Evaluation 1: DRAFT

Evaluation Question 1: in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In the research and planning we figured that we wanted to follow conventions of an indie/alternative genre. The typical conventions we wanted to follow where incorporated into all three of my final pieces effectively.

Firstly for the digipak we did a lot of research into the way our genre typically seem to portray their own albums and music, and we wanted to incorporate this into our own work. After looking through a variety of album covers from our chosen genre we found that this specific genre usually use simplistic and minimalistic ideas when it came to the album covers. This gives their album covers an attractive look, which attracts their target markets attention instantly.

Artists such as The Black Keys, Foals and The Vaccines had a big influence on how our own products where portrayed to attract the attention of our target market (people our own age). It is evident to see that they all seem to go for a minimalistic approach and adhere to a specific colour scheme, not being to out, their which can in times create an unprofessional look and feel to artwork. For example one of the most intriguing artworks we liked was Gill Scott Heron and Jamie XX’s cover for the album ‘We’re New Here’ this cover simply included a pink quarter of an X on a plain green background. This kind of look seems to stand out adequately in contrast to over complicated pieces, which is something we took into deep consideration before finalising our final pieces.

I specifically liked the way the band Swim Deep presented their album ‘where the heaven are we’. They used the parallel lines, which I found where very affective, and audiences could link the parallel lines (band logo) with the artist. This is something I really wanted to incorporate into my final poster and digipak, not only because it followed and developed conventions within the genre but it also look affective and it is a useful technique to use to allow the audience to connect unconsciously with the band.

It is evident to see that I have followed the conventions of swim deep here using a similar logo in the centre of my poster and also in the centre of my inside left cover on the digipak. By doing this I have created a sense of continuity throughout both pieces. 

An artwork I specifically liked and used conventions from for my own genre was the album rungholt by a forgien band ‘werkbund’. This cover is a very simplstic idea consisting of a minimal colour scheme (black and green). The font was also clear and easy to read while standing out effectively on the green background which is something I introduced into my own piece too. I used a simple font called ‘bebas nueue’, the bold block writing is quite similar to this involved with rungholt which is why I chose to use it in order to follow the conventions the best I can. For any new band coming into the music industry it is very hard to be original. I also decided to incorporate a colour scheme consisting of two colours (teal and black) for my front cover to follow the pre existing ideas in this artwork, too many colours can also create an unprofessional look and also it doesn’t follow typical conventions set in our chosen genre. However o chose to use a different set of colours which I found worked more effectively for the ideas I was trying to portray. I really liked how the album cover used this simplstic approach because I believe it allows the audience to think about the band in different ways, it allows them to create their own image of the band and music rather than a set image or theme which can provide scope for this, it adds a sense of interest. The use of the border for this artwork was something I also incorprated into my own digipak too. However I developed this standard convention and increased the size of my border in order for the piece to gain more attention. The vibarant teal stands out very clearly on the plain black background which is eye catching.

I have used conventions from Jake Bugg’s self-titled album for my final poster. It is clear to see that there are similarities in the layout of my poster and this one. I really liked the use of the lines to kind of hold the important information in and also the use of name dropping a couple of the main songs on the album so that the audience have a better understanding of the songs. Furthermore I have followed the layout at the bottom of the poster, including the positioning of the website titles and the recording logo. Furthermore I made the album release date a bigger font, like in Buggs poster, to add emphasis like he has. Spaces have also been included in the writing ‘debut album’. I believe this looks professional and it instantly strikes the attention of the audience better because it is more spread out.

However I have also developed ideas from Swim Deep’s poster for the same album, ‘where the heaven are we’. This is by yet again incorporating the ‘parallel lines’ into my poster, so it reinforces the conventions used by swim deep of involving continuity between both pieces.

When creating our music video we wanted to follow conventions used in videos by artists in our chosen genre. Throughout the whole research and planning section we mainly focussed on The Black Keys, Swim Deep and Foals in terms of the music video. All three bands used a variety of shots, which we wanted to incorporate into our own music video to our best ability. A variety of performance shots in the video Olympic Airways caught our attention and influenced us in our own filming of our video. To start with the close up shot used of a band member playing the guitar with another band member out of focus in the background was something we really like the idea of. This is because it didn’t leave the attention just specifically on the guitar, it allowed the audience to unconsciously analyse the mise en scene and see what else is happening in the shot. We follow this specific convention, which has been seen similarly in other music videos we watched, by putting the drum work by our drummer, Harry, slightly out of focus in the background of a few shots, to try and portray the same effect.

