1. Media Products Evaluation

2. Project summary Our project was based on creating media products for a certain genre of music. We, as a group, decided to base our products on the rap genre and the products we had to produce consisted of a promotional music video, a magazine advertisement and a CD digipak. We then assigned specific roles to each member whereby each person had their own section to fulfil, with occasionally helping each other out. Throughout the project we had to keep a continuous blog in order to display our research and on goings during our shooting and creation of our media products. After completing the product an evaluation has be done in order to show how similar our product was compared to real mainstream media products.

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

4. Preparation and marketing research. To allow our products to be accepted by our target audience, we began our extended research into the codes and conventions of the rap genre. We decided to include typical conventions of the rap genre so our audiences would be familiar and recognise our products easily. The conventions allowed us to exploit the basic ideas of rap related products and in some cases challenging the mainstream conventions. We also conducted a “Marketing technique” form which allowed us to recognise the fields we needed to explore, in order to market our product successfully. The fields consisted of target audience, unique selling point, our intensions and how to increase the awareness of our artist. This gave us a firm understanding of how to display our products in order to reach our target audience.

5. In what ways does your media product use and develop the forms and conventions of real media products? As we initiated our in depth research we came across a convention not normally noticed. In all the rap videos we analysed, we noticed various shots were used as well as different camera angles and edits, ranging from long shots to close-ups and from mid-shots to establishing shots. We decided that this was a key part in creating the hostile yet calm atmosphere as well as displaying his feelings and sticking to the conventions. We decided to use this convention as it allows the artist to be shown in different appearances and in some cases showing his body language, to display his emotions and bond with the audience. This also adds to the effect of being a mainstream product as it heavily conforms and develops the conventions of traditional rap music videos.

6. We also tried to exploit another overused convention in rap videos and other products. During the research process, we noticed that the artist is the main focal point in most of the scenes. This allows the artist to seem important and admirable, and to create the same effect, we also decided to primarily use as artist on his own as the focal point and the centre of attention. The use of extras in the background was also in question, but we decided as he is new to the music scene, creating a sense of popularity could indicate helping to boost his image however superficiality would be a factor. The urban surroundings can also be seen as using the typical conventions. In various rap videos there is normally a variation of the luxurious city areas and urban deprived areas. But as we wanted to indicate that our artist delivers meaningful lyrics, we developed this convention and completlywiped out the luxurious city areas. This was also done to create a connection with the audience. The relationship with the audience would also increase, as staying true to his roots, it can indicate that the artist has commitment and is not becoming distracted by potential mainstream success.

7. In what ways does your media product challenge the forms and conventions of real media products? After viewing various music videos, most rap artists were conveyed as manufactured and superficial. The artists are glamorised with jewellery and designer clothes in order to indicate their wealth and success, which in turn encourages the audience to idolise and even envy them, therefore purchasing their music and aspiring to be in their shoes. The appearance of the artist is very important as it identifies their characteristics and personality which appeals to most of our demographics. The hostile expressions and timid emotions also creates a sense of mystery also encouraging audiences to buy their music. We in turn, decided to go against these conventions. We decided not to be heavily reliant on jewellery and expensive material as we saw this as creating a false impression and creating a superficial appearance . We wanted to push the idea that he is more about his roots and creating brilliant music rather than striving for glamour and mainstream success. This also allows our audience not to be distracted by a materialistic artist, but by a musician here to only do music. His casual but fashionable clothing indicates a bit of subtle glamour but the brick wall emphasises the artist sticking to his roots

8. Another aspect of rap videos is the location and fashionable settings. In various video we see the luxurious houses, fancy clubs, expensive cars and again expensive jewellery. We decided that our artist should go against these conventions, highlighting his passion for music. As a group, we wanted to emphasis that his origins and his roots was highly important to him. Moreover, we decided to shoot all our scenes in the estates and streets of London as it will again stress the importance of his origin. The costume seen in almost all rap videos are not inline to our ideas for our artist. The designer clothes, expensive trainers and “bling” was initially part of our plan but to further instigate the idea of his loyalty to his lifestyle and roots, we decided to go with urban clothing to represent his urban lifestyle.We thought that if our artist did not conform to glamorised side of music videos he would seem trustworthy and genuine, therefore encouraging people to buy his music.