Reece Johnson

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Throughout each of the products I have created, many different conventions have been both used and developed in order for them function within each product. Each element that I have incorporated in my three products has, of course, been used before in a media platform of some kind. However, I have tried to develop these conventional components so that they integrate together to form conventional, yet identifiable, products.

Digipak
When creating my digipak I drew inspiration from several different sources and developed conventions I found through my research in digipaks in the Indie/Alternative and similar genres. The album cover research I conducted earlier in the course inspired and influenced my digipak greatly as it guided me clearly to what I wanted to achieve from the digipak. Album covers from my genre tend to include vibrant colours mixed with monotone colours to allow the bright colours to be enhanced and stand out. This is evident in The Vacccines- What did you Expect From The Vaccines with a black monotone background and the red in the main image therefore taking the visual attention of the audience.

Also adhering to the simple monotone black and a vibrant red is the album cover for Peace- In love which is also from the Indie/Alternative genre. The attention is automatically drawn to the band members as they a wrapped up in a vibrant red colours which takes the attention of the audience oppose to the monotone black background. These two covers clearly show how the colour scheme of a monotone colour and a vibrant colour (in these two instances, red) can work well together to form a professional and eye catching design that fits into my chosen genre, Indie/Alternative.

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In terms of the image I was included on the front panel of my digipak I drew inspiration from a wide variety of different genres. Through my research I noted that the album covers from my chosen genre tended to use a simple image, which connoted a simple meaning to the audience. Referring back to the Peace previously mentioned, the image clearly connotes that the album is by a fourpiece band of a more abstract and unusual nature. This therefore allows the audience to easily imagine the type of music that the album will entail. I wanted to develop this convention in the sense where the image I use connotes a message to the audience but I wanted the connotation to be of a more subtle nature and leave the audience intrigued to what to expect from the music. Expanding on this, I went about researching further into album covers looking for images, which stood out to me. I quickly found that album covers that featuring images taken at festivals and gigs are not commonly used across any genre. Of course, there are some album covers which adhere to using images from festivals and gigs but they are very limited. It is for this reason, and the fact I had taken several professional looking photos at Leeds Festival in a festival crowd scenario, why I decided to implement a festival/gig based photo onto the front panel of my digipak. The examples of related covers I found during my research were limited but still influenced the creation of the front panel of my digipak. This LCD Soundsystem cover shows a crowd gathered round a stage watching the artist perform. The abundance of people gathered combined with the bright Illuminous light gives the cover energy and vibrancy with the image connoting an energetic atmosphere. This is a convention I tried to replicate in my album cover. I have tried to replicate the light from the stage in the LCD Soundsystem cover with the flare that was sparked when my photo was taken. This cover also contains both the album and artist name, which is a convention I have replicated however the positioning is different in this case. Using an image of a crowd, particularity the image used on my digipak, adds depth and a new dimension to the album cover as looking at the image it is visible that there are many people that are varying distances away from the

Reece Johnson camera. This creates an almost 3D effect which brings the panel to life and makes it stand out amongst others.

The Clash- London Calling is also an album cover that implements an image from a festival or gig based scenario. This also influenced my decision in decided on the image I used in my final digipak showing the energy and passion that is shown through images taken at festivals and concerts.

Reece Johnson

Although this cover does not feature an image in from a festival or gig, it does involve a crowd of people, which is similar to the product I created. This cover shows how an abundance of people can be effective in the creation of a cover as it connotes a lively atmosphere resembling a gig situation.

This image resembles the silhouettes of a band playing live on stage. Although no energy or passion is conveyed through the image (as with previous images) there is a subtle connotations made which is exactly what I wanted to replicate. The colour scheme of this cover is also something I took forward into my final cover.

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An issue I encountered in the design process was whether to include both the band name and album name or not. Through my research I found that many albums in my chosen genre include both the album and artist name so I attempted to replicate this and the outcome was rather successful. I wanted to include both of these names as this is the bands debut album, so the audience will be unaware of any previous work from the band (despite the poster which would be released beforehand) so their name and branding would need to be reinforced.

