Evaluation Question 1- DRAFT In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products? MUSIC VIDEO: Au Revoir Simones Somebody Who music video played a huge role in the style of our music video. Firstly the location in the Au Revoir Simone music video features a large/grand empty building with open and empty space, influenced our choice of location (The City Rooms) we wanted a large and grand building with lots of character to emulate the same style as Au Revoir Simone. This also led to style of music video we chose (performance) which features lots of location shots using gliding, steadicam and smooth panning motions in between shots of the band performing e.g. establishing shot (particularly in our draft music video uses a very similar style to the Somebody who video, panning and moving round the entrance of the building before introducing the band/vocalist lip syncing). Au Revoir Simones Somebody Who music video also influenced the way we wanted our band to act whilst performing in our music video (particularly our lead vocalist Ellie) a cold and almost vacant expression making very little eye contact with the camera/audience. The band members style/costume choice also came from the Somebody Who music video, polished yet minimalistic look, particularly Ellies makeup (red lips which were used on the main vocalist in the Somebody Who video). AlunaGeorge were also a significant influence when looking at how we wanted the dynamic of our band to be formed, male/female duo, female (Aluna/Ellie) being the main and lead vocalist whilst the male (George/Alex) plays a mysterious background role which is hardly noticed by an audience. The same genre of music as AlunaGeorge (indie/synth pop) was also something we wanted our own band to emulate and some of their songs feature on my track listing on the back panel of my digipak. This formation was also taken from my own AS media studies coursework, fictitious band INFLUXX and their style and genre of music was taken forward into our A2 coursework and also the style of my magazine (bold, but simplistic/minimalistic at the same time which we all felt worked well). Formation of band London Grammar was also an existing convention that we took and used in our music video, the lead and main vocalist being a female (Hannah-> Ellie) and the male roles in the band and music video playing a less active part. Some shots featured in our music video were also taken from London Grammars music video Wasting My Young Years e.g. a horizontal crab shot panning across lead singer (Hannahs) face from left to right was used in our draft and final music video at 2:31 which pans across Ellies face from left to right (we also used this shot again immediately after but switched Ellie and Alexs positioning round). We also used conventions from existing band MSMR throughout the formation of our band and our music video. Firstly we used their song Hurricane as the debut single by fictitious band INFLUXX and the male/female duo formation of their band which is also popular at this time with bands in the same genre (indie/synth pop). We also incorporated shots from MSMRs music video Hurricane e.g. the shot of Alex stood behind the door zooming forwards at 1:28 was taken from the Hurricane video shown at 1:37. Again, this helped us show the existing formula of male/female duos where the female vocalist takes the lead role and the male musician takes a less active and even mysterious role. Throughout our music video we applied some existing theorists to our music video (Goodwin and Mulvey). Andrew Goodwins music video theory can be applied to our own music video as the lyrics are illustrated through the visuals shown in the music video, this is an already

existing convention used in music videos such as Ms Glass music video which uses imagery such as drinking beer in an arcade and skateboarding to illustrate the concept of eternal youth. This was highlighted in Phoebes music video analysis which we decided to incorporate into our own music video where the lyrics keep my eyes open are illustrated in the visuals as she opens her eyes whilst making eye contact with the camera (1:49). The use of amplification where there is a link between the audio and visuals was also an existing theory by Goodwin that we decided to use in our own music video. A significant beat in the song or change in tempo is where we decided to cut to different shots, this is shown in our music video at 0:03, 0:17, 1:10and 1:14 (these are just a select few from the music video). Laura Mulveys male gaze theory is also used throughout our music video particularly at shot 11:05 where Ellie turns round and makes direct eye contact with the camera and at shot 1:22 where the camera pans up from Ellies chest to face. This theory is used heavily in the music video as an existing convention, particularly in the band AlunaGeorge where the lead female vocalist is often shot in music videos in a fairly seductive manner. This was highlighted in my music video analysis of Attracting Flies by Alunageorge, particularly in the beginning of the video where Aluna is being established as different characters (0:15-0:23).
DIGIPAK: The extremely simplistic and monotonal style of my digipak is a convention that I used from existing bands album covers (The Beatles- White Album, The XX- XX, JJ No3 and Arctic Monkeys Suck it and see) all of which feature very little if any text, information or images. Another album cover which uses this convention (New order- substance) was also highlighted in my audience feedback, again highlighting that this simplistic and monotonal convention is one that already exists and is received well by their target markets. Barcodes, Terms and Conditions, the Record labels logo and the band/albums name and catalogue number are all typical features found on almost all existing media products such as digipaks (mostly for legal reasons e.g. terms and conditions). Again, this was highlighted in my audience feedback and during the research stage of this project. Having a slot insert which features the lyrics from all the songs on the album and an image of the band is also a convention taken from existing media products (digipaks, albums and LPs). The images I took of INFLUXX were shot in the same style as famous photographers Terry Richardson and Viktor Vauthier. This particular style of photography creates bold images in front of a white screen using harsh lighting, this convention has proven to be popular and successful worldwide which led to my decision of using it in my own coursework. MAGAZINE ADVERT: The use of a QR code came from tattoo advertisement I saw in a magazine, this led me to create my own barcode which links to a Tumblr page that features online exclusive information and inspiration about my fictitious band INFLUXX this decision to create a Tumblr page came from the band MSMR who are released some of their early music and album debut through their Tumblr page. The audience feedback I received on my magazine advert revealed that my advertisement is similar to Arcade Fires worldwide promotion of their album Reflektor which was iconic and intriguing due to its vague nature as it revealed very little about the album itself. The album My name is my name by Pusha T was also shown to be very similar to my own work, showing that I have use already existing and successful conventions within the music industry when designing my own magazine advertisement. The monotonal colour scheme was taken from The XXs album promotion campaign which was also very simple and minimalistic yet also very effective. The record label logo IAMSounds is a standard convention found on almost all magazine adverts promoting debut albums. My digipak and magazine advert challenges the traditional and standard convention with its minimalistic approach. However, it is not original and is proven to but used by plenty of existing and very famous artists/bands but it is not always understood or appealing to all audiences.