Explain how your skills in the creative use of real media conventions developed

over time. Refer to a range of examples from your media productions in your
answer.


At AS I made a music magazine in the style of the mens magazine Homme, the
contemporary mens fashion magazine Dapper Dan and two alternative gentlemans
quarterly magazines; Fantastic Man and Jocks & Nerds. In A2 I made a music video
which had an avant garde styling and were aimed at the niche scenester target group.

At the beginning of AS I created a school magazine named IQ. As this was aimed at a
varied audience and not the previously mentioned scenester more niche audience it
needed to follow conventions and codes of a magazine. To follow these conventions
certain rules had to be followed. Firstly I needed to include a masthead, as they are
apparent in every mainstream magazine. The masthead is the title block for the magazine,
usually this is the eye catching convention on a page and has to be distinct. The masthead
is most commonly large and covers the top left or to centre of a magazine, examples
include the large Q of Q Magazine and the large initials of NME in the top left of the
page. The most common colour of a masthead is red and so I followed both of these
conventions and placed a large, bold and red IQ font in the top left of my front page.
Another convention which I followed when creating my school magazine was the inclusion
of a headlines. This is the main statement of the magazine. Usually the headline is the
largest and boldest font, describing the main story. A banner headline spans the full width
of the page. To follow this convention I decided to use a large headline over the top of the
main image in the same red as the IQ masthead. I also decided to use the convention of
strap lines throughout my preliminary magazine as they are once again included in
mainstream magazines such as GQ and FHM. These strap lines act as subheadings
which are placed below the initial headline to inform the audience of the magazines
contents. I included strap lines such as full cup nal result and Mr Lane is up in the
clouds with result. The use of a kicker was another convention which I used on my
preliminary after seeing them used on mainstream magazines. The kicker is used to make
a strap line stand out from the rest. I placed my kicker down the right hand side of my front
page with the text stating free school timetable on black font inside of a red circle.
Throughout my preliminary task process I found the research and placement of these
conventions time consuming due to the lack of experience and knowledge. I felt that this
process was vital because if I did not know what the conventions where and how to apply
them my product would not look professional.

Following the prelim exercise I found myself creating my nal magazine. As I was able to
choose the audience for this product I decided I could be more creative within justication
of my target audience. As mentioned earlier I attempted to recreate styles of magazines
such as Dapper Dan, Fantastic Man and Jocks & Nerds. This style of music magazine
would be aimed at the scenester target group. Clear progression was noticed immediately
when I began the project this time around. I used the conventions I had learnt in my prelim
magazine and added or deleted them in order to create an alternatively styled product
which still looked like a magazine. I decided I would need to keep the masthead as
ultimately this is what sells the magazine and stands out on the shelves. I did however
convert the genre of coloured and bold mastheads like what would be found on
mainstream magazines such as FHM and GQ. Instead I felt I could be more creative and
used a black and white font which appeared to look ink pressed and included a polka dot
pattern which spelt out my magazines name The Sonorist.
Attempting to be more creative I took elements of each of my inuential magazines for
example the ink press style of Dapper Dan, the interesting font style from Jocks and
Nerds, the central placement from Fantastic Man and the minimal black typeface from all
three. I felt that this design would only appeal to a small audience however the individuals
it does appeal to are the individuals within my target group.
Another convention that I did not feel was necessary within my nal magazine was the use
of a headline. I decided that the minimal style is popular within the niche market I was
aiming my product towards. Again two of my inuential magazines (Dapper Dan and Jocks
& Nerds) include minimal if any text upon the covers. Instead of a headline the only font I
placed upon the cover was the Alternative - Music - Tabloid statement above the
masthead. This declaration does actually follow conventions set by other alternative music
magazines such as Loud & Quiet, The Fly and Clash, who attempt to portray the image of
the magazine in a quirky and different way. As my magazine is ultimately a music
magazine placed in the alternative genre I felt this minor convention should be followed.
Again the use of strap lines and kickers were not used within my nal product. Instead I
placed the date and price upon each side,below my masthead and left my black and white
extreme close up (mug shot styled) image alone in a black frame like rectangle inside of
white space. This singular image and white space followed my minimal style which I had
been following throughout. The extreme close up shot again met the alternative
conventions set by my inuential magazines. The black frame around the image came
from Jocks and Nerds magazines whilst the extreme close up shot came from Fantastic
Man and the black and white mug shot was a direct parallel to the style of Dapper Dan s
work. Although several mainstream conventions were dropped allowing a more minimal
style to be adopted I did ultimately follow the newly formed convention of minimalism in the
alternative music market by following the style of vast white space around the main body
image from the alternative music tabloid Loud and Quiet.

