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

My music video contained aspects that were similar to original music videos out on the market; this will make the music video look professional and crisp. It will also allow my target audience to associate and recognise my video with the style and psychographics that they are stereotypically associated with. In order to do this I looked at Jake Buggs Lightning Bolt, this is an indie genre music video among other music videos. I wanted to follow the conventions used in this music video and transfer them over to mine. However, I have also gone against the conventions as well; after all that is the culture behind the indie genre. I wanted to go against some of these conventions to make the product unique and recognisable to the niche audience that was my target audience. My music video is a narrative music video. This would develop existing indie music videos which were originally performance videos in the 1980s. for example, The Stones Roses I just wanna be adored . Music videos back then tended to be because performance music videos in order to show passion that the artist has to perform his music. The genre itself isnt about success but about the expression of the music. Whereas modern indie music videos range from performance to concept or even in-between hybrids. Firstly, after having analysed Jake Buggs Lightning Bolt I decided that in order to produce a good quality music video you have to use a good variety of shots . So in my music video I included wide angles, close ups, mediums. Doing this made my video more interesting. The close ups really allowed the target audience to feel the protagonists emotions and feelings at that particular point of the music video. I then watched R.E.Ms Uberlin music video, this video shows a guy dancing down the street; it is one continuous tracking shot throughout. This music video inspired me to use tracking shots in my music video and I did. Using the tracking shots it added another dimension to the music video and made it look professional. Tracking shots seem to be included in most music videos and are an important part of the camera work because too many static shots can make a music video look boring. My music video stuck to most of Andrew Goodwins theories which are all predominately used in existing media products. The Verves Bittersweet Symphony is a perfect example of Goodwins theory; it includes the notion of looking (people in the background are looking back at the main character). I stuck to this convention, when there is an over the shoulder of a passerby looking at Jason dancing. Furthermore, the protagonist in Bittersweet Symphony is The Verves lead singer Ashcroft this makes the video and the band instantly recognisable to the audience due to the link of video and band throughout. It also makes the video seem more personal, if is as if by first address the band are pulling the audience into the diegesis of the video to tell their story. I went against this convention, mainly because I didnt have access to the band. Additionally, I felt that using two normal teenagers and going completely against their stereotype it would make the video more impactful and hopefully connote individuality. Teenagers are stereotypically always inside on computers; they are not associated with dancing in public. This also leads on to voyeurism which is commonly shown in music videos such as Eric Prydz Call on me. However, in my music video I have challenged this convention by including male heterosexual dancers. This defies conventions so drastically it will appeal to the indie 13-18 target audience

because this is entirely different to anything ever seen. I also stuck to the convention of not doing a literal interpretation; linking the visuals/lyrics. I used amplification- meanings and effects are manipulated and constantly shown through the video and drummed into our vision. This will hopefully entice the viewer to buy the album or music video. After all the whole point of the video is to promote the song and album. The lyrics are different to the visuals, this is partly true in my video because the lyrics are about being addicted to drugs, but I have added a childish spin by replacing the drug addiction with dance. Because this is such a different narrative to anything ever done it is not conventional of indie music videos. After having analysed Jake Buggs Lightning Bolt music video in my research, I noticed that the transitions are simply cut from one place to another. I developed this convention by including whip pan transitions, a literal jump cut and an in camera whip from one location to another. These techniques were rarely used from the 1980s (indies arrival) for example Robert Palmers Addicted to Love just contains straight cuts. The ideology behind the 1980s music videos where mainly to show off the artists performance. However, ideologies of music videos have changed and the modern music videos aim to take the audience out of the normal world and into the crazy unreal diegesis of that video. for example, Friendly Fires Hawaiian air uses transitions to go from inside a plane to various places on an island. My music video has done exactly the same because the dancers are moving from location to location via these transitions. The transitions are from town to a countryside setting this will hopefully allow the audience to escape realism and harmonically flow into the videos diegesis. Jake Buggs Lightning Bolt has a black and white filter. Additionally, The Verves Bittersweet Symphony has a blue filter which connotes tranquillity and peace. My music video contains a saturated orange filter. This is to connote power; the video is all about each dancer trying to establish their power on the other through dance. Each dancer thinks that they are the only dancer who is addicted to dancing when really they are not; there is another. During editing I stuck to the usual conventions by cutting from shot to shot rather than fading (predominantly used in ballads not indie videos). This has made the music video stick to the pacey nature of the song. I have also edited the shots to make match-on-action and keep the videos continuity. This is stereotypical of all music videos. Using these editing techniques I have created an alternative reality that I want the audience to identify and project themselves into. The match-on-action keeps the continuity and the audience in the diegesis without losing their focus because the action is in time with the next cut. I have also included a shot reverse shot to enhance the video. Furthermore, I have also edited the shots in time with the music this is a key convention that I have stuck with. It allows the video to flow and the story to build and it makes it look profession; it shows the relationship between the visuals and the audio. When there is a crescendo the visuals tend to speed up. For example Friendly Fires Hawaiian Air. Existing indie music videos tend to show the protagonists or artist wearing retro clothing or something extremely usual to express their individuality. For example. Empire of the sun walking on a dream where the artist are wearing very bright colour and masks. However, this doesnt always occur In R.E.Ms Uberlin music video the character is wearing your normal every day t-shirt and jeans. The same occurs in The Verves Bittersweet Symphony where the protagonist is wearing a leather jacket and jeans. In my music video my costume design fitted with these existing media

