Evaluation Question 1: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms

And Conventions Of Real Media Products.

Music Video:

One of the first media products we took inspiration from was the music videos created for the
female solo artist Sia. Most of her music videos, including for her songs The Greatest and
Chandelier include a female dancer which is a style both Ceri and I really appreciate and wanted to
use. We feel performance videos that include dancers add a different feel and individuality to music
videos, which is a convention of dance based performance videos we wanted to mimic. Other artists
have also used dancers/ dance routines within their video, creating a performance video, like the
female solo artist P!nk within her video for Try and the male solo artist Ed Sheeran for his video to
Thinking Out Loud. Both these artists have used duets, however have employed the use of a
stereotypical romantic duet of a man and a woman. While Ceri and I have taken inspiration from
these videos we have also made the dance element more individual by using two female dancers. As
we did not want to portray the song we chose Take Me Church as romantic nor was the song
typically romantic, we used two female dancers. Both the dancers are similar heights and the same
age allowing them to look like an effective, genuine duo which is another reason why we chose to
use them within our video. We dressed our dancers in simple black leotards with a delicate lace skirt,
the minimalistic and sleek look for our dancers we also gained inspiration for from Sias music
videos. Her dancers are often dressed in simple clothing which is a style we followed as we did not
want any of the costumes to distract from the dance. The dancers themselves performed extremely
well during filming and we believe their dancing looks professional and impressive and we are very
happy with their performance. We feel the dancing matches and conveys the song well to audiences.

Another place we gained inspiration from for dance aspect of the music is a dance show that both
Ceri and I attended. Dancers performed to the original song by Hoizer, using a contemporary dance
style. This is a dance style both Ceri and I really like, as this adds a dramatic flair and a real visual
aspect to our video. From the dance routines in professional music videos and the dance show we
saw, both media products, we decided on a performance video. Upon changing our idea for the
setting of music video; we had originally planned to try to film in a Church, however after audience
feedback raised the difficulties we may face doing this such as lighting quality and having enough
room for the dancers we changed our idea to using a stage instead, we also used the dance show for
inspiration. Throughout this process we have continually altered and adapted our ideas using the
feedback from our target audience. We have valued our audience feedback highly and have found it
very useful in creating our final product. We also took inspiration for our lighting from the dance
show as we understood how the stage lighting and use of colour creates a more interesting music
video visually. The flexibility of stage lighting and the many different aspects and options of lighting
that Ceri and I could use really appealed to us. The location of the stage also appealed to us as we
had good access to the school stage and we also liked the range of ideas and options the stage gave
us. Professional music videos also inspired us for the lighting of our video such as: Believer by
Imagine Dragons, Youth by Troye Sivan and the style of The 1975s videos, predominately the music
video for UGH!. After our research Ceri and I realised how lighting can really be used to add
movement and interest to a video, by using a projected stained glass window Ceri and I were able to
create a focal point of interest and by basking the stage in purple we were following conventions of
the indie genre. We feel the use of lighting really helped to match our genre and create interest
during the video.

As we planned to use a female singer within our music video, yet still wanted to use the song Take
Me To Church that was originally performed by the Irish male solo artist of Hoizer Ceri and I found a
female cover of the song. We chose to use the cover by Sofia Karlburg, who as a developing artist
has a small respectable reputation that we found to be a good fit for video. We developed and used
Media Products to create our female solo artist. As we have not seen many music videos where the
entire video is completely dancers we did not want to challenge this so we followed conventions by
including our artist in our video thus continuing to create a performance video. To stick to the indie
pop genre, we decided to use a solo female artist, who we modelled off artists such as Lana Del Rey,
Gabrielle Aplin and Birdy. Clothing wise we took inspiration from their mostly simplistic style,
dressing our artist in ripped Mom jeans with a clear black belt (both typical items of indie fashion)
and a black tee-shirt. We originally also dressed our artist in a statement cardigan as well, for our
draft music video, however upon receiving audience feedback on this we decided to not include the
cardigan. We agreed with our audience that the cardigan did not match well with the style of the
dancers so decided to re-film our final music video without the cardigan. After our choice to no
longer include the cardigan we feel our artist matched our genre well; our artist also performed well
during the filming and we feel this helps to make our video to look professional and authentic.

