In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

PerformanceWhen researching existing Kate Nash music videos

one convention we particularly highlighted was the use of performance. We identified from our research that in not only Kate Nash videos but other Indie-pop artists there is no live performance or choreographed dance in the majority of videos. However instead the artist sings the lyrics of the song into the camera and when planning we decided to use this convention as it occurs throughout the majority of the videos and is therefore an important and familiar convention . In the majority of our video the actor of Kate looked directly into the camera singing the lyrics of the song.

Locations

Another aspect of music videos are the locations. When researching Kate Nash’s existing videos, we identified that the videos for this artsit in particular were filmed on just one location. However this was a familiar setting that an audience could relate to making the video realistic. We looked closely at the video ‘Foundations’, and this video was filmed in a house. We used this convention by filming parts of our video in our actor’s house however because our location was small we developed this convention by filming in other places too . We feel this development worked as we kept the locations realistic and they are all in relation to each other. The locations we used included a house, the garden, the street outside the house and a park.

Existing video

Our video

Existing video

Our video

Music Video

Because the song we have chosen does not have an existing music video we have had to develop conventions from the artist’s previous products in order to create a new video for our chosen song. After researching existing products, my group has identified codes and conventions of music videos and through planning and production we have attempted to use, develop and challenge these aspects.

EditingOur research of Indie-pop music videos showed that this genre of music video was fairly fast paced. We discovered this was due to the editing in which shots are fairly short and a simple cut is used between each shots. When planning, we decided to also use short clips and we did not plan to use any special effects such as dissolving or fading in order to make the editing simple and fast paced. However, in production although we have used this convention with the majority of our shots being short, we have developed this as in a few particular shots we have used longer length clips as we feel it was an important part of the song and have used a longer length to emphasis this.

Stock motion

Our video

Existing video

One convention that we discovered seems to differ Kate Nash’s videos from some other Indie-pop videos is the use of stock motion. Kate Nash’s videos , in particularly ‘Foundations’ , use stock motion to make it seem as though an object is moving and this is a unique and intriguing convention which we decided to use in our own video for these reasons. In our video we used the unravelling of a necklace from a heart to signify Kate’s heart brake portrayed in her lyrics and this is done in her existing film ‘Foundations’ using socks. This slight unrealistic aspect gives an element of fun to our video associating to the upbeat indie-pop music genre.

Music Video

(30 seconds)

Our video

(4 seconds)

Existing video

(4 seconds)

(5 seconds)

Music Video

The main aspect of Kate Nash’s existing videos that we identified during research is the sarcasm which the artist uses through facial expressions and props in which these objects closely signify her lyrics. For example in Kate Nash’s ‘Foundations’, some of the lyrics include ‘You said I must eat so many lemons, cause I am so bitter’. At the point in which these lyrics occur in the video, Kate is sucking on lemons and this creates a sense of humour and emphasis on the lyrics. This is a very highlighted convention in Kate Nash’s videos and therefore in order to make our own successful Kate Nash video it was vital that we included this element. In our story board you can see that we planned to use this convention for example, for the lyrics ‘though you try to tell me that you never loved me, I know that you did, cause you said and you wrote it down’ we used a shot of a piece of paper saying ‘I love you’ in handwriting.

Planning to use the convention

‘every time we fight’

‘though you try to tell me that you never loved me, I know that you did, cause you said and you wrote it down’

When filming our video, we tried to stick to our storyboard as best as possible however during our filming days we were influenced to new ideas when in our locations and the props that were available. Therefore, we also developed some new ways in which we could create this convention that we had not previously planned. This was exciting during production because we felt although we had already carried out research and planning we were still developing and creating new and exciting ideas.

Existing video

‘Sitting in restaurants, thought we were so grown up’

‘you said I must eat so many lemons, cause I am so bitter’

‘though you try to tell me that you never loved me, I know that you did, cause you said and you wrote it down’

‘I can be alone yeah, I can watch the sunset, on my own’

(Artists turning hand on clock backwards) ‘chatting on the phone, can’t take back those hours’

(making jelly babies dance) ‘dancing at discos’

(taking pearls off) ‘gave me those pearls and I thought they were ugly’

‘Sitting in restaurants’

Our video

DigipakWhen completing the research to help us with this project, we analysed existing

digipaks in order to identified the common conventions of these products. By doing this we could then analyse these convention in the Indie-pop genre products more

closely in order to use, develop or challenge these aspects. Some of these conventions are;

colour

layout

font

photographygenre features

DigipakColour

Existing digipak Our digipak

After doing secondary research on the Indie-pop music genre I created an audience profile. In order to appeal to the stereotypically female, teenage, bubbly and friendly target audience of Kate Nash and the Indie-pop music genre in general, I have used similar colour conventions that are used in Kate Nash’s existing products. These include bright, bold, high contrasting colours such as red, blue and green which bring a sense of fun and cheerfulness. By using this colour scheme I have also used a familiar convention of digipaks in general by using high contrasting colours in order to engage the audience by attracting the eye.