My research into album covers also influenced the placement of the names on the front panel as I discovered a style that I was able to incorporate with my image to ensure that the image is still visible behind the text. I discovered that the most effective placement for the text would be central on the cover. This can be seen in the Roots Manuva- 4Everevolution cover where I took inspiration for the placement of the text.

Reece Johnson My initial aim for the digipak was to keep it as simplistic as possible. I used a simple image on the front panel, which was not very detailed but still resembled what was intended. This kept the nature of the digipak simplistic, which I then carried over to the other panels. The inside left cover is extremely simplistic as it purely red smoke from the flare on the front panel. I used this image to create a sense of continuity between the panels of the digipak and to make the product flow as one, adhering to the set colour scheme. Arguably, this panel was the most unconventional as my research into digipaks provided no similar digipak panels. For this panel I did not ultimately rely on my research and just tried to design the panel to fit with the front cover to create the sense of continuity that I was aiming for. The back panel of the digipak was greatly influenced by Foals- Holy Fire as I found the back cover of this digipak to be very simplistic which is a very common convention found in digipaks of my chosen genre. I tried to replicate this in my final product so that I was able to achieve a professional minimalistic look, which would therefore link with both the front and inside left panels. My research therefore inspired me greatly for this panel, as before the research I was largely unaware of the common conventions artists in my genre followed when designing their digipaks. The main difference between my digipak and Foals is that my colour scheme is a lot more vibrant and consists of 3 colours oppose to the 2 colour scheme used throughout the Foals back cover. I also decided to use roman numerals as a means of numbering the songs oppose to standard numerical numbers, as I believe this adds an increased simplistic effect to the back panel resulting in a more minimal outcome.

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Poster
Throughout all the products I strove to create a sense of continuity to reinforce the bands brand image and allow brand recognition between different products. To create this continuity, I made sure that both the digipak and the poster used the same features and followed the same conventions. Both products adhered to the same colour scheme of black, red and white as this ensures the products are easily identifiable as a set of products that are linked. All of the other features also remain constant: image, band name, album name, font, text and record labels. The use of the same image of both the poster and digipak only reinforces the brand recognition and allows the audience, both established fans and the public, to easily recognise that the products are linked. Adopting a very simplistic and minimalistic design, the main focus of my poster is both the image and the band/album names. Through my research I have found that posters from my genre tend to typically include very little and often just the band & album names, date of release and record labels. The use of just these features leads to a very simplistic design, which was my aim in order for the poster to match the digipak. Also, it is a common convention to include reviews on posters (not The Vaccines poster) to demonstrate to audience the success of the album with critics. I decided to include reviews, as the album the poster is promoting is a debut album so potential audiences may have doubts of the quality. Simplistic poster designs can be seen throughout the Indie/Alternative genre, which shows how I have followed and developed conventions with my poster.

Reece Johnson It is arguable that I challenged conventions with the use of my particular image on my poster, as similar images are rare on posters within my genre. Although, there may be a few (a very limited amount) of posters using an image of a crowd at a festival/gig environment, there is not enough for it to be considered a common convention within the genre which ultimately leads to me challenging conventions for posters within my particular chosen genre. This will therefore make the poster stand out when placed in public places, as the image will be unfamiliar to the audiences viewing the poster. The font I have used is a very basic, straight edged and easily readable font that acts very effectively in the simplistic nature of the poster as a whole. Bebas Neue is a font I downloaded from a third party website as it was perfect for both the poster and the digipak as it looks professional and similar to the font used by Foals on their poster promoting Holy Fire.

