Across my 3 productions, I constantly used challenged and developed conventions of real media products. Real media products being, productions that are constantly being produced within the music industry.
My music video immediately challenges the conventions of real media products by its location. The location is at a skate park and from the shots used looks to be a very rural area. In the background there are woods and fields, even sheep feature in the music video. This challenges the basic conventions for a music video, as artists often like to associate themselves within an urban area, thus connoting stature and fame. My CD package doesn’t continue the same path but does challenge conventions in a different way. The CD package has a more urban setting of a school but it is the atmosphere and feeling of the CD that challenges conventions. Throughout the package it creates quite a dark and mysterious feel which is created by the chiaroscuro lighting. This isn't usually associated with the indie-pop genre. Looking through CD artwork examples within a similar genre such as ‘The Twang’ and ‘The Wombats’ they both have a colourful cover artwork which suggests a happy and jolly mood. This is therefore going against the conventions of the genre.
My final production, the advert, gives off a mysterious look as the main image has a very low contrast of a skater under a light. Whilst challenging the conventions of real media products the mystery would make audiences want to discover the uniqueness of it. The CD package and advert are very conventional in the way they are set out. The front shows the artist and title and then back has track listings and small print. By keeping strictly to these basic conventions it makes it clear to audiences. The advert is similar and again has the artist and title, as well as release data and ratings. These are often seen amongst adverts.
The skateboarding feature develops conventions as it has been done before but not as such a male role throughout a package. In the music video the skateboarding clips almost feature as a substitute for the more conventional, narrative. The video develops the sub genre, indie-pop by the fashion the performers in the music video is a casual indie look. This was influenced from the bands actual look. I discovered this via their Myspace page and seeing the band live. I developed the look into my own casual look that didn’t contrast with the skater look which also features in the music video. I developed the idea of bringing skateboarding into the sub-genre of indie-pop. Skateboarding is usually associated with this sort of genre but within the productions, it worked well. At the beginning of the music I used stop motion which was a good way to introduce the piece. The name of the song fly in and which allows the audience to know the song title.
The music video uses lots of conventions of real media products. This was an obvious option so the audience understood that the production was a music video. Firstly I used a conventional option of including a performance shots throughout the music video. Within the performance shots there is a real focus on the lead singer. This is a focus I created because of the importance of him. This was a major part of my planning and his clothes connote his importance. To get this message across I used low angle shots to signify him being looked up to. Also the variety of quick shots adds pace to the production which is a strong convention amongst real media products. Amongst this fast quick shot editing, there is little camera movement. Instead a variety of different and obscure shots high and low angle in particular are a massive part of the production.
Pace of a music video is often related with the song itself for fast tempo and more electronic songs such as a drum and bass, the music videos tend to be quicker and often disorientating. A good example of this is Aphex Twin’s, Come to Daddy music video. For the genre I have used, Indie-pop this sort of pace would be unnecessary which is why the music video is at quite a slow tempo. Many music videos of the same and similar genres use this sort of pace because it fits the tempo and style of the music. The Twang’s, Barney’s Rubble has a similar tempo as the Blighters song I have done and the pace in between the two music videos is very similar.
Overall I have used, developed and challenged conventions of real media products within my own production. I have mostly used conventions of media products. This keeps my three productions more understandable and conventional to audiences. Without using a lot of conventions the products may not be represented as what they are by audiences. By challenging some of the conventions related with my productions such as the extremely rural location. It gives the products uniqueness and therefore being different to other products in the market. Developing the ideas of certain conventions again gives the productions something to be renown for. But by developing the conventions its still keeps the products conventional in there own way.
