1. In what ways do your Media Products USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE the forms and Conventions of real Media Products

2. When I was planning my ancillary products, as part of my research I went location scouting and found places that would be suitable for the CD. For the front cover, I designed that I wanted the artist to be sat down on a curb featured with the instrument. When it came to taking the images for my CD I found the perfect spot. This image connotes the genre of the artist as he is seen with a guitar. The cloth- es that he is wearing are smart/casual which, when I carried out my research, it became apparent that this would be the appropriate atire. Although the artist has an expression on his face that seems quite expressionless, I found that this facial expression would be most suitable because if he was smiling I thought that this would relate more to the pop genre and not the Acoustic. Also, when doing my research and planning I found that artists in this Indie and Acoustic genre generally didn’t smile on promotional packages such as CDs and Magazine artists. These artists were, James Blunt, Ed Sheeran and James Morrison. All these artists didn’t have a particular expression and were usually sat in a rural/desolate setting. The forms and conventions of Acoustic CDs is that the artist is usually featured with the instrument to connote the genre. I have not challenged this convention and I have done this, as it was a good way to portray the artist’s type of music. Most Acoustic artist’s were usually set in a rural setting. When designing my CD in Photoshop I decided that it was conventional to make the products have continuity and all look like they related to each other and came from the same company. To do this I used the same font, which looked like a typewriter, and the same wooden effect background behind the text. As I also used this for the CD and the magazine advert. When doing my research I realised that artists also made all their products look the same and this was a convention that I used.

3. I designed my CD in Photoshop and decided that I wanted to make my CD look authentic and old, which ironically, makes it look modern along with the graphics, font and logo. The convention that I decided to use that other Acoustic artists had used was the type of font that looked written or sketched. Moreover, when deciding what font I was going to use, I chose a Typewriter style and continued this throughout the rest of my products. The convention that I challenged was choosing to make the CD look old. When researching into CD designs, the majority of the CDs had used lots of graphics in their design which I did not do. Also, some of the CDs that I analyzed used an image of the artist for the CD. This was something that I chose to challenge because I wanted to create something new and original and I hadn’t seen a CD that had used the same idea as I had done.

4. I designed my CD and decided that, after carrying out research into digipacks, that the lyrics would be on the left inside cover. When I looked at other CDs from the Acoustic genre they all either had an image of a setting on this side of the CD or the artist. I decided to use this convention and have the artist along with the lyrics. I picked a location that tied in with the rest of the images that I had taken and when putting the lyrics on I moulded them around the artist so that he was the feature. When I took this image, I took it of the artist with the guitar. This was another convention that I used so that when the CD would be opened the genre was clear. The facial expression of the artist again looks slightly emotionless. This was because when doing my research a lot of Acoustic artists didn’t smile at all. However, I challenged the convention of the artist not having an expression on his face by making him have a slight smile. This is because, after the audience has established the genre and what the artists music would be like by the front cover, I thought that the artist would have to look happy at some point in the CD just so he would look friendly making the audience want to listen to his music.

5. The image that I chose for the background was again the artist with the guitar. He looks to be looking into the distance at something. This convention that I used was something that I found in my research. One of the artists that did this was James Morrison and I used this to inspire me in my own work. He is in the centre of the image which makes him the focus. The background looks desolate and misty, something that was used often in other Acoustic CDs All CDs have the different songs on them, as this is conventional. I used this convention in my own work and used a simple font, which stood out. As do all other CDs I featured logos such as the compact disk logo, the production company logo, who I was produced by and the barcode. So that my CD looked professional I didn’t challenge any conventions and followed what had been done by previous artists. However, the convention that I developed was the artist may have been facing the song titles instead of the other way around. I did this because if I had had him facing them I would have been aprehensive about it looking cheesy and as it wasn’t a convention that I found in other CDs I wasn’t worried about doing something alternative to what some people may have expected me to do. Just like all the other sides of the CD I used the same types of location so that it would all coincide with each other. I showed the artist in again smart/casual clothing as this was a covention of the acoustic genre. His expression again was not happy, however I made sure he did not look sad as this would not attract an audience.