BLOG TASK 1

In What Ways Do Your Media Products Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

The common generic conventions of a pop video are:

• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption


• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)
  
• Repetition of reoccuring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)

• A possible narrative structure

• A possible performance element

• The flexibility to disregard Realism!

• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track

• Use of special effects (lighting, annimation, CGIs, in-camera effects)

• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track

• High impact instantly! (Don’t forget that competition for airplay on the main music channel outlets is intense)
  

The aim of our pop video, magazine advert and CD covers was to show a clear band image in the group we were representing. We wanted to created an edgy, rebellious, anarchic, mysterious image for our band, Overdrive, so they would come across as elusive, anti-establishment, big city guys. We achieved this by developing and subverting a number of these conventions which are all used in real media products.



This shot conveys the guitarist as a classic rocker with the Gibson SG electric guitar and leather jacket. This all connotes manliness and strength, and is complemented by the slightly low angle shot. The fact that you don’t see any of the bands’ faces for the first few shots shrouds them in mystery creating more allure, this subverts the convention of introducing the band early in the video. Following one of the main conventions of pop videos there is also potentially suggestion of sex in the phallic symbol of the guitar. The wire coming out of the guitar could suggest power and industrialisation, solidifying their image as big city guys. Finally, we also, employing another pop video convention, lead the eye to the next shot which is of the guitarists hand on the fret board:





In the shots of the lead singer we utilised the x/y axis rule to try and give the audience an idea of how they should feel towards him. The x/y axis rule concentrates on where a person in positioned in a frame; if someone is on the left, the audience will perceive them as ‘good’. If, however, this person is on the right hand side of the screen they will be interpreted as ‘bad’.
Like the first shot I spoke about, this one creates makes the singer seen mysterious and rebellious because he is not necessarily situated on one side of the frame but switches frequently. This means that the audience isn’t sure what to think of him and makes him come across as quite edgy and even anarchic. This subverts pop video conventions as a lead singer would normally be positioned on the left of the frame so the audience instantly take a liking to him.


The first time you see the whole band in our video is in a tracking shot. This challenges a very widely used convention of pop videos. Usually the band would be first introduced with a static wide shot, we, however, don’t use a single wide static shot until the last 15 seconds. This is similar to the music video for ‘Kids’ by MGMT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIEOZCcaXzE) which only ever shows close ups of the bands’ faces.


The narrative of the pop video is all shot in close ups. This was intended to create tension and suspense. The audience doesn’t actually realise how many members of the swat team there are until about half way through the video when they storm the apartment. This added an element of threat to the video. It also adds to the anarchic and rebellious image of the band, they must have done something fairly rebellious to attract the attention of the armed forces. The fact that at the start of the video we don’t concentrate too much on the armed units’ faces suggests that, rather than being seen as individual people, they represent the government as an organisation. This echoes the meaning of the song. We used the x/y axis rule of composition to provoke a hostile feeling towards the armed unit from the audience. The x/y rule states that protagonists should travel from the left of the frame to the right, this matches the direction in which we read a shot and therefore are encouraged to support this character. We used the opposite. In the majority of shots, the armed unit moves from the right hand side of the frame to the left. This unsettles the audience and persuades them to dislike the unit and interpret them as antagonists.


This reverse POV shot is very aggressive, the gun pointing out at the audience sparks fear and a dislike for the armed unit and, therefore, a more positive feeling towards the band. The shot utilises the rule of thirds. The swat member is positioned on the right of the frame and is subsequently seen as an antagonist. This shot also leads the eye down the barrel of the gun to the bottom left corner of the frame where the guitarist is positioned in the next shot:



This is the `CD cover we constructed for our band’s premier album. Using various composition techniques, this accurately depicts the bands chief values. We utilised the rule of thirds so that the first thing you see is the A of assassin. This has been formatted to look like the symbol for anarchy which the band clearly stand for. The line and shape of the text leads the eye to an image of the lead singer, positioned on the right of the frame which, according to the x/y axis rule, means he is daring and rebellious. The fact that only half his face is shown adds to his mysterious and elusive image. The stencil style font of the band and album name and the poster edged skyline in the background reiterate the fact that the band are big city, industrial guys.


This magazine advert shows the industrial, city image of the band. It achieves this through the city skyline in the background and also the font and colour of the text. The band name is made to look like a graffiti stencil and the other text use a fill effect called ‘brushed steel’ – all pointing towards industrialisation and city life. The band are stood in an informal manner to seem more personable to encourage audiences to like and relate to them. We chose to put this advert in Kerrang, as it is a magazine that specialises in rock music and is aimed at our bands target audience of 16 to 30 year olds.