IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP

OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?

My final digipak is different to what I had first planned, due to problems with scheduling and more than one actor/actress change while filming. Because of this, my digipak challenges the conventions of my chosen genre, which was

originally pop-punk/rock. The band who’s song I used for my music video, and who’s appearance I took inspiration from is an alternative rock band called Twin Atlantic. Firstly, I have done this by ensuring that continuity is shown throughout these tasks, in order for the audience to instantly recognise the

connection between them, so that they would be able to recognise my actors song just by looking at the digipaks. The locations used in my music video

were mainly natural areas, involving fields, trees and leaves. Because of this, I have tried to incorporate a natural autumn theme to my digipak, in order to show continuity between my video and ancillary tasks. I felt that the easiest

way to show continuity between the two tasks, was to take images from within the music video itself, so that I was able to show my actor in these locations. I then used images of leaves for the inside of my digipak, to link it to the images of my artist. I further showed continuity, by using the same font for the bands

name throughout the tasks, so that it would be memorable to my target audience. 

I wanted to challenge the conventions of a typical alternative rock music

video. In order to do this, I first carried out research into what the general conventions of rock and pop-punk

videos were. I looked into videos for other Twin Atlantic songs, in order to

see what their music videos are typically like. From this I learnt that the

majority of the videos featured other members of the band. I chose to show the singer in my video on his own, in

order to portray the sense of loneliness he has been feeling since his breakup,

and to emphasize the sense that he feels as though he is alone in the world.

I chose to name my Cd, after the song that I used for my music video. I did this so

that my target audience would be able to easily recognise it, as they would

remember the song from the music video, and realised that the two are linked.

I have also followed the conventions of a rock/pop-punk digipak through my use of

colour. The colours that I have used a darker colours, such as black and green, both of which are common features in my chosen genre, as shown in the CD front

covers from other bands above.

However I have also challenged the conventions of a typical rock digipak cover

through my use of art work. As demonstrated in the images above, it is

uncommon for the band or singer to appear on the cover, the bands normally

provide album artwork that relates to one of the songs on the album. I decided not to do this, as I felt that due to my singer not being famous, it would be better to show

his face on the cover, in order for the audience to be able to link him to the

music video.

When I started the first drafts of my digipak, I tried to incorporate the

theme of the colour blacks association to rock music, as shown in the images on the right, in order to develop the conventions of real media products. It is shown in the

media, that typically many rock fans dress in black and other dark

colours, so I tried to create a digipak that would fit with this. However, I

then changed the design, due to audience feedback whilst editing the

images in the early stages that although the song is by a rock band,

the dark colours on the digipak didn’t suit the song I used for my music video. I wanted to keep the

theme of dark colours, so I edited the images so that they still portrayed the sense of hurt and loneliness.

In my music video I added a narrative, in order to show the audience some of the story behind the breakup the artist is singing about.

These clips do not show the singer, but show the story of a break up of another couple. I decided to put these clips in black and white for

many reasons. Firstly to show a clear contrast between the couple in the video and the singer, but also to link the singer to the clips, as it

suggests that although it isn’t him, having a break up in the clips, that he has lost somebody. Secondly, I wanted to use black and white to emphasise the sadness of the relationship ending, and I used black and white to do this, as they are normally colours represented with

depression and sadness. Lastly, I wanted the singer to be in colour to show hope, as I thought that it would show that although the

relationship has ended, things can get better. The use of both black and white and colour, challenges the conventions of a typical rock

music video, such as Paramore’s ‘That’s What You Get’ video, which is all in colour.