In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 4

One element that have to be considered when planning were the location our performance and narrative shots. As we needed to film in a house, a pub, a country road and access to a small river for the narrative shots we felt it would be beneficial to travel to Haconby, Bourne as we could access all three places in this village.

The first location is the marital house which is one of our actor’s homes, we decided that this house would be a good location for our house shots as it is tidy and fairly rural styled inside which will fit stylistically with the pub location as well as the running scenes through country lanes. The kitchen, hall, and bedroom will all be used, and the only issue that we felt we might have with this location, was an issue with the lighting due to the dark walls, however with an extra desk lamp we were able to solve this problem by lighting up the shot with the desk lamp. Typically the houses that are used in music promos tend to be big houses with spacious rooms and expensive furnishings however this was difficult to scout, and as we were using a rustic pub and country roads a rural styled house would fit in better than the typical house that we see in promos.

The second location we used was a country road leading out of Haconby and as it was a back road and not the main road out of Haconby we were able to film the shots we needed from the middle of the road without having cars having to go by. We also decided to choose this location as we needed to locate a small river for the shots were the phone gets dropped in the river and this location is also able to provide a small river further down the country road.

The final location we chose for the shooting of the narrative shots were the village’s pub, The Hare and Hounds and this was the only location that we had to seek permission for, however the bar owner was happy for us to shot our poker scene that we have planned. This location was chosen mainly because it was located in a quiet village so we thought that it wouldn’t be that busy so we would be able to film, whist if we was to film in a pub in a town it would have been harder as we would have to control the background of what was in the shot as well as the particular shot in the foreground we wanted.



For the performance location so we followed the typical performance shot location we felt it was necessary to film the shots in an enclosed empty space, which had either a plain black or a plain white background so we could follow the characteristic conventions for performance shots as well as having a plain colour that doesn’t denote any emotion that could be linked with love such as a colour in the red colour palette. These performance shots are important to the music video as it gives the audience access to the band performing which they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.

In music video the right ‘image’ had to be created for the costume for the actors was somewhat important. I felt as the costume was important as it had to think about, so the right image could be portrayed. By looking at the pictures available of The Colours I felt it was necessary to use the image they have already created for themselves as an unsigned band. They seems to have a smart casual look, so I searched through the shirts, ties, blazers, t-shirts, belts and coats that were available from local high street stores that fitted the image we wanted to portray. The clothes below show the type of costume that I felt was required for the music video, however when filming we wanted to make use of the actors own clothes if they are owned anything similar that also fitted the look we wanted to portray.

After researching around how narrative and performance are used in music promos of the Pop Rock genre I was able to compare how narrative and performance is used in this genre than other genres. Before editing our promo together we decided to have the ratio of narrative to performance as 60:40 as that was the typical ratio I saw in other videos that were the same genre, however while editing it ended up a bit more balanced although this still fitted the genre. For the performance shots it showed all three band members performing in a close proximity which enables the audience to get close to their band playing which wouldn’t be possible unless they got front row tickets at their gig. This makes the band organic, and it is necessary that in the performance shots although mining they give a convincing performance. Also with the use of a narrative has given the audience something to follow and the story the narrative has helps give the video it’s unique selling point and it also helps with the repeatability of the video which is vital for the promo.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 3

In addition to the current music promos that influenced us with our own promo, there were also other media that we took influence from for our Digipak in addition to our Magazine Advert.

The typical conventions of a Digipak are:
- Image of the Band/Artist
- Band/Artist Logo
- Band/Artist Name
- Record Company Logo
- Music Industry Logo
- CD/DVD Logo
- Barcode
- Track Listing on Reverse
- Reviews
- Credits
- Band/Artist Web Address
- Explicit Warning Logo (depending whether it’s necessary for the songs on CD/DVD)

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Whereas for a magazine advert although they have similar conventions such as a band/artist image and logo however there are some additional conventions that are used in a Music magazine advert and not in a Digipak seems the advert is to publicise the song release.

