Question 1

In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Music video:

The basis of this task was to create an effective music video relative to the chosen genre. Whilst planning my music video, I therefore adopted the typical acoustic/folk/pop rock genre of the song and incorporated this into the music video. To do this, I decided to use a narrative focusing on the links to romance and relationships in the lyrics of the track; a narrative frequently seen amongst music videos of this genre. I conducted research into videos of this genre, looking at videos such as “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s, an American pop rock band. This is their video:

This is a typical video by a band of the same genre as my artist, Daniel Cope. I got many inspirations from this video in terms of narrative, particularly the sense of longing and loneliness conveyed through the video by the artist sitting alone whilst performing,

the colour scheme of black and white, and the use of two contrasting locations, one lonely and solitary, the other busy, active and industrious. I found that the sense of loneliness within the genre is particularly strong and effective; an aspect that the audience tries to relate to and enjoys watching.

Examples from my video sitting alone playing guitar.  

This, too, is connoted in another music video by a similar artist to mine, Paolo Nutini. Nutini is a British singer/songwriter using the genre of acoustic pop. In his music video for “Last Request” (another love-based song, incidentally) the same sense of loneliness and lost love is portrayed by the frequent close up shots of the artist.

These videos inspired the narrative to my video, that being focused on romance, with the sense of being alone, in particular the artist being alone. I decided to connote this idea by the use of the day-dream love story, rather than a love story that is the artist’s reality. The story involved the artist and a girl, showing their love for one another in multiple locations, for instance a beach on a dreary day; a park; a tree-lined path.

I used the black and white colour scheme of “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s in my music video, as this was highly effective in creating a sense of loneliness, isolation and a general sense of sadness within the performer. I thought about using black and white to separate the day-dream from the reality, as black and white is often used to show action that isn’t in real time. However, I chose to do the opposite: I used black and white at the beginning and end, when the artist is not day-dreaming. This was to connote the feelings sadness and isolation within the performer that “Hey There Delilah” achieved. I wanted the audience to connect, relate and sympathise with the main character (artist), as this suits the typically sympathetic audience associated with this acoustic/rock pop genre.

I therefore used colour during the day-dream scene to connote the happiness and love the artist felt.

These snapshots show the black and white of the reality (left) and the colour of the day-dream (right)

In relation, I decided to let the illusion of the artist's day-dream meet and merge with the reality. This makes an ambiguous ending to the narrative, and lets the audience decide for themselves whether the story they just watched actually happened or not. It also adds a mysterious twist, suggesting that in some way the girl might have shared the same day dream as the artist. Again, I used the different colours to indicate this. Below are snapshots of how I did this:

These shots show the ending scene, with a black and white shot of the artist alone and a colour shot of the girl.
I used a dissolve, between a black and white version and a colour shot of the girl, so that the shot dissolves into colour.

Ben Howard performing "The Wolves"

I also used, alongside the narrative, the artist performing the song on his own beside a bright, open window, inspired by the artist performance in “Hey There Delilah”. Whilst researching the acoustic pop genre, it became apparent that artist performance is an important aspect of the genre. It can be seen in many music videos, for example the videos previously mentioned, “Rhythm Of Love” by Plain White T’s, “The Wolves” by Ben Howard. Goodwin’s theory of genre states “The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work.” Goodwin suggests the audience uses these close ups to recognise and relate to the artist.  This theory relates highly to the genre of my artist, I therefore decided to use close ups when performing, of his face and his instrument.

A typical representation of youth today, particularly my target audience, is that they are highly aspirational and ambitious. This can be seen as the consumption of designer labels and the upkeep of fashion have become aspirational status symbols, especially among the young. It can also be interpreted by the target audience's strive for a great social life, especially in terms of relationships, and the desire to travel. This could be argued to represent the youth's need for escape, as at his age the are finishing college and 6th form and facing the decisions that shape their lives. (See final paragraphs.)

In my music video, I used the sense of ambition and aspiration that is so strong amongst the young people I’m trying to appeal to. I therefore dressed the characters accordingly – abiding by rules of current fashion whilst also addressing the fashion routes of the genre. Here are the two costumes:

'Country' Winston,
member of contemporary
folk rock band
Mumford & Sons

The main character is “the performer” (played by Tom) and so I concentrated on the design of his costume. Whilst researching the genre, it occurred to me that the chequered shirt is a frequent choice amongst both modern acoustic/rock pop artists and bands such as Plain White T’s, and the more traditional bands such as Mumford & Sons.