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Music Video
When planning the music video, we decided we wanted to keep the video as simple as possible and follow conventions of bands in our genre closely to avoid an unprofessional outcome. Having no experience in this field before meant that our knowledge of what shots to use was limited, we therefore had to thoroughly research into music videos from our genre to find what shots we needed to include into our video to make it appear realistic. Whilst researching, we noted down (through diagrams) the shots that we liked and compiled an archive, as such, which we could closely refer to in the production of our storyboard. The shots we found all came from videos within our genre of Indie/Alternative to ensure that our video adhered to the conventional shots used in the genre which we hoped would make our video conventional to our genre. A common trend throughout the performance videos in our genre we watched was that there was a primary focus on the music oppose to the appearance and look of the band. However, we noted that we had to make the band appeal to our target audience for them to be interested in the video and allow them to feel similar to the band. We therefore dressed the band appropriately using clothing the target audience may wear, such as plain, basic clothing and smart/casual footwear such as skinny jeans, brogues and leather Vans. This style of the video being focused primarily on the video fits with The Black Keys (whose song our band play) style of music videos where they are very passionate about the music being played. We conveyed this passion for the music for the front man of our band being very passionate with the lyrics and dancing throughout. The opening shot of our video features the band and song name, which is a common convention in music videos of our genre we have developed by using our own font and text layout. This provides a good opening to the video, especially as this will be the first video produced by the band, their name will need to be introduced along with the song name. This convention can be seen in videos such as Peace- Follow Baby where their band name and also the song name appears at the beginning of the video. We have developed the convention by using the bands logo, which was also used through on the poster creating continuity between the products.

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Also at the beginning of the video, we included one of the band logos, which is used on both a posters and digipaks related to the band which creates a further sense of continuity between the products. We found that using logos at the start of a video is also a common convention in music videos of our genre as this also introduces the band to the audience but in a subtle manner, which only established fans, familiar with the poster and digipak, will be able to comprehend. However, the use of both the band and song name and the logo allows the band to be introduced to both groups of audiences whether this be the general public or established fans. The convention of using the bands logo at the introduction of a video can be seen in the video for Swim Deep- She Changes The Weather, the logo used is also distinctly similar to ours showing how closely we followed conventions of our genre in order to achieve a very realistic final product. We developed this convention by using different background visuals to the visuals seen in the Swim Deep video as the Swim Deep video follows a narrative structure hence the narrative images seen whereas our video adopts a performance structure hence the amp used in our background visuals.

Reece Johnson The performance shots we included closely followed those we had researched which gave us the best possible chance of achieving a conventional, professional and realistic music video which is exactly what we wanted to achieve as there are so many videos that attempt to defy conventions and the outcome is poor. With a clear focus on the music being played oppose to the appearance, we knew we needed to include many shots of the instruments being played and the lyrics being sung. It is for this reason why the majority of the video is made up of shots such as this which is common convention found from music videos in our genre which we have therefore developed by using a different variety of shots to other videos and not copying an entire video shot for shot. The shots that we used were taken mainly from videos from artists such as Foals, Swim Deep, Peace, The 1975 and The Vaccines. We noted the shots they used and tried to develop and replicate them with our own band to create a different effect. To keep our video engaging and entertaining we knew we needed to include a wide variety of shots which all of these bands include in their videos. We attempted to replicate the guitar shots, drum shots, full band shots and close up lip-syncing shots. The guitar shots we used are very similar to those from the videos of the bands previously mentioned. We attempted to develop the conventions found in FoalsOlympic Airways video with the an angled guitar shot with the primary focus on the guitar but also with a secondary focus on another element in the background. Through research we found this guitar shot and then developed the shot by using a different angle and incorporating a different secondary focus into the shot, in our videos case, the drummer. This shot is very effective as it is engaging and visually interesting as the viewer has two elements two engage them through the duration of the shot and if both the guitar and drums match the beat of the song, the shot works extremely effectively.

Reece Johnson Another guitar shot that we included in our video also follows conventions found in videos of our genre. A straight up guitar shot is an extremely typical convention found in not only our genre, but also many others. Therefore, we decided to include this shot to enhance the realism of our product further as the audience would have seen this shot incorporated in many professional videos in the past. Our straight up guitar shot is extremely similar to a shot found in The 1975- Girls video including the proximity of the shot and the simplistic plain background. However, the shot seen in the Peace- Bloodshake video sees the camera slightly further away/less zoomed in following the same conventions. Furthermore, it can be seen through these images, particularly the Peace shot, that the guitar we used was similar to those used in videos of the Indie/Alternative genre further enhancing the realism and professionalism of our video within our genre.

