Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

MUSIC VIDEO

In terms of my music video, and the products this relates to, my genre ‘Psychedelic Pop’ is not necessarily an extremely common genre in the music industry. It is inspired by the sounds of psychedelic folk and psychedelic rock, but applied to a pop music setting and still occurs in the music industry today, through bands like Tame Impala who use effects like phasing, delay, reverb and fuzz throughout their music. I decided to make a music video for the song ‘They Are’ by my friend Polly Howe which also includes electronic beats –like Tame Impala- that help to give it a bright poppy sound whilst also not veering towards traditional pop too much. Although the song is slightly unconventional compared to what we hear on a daily basis, the indie side of the song increases its interest and could resonate with a wider audience. When brainstorming what I wanted to do with the song, and the type of music video I wanted to create, I knew from very early on that I wanted to go with the psychedelic pop genre and create a video that was bright, colourful and matched the music well.

I looked at a number of music videos, before I started formulating ideas for my own. I watched music videos from Beyoncé, specifically her homemade music video ‘7/11’ because of the intimate nature of the video, but also the unconventional style of the video in comparison to what Beyoncé usually creates. I also looked at the music video ‘Somebody Else’ from the indie pop band The 1975, and really liked the muted tones they had used on the video and the way it was cut together so well to gradually reveal what was happening. After watching The 1975’s video, I took inspiration from the colours used and decided to start off with my video looking dreary and boring by using this colour palette, but then reaching some kind of climax and everything becoming bright and colourful. 

My chosen song ‘They Are’ includes the theme of loneliness through the lyrics ‘I’m alone’ so I decided to reflect this gloomy and desolate mood throughout the song, but only focusing on the loneliness at the beginning of the video before giving the only character in my video a sense of companionship through the use of the balloon that she finds along the way. I was able to experiment with my video by using different shots and props to create the type of video I had imagined whilst also not moving away from the conventions that I had looked at. I used Andrew Goodwin’s theory as a guide for my music video however I decided that I didn’t want to completely stick to the genre conventions so that my music video could be slightly unconventional and fit in with the song that I had chosen.

Goodwin’s theory consists of:

1. The music video demonstrating genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance for a boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop.) 
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. 
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visuals reflects the music. 
4. The demand of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style) 
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body. 
6. There are often intertextual references (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.)

When looking at my own video in line with this group of conventions, it is clear that I stuck to half of them whilst trying to distance myself from the others. For convention number one, my music video clearly demonstrates the genre characteristics of psychedelic pop through the use of bright colours, trippy editing and quick cuts that increase the speed and intensity of the video. I also stuck to the convention of the music video having a relationship between lyrics and visuals. I did this through the theme of loneliness from the repetition of ‘I’m alone’ and I also put emphasis on my female character, and what she was wearing when the lyrics talk about a woman being ‘honked at’ because of the clothes she wears. My video also links to the music and the beat that it follows. When it came to editing my music video, I knew that I wanted to have the music in sync with the shots, and differing actions that the character in my video does.

I linked the lyrics 'walking down the street' to the shots of her walking.

In terms of the remaining three conventions, the idea that I had come up with for my video didn’t fit with the expectations of Goodwin’s theory. The use of the artist in my music video from the very beginning was something that I wanted to change. I had looked at so many music videos and only a few of them didn’t include the artist. I didn’t simply decide not to do this to be different, I wanted the female in my music video to be young and child-like. Polly however didn’t fit this role, due to her height and her age of 18. Instead I used my 14 year old sister in the video, who is small in height because I wanted her to look vulnerable and innocent. 

I also tried to subvert the male gaze through the use of my character, because I wanted the focus to be completely on the song and the video, rather than the female character in it. However, I do think in some respects that I didn't subvert it enough due to her innocence and vulnerability at the beginning, and also how she is completely unnamed and therefore does not seem to be seen as a person because she does not have a name. However, I do still think that I did subvert the male gaze in some way despite this and she was solely used in a completely non-objectified manner simply due to the fact that I didn’t want the focus to be on the artist for once, I wanted the focus of the music video to be in what was actually happening in it and the music that went along with it.