I began to research the original routes of the acoustic genre, and found links to country western styles of music and fashion. This music includes acoustic guitars and powerful vocals. An example I came across is Don Edwards, a folk singer and guitarist. Edwards has strong links to the traditional cowboy, old western style, in the sound of his music, his heritage and his clothes.

Here is an example of a track of his:

Though my chosen artist is a very modern acoustic singer, the routes of the style go back to this. In relation, by looking at modern fashion, the chequered shirt that originated it country western American is very popular. Below are two snapshots of popular high-street fashion sites for men, TopMan and New Look. The chequered shirt is incredibly popular amongst males of my target demographic age group.

I therefore chose to dress the artist in the chequered shirt and jeans, combining the old-style western American folk clothing with the demand by contemporary fashion, that the audience of my genre are so exposed to. 

My music video taps into the zeitgeist of the country – the spirit of the times – in relation to youth of today. Using youthful actors (17 years old), my video represents the youth and their need for escape, need to dream. The youth of today feel as though they are trapped in terms of pressure, regarding universities and finding jobs. These problems have plagued the United Kingdom and have been the topic of many news headlines.

 My video, showing a young man lost in his day dreams, reflects this and in this way appeals strongly to the target audience, who are the British youth and endure these struggles.

Youth also are constantly battling negative stereotypes associated with young people. In a way my music video challenges the stereotypes, showing a young couple that connote creativity, love, aspiration and ambition. They are not seen binge drinking, causing trouble, unlike youths seen in films such as This Is England and Eden Lake, in which the conventions and stereotypes of young people out to cause havoc and their isolation from adults is reinforced and emphasized. These stereotypes are reinforced by the media, not only in film, but in the news too, as stories such as shops banning hooded garments and the London riots in August provoke fear about teens, with vocabulary such as "Hoodies" "feral youth" and "wild".

My music video aims to challenge and distinguish these negative representations of youth that are so dominant in the way that youth are thought of today.


Print Productions:

In relation to my print productions, I again chose to use and reinforce the conventions of the genre. I chose to do this as these conventions are what attract the target audience to the products, and appeal to them to relate their own lives and feelings to the products.

My print productions included a digipak, with 5 panels: a front cover, 3 inside panels, and a back cover. It also included a magazine advertisement.

Whilst conducting research into digipaks of similar artists to mine, I discovered a general theme: photography based digipaks. The use of photographs often connotes evocative and meaningful images. This suits the genre very well, as tracks of this genre are often written with emotion and almost anecdotally.

Katie Wales (Wales 1989) says that “genre is... an intertextual concept”. This relates hugely to the genre of my artist, as the texts of this genre often reinforce the generic concepts created by past texts of the genre. Similarly, Tony Thwaites (Thwaites et al. 1994) stated each text is influenced by the generic rules in the way it is put together; the generic rules are reinforced by each text.” This can be seen when looking at not only the album covers of artists and bands within the acoustic/ rock pop genre, which often use the photographs to tell the story of their album, but the music videos as well.

I came across a plentiful supply of album covers by artists of the same or similar genres that used photography as a way to express the feel of the tracks, whether that be isolation and hurt (James Morrison) or rebellion (Ed Sheeran). Below are some of these examples:

Quite often, the album covers by other artists had close up images of the artist. Goodwin’s theory suggests “the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work” which reinforces this observation. I decided, as my artist is independent and unknown, it would be important to include an image of the artist. This reinforces Goodwin’s theory of genre. It is also important as it allows the audience to recognise the artist’s face.

I experimented with two colour schemes throughout my print productions; black and white, and a colour scheme that suggests a vintage feel, as both are used evoke emotion and relation, as well as creating interesting, pleasing images. Below are two examples of my panel 1 with the colour schemes applied.

Though the black and white version of my panel 1 was strong and highly evocative, I used the vintage-like colour scheme version instead, so it matched the other panels, which were much more evocative and aesthetically pleasing with the vintage-like colour scheme. Below are those panels:

During my planning for the inner panels, I decided to try panoramic image to stretch across the three panels. I did this to link the three panels together so that the inner of the digipak flows. This also makes the inside of the digipak more interesting than perhaps using 2 or 3 separate images. 

I wanted the locations in the digipak to match or relate to the locations seen in the music video. I therefore decided to use a shot from the ‘reality’ in the music video as the front cover, and locations from the ‘daydream’ for the other panels.

 

A shot from my music video (left) and a panel 4 (right), showing how I used a similar shot inside the digipak as I did in the day-dream part of my music video.

A shot from my music video (left) and a panel 4 (right), showing how I used the same shot for the panel 1 as I did in the reality part of my music video.