A response to the question - In what ways does your media product, use, challenge or develop forms and conventions of real media products?

1. EVALUATION QUESTION ONE.
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
CHALLENGE OR DEVELOP FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF
REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
ROBYN COLLIER

2. WHAT ARE THE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS WITHIN THE
INDIE GENRE? Live performances - Where the artist sings to the camera
maybe on stage or performing a dance routine whilst
singing.
 A narrative - A narrative which flows with the lyrics of the
song or even separate is a convention within the indie
genre music videos.
 Camera angles - The camera angles within music videos
within the indie genre tend to usually include more close
ups and opposing establishing shots to gain the
audience's attention.
 Editing - Editing within indie music videos is important
and a common thing used. The style would be in a way
which means each clip flows and therefore the narrative
can be followed more easily.
 Mise-en-scene - props within the video will show the
narrative more clearly and costume is important too if a
performance is being used within the video, this is
because each member of the group will want to show
their own personal style emphasizing the indie genre

3. RESEARCH.
Initially, before deciding which song to create
a music video for we looked into different
genres and conventions of them. This is also
where we looked into Andrew Goodwin and
his theory for music videos. After also looking
into two different genres of music which
interested me I was able to get a better
understanding about conventions in the two
genres.
Other research such as looking further into
our chosen artists, Seafret enabled us to
produce a more realistic music video and
relate our promotional ancillary products
closely and realistically compared to already
created products by them.

4. LATER RESEARCH.
We later went to research specifically into artists with
music videos within the same genre and researched Jake
Bugg who also used a magazine advert to promote his
song and music video. We felt this was important as it
gave us more ideas for later on when we went on to
create our ancillary products. Tom Odell was another
artist who creates songs which are part of the indie
genre. We felt his promotional magazine advert helped
us a lot with ideas as to how to plan and set a layout for
our own products. We also believed that the two artists
both produced their promotional products in a way
which conformed to conventions seen within the indie
genre, therefore inspired us to follow this as we felt it
would give our product a benefit looking like other
products in the media.
After looking over all the research we conducted we
concluded that most music videos tend to include more
than one convention of Andrew Goodwin's theory.

5. WHICH CONVENTIONS DO SEAFRET USE OR CHALLENGE?
Conventions they use:
 Close ups - Seafret's music videos mostly contain close ups which is
a convention of the indie/alternative genre and follows Andrew
Goodwin's theory also.
 A narrative - Most of Seafret's music videos if not all, include a
narrative flowing with the music itself which is commonly seen
within most videos of this genre. Conventionally they usually
revolve around topics such as relationships or friendships. These
themes can sometimes be seen over multiple videos by the same
artist.
 A performance element - The performance element within Seafret's
videos is another example of how they follow conventions of the
genre and of Andrew Goodwin's theory.
 Mise-en-scene - A common convention within the indie/alternative
genre is to use mise-en-scene within their videos to show links
between their songs or even sometimes their own name. This can
be seen with Seafret as commonly their music videos all include
some form of water therefore linking to their name 'Seafret.'
 Connections between visuals, lyrics and music - Within a couple of
Seafret's songs, specifically 'Atlantis' there are clear links between
the lyrics, music and the visuals seen within the video showing
Seafret to conform to this convention.
Conventions they challenge:
 Voyeuristic treatment of the female body - The
main convention they challenge is the
voyeuristic treatment of the female body, this is
down to the genre which is indie/alternative as
it's not common for that to appear within this
genre.
 Other conventions are challenged within some
of Seafret's music videos however, within most
videos they're included. An example of this
would be close ups, within some videos, the
close ups are of the individual within the
narrative rather within a performance scene
challenging the convention.

6. CONVENTIONS WE INCLUDED.
 A narrative - Within our music video
it revolves completely around a
narrative therefore this is a code we
stuck to closely following
conventions also used by Seafret
and following Andrew Goodwin's
theory. We did this to show key
themes within our video and did this
through arranging shots and
thoroughly planning before filming to
ensure our product followed a
structured narrative.
• Close ups - Within our music video we included
various close up shots showing the actress. This
does slightly challenge Andrew Goodwin's theory as
it isn't close ups of the artist, despite this I feel it's a
convention of the indie/alternative genre too
therefore it conforms to that convention. We used
close up shots to show our audience important
information following the girl and the narrative filling
the music video, therefore we felt this to be effective
and a necessary part within our music video. Overall
I believe this shows us developing the conventions of
real media products.

