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

Throughout my A2 coursework I created a music video, 3 part digi pack and a magazine advert after a vast amount of research and planning. I created my products to conform with the forms and conventions of existing media products; however I did challenge some aspects as to make my product unique and more visually exciting.

Before the creation of my magazine advert I did a textual analysis of three different and diverse magazine adverts of bands with a similar genre to the band who sing my chosen song; The Cure. This allowed me to get comfortable with the common aspects and features seen in music magazine adverts.

I noticed that the main features which trended on each of the adverts I analysed were the band’s name, the album’s name, a picture of the album, the release date and a rating of some form. I included all of these features on my magazine advert as to make it look genuine. Each feature is important, as the albums name, bands name and a picture of the album will help my audience buy my product and even recognise it in shops after viewing the advert. A rating will make the album look successful and entice people to buy as well as promoting the bands professionalism.

Also, the bands website and other forms of virtual media such as twitter and facebook links were also include on some of the magazine adverts. Due to the web becoming more and more popular in recent years I included all three web-addresses on my advert as well; this widens the ways in which my audience will be able to access the band’s songs.

The layout of my advert is A4 and portrait as to make it look realistic and typical of regular magazine adverts, and so I was able to print it out and stick it into an ordinary magazine to present it once I had finished the final product. This will enable people to see how it would look if it were a real advert; this will emphasise how professional it looks.

I designed my advert to suit my digi pack and music video so they formed a clear brand, and all went well together. I made the background black so the white text and Polaroid that presented the album cover stood out to my audience. This is often used in magazine adverts so the main points it is trying to get out to the public are easily noticed; this helps it sell.

Unlike most magazine adverts, the only image I included was that of my digi pack. I did this so my audience main focus was not on the presentation of the advert but on the image of the front of the digi pack so they are more likely to recognise it in shops.

As I did for my magazine advert, I also analysed three digi packs of which had a similar genre to the album my song came off. This way I could close take a look at typical digi pack features and feature the important ones on mine. I also included a separate page on my blog where I posted various other digi packs that I found interesting or inspired me.

On the front of my digi pack I put the album title and band’s name as these are essential to help audiences know what is inside the pack. On the front I used an image which relates to the album title of ‘Pictures Of you’. Not all bands do this on their album cover, however I felt that visually it looked more attractive this way.

The picture on the front of my album is a picture of a camera which I took, inside of a Polaroid; this links to the album’s title ‘Pictures Of You’ as the image is presented in a way which look like the camera is taking pictures of ‘you’ as in the audience. This makes the audience immerse themselves within the meaning of the song as the picture connects them almost personally with the album.

The background to both the front and back of my digi back is a picture I took within a tree. This goes with the music video itself, as it was taken in one of the prominent scenes, and further connects all my products as a brand.

On the back of my album of my album there are six Polaroid pictures each with an image of a still from a different ‘scene’ of my music video. This places an importance of the song I chose for my music video, as not only is the album named after it, but the theme to my brand all revolves around images that connotes ‘pictures’.

I also used the same front to present the other songs on the album as I did for the album title; Lucia handwriting. I chose this font style for my text as it looks like girls handwriting. This links to the personal nature of my album.

The inside of my digi pack is a double page with the same imaged mirrored on both sides; it again keeps with the Polaroid theme and has a picture of a view of sunset which connotes romance and sets the theme for the album before my audiences listens to anything.
Due to there being no space on the front, I put the intuitional information at the bottom of the inside of the digi pack.

The theme throughout my magazine advert and digi pack is the use of Polaroid; I did this as it makes each image used ‘real’ and personal to whoever took them. It also links to my music video as my audience will feel empathy for my main female character as each picture shows her mood evolve throughout their destructive relationship.

For my music video I did even more research then was done for my ancillary products as it was my main task and I felt I needed to know more about this area of my coursework. I again did a textual analysis of three music videos either similar to my genre of pop/rock, or with a similar narrative idea.

I added a separate page on my blog where I posted many diverse music videos that I enjoyed and inspired me when creating my own. I also did a lot of research into conventions of music videos and discussed various theories and applied them to my own.

Part of Andrew Goodwin’s theory is that there are certain aspects that get an audience interested in a particular music video. He puts a heavy importance on close-ups, and in my music video I put a number of close-ups throughout; during each new ‘scene’ I show a close-up of my main characters face, this allows my audience to clearly see her change in emotion throughout the video.

He also states that the visuals and lyrics of the song are linked, and have a way of illustrating or even contradicting each other. My chosen song has many different meanings depending on what type of person interoperates them, as shown in my song music analysis. However my music video illustrates the lyrics by telling a story that can be linked directly to the lyrics if one links them to a romantic kind of relationship. This link between the two allows the audience to empathise with the main character and immerse themselves within the video.

Laura Mulvey was a feminist theorist who believed music videos objectified women and the images in them were determined by the ‘male gaze’. However my music video contradicts this as my main female character wore casual everyday clothing and was never shown in a sexual light.