The photos can show the similarities here in the whole idea of the shot. It is evident to see that there is still a focus on the playing of the guitar, but it provides an active mise en scene to keep the audience more involved.

We also noticeably followed ideas from the video Girls by The 1975. We specifically liked the guitar shots used in the video. It seems like a typical convention to use close ups of the guitars in music videos for our genre however they seem to be portrayed in different ways via the shot angle density etc. by each individual artist or group.  

This specific guitar shot (above) is a shot we really liked and wanted to involve within our own video. It is evident to see the similarities in terms of the handling of the guitar, shot height and the same use of a plain minimalistic background. However it is clear to see that the lighting and other aspects in the top photo is a lot clearer in contrast to ours. We used this specific shot at different times of the song but manipulated it slightly in terms of timing and camera movement. Also Greg (our guitarist) could play the song to a good ability so we used specific parts of the song he could play for parts in the video, so all the string movement isn’t exactly the same in each shot.

A very similar drum shot we also incorporated was from The Black Keys video – Gold on the Ceiling. The shot itself is very similar, with the main focus on the actual playing of the drums. The shot angle and height is pretty much the same as that shown in The Black Keys, this shot has also been manipulated within different parts of the song, a technique similarly used in these performance videos.

Originally we planned on involving a narrative to coincide with the performance elements of our video, however after further research into typical music videos from out genre we found that they usually do not mix these two types of video into one too often. Therefore we thought it would be best to stick to a simplistic approach and use just the performance shots (as it more typically conventional). As our created band were performing Lonely Boy by The Black Keys we did a lot of research into the band to find out how they perform and the way some of their videos are set out, so we could copy similar conventions and use them to our advantage. We found that with the band the drummer doesn’t have an equal role to the lead singer of the band. A lot of the time he is performing in the shadows of the lead singer and behind him in a lot of shots. Therefore the shadows we used where involved to follow conventions shown by The Black Keys. For example in the two shots we can see the drummer is arguably slightly hidden by hands in the crown, signifying that his role can be seen as less important. We have tried to involve this by the use of Derry’s shadow casting over a part of his body, making his area of the shot noticeably darker than Derry and Greg.

Furthermore we noticed during our research that in our genre, typically, the lead singer gets really involved with the song. This is usually shown by significantly longer shots, which provide more scope for the expression of the singer, especially the body language. Because of this we decided to use Derry because he is naturally a very enthusiastic individual, and he suits the overall image of the band great. It worked out perfectly as in a lot of shots, he shots passion and he is very confident in front of the camera, this creates and provides a better feel of the band, likewise in real bands involved in our genre as the singers usually aren’t portrayed as nervous and impassionate in their videos.  

Example of enthusiasm shown:

(Elements of his confidence and enthusiasm can be identified within these tube chops from his exciting body language and movement around the shots. Also his facial expression adds emphasis to this image).

After looking through more and more videos in our chosen genre I decided that the video looks a lot better, and fits in more effectively, in black and white. This is because main bands we solely focuses on during the research, for example the 1975 and The Black Keys, involve many black and white shots. I believe these are more affective because they allow the video to maintain that simplistic look without showing any abstract colours, which don’t coincide well with the video.  The 1975 usually have black and white album covers and artwork which creates a sense of continuity between their work well (something we have tried to incorporate).

Black/White shot examples:

Along with this similar facial expressions can be clearly noticed between the lead singer of the black keys and Derry. In this specific example between the two shots it is clear to see the passion both are putting into the song.

These shots can yet again emphasise the use of black and white shots, not only this but a similar band set up can be slightly identified with the positioning of the guitarists and lead singer in front of the drummer who appears to be within a frame.

more conventional shots:

(Dull expression similarities in the close ups, Matty from 1975 and Derry from The Everything)

Overall it is evident to see that all three of my media products use conventions of real life media products in the genre I based my own band on. Along with this some elements of my products have slightly developed typical conventions in order to modernise certain products and provide a more interesting approach. The main convention I have evidently followed is the minimalistic approach shown by bands within my genre such as the 1975 and Swim Deep. And the clear adhering to colour schemes throughout each piece efficiently to emphasise this simplistic approach.