In what ways does your
media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?
During the creation of my
media products, I have found that they have included many aspects of the used
forms and conventions which are used within the music industry. Some of the key
conventions for a music video is that they usually follow a specific theme
depending on the genre. For example a hip hop song would use aspects of
displaying money and women within their videos whilst a pop song would have a
more performance or fun narrative base to them.
My music video and song
choice were both based on an indie theme. The conventions of this theme are
generally a song which tells a story in the lyrics. This can clearly be seen
within the lyrics of my chosen song Medicine by Daughter, as it is sung as if
she is having a heartfelt conversation with someone. Indie songs generally have
a narrative and performance based music video, with the general performance giving
the impression that “less is more”. A perfect example of this would be Daughter’s
video to the song Youth, where it is a simple performance in black and white.
My music video follows these
indie forms and conventions as I took some aspects of this specific music video
and used it within my own. I include both a narrative and performance based
concept, with the performance being relatively simple. The performance is the
main protagonist from the narrative in a dark room with a spotlight on her in
black and white singing a lyric in-between the narrative story. The narrative
itself corresponds with the lyrics, as I have interpreted ‘medicine’ in the
form of alcohol and then drugs/tablets also at the end of the video. This is shown during various clips such as the
medium close up shot of the beer bottles as she gets up and when her boyfriend
discovers the alcohol in her bag during the disruption to the narrative.
This follows one of the concepts
of Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory. His theory suggests that there is a ‘relationship
between the visuals and the lyrics (either illustrative, amplifying, or contradicting).
When looking at my video, I think it is possible to say that my video takes all
of these into account. My video is illustrative in terms of following a similar
story to the song’s lyrics by use of props and referring to a type of medicine.
However this could also be seen as contradicting as the audience may have
expected ‘medicine’ to be physical tablets or something in which would be used
to heal people. Instead I have used the term loosely as some people could
consider alcohol as a way of drowning sorrows and ‘healing’ any emotional pain
people might suffer from in their lives. The video is also amplifying as the
ending where the girl has the choice to either turn her life around and survive
or choose to take a darker path and sadly pass away, creates a sense of realism
and corresponds with the power of the lyrics.
Although my video follows
this concept of Goodwin’s theory, my video also challenges it. One way in which
my video challenges these music video codes and concepts is by minimal (if any)
voyeuristic scenes during the narrative of the female protagonist. Her clothing
starts as a black dress, and although it is quite fitted to her shape, the use
of camera is not used in a way which emphasises her female aspects. Most of the
shots are mid shots or long shots, in which no sexually based shots are filmed.
Compared to certain videos of today such as, Miley Cyrus in the video Wrecking
Ball, my video is very reserved in terms of the use of any voyeurism. This
would contradict the theory that women are made to wear clothing that is sexual
or a video is filmed in a way that would be seen as provocative. However in
indie videos, this is rarely seen, so my video still follows the codes and
conventions of an indie video.
The use of a split screen at
the end of my music video also challenges certain theorists, such as Tzvetan
Todorov. He proposed that narratives start with a state of equilibrium, in
which the protagonist is happy and living a ‘normal’ life, to then a disequilibrium
is caused, such as an event in the narrative. This then causes a provoked response
for the narrative to then return to state of equilibrium. However in my
narrative, there is almost a disruption from the beginning, as the protagonist
is clearly unhappy due to her facial expressions and body language. The
narratives main disruption is then when she meets her boyfriend who discovers
the alcohol. Yet instead of the video ending with a state of equilibrium, it
could be considered to cause a further disruption as the audience are presented
with a split screen in which two different endings can be seen. This leaves
them to question the ending and leave them with questions such as what ending
is a better choice and why she may have ever decided to take a darker
path. Thus overall challenging Todorov’s
theory and the typical ‘happy ending’.
My digipak conforms to the
forms and conventions due to its aesthetic look and what it includes in terms
of information. Many digipaks contain a standard sized square shaped holder
with sections to display information or images. I have stuck with using a
simple 4 sided design which includes various images of my protagonist drinking
from a bottle with a label inside, to an image of the same bottle hanging on a
tree. On one of the sides, there is a brief bit of text which is supposed to be
the artist writing to the person who bought the album and why the artist
created it. This is used in many digipaks as it makes the audience feel like
they have a personal link to the artist and album. The font layout and
information on the digipak conforms to the forms of a digipak as the band’s
name is larger than the name of the album, as more people would recognise the
band name than the album name. This can be seen by the use of information on
the digipak which includes the name of the band and album name, a song list on
the back cover, copyright information, and a barcode. The only way in which I
feel my digipak challenges the form, is by my choice of photographs on the
digipak. Most indie bands will have a picture of themselves as the album cover,
or a very simplistic image with very little meaning. My images are quite
meaningful and include the use of high contrast and quite bold colours and so
would not be stereotypical of an indie digipak.
This is the same for my
magazine advert. I followed the conventions and forms by adding ratings from
magazine, the name of the band and album name, where it can be downloaded from,
and the bands website. I also used more simplistic images on my advert such as
the bottles in a line for the landscape billboard advertisement, but I still added
more vibrant colours and styles that you would not generally see on an indie
advert. Compared to one of The XX’s magazine adverts, which mainly uses black and
white, my advert is bright and easily captures the audience’s eye.
Overall, I believe I have
continued to both use and challenge forms and conventions with both my music
video and ancillary tasks. This has enabled me to create products which capture
an audience, yet are not so different from the themes and styles they know of
to become too different and off-putting.
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