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

We created a video to answer this question. It goes through how we applied theories learnt in class (such as Goodwin and Vernallis (theorists)) to our final products, we discuss which conventions we use in the music video and also how we challenge the typical genre/gender conventions. We also outline our influences and how we used them in our music video + ancillary pieces. We break the answer into four healthy chunks, the first two of which are about the music video and the following two regarding the website + album cover.

To Summarise/Expand....

Music Video

Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin's theory states that all music videos can be broken down into the following 3 categories:

• Narrative
• Performance
• Concept

I would describe our music video as a 'narrative journey to a performance'. The majority is narrative, with just a small chunk at the end, filmed as performance (dance routine). This meant we had to apply similar rules to our music video as you'd apply to a film.

Andrew Goodwin also states that music videos must demonstrate genre characteristics, in our case we are making a music video for the dance/techno genre. A key characteristic in the DJ industry is for the DJ to not be seen in the music video, as they like to create an enigma. We have done just this and our artist, 'Absynth' is never seen in the music video, which some could say is a risk, but I think it was a great decision in the end.

Another key convention is for the music to cut to the beat, as lyrics are often minimal in the techno genre. We mostly cut to the beat, however we do offer a variety of cuts to keep the viewer interested.

We also use a generic cliche, which is the idea of starting a piece of media with an alarm clock. This is particularly used in film and quite niche in music video, therefore we have illustrated some film conventions in our music video.

The music is also very happy/upbeat and we ensured that the music video portrays this and our audience feedback outlined how much of a 'feel good' video ours is.

Andrew Goodwin also states that their should be some sort of relationship between music/visuals and lyrics/visuals (either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting). We chose to mainly create a relationship between the music/visuals due to the small number of relevant lyrics, however we do 'illustrate' the idea of 'celebrating'. In terms of music, we ensured to match the pace to the pace of the music and we very much use an illustrative relationship on the whole.

We also reference Goodwin's theory of the notion of looking on regular occasions, as the Panda does not directly address the audience until the end. We used this to allow the audience to feel as if they were directly involved with the Panda and part of his lifestyle.

We do attempt to involve cultural references, for example we use the London Underground as a common cultural reference and this is particularly appealing to the audience as discovered from our audience feedback.

Carol Vernallis

Vernallis' theory revolves around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way the music video is constructed:

• Narrative
• Editing
• Camera Movement and Framing
• Diegesis

Narrative

On the whole, the narrative to our music video plays the role of a journey which the Panda makes his way through. Vernallis states that an enigma or un-resolved questions are a key convention in the narrative of music videos. Our music video does pose questions to the audience such as what is a Panda doing in such human situations? and How are all these items appearing from the Panda? (bottomless pockets? magic?) She also states that their is a key driver in the narrative and in our case it's the music which pushes the pace and allows scenarios to change according to tempo.

Editing

Vernallis states that music video tends to break most rules of 'continuity' (discontinuity) and our music video displays many of these characteristics. We include jump cuts and huge jumps in time and pace, this is portrayed through the Panda bouncing from place to place within a few seconds. We also break the 180 degree rule throughout the performance section as the camera jumps all around the 360 degree circumference.

However, due to the fact that we use a film-like narrative, we do still maintain a number of continuity rules. We obey the 180 degree rule for the narrative section and also use match-on-action, particularly at the part where the Panda grabs the bike he snatches.

Camera Movement and Framing

We use many extreme jumps in shot distances, from LS to CU on various occasions for example. We also use a variation of framing throughout the video and we ensured that the dance routine was framed nice and tightly, whilst minimizing blank spaces, as we learnt from our 'Everybody Get Up' prelim video. We also tend to use a large number of establishing shots to establish a new setting, for example we use the tube sign to symbolize the London Underground.

Diegesis

Our diegesis is set in the city of London, in which we introduce an absurd Panda to a normal environment, an example of post-modernism, 'a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative.'

Website

How we develop/use conventions...

We use a very simple, but typical/conventional layout for the website. The headers are 'Home, Bio, News, Photos, Video, Store, Tour, Fan Page'

We use a very distinctive font as our logo, which is a typical convention of dubstep-themed artists, such as Nero who utilise a very distinctive font as their logo. This is an example of synergy which i'll go onto discuss in Question 2.

We use a very beautiful, modern gallery which is quite typical for a female artist, such as Rihanna or Pixie Lott. We use this to differentiate her from male techno/dubstep/dj artists.

The Front Page is set up as very vague, urging the viewer to continue and marketing is immediately seen through the album cover.

We make use of interactivity/social media through facebook,twitter and tumblr which is an important feature in our target audience's lifestyle and is included in many artist's websites

Home

The home page is used as a way of summarising the website in one section. We use a flash slideshow as a way for the viewer to scroll through whats on offer. This is featured in Nero's website and we used their website for inspiration. Purchasing opportunities are immediately noticed on the front page and this is important as the overall aim is to shift product/generate as much revenue as possible.

Bio

This is used as an insight into the artists life, a way for the fans to get info about Absynth which they're unable to gather from the music video. We use a beautiful shot of our artist gazing into the text, almost as if she's looking into her own heart.

News

We use the new section for the audience to get up-to-date info regarding what the artist is currently up to, and we use a variety of links to make this easy for the viewer to consume. I created the article on Absynth's relationship with the WWF:

Photos

We use the gallery for the viewer to look at all her pics and get an understanding of her character, which is not too girly or revealing. The audience can see her minimal makeup and her expressions/gestures ensure that most girls are able to relate to her.

Video

We use this section to promote the video and consequently sell the single.

Store

The Store is a valuable example of purchasing opportunities we use, which I go on to discuss in question 2. The synergy throughout the campaign is exemplified here.

Tour

The audience can get involved and purchase tickets to Absynth's tour.

Fan Page

This is a way for the fans to get involved! There are regular competitions for the audience to get close to Absynth and we include a comments section for interaction, along with a webcam chat.

Challenging Conventions

Our website makes use of most conventions, as it's been proven that they work, however we utilise a much more personal website, in comparison to the typical much more generic DJ orientateted website.

A scroll bar, which is a convention of most websites, isn't used in our website, our website is static as we wanted it to be clear and structured.

Album Cover

We utilise the conventional insitutional information on our album cover:

• Barcode
• Track Listing
• Record Label Info and Website
• Album Name and Artist Name

We include a very typical female artist front cover, however we illustrate a DJ element (headphones) to address both the conventions of a DJ and also a female artist. We drew inspiration from artists such as Rihanna, Ellie Goulding, Adele, Pixie Lott:

We chose to avoid the typical sexualised/tomboy nature of most female DJs and instead went for natural beauty and our album cover illustrates this. We also chose to focus on the artist, unlike album covers such as Nero's or Chase and Status' which are much more irrelevant/un-personal:

We chose to use a photo of the back of the artist on the back cover, a convention used by many artists which is very effective and we included a boombox to connote her DJ lifestyle.

Genre Signifiers are included throughout the album cover. We use DJ decks, a Macbook Pro and a boombox for example to illustrate her LOUD and FUNKY lifestyle.

Having conducted some research I noticed that most main singles on albums are placed between 2nd and 4th on the album. Our track, 'One More Time' is the 4th single on the album and this is an example of a convention used in the music industry.
All together, we have ensured that all our work is closely related to real media products, whilst also being fairly unique at the same time. We have referred to theorists in order to create a spectacular music video.