Evaluation question 1

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
Evaluation Task 1

2. What are conventions?
Conventions within the music industry are popular trends
which have become traditional characteristics of music
genres. These characteristics are recognised by popular
culture hence they and help audiences instantly recognise
the genre of certain products. When producing media
products, multiple forms of media obey these conventions,
to attract the appropriate audiences. In the case of music
video conventions are establishes through characteristics
such as set design, lighting, camera work, performance,
costume/make up/hair and editing.

3. Music Video Conventions

4. Set design
Our music video, possessed indie rock
conventions in terms of our set design.
Comparing our video to The Kooks ‘Down’
and The Artic Monkeys ‘When the Sun Goes
Down’, both videos habitats involved
residency. Our video had strong similarities
with ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ as the video
displays youthful subcultures and makeshift
living spaces relating to the youthful
audience instead of alienating them through
alienation by displaying wealth and luxury
unlike other genres such as rap and pop.
However our set design pushes this
convention further by juxtaposing ‘When the
Sun Goes Down’ by displaying a rural
community instead of an urban setting which
is commonly the focal point of many idolising
videos
The Kooks – ‘Down’
The Arctic Monkeys- ‘When The Sun Goes Down’

5. Lighting
The Kooks – ‘Down’
The Arctic Monkeys- ‘When The Sun Goes Down’
Our use of brightly coloured projections
pushes the ‘Down’ music video’s use of
diffracted lighting. Our varying projected
settings make the video a colourful
spectacle making the video more
energetic and youthful, the ‘Down’ music
video’s use of lighting has a similar
effect however the shots are distorted to
some extent loosing a focal point of the
shots. Our brightly lit projections are
juxtoposed by the night time setting
alluding to how such young people thrive
in the night time, relating to ‘When The
Sun Goes Down’.

6. Camera work
The handheld shots that we took in the woods
section of our music video were emblematic of those
in ‘When The Sun Goes Down’, which depicted a
fast pace urban setting. In the case of our music
video we utilised said shots to expose the ease of
the bands friendship, allowing the audience to see
the band on a more personal level, yet the fast
paced nature alludes to a youthful and energetic
feeling. We also use a panning shot in woods not
only to showcase the surroundings but also for the
band to appear more inclusive but yet intimate,
inviting the audience into the rural sub culture that
they had created. Similarly in ‘Down’ in a few
instances the shot pans from setting to setting
making the shots more fluid and the setting more
intimate. The ‘Down’ video also shoots each member
of the band equal amounts uniting and equalising the
band, we did this however in the studio section of the
video we did have more of an emphasis on our lead
singer stressing his star image as we were
presenting a debut band.
The Kooks – ‘Down’
The Arctic Monkeys- ‘When The Sun Goes Down’

7. Performance
The Arctic Monkeys- ‘When The Sun Goes Down’
The Kooks – ‘Down’
‘When The Sun Goes Down’ music video
includes no performance element but
instead all narrative whereas ‘Down’ was
performance for the most part, meaning
there wasn’t a clear convention to use. Yet
we resultedly decided to use a mixture of
the two, in the case of our performance
element narrative was still artistically
displayed through the projections over the
band, allowing us in the woods segment
to stress and expose the bands friendship
through interesting handheld shots.

8. Costume/hair/
makeup
The Arctic Monkeys- ‘When The Sun Goes Down’
The Kooks – ‘Down’
.
Our costume had a large urban influence,
following the popularity amongst young
people. This can also be seen in ‘When
The Sun Goes Down’ however through
hair and make up we embraced a more
natural look by braiding their hair and
applying face paint reminiscent of foliage.
Similarly to ‘Down’ we kept our band in
the same neutral colour scheme uniting
the artists, however we dressed our lead
singer in a large purple fur coat embracing
the indie rock genre whilst emphasising
his ‘star image’.

9. Digipack Cover
The Arctic Monkeys– ‘Whatever
People Say I Am, That's What I'm
The Kooks – ‘Listen’

10. Front Cover
As demonstrated both The Kooks and The Arctic Monkey’s album covers take a
minimalistic approach to their album artwork. The Kooks cover displays a central
illustration as the focus of their cover opposed to including imagery of the band, by
doing this they avoid idolising the band by presenting a more meaningful and artistic
media product. We followed this convention by having a large illustration as the focal
point of the artwork which included connotations of our music video such as the
foliage, creating continuity within our products. Unlike The Kooks, the illustration
presented an image of our lead singer, we found it important to stress his star image
to the audience as we are presenting a debut artist. Similarly to The Arctic Monkey’s
album cover, we approached the artwork in black and white, simplifying the image to
present a more naive illustration emphasising the band name and star image.
Relating to both of the other examples, the font of the writing was large and bold, so
could be easily read to inform potential audiences.

11. Back Cover
The Kooks and The Arctic Monkey’s back cover display some obvious conventions
such as a bar code, legal information and the album contents. All three conventi9ons
we included in our back cover, authenticating our album cover.

12. Artist Website

13. Homepage
Both The Kooks and The Arctic Monkeys had a
strong emphasis on their imagery, The Kooks in
particular draws in audiences through their eye-
catching artwork which relates to their digipack,
firmly establishing their ‘brand. Unlike the other
two bands, which both had large formed fan
bases we choose to avoid using the album
artwork and instead use studio photographs to
familiarise audiences with the band, exhibiting
their young and youthful faces to the teenage
female target audience. Though, similarly to The
Arctic Monkeys, we choose to create a
monochrome theme to subtly link to our digipack
artwork creating the ‘look’ of their ‘star image’.
Moreover, our lead singer is the most prominent
in the photograph linking back to our album
artwork.

14. Touring
The Arctic Monkeys
The Kooks
Both The Kooks and The Arctic Monkeys’ websites
included the dates of gigs and tours, making this a firm
convention of artists websites. We included this feature in
our website too, including direct links to where tickets
could be purchased, as well as social media links to
further endorse fans to the artists ‘brand’. Moreover this
use of links enhances the spreadability of awareness,
ultimately increasing ticket sales.

15. Typography
Studying both The Kooks and
The Arctic Monkeys’ websites,
the convention of using clear
bod typography is very clear.
Using this convention we
generated three varying bold
fonts, all monochrome,
making the website more
visually interesting. It was
important for the typography
to be loud and legible, to
emphasis the ‘brand’ and
other critical information such
as tour dates.

16. Branding Links
In conjunction with both The Kooks and The Arctic Monkeys’ websites, we
included links in the top bar of our homepage, including itunes, social media links
and music, allowing fans to easily navigate throughout the website. Similarly to
The Kooks website, we wanted to emphasise the social media links, further
endorsing the fan base into the ‘world’ of the band and familarising themselves
with the band regularly on a personal level as the content would come direct from
the band. Moreover, this is particularly useful considering the teenage targeted
demographic as they will have been thoroughly endorsed in online technologies.

17. Pictures
Both The Kooks and The Arctic Monkeys’
websites included picture galleries on
their websites which mostly consisted of
images from photo shoots. Pushing this
convention, we included a range of
images ranging from photo shoots and
behind the scenes, providing exclusive
content for the fan base. Moreover this
range of intimate and professional images
takes on qualities of image sharing social
media such as Instagram, enticing the
youthful audience which has the demand
for vast online content. Though, the
primary role of the website is to promote
the band and ultimately sales so we took
similar action as The Kooks and The
Arctic Monkeys by making the ticket and
album promotion more dominant in the
website (ie links in the homepage).