Overall I found that my skills in the creative use of convention analysis and development
improved hugely over time. I found myself originally with no experience having to search
the internet and books giving me instruction and knowledge of basic mainstream
conventions which would allow my product to look like an actual magazine. I then
gradually moved on to a more experienced level which would allow me to venture out of
my comfort zone and become more creative, creating a product different to others. The
level of knowledge I managed to reach allowed me to add and delete conventions from my
product at my choosing, whilst still creating a professional looking product.


At the beginning of A2 I created a music video for a band named The Kills. To produce a
video relevant to the genre of the video, once again I felt I needed to use certain
conventions. One convention I followed was the use of camera shots within my production.
Music videos tend to include many long shots, close ups and mid shots. This is to create
emphasis on the artists, location and emotions. Also, close ups are used not only to show
emotions but to reect the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist. I
followed this convention throughout my preliminary by using a range of shots for example
the close up on the lead singers foot in the rst scene, mid shit singing and long shot when
walking. Another convention I used when creating my preliminary was through its editing.
Jump cuts are the predominant editing technique used in most music videos. This is
because this allows a sudden change from one scene to another. I learnt to use jump cuts
throughout to make the video more uent and easy for the audience to watch. At rst I
attempted to make all shots follow uidly but I quickly found that it made the video look like
an unprofessional home video.

My preliminary was a video which should be placed within the alternative music genre and
so I learnt that more specic conventions needed to be followed in relation to this by
watching and researching other videos within the genre. One of these more specic
conventions was that the artists are shown throughout the video. I followed this convention
by having either the male lead or female lead in each scene. Another specic convention is
that dark locations are often used. To apply this convention within my preliminary task I
used a dark room and only a few lighting elements. Although the quality of preliminary task
was not brilliant, by following the conventions I felt that the video looked like a music video
should and so I took positives from this knowing that I had the basic knowledge and
application which could be applied in future products.


Toward the end of A2 I set out to create my nal music video for a ctitious band name
PCoK who were performing a track name Hear it in the Cans. For this product I set out to
make something more creative than my original preliminary task by following enough
conventions to make the product look like a music video whilst also challenging certain
conventions to create a different/alternative product. My nal video was aimed at the
alternative/synth pop genre and so the style could vary and stand out from the
conventional alternative music styles.
I decided to follow the conventions in regard to camera shots by still using a range of long
shots, mid shots and close ups. My long shots consisted of the whole three piece band
showing there entire bodies, my mid shots usually involved performance or vocal clips of
one or two band members and my close ups would most commonly include vocal clips
from an individual band member. The only conventional rejection was the decision to
involve a few extreme close ups of the lead singers mouth when dictating the chorus.
Another way I disregarded conventions was through the location of the video. Most
commonly an alternative styled video would be placed within a dark setting whereas I
decided to lm my video within a white out studio with vast amount of articial lighting
allowing me to create a minimal and clean avant grade style. I also decided for my band to
wear all black to capitalise on the minimal styling. This again dees conventions of an
alternative music video.

Overall I found that my skills in the creative use of convention knowledge and developed
hugely over time. I found myself originally with no experience having to research the
internet giving me instruction of basic conventions which I needed to follow to create a
high quality and realistic music video. I then gradually moved on to a more experienced
level which would allow me to venture out of my comfort zone, be more creative and take
away conventions which I did not want to follow and use conventions which I felt were
necessary whilst also delving deeply into sub genres to nd more less well known sub-
conventions. The level of my production has increased, I moved from creating a rather
boring video to a more creative and adventurous product.