The typical conventions of a Music Magazine Advert are:
- Record label
- Band/Artist identify
- Title
- Tour dates
- Price of CD
- Release date of the CD
- Band/Artist website
- Quote from other sources
- Pictures of the Band/Artist
- Star rating

For our ancillary task we simply took inspiration from a pack of playing cards which then took us to the James Bond Casino Royale opening credits which we took some influence from.

Although we were inspired by the moving figures, we took influence from the positioning of the cards, and this can be seen in the first ideas we had for the Digipak covers, although from this first ideas we told more influence from images that contain people’s hands holding a hand of cards, and then we felt the three band member could be represented by the three Jacks, from the club, spade and diamond suit, while the women that is mentioned is the song could be represented as the Queen of Hearts. These pictures below helped influence us when it came to presenting the idea of three jacks representing the three band members, as it would be an iconic image to have as a front cover of a Digipak

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 2

There has been a range of promos and other media that have influenced our work, the current promos that have influenced us are:

Kelly Clarkson “Never Again” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDvePB2Gz7o&ob=av2e

From this music promo I was influenced by the shots where Kelly Clarkson was getting into the males personal space and looks as if she is seducing him whist he has no reaction to her actions and she was aggressively singing with a plain black background. I liked how it was a plain monochrome colour background and as we only had access to white walls we were able to use these. And I was also influenced with the attempt of seduction, however it was for a different reason than the Never Again promo but I felt it would work, with the woman trying to charm the man back into her arms, but fails. I felt it would be beneficial to have the women attempting to charm the man as It would appear at the beginning and set the scene as the audience is aware that the man is at wanting to let the women go, which links to the song’s lyrics, and throughout the narrative we see why the man would want to let the women go.


I was also influenced by the performance shots that were used in this promo as it was performed with a pure white background and the entire band are wearing white which helped with the heartbreak message the song has, due the use of white and there not being an emotion that is clearly linked to the colour. And when applying this influence to my own promo, I felt it would be beneficial to have the white background however as I was trying to make sure the band had the “right” image I felt it was necessary for them to have the black, white, grey and red colour scheme with their clothing throughout both performance and narrative shots. This is as the black/white/grey colours are all colours in the monochrome palette and the hint of red helps relate the clothing to the theme that appears throughout the three texts, which are playing cards seems the main colours we see in a typical pack of cards is white, black and red.

Pink “Please Don’t Leave Me” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH1IE8R-P9o&ob=av3e

The element from this promo that I was influenced by were the fade shots that appear at the beginning of the promo, which help set the scene of the video as it shows the house from the outside, a shot from the hallway inside the house, and a upstairs room in the house were people are located, all are put together with black fades instead of the typical straight cuts that are used throughout music promos. I felt this was a good effect as the transition to the next shot weren’t as harsh as it would have been with the straight cuts through these beginning shots, and the fades also fit with the tempo of the song, also this is a quite unconventional way of using fade shots as they give the impression of flash backs or something back into someone’s memory. Conveniently the beginning of my chosen song had beat that would benefit from the use of fade shots and it would enable me to set the scene of the video with shots of the female seducing a man trying to get his attention but not succeeding. However the main influence from this promo was the fade to black shots, which were also used in my own music promo

Maroon 5 “This Love” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPpTgCho5ZA&ob=av2n

An element I was influenced by from this promo were the location of the performance shots, as the location is a courtyard is quite isolated which is typical feature when it comes to band performance shots as well as using a plain colour background which is a reddish orange which could easily have a link to love, which is conveyed in the song. They make use of nature with the blossom trees that could be seen as significant symbol of power. Typically it represents a feminine beauty and sexuality and often holds an idea of power or feminine dominance. And another element that I was influenced was from the same shots were the positioning of the band which helped when figuring out the positioning of the band members when filming my own music promo. Although I got influenced by the plain colour background and it having a link to emotions as well as the use of natural to help signify things such as emotions, however I felt this would be difficult to pull off successfully.

