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1. Question Four- In what ways does
your product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?
By Hannah Hopgood

2. Introduction
• As to gather an understanding of the genre and the conventions
it upholds I conducted research throughout my coursework
through moodboards, interviews, YouTube video etc as to
develop my knowledge to help construction quality professional
products through the understanding of conventional codes which
I could chose to conform to or subvert to as to make my product
appeal to the audience through their expectations in relation to
these conventions. I researched key current artists and how they
represent themselves as well as conventions seen within all
products, which led me onto constructing my final products, the
main piece of research that really helped me to fully understand
the importance of conventional codes was my analysis into the
neighbourhoods promotional products. Analysing their music
video for ‘Afraid’, ‘I love you’ albu and website, analysing their
layout and basic information I should aim to include in all my
products design to maintain professionalism throughout.

3. Music video
• For the music video I conformed to the contrasting theme within the subject matter
and concepts dealt within the music video by including both narrative and performance
aspects within the music vide to represent the star in two ways; through her star image
and a personal insight into them through the narrative which was also explored within
the ‘Afraid’ music video for The Neighbourhood. I conformed to this aspect of narrative
structure as it made the message of the lyrics relatable to the imagery on screen linking
to Andrew Goodwin’s theory of an illustrative imagery throughout a music video yet
also gave an insight into the star image through the performance aspect, I felt this was
successful within The Neighbourhood’s video so applied this my music video which
allowed me to increase my grade by the experimentation of contrast. Throughout my
research I also found that within the music video the lead singer has the most screen
time as to promote the band or artist through the reparation of their self image by an
increase in the amount of screens time that they have throughout the music video, I
chose to conform to this by having the main protagonist within the narrative to be the
artist; Ruby Wilson which linked back to my research through Artic Monkey’s video why
do you only call me when you’re high? As this allowed the artist to be seen through the
music video further linking to Andrew Goodwin’s theory as well as showing the artist in
two ways that could relate to the audience by star image and narrative; the narrative
linking with the personal aspect with the audience’s personal lives by having the subject
matter being a widely relatable theme; Relationships and the star image appealing to
their sense of desire which is common for fans to gain when developing knowledge of
an artist.

4. Music video continued
• Although my music video did challenge this subject matter of
relationships by showing the relationship in a darker light
through the use of cheating I wanted to show this message to
the viewer as to show a morden day relationship as cheating has
become increasing common within a relationship structure which
links t my target audience being the morden day indie audience. I
also developed my product through the use of artistic influences,
from my research I saw this was a common convention of the
indie genre through cinematography and editing skills, as to
develop my product within this way I imported a photoshop file
of geometric print into the iMovie file and made it into a
transitional effect which helped to establish the brand identity
and reinforce the artistic influences well as the genre. Through
this overlay it showed the artistic influence yet linked to the
genre as the geometric print is commonly seen within the indie
genre.

5. Website
• As for the website I looked into pre-existing websites by key current artists I found the main
conventions were the use of imagery being a key aspect within website design, social networking
links and basic information about tour dates and any upcoming events that the artist is doing as o
promote these events o the website user. From gaining this information as well as audience
feedback throughout I knew the expectations that I had to meet in terms of creating a high quality
product. From this I adapted these aspects on my website’s original design by adding a banner when
the homepage open to have a college of images showing both photographs form the narrative and
performance within the music video which helped to link all the products together well through
repreation of imagery. On form this having clear links t social networking sites throughout the
website’s design in the form of buttons within the banner section, live feeds, audio player and
YouTube video. By clearly establishing this on the website it helped to employ the use of web 2.0
throughout the website’s design which can increase the proling of the artist to an international
audience through sharing aspects linked to the artist through these social networking sites, I found
this conventional code to be very successful when looking into the promotional and distribution
waves within the music industry as many of the artists use this was a way to engage audience and
promote their promotional product simply to audiences. As well as providing direct links to these
sites I added the aspect of information into the design but through the use of an calendar app and a
moving gallery I made the information less text heavy through the use of imagery and an interactive
calendar where the user can freely move to each month and see what gigs or events they want to
find more about. I found these aspects to be very successfully within the website’s design subverting
to the normal textual layout I had seen on other website designs. I reinforced the associated link
between the artist and the record label through small print provided at the bottom of the pages and
the record label logos being on the webpage which was a common visual factor upon the majority of
artist I researched websites.
• From conforming to these conventional codes I looked into how my website could engage audiences
by chanelleging conventions so I experimented into animation techniques that I then applied t
features upon the website’s homepage so that when the page opened it would be memorable to
audience through the animation effects applied.

6. Digipak
• For the digipak I had problems with conforming to conventions as I
hadn’t looking into the digipak of other artists in detail but due t my
research into the neighbourhood’s product I understood the layout and
conventions t follow in order to meet the expectations of the audience.
The digipak I had a lot of of leeway with the desing as the main
conventional codes I discovered through my research was the use of
imagery to promote the artist wherther that be in the booklet or on the
front cover as well as tracklisting to give an insight into the other songs
avabale on the album. As to create a link back to the record lable in small
print on the back cover there would information about the record label
such as contact information and symbols such as copyright etc. I chose
to have all these elements included into the design of my digipak as to
conform to the conventional codes shown in professional products as to
build up my products quality as well as provider the user with
information they might want to get through the digipak design. My
digipak didn’t challenege many conventions as I wanted to create a basic
design rather than some to chanellege how the user would use the
product, as to maintain the ease of use of the product.

7. Conclusion
• In conclusion I followed many conventional codes
for each product as to meet the expectations of
the audience. I also chose to subvert some
conventions as to make my designs more
interesting and memorable to audiences by
changing how the view things. Conventions are
vital within the construction process of my
products as it can helped to increase the product’s
overall quality by providing basic information as
seen within professional media products.