Music Video
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
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Unlike the work of other artist's we have created a video that is mysterious in terms of the story line. Athough we have planned out the camera shots we have used we thought that the song was questionable towards what the story line was. This allowed the audience to come up with their own story for what had happened to Lydia and why she was dresses in the way she was, singing that particular song and in the location she was in. In the video this creates question toward that of challenging the conventions of a modern day music video as the narrative to the videos today are told or seen through the camera shots, styling and location. For examples of this we have looked at the shots from the music video The Power Of Love - Gabrielle Aplin.
By Rebecca Smith
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Music Video- How it uses conventions
1- There is three main music videos which I used conventions of from each. They are Gabrielle Aplins- The Power of Love, Lauren Aquilinas- Sinners and finally Rae Morris- Don’t Go
Gabrielle Aplin- The Power of Love
I liked these shots from Gabrielle Aplins musiv video.
Here I used the title of my song like in Gabrielle Aplins The Power of Love video because I think it allows the veiwer to know what the song is called and who it is by incase the song is on a TV music chanel or somewhere that it's come on without the veiwers choice. Also with my artist being new this allows her name and song to be seen by the viewer as much as possible so that it sicks in their head. Also they're having a title is a common convention within independent music videos.
Here I used the common convention of shots of the artist playing an instrument in their music video, this allows people to see the artists as a wide range artist rather than just a singer.
Here are a few more shots I added in which are further ideas got from the Gabrielle Aplin video where she is playing the piano, I didn't want to use all of the conventions exactly therefore I used the shot in different ways so that I could make the music video more intresting but still using the same shot just in a different way.
Lauren Aquilina- Sinners
Here I used the convention of the dress to portray emmotion. Lauren Aquilina uses what she wears to get emmotion across to the audience therefore I used this to portray love and passion in my music video.
Rae Morris- Don't Go
Here I used the convention of singing shots, I used Rae Morris' mid shot because this creates a feeling of the audience being closer to the artist and allows the veiwers to see the artist singing her song which gives a better connection.
Again I added the piano shot because it is a common convention in many music videos but is a lot more common in independent music videos such as this one. I think it creates a more intresting shot by breaking the music video up so that it isn't all of the artist singing.
Music Video
Lyrics
Sam Smith- Stay With Me
Guess it's true,
I'm not good at a one night stand
But I still need love 'cause I'm just a man
These nights never seem to go to plan
I don't want you to leave, Will you hold my hand?
Oh, won't you stay with me 'Cause you're all I need
This ain't love it's clear to see
But darling, stay with me
Why am I so emotional?!
No it's not a good look, gain some self control
Deep down I know this never works
But you could lay with me,
So it doesn't hurt
Oh, won't you stay with me
'Cause you're all I need
This ain't love, it's clear to see
But darling, stay with me
Lydia Eve- Hold Me
Hold me
Like you love me
Don't take your time
Kiss me
Like you need me
set on fire as we colide
I dont know how much i can take
My ground beggings to shake
And i dont know what im fighting for
Anymore
My heart is yours to take
Like water i drown you
You never stood a chance
Like raged i controlled you
Frozen in our last dance
I used the conventions of Sam Smiths style of song writing to write my lyrics because he's writing about about a difficult love which is the same style I wanted to write about because this is a relatable style of song writing. As broad as the topic is this allows the song to reach out to more people. For example if I wrote a song about soft toys then the song would sell to a young audience however writing a song about love will mainly sell to 14-25 however younger and older audiences would still listen as well because younger audiences don't understand completely what the lyrics mean and older audiences because they will have experienced love at some point in their lives.
Music Video- How It Challenges Conventions
In most music videos there is a narrative, however thoughout my music video I wanted to create the look of an untold story, I got this idea from using the conventions from Gabrielle Aplins The Power of Love music video because she doesn't use a narrative. She uses a large old building and a piano as her main shots which is what I then went on to use. I developed her idea by using a large building like hers, plently of piano shots like hers and different lenght shots like hers to break up the music video. I then went on to develop these ideas by expanding on them. I did this by using a lot more shots in the large building, by changing outfits and using things such as the candle in Gabrielle Aplins video and using it in a different way in my video but both being used for the same reason.