The use of the stained glass window projected onto the back wall works to Andrew Goodwins
features of music videos. This is amplification as this links some of the lyrics such as take me to
church, the giggle at the funeral, Every Sundays getting more bleak, and my Church tells me
worship in the bedroom all which connote a church, to a church theme through the use of the stain
glass window motif. This can also be an intertextual reference as a stained glass window is a
common representation and symbol of a church; intertextual references are is also a Goodwin
feature of music videos. We have also followed Goodwins conventions by representing our artist
through direct address towards the camera and therefore our audience. By demonstrating our artist
as strongly looking at the camera in many shots, therefore connecting and building up her
relationship with the audience we are following the conventions of Goodwin. We used many close
up shots to complete this, rarely using shots any wider than a mid shot. For inspiration to include
movement while filming the solo shots we looked at music videos for solo artists in order to gain
ideas relevant for our own artist. Sam Smiths video for his song Too Good At Goodbyes was
highly influential in creating this as we followed ideas of slow panning and zooming as well as full
circle shots where we followed the artist. This way of filming solo artists is a common feature of
music and a convention we followed and feel looks effective within our own music video.

Another theorist whose conventions we followed is Sven E Carlsson; Carlsson believes that music
videos can be split into two different types of video, performance and conceptual. Our video fits to
his conventions of performance videos as we have included both our artist and our dancers
performing. Under the theory of Carlsson this allows our artist to be a commercial exhibitionist as
audiences are likely to look at our artist as someone they can aspire to be. We have also followed
the conventions of the theorist Steve Archer; Archer believes that camera movement is vital to
creating a successful music and when paired well with lighting, which enhances the mood of the
video, the music video is effective. Especially after our draft feedback and upon reflecting on our
video ourselves, Ceri and I can understand how our first draft is very plain. We rarely used any
camera movement, which created static shots that were not interesting to watch. To improve our
video Ceri and I added a lot more movement within the shots via the use of a dolly for the camera,
and limited the amount of still and static shots we used, again using inspiration from Sam Smiths
Too Good At Goodbyes. We feel this has allowed our music video to look far more professional
and interesting. We followed Archers theory of the importance of camera movement and improved
this massively for our final video. We continually used the purple lighting to add the mysterious and
dramatic feel of the video, which is a convention of Archer. Ceri and I have employed the use of a
narrative theory into the video, as we have a shot of the dancers walking onto the stage; this
introduces the dancers to the audience, as an author would characters within book, to create
familiarity to audiences and allow them to understand and connect with the presence of the
dancers.

Digipak:

Within my digipak I have followed the rule of thirds within my panels. Each panel can be split up into
a section of thirds, with the most important information/part of the image placed in the middle, as
this where the audiences eye is naturally drawn to within the product. This can be clearly shown by
inside panel where my artist is placed centrally with the flanking thirds being a plain black
background. I have also followed the conventions of using the same font and text type throughout
all panels and the spine of the digipak; I have used a clear and bold font as this is a common font
style for digipaks allowing audiences to understand the information easily. I have also used the same
colour scheme throughout the digipak of light yellow, white and dark blue. These colours
compliment both each other and the images I have used; I also feel that the colours continue to
connote the running theme of visual Headlights across the digipak. Following the typical style for
digipaks I have placed my album name Headlights on the front cover of digipak along with the
artists name Freya Tasmin as this clearly informs audiences of the album title and artist. Slightly
un-usually for digipak covers I have chosen to place my album title at the top of the digipak.
Although this is not completely un-common for digipak design as shown by the Drake album More
Life, it is more typical to place the artists name at the top of the front panel. I have chosen to place
the album name at the top of the front cover for the digipak as I feel this layout works better with
my main image, as the main image relates to the album name. I have chosen to link my main image
for the front panel to the album name as this helps to build up recognition for the album, making it
memorable for audiences. As we are portraying our artist Freya Tamsin as a new and
breakthrough artist, I have tried to make the album as memorable as possible by linking the album
title with the main image. The inspiration behind the layering of the main image, creating a more
interesting effect for audiences to notice, comes from the album art for Ghost Hotels album Do
You Feel It. This effect is creative and quirky, which I feel would appeal to my target audience as
well as promoting the album. Similar to using the same font across the digipak, I have used the same
font for my album title and artist name which is common convention for digipaks, particularly within
the indie genre as shown by the Smallpools album Lovetap!, Bastilles Wild World and The Artic
Monkeys Fluorescent Adolescent.