products this is because both dancing characters are wearing casual clothing; one is wearing a jacket, jeans and a hat. The other jeans and a jumper. Jake Buggs Lightning Bolt video uses a cultural code to connote the indie genre. It does this by including shots of graffiti, old rundown buildings and Jake Bugg wearing a very indie jacket. My music video follows the convention of having a code; I have an enigma code, the audience doesnt know why the two dancers are dancing to begin with and how they have become addicted. Additionally, Jake Buggs and The verves music videos are set in urban areas. My video goes against this convention because it is set rural Dorset. After having analysed The Ramones Rocket to Russia poster I noticed that it was very basic and only contained a central image of the band this was there key signifier. Likewise, AC/DCs Back in Black poster also contained the a central image with the text. My poster went against this convention because I included a picture of a person with a video camera with it outlined a number of times with different colours as my key signifier. This should hopefully draw passersby to the poster and then draw them to the incentives and social links which are embedded in the main image. I used the inclusion of the video camera because it was a big discovery in the 1980 (indies arrival), especially for indies because it gave them freedom to express themselves and create their own low budget music videos. It gave the indies a chance to compete with conglomerates. I also noticed that both AC/DC and The Ramones didnt have a release date; this is more than likely due to the times. However, modern posters such as Vampire Weekends Contra poster contains a release date and social media links. I went with this modern convention by having release date at the top of the anchorage text in order to make it stand out effectively. I also contained social links, but not links to facebook. Instead I used links to Instagram, Soundcloud and Twitter because I feel these appeal more to the indie target audience of today. I therefore developed this convention. I also when against any album poster I have seen by adding a promotional offer comes with digital copy available for remixing on Soundcloud. The Ramones and AC/DC posters had the main text at the top of the poster. I did exactly the same; I used this convention. However, both the Ramones and AC/DC posters where only advertising the hard copy. Whereas mine was advertising both the hard copy and digital copy. Furthermore my poster included a quote from an indie magazine; the NME and a web address to the bands page. These were all absent from Vampire Weekends poster. I also included a QR code to allow people to get more information about the album quickly and on the go. Additionally, I including the production logo because it should hopefully give the audience confidence that the product is professional and good quality, they will be more inclined to invest in it. These were not included on the old style Ramones poster or the modern Vampire Weekend poster so I have gone against conventions including these. During my research stage I looked at Dog is Dead All of our favourite stories and Nirvana Nevermind they both contained appropriate fonts for the style of album. For example, Nirvanas album had very fat and bold text which was embossed in the shape of a wave. I have used this convention on my digipack by using a very geometric and square text; orator std my main text. This fitted in with the geometric shapes shown throughout the album. The inside design of my album makes up three sides goes against conventions because normal each side has its own design. However, I decided to use all three panels to show the shapes coming out of the camera which then make a triangular guitar. This symbolises the discovery of the video camera and the freedom it gave indie bands to compete and produce their own music videos. Both the Dog is Dead and Nirvanas

digipack contained copyright information, record label and a bar code. I used this convention by adding them to my digipack; I added Blurred Fraction records as my indie production logo. Finally, I used a professional template on Adobe Indesign to make sure that my digipack was the correct size. This convention I stuck too. In conclusion, I have used, developed and challenged conventions of existing media products in every area of my production whether it be the shots, transitions, mise-en-scene, poster or digipack. I have made my decisions in order to produce, in my opinion a professional, unique and individual product. Which has been thoroughly thought about in order to create the perfect product for my target audience.