In what ways does your media product use, develop and
challenge forms of conventions of real media products?
Our task
The task given to us was to create a music promotion as well
as ancillary tasks which consist of a digipack and magazine poster for an
unsigned artist to promote their music. The objective of these products is to
advertise the band and music video. The artist we chose is a funk rock band
called 3rd Rock Revolution who specialises in the blues and funk rock genres.
The song we chose to promote for them is ‘put on ya boots’ a funk rock based
song. Our task is to create promotional material for the group successfully,
making sure we create a product that looks like an actual video, magazine and
digipack. We found the song ‘Put on ya
boots’ on unsigned.com and instantly liked the song and thought the song had the
potential of having a good music video.
Between the music video and ancillaries there needs to be synergy which
means there’s a consistent style throughout all three products. This would make
the products we are producing look more professional. This is important because
we want these products to look as professional as possible. This will be achieved if we adhere to the
typical conventions of a music video, magazine poster and digipack of the funk
rock genre.
A music promo is essentially a short film created to promote
an artist their song and their album. The objective of the music video is to be
interesting enough to get the audience watching the video interested in the
artist. There are different conventions of music videos however the conventions
depend on the genre. The conventions of
all music videos are camera work/shot type, editing, mise en scene, genre and
representation. The execution of these
conventions determines whether the music video is a success or not. A music
video can be performance based or narrative based or disjuncture. We decided to have narrative with a little
disjuncture. Narrative music promos are usually with the lyrics in some way,
usually telling a story, whereas disjuncture doesn’t have a direct link to the
lyrical content but sometimes can have a link to the lyrics. Disjuncture music
videos are either for humour or an interpretation of what the musician’s interpretations
of the lyrics. For example don’t stop by red hot chilli peppers is a more
humour based disjuncture music promo whereas chandelier by sia is more interpretation
disjuncture. We decided to go for a
narrative and slight disjuncture, with our promo having a direct link to the
lyrics throughout most of the song but to also have scenes that have nothing to
do with the lyrics.
A music video is a short film that accompanies a complete
piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music videos are primarily a
marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings and album of
the artist. The typical conventions of music videos of any genre are Camera
work / shot types, Editing, Mise-en-scene, Genre Representation and what type
of music video it is Narrative / performance etc. For different genres there are different
elements that go into the promotion of their music for example in posters of
the rock genre differ from posters of the pop genre.
The rock genre is different when promoting their music; this is shown
especially in advertisement. The posters are more abstract than the other
genres because the rock genre uses either extremely bright vibrant colours or
dark aggressive colours. This is may be a reflection of the type of music rock
is. The rock genre is usually associated
with being aggressive and loud which is represented by the bright colours and
abstract designs. Some poster will use darker
colours, this is because rock music is generally associated with the colour
black, coming from sub-genres such as death metal, this suggest that some
advertisements rock will be based around this. Older bands such as led Zeppelin,
Black Sabbath and Jimmi Hendrix are known to be more based bands therefore may
at times have posters that represent their drug use or the effects of their
drug use in a subtle way. This can be seen from the distorted posters, bright colours
and abstract backgrounds which could represent their drug use in a subtle way. The layouts of the posters in the rock genre
are similar to most posters with the band’s name being the focal point on the
poster which is then accompanied with extra information about other bands or
people performing and the date of the event or the dates of the tour. The
bottom of the poster is usually the venue the band is performing and the web
address and help lines.
Opposed to the rock genre that has a more aggressive and expressive
colour schemes pop artists have a lighter, happier look when promoting
themselves. This is shown from the lighter slightly pastille colours that have
happier connotations which is targeted, mostly at a younger demographic however
still appealing to a mature audience.
The layouts of the posters are usually with the band or artists name in
a distinctive font, usually san serif font which usually covers the majority of
the page, this also has a link to an album or song, for example Jessie J’s name
on the poster is the same as her album cover. This shows the synergetic link between the products
which creates continuity which is important in this genre because it becomes
memorable to the targeted audience. This
is also key because pop is one of the largest genres which mean the target
audience is going to be broader unlike rock with a smaller audience. This means
that followers of the rock genre are most likely going to need less
advertisement because it’s a niche genre whereas pop is more global and needs
constant advertising because of the masses of people that need to gain the
information. This suggests a pop poster is going to be suited towards audiences
that are most likely going to be drawn towards this, typically a younger
audience. This is usually located at the top or in the middle of the poster
with extra information located below in smaller text size attracting more
attention towards the artist’s name. The
location of the band much like the rock genre is located at the bottom of the poster.
At the extreme bottom of the poster there is usually an institution involved
with the band or tour, followed by the web address and help lines. The artist
or band is the main focus in the poster, this is because they take up the
majority of the poster and all focus is on them
The Indie genre uses elements from the rock genre which is evident through
their use of abstract posters which is originally an aspect of advertisement in
the rock genre. However what separate indie and rock are their use colour and
the message the posters contain. Indie music artists when promoting their music
use more pastille and subtle colours which have connotations of class. This is
because they want to convey a sense of sophistication while still offering a
creative edge for the targeted audience.