7. CONVENTIONS WE INCLUDED.
 Mise-en-scene - Within our music video the
majority of the location was within a house where
the characters lived. This location we felt
conformed well to the conventions within
indie/alternative genre as this is a common
location seen within music videos. We also felt this
location was beneficial on causing emotional
effects for our audience, this is due to the location
being relatable and therefore close to home for the
audience making them feel more involved. This
family home also helped us to show our main
theme of abuse in an effective way as our target
audience would seen the loving, innocent location
and therefore the abuse theme would cause more
of an impact as it isn't expected within the location
which is commonly recognized as a safe place.
• Connections between visuals, lyrics and music - Very early into
the planning process we all agreed as a group we wanted our
visuals to link closely with the lyrics of the song and also the
music, we felt this would engage the audience further allowing
them to feel more emotional towards our main theme of
abuse. It's clear within our video the music links to the visuals
as the climatic moment of the music video we feel is when she
comes out of the bath, we felt linking this to what seemed to
us to be the climatic point within the music helped us highlight
the moment and show the audience this is where the main
point is within our music video. We also used links with the
lyrics where the girl is seen turning on the taps as the same
time as the lyrics are 'It feels like there's oceans between you
and me' Overall we feel the main topic links well with
conventions of the indie genre and the theme of abuse also
fits well with the song Oceans as the song repeatedly includes
phrases highlighting distance between two people linking to
the distance the abuse has caused between the family within
the music video therefore following conventions of linking
visuals, lyrics and music.

8. CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED.
 Voyeuristic treatment of the female
body - We have challenged this
convention in many ways, firstly not
including a female who is shown in
a sexual way as we strongly
believed as a group this wasn't
appropriate for the themes we
initially thought of therefore
challenging conventions within
Andrew Goodwin's theory. We also
believe it wouldn’t fit with the
indie/alternative genre and also all
agree that the narrative of the
music video is aiming to show the
opposite of sexual attraction of
women where her father exploits
her. We felt that including the girl
who appeared to take her top off
was not representing her in any
sexual way and therefore not
treating the female body
voyeuristically as this would oppose
our aims and intentions for the
whole music video.
 A performance element - We all
agreed that our main idea for the
music video was to include a
narrative, we felt we would be able
to create a music video which
showed the key theme we decided
upon best by using a narrative and
therefore the performance element
may cause the audience to lose
emotion if it was included around
the narrative and may also lose the
realistic feeling the narrative holds.
We also felt using a narrative will
help the visuals, lyrics and music fit
well together and all agreed that
the theme chosen, which was abuse
would be a good link to the song
itself. Therefore we challenged this
convention seen within real media
products.
 Intertextual references -
We chose not to conform
to this convention as we
believed that due to our
theme it would deter the
audience from the main
product and the initial key
theme we aimed to show.
We also felt that this
wouldn't fit so well with
our chosen genre of
indie/alternative.

9. ANCILLARY PRODUCTS.

10. PROMOTIONAL MAGAZINE ADVERT AND DIGIPAK.
After looking into codes and conventions within the music video I also looked into
the codes and conventions of the two ancillary products created.

11. CONVENTIONS OF PROMOTIONAL MAGAZINE ADVERTS.
Promotional magazine adverts:
 Conforming to the rule of thirds - This is a common convention seen within magazine adverts. This is due it causing
an effect on the reader/audience to take in the necessary information.
 Images - Including images is an important part of an advert making it clear who is being advertised. Some adverts
include images also seen within music videos however conventionally they are taken during a photoshoot and there
is a specific link between the image on the cover and the song. The images usually tend to be eye catching and
adventurous to gain the attention of audiences.
 Social media - On most adverts in the media some form of social media is included whether it is a hashtag or a
image prompting a site, due to the increase of social media it's been a more common convention than ever before.
 Information - Information is important and a convention used on most magazine adverts to promote a new song.
This information can include a release date if not already released or other information such as the title, artist or
availability.
 Reviews - Reviews are commonly used on promotional magazine adverts and have become a convention of them
due to the success. The review will tell the reader how good the album or song is therefore promote sales.
 Text - Using varying sizes to influence the audience on what to read the promotinoal magazine advert will catch the
eye of the audience on which words they feel most important. Text conventions include positive words such as
'fantasic' or 'excellent' pushing the audience to believe its so good they need to buy it.

