Sian Lynes How has your understanding of real media conventions developed over the past two years?

Over the past two years I have completed separate tasks for my AS and then A2 products. In the first year I had to produce a music magazine specific for a certain genre. For A2 I created a music video to incorporate a new and upcoming artist and produce a Digipak and A4 Album Advert to compliment this. For my AS production work my understanding of conventions was initiated by analysing similar products in the real media market. In terms of the front cover I followed the conventions of the Z model used by music magazines such as Billboard which allowed me to layout my cover lines on opposing sections of the cover. This understanding allowed my cover to be more readable as well as aesthetically pleasing on the subconscious eye. In addition, I adopted the convention of a masthead on the top of the cover to make my magazine more recognisable and build a brand image for my magazine. I also used features such as the barcode, price, issue number and date of publication. I found this was an important convention of current real media products so I modified it for my product. For the contents, I used real conventions such as using the same typeface as the front cover to continue with my house style. As well as using a long shot image of my artist that was different from my cover to provide more exclusivity to my target market. I divided the list of my contents into subgroups to make it easier to navigate for my target audience and titled each page with each individual number. My double page spread also used multiple images of my artist in a mid-shot which is a typical convention of real media products. I also created an article and split it into columns to make it easier to read and provide information of my artist to my audience. I used the same colour palette throughout each page, in my case it was red, white and blue that I used in the fonts and shapes to create a continuous uniform house style. By analysing the conventions it made a vast difference in my understanding of conventions and how to apply them to my own product. This allowed me to provide professional look to the magazine that could have a mass market appeal. My knowledge enabled me to modify the conventions specific to my genre and target market. For example, I was able to identify the connotations and style of fonts conventional to a specific genre so I was able to see the most accurate font for my product. Knowledge of conventions made the choosing of fonts, styles and layouts much more quicker. I established the conventions for my A2 coursework my analysing real media products that were similar to my proposed pitch. For example, I did an textual analysis of Lana Del Rey's 'National Anthem' music video to view genre conventions such as narrative versus disjuncture which aided me in the concept for my own video. From looking at other videos, such as Marina and the Diamonds' 'Primadonna' this gave me an insight into conventional shot types which helped me construct my storyboard. I was able to determine specific shot types, angles and lighting effects which I would follow during the filming of my music video. In terms of mise-en-scene I have developed in my A2 coursework as I was able to tie my music video in with my ancillary tasks. For example, I adopted a consistent polka-dot style dress visible in both productions and props such as the telephone which I gave focus on in both tasks. I was able to establish key conventions of the digipak such as the 6 panel feature, artist logo, position of logos and copyright symbols by analysing templates and real media products on the market. This was a similar process for my advert including conventions such as the date of album release, website URL and title of album which I then developed personally for my artist. In comparison to my understanding at AS level I believe I have developed a wider

Sian Lynes understanding as I carried out much more detailed and vast research. I think that I became more aware of details that I may not have previously noticed during AS, such as copyright information on my ancillary tasks. At AS I followed the convention of the masthead for the front cover my music magazine. I ensured it was spread across the full width of the cover with the artist slightly covering one third of the masthead. This was a typical convention and believe it worked effectively. On the other hand I challenged conventions by personalising it to my genre, such as by using an Art Deco font which may not be seen in current modern-day products. In terms of my music video I believe I was more constrained to working within conventions such as shot types, to make it look more professional. This was evident in my consistency with my shot types and kept most to extreme close up, mid-shot and long-shot as I did not want to disorientate my audience so maintained a repetitive view. I was able to challenge the conventions more in my ancillary tasks at A2 than my product at AS level as I had more freedom to experiment with different styles. This evidently left me to use hand drawn sketches to represent my artist, rather than conventional photographs to tie in with the music video, and alter my text and colours around that image. I understood that although the convention would not have been commonly in the pop genre but it was a convention of other real media products of in the same form of a Digipak/Album Advert so could work for my own product. I decided to go against conventions as I found it was important to create a level of uniqueness and innovation so that it would stand out against 'conventional' products of its type on sale. Overall, I think that maintaining conventions is important for audiences to recognise the function of the product. For example, if a digipak did not contain a track listing it would not be informative as to which track is which etc. Therefore it is important for the audience to still be able to decode the meaning through these conventions. Conventions have been significant in developing my ability to create media texts which carry these meanings as it allows me to present my ideas in a systematic and clear way. I think my understanding of conventions has developed greatly, from magazines to multiple promotional music products. However, although these conventions could be applied to media products of a different genre I believe I would to apply the same research to provide an accurate visual representation.