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

The music video Overall, the music video conforms to rock music video conventions through the styling of clothes, aesthetic of the video through saturation editing, and the execution of performance and narrative. For example; as with many mainstream music videos, there is an amalgamation of performance and narrative, distributed evenly throughout the video. This relates to “Reassurance” from the Uses and Gratifications theory, that suggests audiences will enjoy a form of media more if it is similar to what they are used to and therefore, reassuring them.

The styling of our music video is also using the convention of the rock genre. The clothes of the performers and characters show old denim, band merchandise (although not their own, but this is not noticeable in the video), and leather, therefore allowing the audience to recognise features of the genre the through the clothing, creating emotional connections with it on a surface level because it is expected. This, in turn, also applies to the Uses and Gratifications theory.

Another way our music video conforms to conventions is the camera angles and shots shown at certain times of the song. The audience expects to see a clip of a drummer when drumming is most evident in the song. They expect to see establishing shots at the beginning of the music video, and low angled close ups of the guitarist. “Just A Day” follows all the examples given, as it make the video aesthetically pleasing, as well as making it recognisable to anyone that it is meant to be a music video, as opposed to a random viral video clip with music.

This shot is the most conventional of both rock, and general music videos. It is often shown in a guitar solo, where the guitarist has an opportunity the show the audience his/hers musical talent. It appeals to the rock genre, as many who listen to it are also musicians themselves, or those who appreciate music. Close ups allow them to see the details of the song they love, and overall, it looks cool.

Although only a few seconds each, these shots an equally expected at the beginning of a music video. It sets the scene and creates an idea of what else will be featured in the music video. It also helps with continuity, so no clips shown further in the music video will seem out of place.

This over-the-shoulder shot is conforms to two conventions. It follows the conventions of boy/girl argument narratives found in general music videos, as it can show the reaction of the other character clearly and provide a variety of angles. Alternatively, it uses the convention that music videos should have a variety of shots anyway(despite the narrative line/genre) to provide a range of interesting viewpoints (during our research of mainstream music videos, we found that many are just filmed in studios, and relied on lighting, costume, and camera shots/angles to look interesting).

In terms of challenging conventions, the music video develops them in a few subtle ways, and one very clear way. Firstly, one of our cameras shots/angle pans around the back of the band in one full circle. Often, this is not done because of crew around the set that would be shot too, and extra lighting off-camera, which if you are panning a full circle will inevitable, be included in the shot.

However, as we did not have extra lighting in the Quarry, or extra crew members, and the lighting was bright enough and no shadows we/the cameraman casted would be visible in the shot; it was possible. Although this shot only appears for a few seconds, it provides a creative aesthetic and suits the up-beat nature of the song.

BEFORE

AFTER

As shown above, another subtle way we develop conventions is the editing done of the clips. Most music videos create colours with the costumes and lighting, and only edit the video itself in terms of saturation if there was not enough light. However, we wanted to create an equally vibrant, stylised, and “cartoony” aesthetic to the video that would co-ordinate well with the clothes and back grounds (green screen) in the music video.

Although not deliberate, it could be argued that our used of green screen also challenges music video conventions. In the industry, green screen will be used to create any footage that would otherwise be too difficult/cost a lot of money practically. Such as jumping off a building and landing to the ground naturally, or to have the performer transported onto an alien space station. These things either need a large budget of money to build a realistic set, or months training to pull off the stunt on a zip-wire effectively. Music videos often have a tight budget, therefore artists resolve to green screen. However, our music video uses green screen for a simple background with a drawing on it, which in industry could be done on location in a studio where a wall is painted, or just actual backdrop is made. Hence, our use of green screen does not follow the conventions of how green screen is effectively used in industry. And finally, the most apparent challenge of music video conventions is the cut scene.

Performance and narrative is conventionally kept as separate “worlds” or areas in a music video. Here, in these few seconds, both narrative and performers interact with each other. Some artists do this, when they themselves are the performer and narrative character, and the music video consists of them singing towards the camera

Other artists do this briefly where the performer walks past the narrative characters (E.g. Pink - Perfect. The narrative character nods to Pink). But, our cut scene shows the narrative characters forcibly storming onto performance set, which is also symbolic of the pause in the song. It creates shock and surprise in the audience, going against the genre of music videos as a whole. As stated by media theorists Renee Wellek and Austin Warren, “the totally familiar and repetitive pattern is boring; the totally novel form will be unintelligible”. Hence, the cut scene in our “Just A Day” music video balances out both genre and variety, which was what we planned to do; conform to mainstream video conventions whilst portraying our personal creativity throughout.

The Magazine Poster Our “Just a Day” digipak advertisement poster conforms to poster conventions structurally more so than challenge them. The format of it is similar to many mainstream magazine posters, where there is a main image in the centre and information is at the bottom of the page. The information included is also a convention, in particular record label logo and website, and an image of the actual product (digipak) in the corner of the page. The use of colour is a typical convention, as bright, neon colours on a black background is eye-catching and regularly used in either pop-rock or electro-pop genres. The poster, however, does develop conventions if not challenge them. The image in the centre is a drawing, as opposed to an image of the actual band members. The reason why we did this was so that there would be direct link to the music video’s green screen background. Moreover, it is a reflection of our research into artists that also have illustrations in their work (Paolo Nutini, Feeder, Ok Go, and Gorillaz). The “OUT NOW” text is also a development of conventions, as dates are often specified but in terms of language we decided that “OUT NOW” had more impact visually.

The Digipak In terms of content, the digipak conforms to standard digipaks. It has a sleeve for the DVD, exclusive “behind-the-scene” pictures on the left, and the lyrics. There is the copyright logo, bar code, and feeder logo. In terms of format, there is also a link to the magazine poster through its colour scheme and layout of four colours in a block. However, it challenged layout conventions as well. There is no track listing (our 4 sided digipak is not for an album of music videos, just the single so this was not necessary) and there are images of the band members on the front and back cover. This was done for creative purposes, as we were working around the idea of “The band’s just-a-day”; the front image shows their “just-a-day” doing normal activities like brushing teeth. Then, the back image shows their “just-a-day” developed. The band members are posed in the exact positions as the front image, but instead of holding a toothbrush, it is replaced with a mic, to show the alternative side of their normal “just-a-day” as rock stars. Another challenge of convention, which was unintentional, is the band members themselves. Simon (purple) is not part of Terminal Moraine, nor is he ever featured with this band in the music video. However, for the sake of creating a link between the digipak and poster, we needed four images/ colours/squares, hence the necessity for an additional member.