12. CONVENTIONS OF DIGIPAKS.
Digipaks:
 Conforming to the rule of thirds - This is a common convention seen within digipaks. This is due it causing an
effect on the reader/audience to take in the necessary information from each panel and therefore take more
information than they would if the information was situated randomly.
 Images - The digipak hold the majority of promotion therefore need to be most effective. The images need to
link to the music video itself and should link to the promotional magazine advert to gain most success. The
images all should be clear and relevant and positioned well to include important information such as the title
or the artist's name/s.
 Information - The vital information should be shown on the digipak clearly. Important things to include are
title, group name and the track list.
 Reviews - Using the digipak to show reviews will encourage the audience to buy the product, therefore
important information to include.
 Relevance to the genre - This is an important convention which allows the audience to identify with the
digipak. This can be shown in ways through colour schemes, text or layout.

13. CONVENTIONS SEAFRET USE OR CHALLENGE.
Due to the low status Seafret currently have within the
media they haven't as of yet released a full digipak or
produced any promotional magazine adverts, therefore it is
hard to detail conventions seafret use, challenge or even
develop.
 After looking at their album covers we concluded that
Seafret tend to conform to basic conventions such as:
 Conforming to the rule of thirds - It's clear to see that
Searfret take advantage of the rule of thirds on their
album covers as they usually include their title at the
top. Within a couple of album covers they also use the
primary optical area to show important information such
as their name or the title.
 Relevance to the genre - Seafret are a part of the
indie/alternative genre therefore are a mellow group
and produce music mainly including acoustics, therefore
to show their following of the convention they include
mellow tones majorly blues and washed out colours to
show them conforming to this code.

14. CONVENTIONS USED WITHIN THE ANCILLARY PRODUCTS.
 Conforming to the rule of thirds - Conforming to the rule of thirds convention was a basic task however it was an
important part of creating the advert and digipak. Without include this it would go against the convention and
potentially put audiences off from the product as the information wouldn’t be easy to read or understand therefore
not eye catching or memorable. Doing this across both ancillary products showed a clear link and therefore making
each individually recognizable to be linked products.
 Images - Images across both ancillary products link closely to the music video itself. Using these images would again
help the audience be able to recognize each product to belong to the same artist. All images were well thought
through and the main image on the two was also linked to the climatic moment within the video therefore we felt it
more than necessary to include this image as our main cover conforming to real media products which link their
video to their digipak or magazine adverts.
 Social media - The social media element was only mainly conformed to on the magazine advert as this is where the
convention mainly lies. We chose to include this as we felt it would be important to include to make our magazine
advert more realistic and therefore more effective towards an audience
 Information - Information included on the promotional magazine advert and the digipak were closely linked. On both
the title of the song, the name of the group, the record label. On the advert it shows a barcode and even a price tag
and, on the digipak a track list which all adds to the realism of each product. This is important so that the audience
can easily identify with each product and link it to the group or the song they may have already heard or are just
looking to buy.
 Reviews - Including a review on the magazine advert in a section marked within the line of sight is beneficial as the
audience member will see that and feel convinced that it's a good song/album therefore intising them to buy it
promoting sales.
 Relevance to the genre - All the colours and images within the two ancillary products both link closely to the genre
and therefore conform to the convention. The blue washed out tone on the two show the relaxed atmosphere and
also link to the name of the group and title of the two songs by including blue within them both.

15. CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED WITHIN THE ANCILLARY PRODUCTS.
 Images - The main; if not the only convention not conformed to within
both ancillary products is, including the artists face on either the
digipak or even the promotional magazine advert. We felt this was an
important convention to challenge as our whole music video is
revolved around a narrative and a key theme therefore we felt it more
than relevant to carry on this theme and include the girl and the
climactic moment of the music video. We felt this was more important
than displaying the artists face and if we did that it would ruin the
effect we had created within the music video.

16. TO CONCLUDE.
To conclude all three products show clear conventions throughout and multiple linking conventions. It's
important to use the suitable conventions for the genre and the song itself without including too many
making it look unrealistic. The research done before creating all three products ensured that we had a clear
understanding of conventions and which are suitable for what area. By including the important conventions
well means that the audience will take more enjoyment out of the products and see more links between the
product created and other real media products too. Andrew Goodwins conventions set the basis of what to
include for the genre and therefore it helped us to develop and create our products to link closely to real
media products. Despite Andrew Goodwin's theory suggesting more conventions not all were suitable
therefore it was a choice by us as a group to challenge these to make our products more effective and
successful at promoting an overall message we intended.