This is because the indie genre is mostly targeted to younger people who
don’t want to be associated with the aggression and negativity that the rock
genre conveys. The indie genre is also known to advertise their bands differently
which is represented in some of the posters. In the indie genre they may
advertise the band through pictures of the actual band or show an abstract design
or logo that may only be relevant to people who follow the band. The lay out of the posters are generally much
like the rock and pop genre posters. The
most important part of the poster being the band name usually at the top of the
poster however at times the name may be located In the middle of the
poster. The dates of the event and web
details are located at the bottom of the poster. The actual band themselves in
the indie genre are sometimes shown on the posters or sometimes they aren’t
shown at all. In the latter case this is possibly directed at the people who
follow the band as a reference to an album or song, this shows the synergetic
link between their products which is what we are trying to duplicate in our own
products.
The advertising in the hip hop genre much like the rock genre in that
their visual advertisement is extremely aggressive. This is because at times
hip hop music is aggressive and the majority of the artists portray an
aggressive image. On most of the hip hop
posters the artist is the, most important person on the poster, the attention
is focused on the person, usually looking stern or serious. The colours used are very dark; this is to
further express the aggressive image portrayed by the artists. The Layouts of
the posters are slightly different from the other genres. The layout on a hip
hop genre poster doesn’t follow a certain patter. The artists name isn’t always
at the top of the poster. However much like the other genres the hiplines,
dates and venue(s) on the posters are located at the bottom of the poster.
For our poster we have tried to incorporate the typical
conventions of music posters. We have looked at all three genres and have taken
aspects of each poster to have a product that exhibits the best representation
of a music advertisement poster. We have
taken inspiration from the rock and indie genres. This is because these genres
are the closest to our funk rock genre. However
we have taken inspiration from other genres such as hip hop. We have taken the
positioning of the main artist and his surroundings from the hip hop genre. The
colour and lighting used in the poster was taken from the indie genre, which is
shown in our use of sombre lighting and subtle brown colours that is commonly
used in the indie genre. For the
positioning of the title, websites and dates we have kept to the typical
conventions of a music poster. The title of the song at the top of the poster
and the dates and websites located at the bottom of the poster.
Music videos
Performance
There are two different types of music videos;
performance clips and conceptual clips/ narrative. A performance based music
video shows the vocalist and the band playing with the singer lip synching and
the band shown to be playing the instruments. This is most commonly seen in
rock and indie videos however this can be seen in other genres such as RNB and
soul. The video can take place in
different setting, perhaps with more variety of places they can be performing
in. The singer could be in their bedroom singing out the window; they could be
walking down the street (common in rap music), for indie and rock music the
bands or artist are seen performing the song in various locations throughout
the video.
Narrative
The second type of music
video is a narrative based music video. Narrative music videos contain a visual
story that is easy to follow. A pure narrative clip contains no lip
synchronised singing, the reason for this being the music video should tell a
story. The story is an idea, a ‘concept’
hence conceptual usually relating to the music video while using artistic
elements. The music video uses artistic elements which makes the audience
question how the musician has explored the lyrics and what meanings have been
conveyed from the lyrics. A narrative based video can be more meaningful than a
performance-based video this is because the narrative based music video can be
more creative and more of a visual aid for the audience. According to Andrew Goodwin there are three
types of narrative music videos. Illustration, amplification and Disjuncture.
Illustration actually showing exactly what the lyrics say, an illustrative
music video illustrates the ideas of the musician. Whereas amplification uses
key ideas and images from the lyrics and develops it into a conceptual music
video. There is usually a clear link between the lyrics and the music video.
Disjuncture music videos have no relevance to the lyrics or show any visual
meaning behind the lyrics. The video are
usually abstract and unconventional which creates an entirely new meaning
behind the song.
For our music video we decided to create a narrative music
video that was illustrative and had elements of disjuncture in the video. We drew inspiration from music videos such as
the verve ‘Bitter sweet symphony’ and Coldplay ‘the scientist’. The Verve being
an indie group and Coldplay a rock group we thought creating a video inspired
by these genres were the closet we could get to a funk rock music video. This
is because funk rock has a small market and there aren’t many funk rock music
videos. However we were able to draw
inspiration from the red hot chilli peppers can’t stop music video. This was
the best example of a music video of the funk rock genre. The music video is disjuncture which we were
able to incorporate in our music video.
Digi packs
Digipak-style packaging is often
used for CD singles or special editions of albums. They are primarily used as a
premium package for CD’s or a CD set. All digipak includes the following information:
·
Visual image/key to the
production
·
Band/artist name - allow
audience to identify band/artist
·
Album title - on main
cover and along the spine
·
Track list/What's on the
DVD
·
Basic background
information of the band/artist
·
(Occasions reviews from
companies e.g. NME, News of the World etc...)
Front Panel - Main
image, usually of the artist or band or something that is iconic symbolic to
them. Name of artist and album in big font, to catch audiences' attention.
Spine(s) - Names of
artist/band and album and institution.
Back Panel - Usually
track list, and printed on it contrasting colours so it’s eye catching.
Fold in Panel - Often an
image of artist/band, however if it’s a long fold out, the fold in panel would
be a continued from the Front and Back Panel.
Inside Panels – CD or
booklet. Often images of artists or the band or something symbolising iconic
printings in the inside, behind the CDs. There may also be information about
the album and quotes by the artist or band written inside the digipak.
Colour Scheme - Usually
reflects the mood of album or the genre of the tracks/songs on the disc.
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