I was also influenced in how this promo put together its sex scene with a range of camera shots, put together to the tempo of the song. As well as the positioning of the camera giving the audience the effect of invading their privacy and getting into their personal space as we are brought a little close to the action, which is also known as voyeurism which is a common convention used in music videos. However due to the nature of my promo this would have to be toned down a lot and be covered and only be implied, however from the sex scene I was mostly influenced by the camera positioning because the shot was thoughtfully angled and creates a sense of voyeurism for the viewer so when it comes to filming the scene in our own promo the camera positioning will have to be considered

Sandi Thom “I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc2jDz6w-r4

The element I was influenced by from this music promo was the feature of the singer travelling towards to camera, although this feature was used throughout the promo I felt this would be a good element to use as a shot for our own promo, however adapting the element to the singer running towards the camera, and not staying the same distance away from the camera throughout the shot.

Maroon 5 “She Will Be Loved” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjVuRTm-dc&ob=av2e

Once watched this music promo, we were influenced by the way the female was represented in the video through the use of costume, facial expressions, body language and props. So to mimic this effect we felt it was necessary for the female character in the promo to wear clothing from the red/pink colour palette with make-up to compliment. By using these colours we felt it would help represent the female as once the female in the Maroon 5 promo we can associate the red dress with feelings of love as well as danger, so we felt it was necessary for the female to be represented in a way that meanings can be denoted from the way they look.

Mumford and Sons “Little Lion Man” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLJf9qJHR3E

The element from this promo that we were influence by were the use of close up shots of the band member playing their instruments as well as the whole band shots, these shots are a successful convention in pop promos which are commonly used to give the viewer a close up view of the band performing which they wouldn’t get unless they attended the bands concert and were located in the front row. We felt Mumford and Sons promo for Little Lion Man used this typical convention effectively so we took notice of how the shots were angled so we could attempt to get the same effective shots of our band playing to use in our own promo.

My music promo followed a range of typical conventions of a video in the same Pop Rock genre such as the use of band shots, whole band shot and performance clips, the use of Close Up shots (CU), straight cuts, panning, deserted locations, fast-pace editing cut to the tempo of the song, voyeurism and singing whist acting in the narrative scenes. Whilst we have also broke some kept to some conventions, and we never just used straight cuts as we felt the use of fade shots would be more effective as it would create a fade back effect. Which we felt was necessary.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? - Part 1

Our brief was to create a music video promo for a song sung by an unsigned band, as well as a CD/DVD Digipak to house the CD and a Magazine Advert to promote the single release. For this production I had chosen to create these materials for The Colours and their single “Tonight I Let You Go”, a song which is in the Pop Rock genre from an unsigned band from Reading.

The purpose of these texts is as follows:

Music Video: To entertain and help sell the record, as well as giving the audience access to the band and a better understanding of the song.

Digipak: To house and protect a single CD that an artist/band is releasing, in addiction to more importantly to be targeted to attract the target audience to purchase their music.

Magazine Advert: To publicise the song release as well as advertising the artist/band to its target audience.

There are many elements that are used that make a music promo, the following elements are what we could expect to see in a music promo, however some would depend on the genre of the song:

Some of these elements would be dependent on the genre of the song as not all genres utilise these elements as they don’t have any relationship with the song.

The typical conventions used in a music video of this genre are:
- Band Shots, whole band shots and performance clips
- High lighting
- Bright lighting - not natural
- Close-ups and extreme close-ups
- Colour effects, often monochrome
- Fast-pace editing
- Straight cuts
- Panning
- Seductive pose from the female artists
- Deserted locations with straight forward narrative
- Guitar solos
- Voyeurism
- Urban locations
- Singing whist act

In the majority of music videos of a similar genre there commonly links between the lyrics of the song and the video in the narrative parts of the video. So before planning the video possible links had to be identified, so this conventional link between the lyrics and video could be made. You can see below how we deconstructed the lyrics of our chosen song to benefit us when planning the narrative scenes for our video.