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

Jordan Weeks

Conventions of the Synthpop Genre and Music Style

The music genre synthpop is simply part of a hybrid genre which could be collected into one which would be dance or electronic house music. There are few popular bands of this genre in the market right now meaning that forms and conventions of existing products for synthpop videos. I have looked into some other bands videos to try and find traces of a common pattern throughout all of them. I looked across content from bands such as MS MR, The Naked and Famous, Icona Pop and Polica. Each video seems to either have a performance or a concept or a hybrid of the two. It is rare to see a narrative across this genre but seeing at the bands are more underground the popular it would not be unusual if there were a narrative for it to be about a controversial or heartfelt matter. Also, editing and computer generated graphics tend to feature in these video as well with editing nearly always done to the beat to enhance the importance of the beat within the song itself. These videos have a high amount of close ups shots in them using performers whether that be to act, lip sync or dance. All of the videos I have looked into are filmed on location with realistic settings rather than fake backgrounds in the studio. A variety of lighting formats are used with neither high-key or low-key lighting being more frequent than the other.

Jordan Weeks

Influences
For my ancillary texts I wouldnt say that I had any major influences in terms of the design of the products themselves. All of the research that went into the Digipak and the poster was into what features and existing product would have i.e barcode, logos etc. However, I would say that the style of my main product was heavily influenced by some of my research. I wanted the style and quality of filming to be similar to Arcade Fires Reflektor whereas the settings I used I aspired to be like those seen in Jake Buggs Seen It All and perhaps the Arcade Fire video too but some of the settings used in this were not available to me whereas as similar locations to Jake Buggs video were.

Jordan Weeks

In what ways does my main product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In terms of performance and video side of things all existing products that I researched had a concept performance to it, with some even including elements of computer generated graphics. There seem to always be performers whether that be singing, lip syncing or dancing. My main product challenges these existing forms by not using any performers of generated graphics. I have chosen to use a narrative which could be a literal interpretation of the song itself, this would be challenging the current forms and conventions of synthpop. I have chosen to use a variety of shots but agreed with and used some other forms and conventions such as close ups. I have also used typical conventions by including enigma codes such as the relationship between the two characters and the receiving of the package. On the other hand I did challenge other conventions by the use of action codes being the use of the gun which is also an enigma code too. I have also used and developed some of Goodwins theory into my video. The notion of looking is used on close ups of the faces of characters, this allows the audience to feel involved with the narrative via direct address. There are also clear links between the visuals on screen and the lyrics of the song.

Jordan Weeks

For all of my products I have challenged an aspect of Goodwins theory. I have not considered the representation of the artist themselves or met any demands made by the record label. This is because my products are for noncommercial use only and the record label have allowed me free reign over the creative aspects of my main product and ancillary texts. The layout of my print advert I would say uses the forms and conventions or existing media products in some ways but not so much in others. I have a central image at the heart of the advert which dominates the product as a whole. The central image is done in a way which, contrastingly to my main product, uses a variety of bright vibrant colours which complement each other. in order to act as anchorage to pull the audience in. I have also chosen to develop a large amount of social links for my print advert. I felt that this was crucial in the success of my print advert as my target audience are young and are part of online media. So I have included a twitter , Facebook and Soundcloud link,. This shows multi screen media consumers what platforms this is available on. However, I have challenged some conventions by choosing to not include a slogan, release date, venues and incentives. I am developing the use of a QR code on my poster. This is a form of directly linking my final products to my electronic portfolio. This can be done by scanning it on a smartphone device using an app or a built in feature.

In what ways does my print advert use, develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Jordan Weeks

In what ways does my Digipak use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Finally, for my Digipak I have both intentionally and unintentionally used forms and conventions of real media products and managed to incorporate some aspects of Goodwins Theory. I have used the correct template for my Digipak by using the software Adobe InDesign. This template in an accurate interpretation of the size of actual real media products. I chose to use this convention because had I not followed and used the convention I feel that the product would be less realistic and not as professional as it could be. I have incorporated Goodwins theory in the sense that there is a clear link between my visuals and the song itself. The link consists of the band name featuring across all panels of the Digipak with literal interpretation images of church association objects. The back cover of the Digipak uses conventions of a existing media product by featuring relevant record label logos, copyright info. Lastly, I feel that the fonts I have used across all panels of my Digipak are both appropriate and relevant to the band and their ethos. I have chosen to use Chvrches personal font which they use on their products. This was because I wanted to include and carry through an element of their products which is already recognisable. One of the other fonts I used was Fixedsys which has the appearance of purposefully pixelated text. I chose this because I felt that it appropriately and effectively conveyed the electro/synthpop genre of the band by using a font which could be seen on computer games or something from the new electronic age. I also decided to use a basic font for the copyright information so that this was easy to read, this was done in a way which would match that of a real media product.

Jordan Weeks