Question 1 for Media

Question 1 for Media

• 1.
  Question 1 “In whatways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?” By Lauren Evans
• 2.
  Conventions of MusicVideo • In my music video, I follow most conventions of an ordinary music video that may have a song in the indie pop genre; there is a consistency in setting choice that seems to tell a story, and the editing and mise en scene largely fit the song choice and the stylistic choice that the genre often follows. • My inspiration/style model, Marina and the Diamonds, is primarily classed as indie pop, “Diamandis has described herself as an “indie artist with pop goals””. Marina subverts the usual genre of pop music, as typically pop music is light and upbeat, Marina is the opposite and typically tries to capture “components of human behavior in her music”. As I used a song she made, this is the genre of the song and therefore I attempted to make the music video match with it as best as I could. My music video often sees the actor/model wearing conventional clothes that someone may wear in a pop music video, such as a skirt, however usually I tried to get her to wear more neutral colors or darker colors to fit this genre better – the setting is fitting too, as it’s a stage in the dark, which is a flipped version of what may be seen in a music video; a stage in a light, and more joyful setting. • My music video follows similar conventions to my style model; Marina and the Diamonds, in terms of editing and cinematography, I followed similar conventions to her “Primadonna Girl” video, but I also used conventions from other videos of hers
• 3.
  Conventions of MusicVideo Pt 2 • The primary comparison that can be made in terms of relation to the style model and the inspiration drawn from it can be seen in the setting of the stage and the glitch effect I edited into the video, this can even be seen from the first few seconds into the video; • But I didn’t want it to be entirely similar and like a carbon copy, the color palate for the Primadonna Girl video seems to be primarily dull blues, greens and pinks, in my video I tried to make it more purple and pink and lacking less color; this was my own style choice I made in order to try and make the video more original. A convention of indie pop is usually how it tries to take the conventions of ordinary pop music then flip it to give it a darker twist, I did this in my video with the dull purple and pink colors.
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  Conventions of MusicVideo Pt 3 • In terms of setting, the area I mainly used (the stage area in the dark) is not too much different from the setting that can be found in Marina’s music videos; the actual choice I made to use a stage is from another video and song of hers; Forget. In some scenes of the video I actually planned to use a microphone, like how Marina does in the video, however I was unable to find one in the end so this idea was scrapped. • However the stage was not all inspired by the style model; the choice of making only the models face appear in the dark was mine as I thought it’d add to the ominous effect, arguably this was better as a concept as now it has been filmed and edited, I personally I find the footage to look a bit too dark, however I still like the choice I made; the idea of using a model in a dark area is a typical thing seen in indie pop. I thought the lack of movement from the camera for this scene was particularly noticeable too, I deliberately gave these segments longer allotted time in the video than some other scenes to add to the discomfort; as though she was staring at you, a creepy or off-putting atmosphere fits with the dark lyrics of the song and conventions of indie pop; the camera angle in the dark segments with the model is an eye level angle, and a close up; meant to magnify and draw importance to her face. • The lighting of the whole video is important; indie pop uses low, dim lighting, or at least the particular style that Marina follows does, and since she was my style model and indie pop was the genre I was trying to fit into, I used low lighting, although perhaps too low at some points.
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  Conventions of MusicVideo Pt 4 • There are some scenes and clips in the video that show the area around the stage and sometimes look a bit cluttered; this was deliberate, as Marina’s Primadonna Girl video also shows the area around her and shows the cluttered house that she’s in, this was a slight attempt to replicate this through the usage of showing the area around the stage. • However, in contrast to this, my location was a stage, so I decided to use signs and the light rather than anything else, as I felt like items such as chairs wouldn’t fit the scene. I do use some of the stage background though, as the current Drama production at the time fitted with the dark theme of my music video, so there are some clips of my model with the stage behind her visible. But this was heavily edited by me to incorporate the pink glitch theme, so this isn’t too noticeable.
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  Conventions of MusicVideo Pt 5 • In terms of further contrast with the style model in comparison with my own work is that in terms of mise en scene, the outfits are not entirely the same; Marina wears feminine, bright colors in most of her videos, whereas it’s a contrast to my model as she rarely wears too much color. It’s a convention of the indie pop genre for bright colors to be dulled in order to represent a more dark tone, however indie pop is also largely defined by pop music taking on a more fluid, personal and open attitude, hence why me using darker outfits would be considered valid for the genre I am aiming for.
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  Conventions of MusicVideo Pt 6 • Another convention of Marina that I attempted to recreate is a small dance she does in her “Oh No” video, it was harder than it first appeared to choreograph so I was unable to do much of it. I also tried to put a cartoon-y effect over this section of the video, again, much like the “Oh No” video style. However this ended up looking bad to I changed it to a darker color and just put a filter on it. I thought emphasizing the white and blacks would make the video look more haunting in these segments.
• 8.
  Conventions of Poster •I again drew inspiration from Marina and the Diamonds with the floral and the yellow theme, this would fit in with the feminine indie theme I was overall going for that fits the genre, I also made my model look transparent in the poster advert because a ghostly theme is a reoccurring one in my project. The main images shows the artist which should be the main focus of the album and video, the rest of the images are used for a floral effect, and I thought the crown would also fit in with the floral and theme. The font choice is not entirely the same, I wanted to put my own twist on the genre conventions too. The font is still traditional though as this fits with the feminine theme of the album.
• 9.
  Conventions of PosterPt 2 • The title of the album is actually a title of one of Marina’s songs, however it’s not a copyrighted title so I was able to use it. I also put logos in the corner, one is my own fictional company and the other is Sony Music logo. I also placed the names of the songs in a similar place, to try and advertise the album songs better. I deliberately didn’t put a date on the poster, by doing this I challenged the convention of a poster advert, I figured this would make the poster look better in terms of later sales when the fictional magazine gets old. In terms of effects, I put a shine like effect on my poster in order not to make the gradient I used too repetitive. I put a glow effect on the text and image as I felt it looked rather bland without. For layout, I positioned it in the same way an ordinary magazine poster may be made. This is the design that is the most easy to follow with the eyes if it were in an actual magazine – people will see the title first.
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  Conventions of Digipak •The digipack is where I started to not follow Marina as much, I still used the conventions of “The Family Jewels” album slightly, but the traditional images and the like are my own idea and don’t really follow Marina’s traditions entirely. • There is a continuation of yellow again in the digipak which fits in with the poster I used. • The images on the sides (not the main image) are more of a break of convention and the style I’m following as it is more of my own personal style put on there, this outlet of own personal style however is in itself a convention of the genre. • The flora, and the mannequins are what helps to define the feminine image of the album and music video. • The song names are fitting again of the feminine style of the album too. I used some of Marina’s other song names too to show influence from her.
• 11.
  In conclusion • Ibelieve I have both used and challenged conventions of real media products on the tasks that I have done; through a combination of both using and going against such conventions it makes the products fit into my chosen genre but also standout as their own personal products.