FontsExisting digipak

Our digipak

Kate Nash as an artist has her own identity and one aspect of this is the font in which her name and album names are written. This same font is used on all of the artist’s products as it creates familiarity and makes her products recognisable. For this reason we have used this convention within our digipak as the artist name, album name and song lyrics on the back cover are all in the same font. The font itself that we have used is a childlike, handwriting style (as similar to the font of Kate Nash’s previous products as we could create) which seem very free and loose creating a sense of fun associating with the stereotypically jolly and upbeat indie-pop artists, music and fans.

DigipakPhotography

Realistic location

Image of artists

Realistic location

Image of artists

High key lighting

High key lightingArtist in foreground and of high contrast from background

Artist in foregroundand of high contrast from background

Cartoon effect

Cartoon effect

Existing digipak

Our digipak

In my diagrams I have shown some of the ways we have followed the photography conventions of Kate Nash’s existing products. For example, we have used a realistic location in which an audience can relate too . In editing we attempted to also achieve the cartoon effect that Kate Nash has used on her album ‘Made of bricks’ as we felt it was a great way to portray the fun and yet innocent side to her music and stereotypical characteristics. Kate Nash has a very ‘English’ feel to her image in which she seems homely and very traditionally an English town girl. To create this feel we have tried to capture natural lighting in our photography which also adds to the realistic style of location.

Although we have used some conventions of photography from Kate Nash’s previous products, we also developed some of these too. For example, an image of Kate Nash is nearly always included on the front of her album covers however she is often captured quite small in the photograph. Despite this, Kate is always made the main focus and this is done in ‘Made by Bricks’ as she is in the foreground before the house and is wearing a red dress which is of high contrast form the setting. We have followed this convention in our digipak as our artist is captured in the foreground and is also wearing a black and white dress which is of high contrast from the background location. By doing this, it emphasises the importance of the artists and makes her the main focus which could even imply how an audience may even buy the album because if their love for the artist over the love for her music. We have also challenged this convention however as we have used a large image of the artist as we felt the background had no specific focus point and felt the pose we captured was symmetrical and seemed to fit perfectly in the centre.

Overall layout

In our group we created a simple digipak to promote our chosen song and video. When researching, we found a contrast in Kate Nash’s existing products as some were very simple and elegant whereas others was fairly busy. One in particularly that we found was a collage image and we loved this and thought it would be exciting and realistic to recreate successfully. Therefore in our planning we planned to create a digipak cover like this. However, when filming our video we fell in love with the location in which we filmed the ending of our video. We felt that it really portrayed the ‘English’ feel to her character and it allowed us to capture natural lighting in order to use the realism convention that occurs in her existing products.

Digipak

Main image filling whole front

Small album name at topLarge artist

name at top

Main focus

Numbered song title

Genre features

Existing digipak

Small album name at bottomSmall simple image

In my diagram I have shown that we have used layout conventions that apply to Kate Nash’s previous album covers by keeping it simple and using one large main image. Other layout convention we have used include stating the artist name largely with a smaller album name. This again emphasis the importance of the artist over the music implying why image is so important as fans may even buy her albums because of their love for Kate rather than her music. One layout convention that we have developed in our digipak is the use of an image on the back cover. Because of the simplicity of the layout, in Kate Nash’s previous products the back cover only includes a list of song titles. We did include a list of song titles however we also added an image. This was mainly due to shots we used in the end of our video in which the artist was spinning joyfully in the street captured on the front cover. We wanted to create a relation and familiarity with our digipak and video as this often occurs in many existing packages. By using a front faced image o the front and a back image on the back to create the feel that our artists was spinning.

Our digipak

AdvertThe most common convention of album adverts is the similarity between the digipak and advert. Like Kate’s existing products, we have used the same image from our album cover on the advert and simply extended the image vertically. These creates familiarity for the product and makes it easily recognisable for the audience.

In order to make a realistic advert we have followed the simple genre conventions of album adverts that we identified from existing products in our research. For example we have included a larger artist name than the album name, we have included a release date, a special feature and a quote from a popular music magazine. This extra information give valuable details an audience needs to purchase the album, the positive quote also helps advertise the product by showing its popularity. However the fact that the artist name is the largest aspect of the advert shows the importance of the artist and her image over her music.

In terms of conventions such as font, colour and photography, the image on the advert is the same image that is used on the digipak and therefore we have used, developed and challenged these conventions in the same way.