Gabrielle Aplin- The Power of Love
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Hold Me
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I also noticed that in many of the music videos in my research and independent music videos in genral that they show the artist playing the instrument used when writing the song. In my research they where all straight up shots of the artist playing the piano where as I wanted to develop this by putting the piano shots in a different way.
Music Video- How It Challenges Conventions
I didn't want to challenge many conventions because I wanted to keep my audience wide with this being my artists first video. I wanted to sick to being orgional but keeping with a theme, song and video that relates to my audience in the best way possible. However there where a few challenges that I made throughout the video.
One of the first challenges I made was the kind of image I gave my artist in the music video. To fit in the mainstream and sell lots of my artists music I would need to use a male gaze and make my artists image appeal to veiwers. However I wanted to let my artist be herself and feel comfortable in her own image. I also wanted for her to look like a role model for girls and women because teenages espically idolize and look up to artists, therefore I wanted to make sure that the image she was portraying was a good one.
Nicki Mainaj
Lydia Eve
Digipak- How It Uses Conventions
Codes and Conventions
There are lots of similar things on album covers no matter what the genre of music. There has to be a basic few rules to follow to get all the correct information on the cover and still being able to make it intresting and apealing.
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First of all there is a photograp or several of the artist or and imagine of something to do with the artist.
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Then there is nearly always the artists name.
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A song/ablum title.
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Then there is usually information on the back to do with the song names.
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Internet information for social networks also there could be a website adress for the artist.
In my own digipak I used all of these things, I wanted to create a real idustry product and also keep up a consistent brand image which fits in with my music video and other products throughout.
The main conventions that I took from real media products was this Lana Del Rey, I liked how there was a powerful mid shot of the artist with no expression on her face which makes her took like a strong female artist. I then used the large, bold, simple title of the artist and the title of the album.
Digipak- How It Develops Conventions
I think that my digipak develops conventions because usually female independent artists/ singer song writers digipaks are more basic because they don't usually have as much money to put behind them as a mainstream artist would be. However when creating my digipak I wanted to keep it simple like most other singer/song writer digipaks but also would like to add a creative photography element to it. I mainly did this by adding a creative photography onto natural photography. Usually nature pictures are added to add purity and look natural, however I changed my nature picture to be unrealistic.
Digipak- How It Challenges Conventions
I didn't want to challenge the conventions to much because I wanted my digipak to apply to everyone. However I didn't play up to the male gaze image that lots of female artists do, instead of doing this I kept my artists image natural and feminie. I did challenge the fact that I added a personalized message in my digipak from my artist to make the audience feel more connected with her. This isn't something that I have seen before so I think that this challenges the common conventions.
Advertisement- How It Uses Conventions
Codes and Conventions
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Bright/colouful, to attract attention
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Title of artist/album title/arists name
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Quotes promoting the album
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Usually portrate, easy to fit in music magazines ect
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Photograph to do with the artist or album
I wanted to stick to using common conventions when creating my advertisement because the aim of it is to sell the ablum and the advertisement which are already out there do that well, therefore I wanted to use these codes and conventions to sell my artists album.
Advertisement- How It Develops Conventions
I think that my advertisement develops conventions with the places to buy the album from, usually the logos from HMV, itunes ect are added the the bottom of the advertisement however I felt like they looked out of place but that they did need to be added because it allows the veiwer to know where to buy this album from. I felt like the colours for the logos where to distracting from the rest of the advertisement therefore I added the album cover with an Itunes logo over the top so that people knew to buy this album from there. However I also felt like a lot more people buy their music online now so that it was the most important logo to have on there. If the person who buys the album off there or listens to the sample then they are more likely to buy the album in the shop.
Advertisement- How It Challenges Conventions
The only thing I did to challenge conventions on my poster was to not use a male gaze on my artist because I didn't want her to sell her image in the wrong way. I think that she looks a lot more elegant this way and allows females to look up to her. Also not using a male gaze or selling my artists look instead of her music works better because this allows the advertisement to tie in with the rest of my artists products. Other than this I don't feel like I challenged any other conventions because I wanted to be able for my artist to sell as much of her music as possible therefore I needed to follow the codes and common conventions.
By Jazmine Allen