Reece Johnson To add more variety and to keep our video interesting, we also implemented another guitar shot from a different angle with the guitar being the sole focus of the shot with no mise en scene or other band members in the background. As the shot was from a different angle it gave the video more depth and kept the video entertaining for the audience. This shot is similar to the first angled shot (previously mentioned) so is therefore also a typical convention seen in videos such as The Vaccines- If You Wanna and Foals- Late Night. Again, the similarities between the guitars are apparent, with the same style/shape of guitar being used, showing how our in depth research resulted in a more realistic final outcome. Its also visible in our video that our guitarist, Greg, can actually play the song which is useful as when we edited the video, it allowed us to edit the guitar shots so that Greg was playing in time with the song which makes the shot a lot more effective. This is, of course, what is used in all professional music videos which in turn makes our video more conventional.

Reece Johnson The drum shots we included were also very conventional as we adopted shots from videos we had viewed during our research and developed the shots to fit our band and equipment. We combined some very conventional drum shots used across every genre with some less conventional shots we found during our research to keep the video from becoming monotonous and repetitive. Shots of our drummer, Harry, playing from the front and from the side were the very conventional shots we used which are found in vast amounts of videos across many genres. We decided to include these as we were aiming for a simplistic video with the plain backdrop, clothing and predominantly stationary basic shots. However we did want to include some different, less conventional, shots to our video to give it an edge on other similar videos and we also wanted to include a diverse range of shots. We therefore included some extreme close ups of Harry playing the drums and also some low angle shots which we found out to be conventional but not overused, in our research. This close up drum shot is from The Black Keys- Gold on the Ceiling video and fits are band completely as it The Black Keys song which our band plays in our video. Therefore, by using this shot we know confidently that it works with the music and will match our genre, which will therefore by conventional.

Reece Johnson In terms of up close lead singer lip syncing shots, our video was very conventional adhering to the conventions found in music videos across many genres. Looking particularly at our genre, we found that front and side close up shots were a typical convention so we decided to include both shots. This gives a clear impression to the audience that our singer and lead man, Derry, was actually singing the lyrics. Derrys energy and vibrancy throughout the video would give the impression to the audience that he was actually singing the lyrics as he knew the lyrics well and performed perfectly to match our genre. Energetic performances such as his are evident in music videos from our genre. Foals video for Late Night showing a close up of their lead singer which is very similar to ours with the main focus on the singer but also other band members in the background.

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One of the side close up we included also shared many similarities with a shot from The Vaccines- If You Wanna video both using a plain backdrop for simplicity and the performers energy in both shots is also evident.

The full band shots we included were also very similar to videos in our genre. With the very typical format of the guitarists and singers in the foreground and the drummer in the background taking more a backseat role. This is something we used in our video, as we wanted Derry to take most of the audiences attention during the full band shots as he is very lively, charismatic and performs energetically to the song. This is a convention that we wanted to adopt as we find it makes the video a lot more entertaining and engaging for the audience oppose to someone standing still throughout just singing the lyrics. The 1975 adpot a similar band layout to the ours with the drummer staying in the background and guitarists and singers taking the main roles. The black and white colour scheme is also visible here showing how this a common convention used for videos in our genre hence our decision to make the video black and white in aim for simplicity.

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It is evident that our video both conforms to and challenges conventions found in music videos of our chosen, Indie/Alternative genre. Whilst adhering to many conventions found in videos through research, we also took conventions and manipulated them to suit our band and equipment to give the video a sense of individuality compared to other videos. A wide variety and diversity of shots prevented the video from becoming monotonous and repetitive but through our research we know we could have included more shots where the camera was moving as all of our shots were stationary. Despite this, our video remains conventional to our chosen genre of Indie/Alternative. Overall, all three of the products I created adhere the typical conventions of the Indie/Alternative genre whilst also developing some of the conventions individualising themselves from other similar products to stand out. Research and planning was vital for the creation of all three products and as I carried out extensive research into all areas, I was able to replicate and develop features of other products resulting in three effective products that fit into the Indie/Alternative genre.