The effect that this has, is that it will distance itself from conventional music videos. I also wanted this to help the viewer think more about what they are watching, and the music going along with it. I didn't want the story to be completely clear, as I wanted the audience to be able to make their own mind up about what they are viewing and have a completely subjective view about what was going on.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the way that my music video has turned out, I feel that it is very postmodern and challenges normal conventions of music videos through the use of the female in the video and also the trippy nature of the video that corresponds with the theme of psychedelic pop. Despite there being some changes that I would make in the future, I am really happy with how I subverted convention and stereotypes through the music video.

CD COVER

When it came to the research for my CD cover, I was able to see that the typical generic conventions were that there was some link to the artist of the music on the CD cover. I also noticed, that most of the artists had a type of theme with their CD cover and the music video and advertising seemed to carry the same motif and colour scheme. I noticed this was extremely common through the work of Beyonce, for her self titled album 'Beyonce' the music videos for each song in the album heavily stuck with the bold pink font used on the cover of the CD.

Because of Beyonce's continuation of font and colour throughout her Cd cover and her music videos, I decided to do something similar and use the same font and colours for my music video and the cd cover and adverts that go along with it. Beyonce's work also shows compete focus on her as the artist, and despite not being on the cover of the album, it is clear that she is the artist because of the album being self titled. 

When analysing CD Covers the typical conventions I noticed were:

1) Artists name and Album name are on the front cover.

2) An image of the artist is also on the front cover.

3) The image on the cover links to a song in the album or a music video that goes along with it.

For my CD cover I used the typical generic conventions of the cover including the title of the song and the name of the artist, I did this so that the album would be completely recognisable as Polly's and also to help to create a 'brand' for her that would continue with her future work. I used the same font 'courier new' on all of the adverts and the digipak to clearly link them all together and make the products completely cohesive. However, I did subvert the usual convention of the artist being on the cover of the album, I decided to follow more of what some of the other artists had done and had their album cover looking more artistic rather than it being centered around them. Some artists do this because they feel that their music is simply about the story it tells, the way it makes you feel, and they are simply the voice that puts across the music. 

I decided to not use Polly for the front cover because I wanted all three of my products to be completely cohesive, and link together. Also because Polly had not been in the video I felt that it would be confusing for her to then be on the CD cover. I however did use an image on the cover that links to the song, I used an image from the music video for the front cover so that there was a clear link between the artist and the music video. Due to the theme of loneliness being clear through the song 'They Are' I again wanted to carry this on through the digipak, therefore I used an image of the female character in the video completely alone for the front cover of the CD. I also then edited the image so that the pink of the balloon would pop and draw comparisons to the pink colours used throughout the video along with the advert and the font colour. I was overall extremely pleased with the way that my Digipak came out and how the theme and style was clearly for Polly's music.

MAGAZINE AD

For the magazine ad once again it was very easy to see clear links between each example that I looked at and there were many conventions that the ads followed. I noticed that on all of the ads, the main image was a picture of the album cover, along with the name of the artist and the name of the album. This is clear on the JAY-Z advert below for his The Blueprint 3 Album. It also shows at the bottom of the ad 'out September 14th 2009' and 'includes Run This Town and D.O.A'. 

The release date was included on all of the adverts that I looked at along with the most known songs that were featured on the albums.

When making my own advert I decided to carry on some of these themes and conventions. On my advert I knew from the start that I was going to use the title of the song and the name of my artist, I was going to do this so that the work was clearly and obviously recognisable as Polly's. I was originally going to use the image from the cover of the digipak. However when I did this I felt it didn't look right and it looked too similar to everything else, and the message was lost.

Here is an image of what it looked like in full colour.

I instead decided to subvert this convention, and use a shot from the music video and make it black and white like the style of the digipak cover. I wanted to reflect the happy feel of the music and video through the use of this image.

I also decided to include the use of review stars from different music magazines. I also included the spotify and apple music logos in the bottom corner to show the audience where the music was available. I wanted to mould my magazine advert to the conventions that I had already noticed in the other adverts. However, I also wanted to do something slightly different and put my own twist on the advert so that it fit to the brand of the music video and the Digipak.

All three of the products together completely moulded and crossed over, so that Polly's music had a clear brand. I knew I would be able to do this, by creating motifs and colour schemes that correlated with each other. Overall, I am extremely happy with the way that my products came out, I think that I fit to the conventions enough without being to similar to the music video, cd covers and magazine ad's of the other artists.