In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

As a group we created a promotional package for the band Paramore. Our

package includes a music video, digipak and magazine advertisement. We
researched bands of the same genre and we came up with the key
conventions of the rock genre. We both used and challenged these
features in different aspects of our package.

The Music Video

Camerawork:

Andrew Goodwin developed a theory of there being a focus on the

lead singer. Whilst we did conform to this we did also challenge it
partially as we included numerous shots of the other band
members. This is very uncommon in music videos. Typically when
other band members are shown it is included in a shot of the whole
band, we decided to contain individual close ups of the other band
members.

Mise-en-scene:

Our music video replicated the original as much as possible with the
locations and equipment available to us.
Our decision to have the actors wear tartan shirts came from our
market research and music video analyses in particular. We found
that a large number of band members wear that type of clothing
and we wanted to conform to that aspect of real media texts out
there.

Our lead singer wore black nail varnish to indulge herself further
into the stereotypes of the rock genre. She also performed many of
the same actions as Hayley Williams did in the official video. By
having this close relation and mimic of the official Crushcrushcrush
video, we fully used the forms of the real media product as much to
our ability.

Editing and Special Effects:

It is very typical in all music genres that the video is cut on the beat
of the music. We conformed to this convention as it built up the
rhythm of the video and aided the attitude of the rock genre.
We did not include any special effects in the music video as it is very
uncommon for artists to do so and we wished to conform to this.
Also, the facilities to do so were unavailable to us and there would
have been a time restriction.
We did however turn the performance aspects of the video into
black and white. This is a common convention in all music genres.
Paramore have done this themselves on a few occasions.

Lighting:

We used the form of a light source in our version of the

Crushcrushcrush video that is also apparent in the official
Paramore version as seen below. However, instead of the desert sun
we opted for a light box to create a similar effect.

The Magazine Advertisement

Mise-en-scene:

The top right Paramore poster has blocks of black, which is echoed
in our magazine advertisement. We used the black not only because
Paramore have also used it but also so do a number of other rock
bands such as Green Day. This is because the dark colour is an
embodiment in the attitude of the genre and its listeners. It reflects
rebellion and free spirit. This is represented by the simple and basic
look of our advert.
However, after researching into Paramores existing products even
more closely we realised that the band does often use colour. To
conform to this aspect we decided to add a few social media details
in bright orange which is a visual representation of Hayley Williams
hair creating an underlying synergy between the brand and band.
Both existing advertisements I have included above feature Hayley
Williams as the main focus in the image. She is either in front of the
rest of the band or closer to the camera making her bigger and
more eye-catching. This is very common in the music industry as
record labels comply with Laura Mulveys theory of the male gaze,
which is when there is a large focus on the female often with the
intention to treat them in a voyeuristic manner. We however did not
wish to do this and that is why we chose to feature the guitar amp.
Moreover, we included the record label logo at the bottom of the
image as a way of officialising the advert and so audiences have the
knowledge.

Layout:

Similarly to the two original Paramore magazine adverts on the

right, we elected to place the band name at the top of the product.
This was simply decided as we found this was a reoccurring theme
throughout Paramores products and it was logical as from a young
age we are taught to read from the top, this made the name of the
band the initial text that the audience registered.
The amp is central in the image and the well-known music brand
Marshall is eyelevel to the audience so their attention is brought to
it very quickly. This allows them to identify which genre the album is
from as the brand is heavily connected to electric guitars which in
turn reflects the values of the rock genre.

Images:

When planning the magazine advertisement we initially decided

that the image would be of the band. However, when in production
we came to the conclusion that a symbolic image of the rock music
genre could be more effective to the target audience as we found
from our audience research both from SurveyMonkey and the small
interviews that they genuinely liked the music.
Due to this we replaced the image of the band so the main feature
of the magazine advertisement was then the guitar amp. However,
we were then challenging the typical advertisement of Paramore as
they feature images of the band with the lead singer, Hayley
Williams being central.
By having the image not being of the band and Hayley in particular,
we aimed to gain an audience who were solely interested in the
music and not participants of the male gaze.

The Digipak

Mise-en-scene:

Through market research into already existing digipaks we found

that the fundamental element that distinguishes between genres is
the colour scheme. We then realised that choosing the correct

colours was very important. The decision to choose the dark

monochrome colours for the digipak was due to the magazine
advertisement and the music video already containing those
colours. We conformed to the genre stereotypes when concerning
colour as black is one of the most common colours in the rock genre
as it a symbol for rebellion and not following rules. After some
serious consideration, we did not however decide to include bright
colours to contrast against the dark as we did on the magazine
advertisement. Therefore we challenged Paramores conventions as
they usually use other bright colours to lighten their products, but
also conformed to the typical rock genre stereotypes.

Layout:

The
layout of the digipak cover is purposefully very similar to the
magazine advertisement. We did this to create synergy across our
promotional package. This is a very common occurrence between
not only the rock music genre and other genres such as pop as well.
This is as it is an extremely effective method of marketing the
promotional package as a whole because it is very easy to relate the
products together.
However, if we were to design the digipak again we would make the
digipak and magazine advertisement less similar. Even though it
would lose a lot of the obvious connection between the two it would
symbolise the uncertainty attitude of the rock genre and perhaps
stand out from the other products in the genre.
Once the digipak is opened, the audience is faced with an image of
the band as if they were taking a selfie. This is an effective link
between the band and the fanbase. There are many pictures of the
band inside the digipak in the Paramore bars symbol. This is

becoming a common convention within music genres, most

noticeably with 5 Seconds Of Summers self titled album.