For the back panel of the digipak I have taken inspiration from the back of the digipak for Walk The
Moons album Talking Is Hard as on this design the names of the songs have been listed into two
lists. The uniqueness of this layout appealed to me and is a design that would appeal to my target
audience because of this. I also feel this compliments my back image more allowing the text to be
more visible to audiences, which will continue to promote the album. I have also included a photo of
my artist on the digipak which is a typical convention of digipaks as this allows audiences to become
familiar with who the artist is. Although it less common to place a photo of the artist on the back of
the digipak I chose to do this as I feel this compliments my designs better; the fading effect allows
me continue the illustrative theme of Headlights across the didgipak, also shown by the panel
behind the CD, while still having my artist feature. This was created with the aims of re-enforcing
both the album and the artist to audiences. Also following common conventions of a digipak I have
placed the legal information for my digipak at the bottom of the back panel which is a very typical
place for this information, and can be seen on most digipaks. Similarly for the spine I have also
followed typical conventions of digipaks by including the album title, artist name, record label logo
and CDNP number on the spine, which helps to make my digipak look professional and realistic. My
research has aided me within creating my digipak as I have gained knowledge for the common
placement of conventions and how this can complement the product.

Magazine Advert:

In order to create my products to look as professional as they could, I have followed the common
convention of creating a magazine advert advertising the album to look similar to the album being
advertised. This is a very typical convention and is used by many different artists in many different
genres such as Ed Sheeran to Beyonce to The Wombats. My research helped me significantly in
indentifying this, showing how by creating links between the products creates more effective
advertising. I have used the same image from the front panel of my digipak for the background
image of my magazine advert, which helps to build links between the two products. I have also used
the same image of my artist from the inside panel of my digipak for a layered faded image over the
top of my background image for my magazine advert; the faded and layering technique itself is also
an direct link between both products as this design is used on them both. Including an image of the
artist within the magazine advert is another convention I have followed promoting the artists profile.
Another similarity between the two products is that I have continued to use the same font and font
colour for the text. Headlights is always written in white across the digipak and magazine advert,
as is Freya Tamsin always written in yellow which will build up a motif and iconography for my
artist making her more familiar to audiences. This colour scheme compliments each other and also
allows the information to be clear and legible to audiences. By doing this I am hoping to build up a
profile for my artist, by displaying her own individual style while successfully marketing the album.

I have also followed conventions within the text and information I have included on the magazine
advert. I have placed the album title at the top of the page, above the artists name, which is a
similar style for the magazine advert for the album Red by Taylor Swift, who is another female solo
artist like my artist. On the magazine advert I have detailed the ways the album can be purchased,
which is important information for selling the album, our artists Twitter address, key songs on the
album and the record label logo. Most magazine adverts for albums include this information as these
are common conventions; I gained inspiration from The Wombats magazine advert for their album
This Modern Glitch for including the key song names and Florence And The Machines magazine
advert for Lungs for including the different ways the album is available. I have chosen to follow
these conventions of placing this information on the advert as I feel this is what would interest
audiences the most, as the song names would not only boost the artists profile but also intrigue
audiences and in todays modern technology based climate, telling audiences of the digital
download option would be a key selling point for the album. To continue following conventions I
have written the release date for the album in numerical form and in a bold and clear font, as well as
ensuring the release date is a Friday as this is the international common release day for most
albums. By doing this I am able to follow conventions of professional media products and I feel this
helps to make my magazine advert look as professional as possible.