilt and secrets this girl hides. I believe we tried to convey this through the use of our giant birdcage set. I believe the birdcage is almost a metaphor for the girls mental state. The cage is a representation of her mind and how she is trapped by all these secrets and her guilt. I.e. trapped by the cage. It can also be seen as how we as society are trying to break free from expectations set up by people and we want to escape from that mould. Our image and brand is set up to be quite modern and mysterious and our singer is quite dreamlike and mysterious. In the video she appears very innocent and vulnerable as if she is lost or struggling to find her way in a dream, this is set up at the beginning of the video by her being shown but not singing suggesting she is in a dream or that it is all in her mind. However as the song progresses you see her build strength and a larger sense of power and freedom that hopefully a lot of people will admire and look up to as a good quality of the brand.

In this shot here you can see that we imitated one of Negus’ conventions of the flexibility to disregard realism. You can see that we did this through using a diffused glow effect to give a more ethereal look and a more dreamlike atmosphere. As well as that we imitated another major convention of featuring the artist in the video that goes without saying. This again reinforces the brand and the idea of mysteriousness and innocence.


A convention that we do subvert is the possibility of a narrative structure. Within our pop video there is no narrative and by challenging this convention we follow the Barthes theory of jouissance. This reinforces the fact that our brand is modern and willing to challenge the regular conventions of pop videos. This can also refer back to the video I mentioned earlier as Britney Spear’s ‘Circus’ video does not include a narrative structure either.

In this shot you can see that through slow motion, camera angle and tracking the video is conveyed in dreamlike and upbeat way. This helps show the audience that again our brand isn’t afraid to try something new but as well as that we are giving to different elements within our video. A relaxed, soft innocent girl and then a rebellious, strong and courageous girl. Again this helped set up a great image for our artist and our brand. You can also see that within the frame there is a nice depth of field that leads the viewer’s eyes through the shot to the singer. This follows the composition rules that can reinforce some of the major convention rules.

Another convention that we challenged was the performance element. In some ways we allowed the artist to perform through dance and song however as a musical band performance we didn’t show any of the band members. By doing this we subverted the regular performance element of a pop video and changed to something more modern. We did not show any of the band however we did have fades into and out of a guitar playing with no musician. This is again suggestive of the dreamlike quality of the video.

I believe that the front cover of our Digipak, or the album cover helps to set up the image of the artist and brand quite nicely as it has a modern, mysterious feel to it and has the central focus point as a birdcage again being suggestive of breaking out from society and being different, or a sense of innocence being kept forever. The smoke perhaps implies the darkness outside the cage and what would happen if you break free. This has connotations that if we did refer to the cage as a metaphor for society or the artists mental state then if she broke out of the cage perhaps darkness is waiting outside. Or it could be a metaphor for her secret as the smoke has a mysterious quality to it. The writing I believe also gives a nice edge to the brand as it is simplistic yet it still has a modern, bohemian feel to it, just like the image of the brand we are selling. However again even within the Digipak we challenged Negus’ convention of having the artist present, however we do imitate that convention on the inside two pages of the Digipak. I believe we also imitated the convention of a carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track as the birds representing music notes goes in theme with the song ‘Bird Song’.

Our magazine advert and our Digipak cover followed the normal convensions for these media texts. The magazine advert used the rule of thirds, the suggestion of art through mainly a black and white image and a convential font to grab the attension of poeple flicking through the magazine who might be interested or intrigued by such an image. The rule of the thirds takes the reader to the tour dates on the first hot spot and to the empty swing on the fourth hot spot which gives an air of mystery.

The Digipak cover covers all the basics of providing information of the songs, the lyrics and the background of the artist, using the same key images, colours and shapes as the video and the advert to achive synergy.

Magazine Advert: The Making Of

The magazine advert is simply to put into magazines to help advertise and sell the album. We decided to stick with the front cover of the album as our magazine advert mainly because if we heavily advertise the cover of the album it will be recognised for its imagery. Relating back to Kuleshov everything we register is 70% visual therefore consumers will remember the album cover visually and if they see it in a magazine they will remember that image and by association remember the artist. However if we were to have changed the mage it might take the consumer longer to register the product we are trying to sell.

We made the magazine advert by getting the original image of a birdcage and creating the same look as the album cover. However we decided to add a picture of our artist to the advert to sell the brand more. As well as that we also added a list of all the tour dates and venues so that the viewer can buy tickets for the tour. The reason we advertise the tour in the magazine advert is because that is where the band makes the most money. We also added the ‘Island Record’ logo to establish again the record company and as well as that we added the website name so fans can buy tickets and help learn more about the artist and possibly buy merchandise.

Digipak: The Making Of

The Digipak is produced to sell the album. By producing a Digipak consumers can have something within their album to connect to the band, be it through the lyrics or through a small description of the band and their hobbies. By producing a Digipak the consumer feels closer to the artist and feels as though they have a more personal relationship with the artist. It helps to sell more albums. More importantly it is aesthetically pleasing instead of selling a plain CD case.

This is the Album Cover.

This is actually the middle two pages of the Digipak but as you can see they piece together.

This is the back of the album cover.

We produced the Digipak by looking through a range of pictures we had taken of our artist and o our set and after a lot of deliberation we decided to produce a cover with the image of the birdcage on the front. This is because it is not to over the top but it is simple enough to catch somebody’s eye. The idea was to help sell the single off the album that would be the original selling point of our artist. So by association they would see that the band that has an album with the song “Bird Song” on it might have a connotation of a birdcage and therefore pick up the album. We decided to add smoke to give the cover a more mysterious, edgy look. This is to enhance the image of our artist as unique and edgy. As for the inside of the Digipak we decided to show the artists face and also show the lyrics of the song. This is so that a consumer can learn the words of their favourite songs and if they go to any of the concerts they will be able to sing along. As well as that we also put in music notes shaped liked birds, again to reinforce the ‘Bird Song’ as the first single off the album. For the back of the album we wrote our all the copyright information and found the island records logo online to stick on the back as well. We did have to change the colours to blend it with the album and as well as that we also added a barcode for authenticity.