Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?Evaluation 1

When producing my media products I had influences from other existing media, I looked at conventions of my particular

theme/genre and how people have interpreted it. I developed these ideas by comparing videos, magazine adverts and

album covers under this genre.

Album coverThe album cover I have created follows certain conventions of my chosen genre but also challenges some. The type of music on this album is of the rap/pop genre, graffiti is quite a common aspect when it comes to rap music but is usually associated with hoodies, drugs etc. I decided to interpret it in my own way by making it black and white and highlighting the blue areas causing it to have a more subtle tone to it as apposed to a louder more colourful tone usually seen on rap albums. I also chose to have one single picture spanning the front and back of the album, in this sense I challenged conventions as on rap/pop albums there are usually two separate pictures on the front and back causing them to be bolder and really convey the genre/theme of the album. I chose not to put the name of the artist/album on the front of the cover to slightly challenge but also slightly follow conventions. On most rap albums it is conventional for the titles to be very bold and on the front of the cover, nut on rap albums that feature graffiti it I usually there but a lot more subtle therefore almost blending in with the graffiti. An example of this is Justin Biebers ‘Purpose’ album cover. This cover is very busy with graffiti and shapes covering the artist and the background, as you can see the album title is on the front at the bottom but is so small and sketch like it is almost illegible. Also the name of the artist is not on the front of this album therefor it also challenges the conventions of the particular genre.

Same album edited with blue over the graffiti, inspired by my album

Rihanna's album unapologetic is also comparable to my album cover as it has similar aspects but they are used in different ways.

Writing/graffiti is over the person on the cover as apposed to around them, I experimented with this but found it looked odd as I only wanted to high light the blue and no other colours

Person on the cover is also looking directly into the camera for the picture

The arms are doing something in relation to the body, creating movement like on my album cover

Graffiti on this album is more legible, it is edited on as apposed to having the graffiti on her body and a picture taken

Black is used to contrast against the other colours on the album. It is also used for the same way on my album (the boys is dressed in black on my album)

CD fold outFor my fold out/poster I followed the same colour scheme as all my other ancillary tasks. I wanted to make the fold outs quite individual and unique so I chose a repeated image with the blue/green tone highlighted I was inspired by three album covers for this idea:

Although none of these three artists are really under the same genre (rap) they slightly relate to the pop side of the album. These three adverts influenced me for different reasons. I originally saw the Kings of Leon advert and liked the dark tone along with the 4 separate images crossing over, I knew I waned to do something with multiple images so I experimented putting them together in different ways eg. Row of four, square of six. Also the overlay on this advert gave me inspiration for my actual video. The Kelly

Clarkson advert is an online advert on vevo, I really liked the repetition of the same face/photo and this is what inspired me to use the same photograph repeated. I wasn’t so fond of the colour scheme of this album so I decided to see what this sort of edit would look like in black and white and I preferred it. The Madonna advert was a big influence for me. I really love the brightness and boldness of this idea and looks just as effective in black and white. Madonna isn’t of the rap genre but this sort of outgoing and loud advert is conventional of the theme my album comes under.

Video comparison - black and white/similar aspects

The black and white filter is a big aspect to my video. My entire video is in this affect and I think it really adds to the mood/tone of the video. If my video was in colour I don’t think it would be as effective and have the same impression on the viewer. A lot of videos of the rap genre are in black and white, an example of this Snoop Doggs song ‘Drop it like its hot’. This video Is also comparable within the visual aspects, it contains a lot of similar props/ideas. Smoking is a big part of my video and is also a main theme in the snoop dogg video. Usually in rap videos about smoking the whole video is based around this drug but in mine and drop it like its hot the smoking shots are more subtle and gentle, I believe it has this effect due to it being in black and white.

Still shots in black and white are a big part of my video and they are also used in Snoop dogs video. Most of the still shots in each of the videos have slight movement which I think adds to the subtleness of the video. In my video a lot of the shots of plants and nature are sill but have slight movement because of the wind. In snoop doggs video the cup is still and the liquid is slowly poured in creating a more gentle a slow atmosphere in both.

Graffiti is also included in this video therefor portraying this typical convention of the rap genre. In this video it is displayed in a way slightly opposite to mine. It is less gentle and more rugged and ‘street’ looking, which is what you would normally see in these types of videos.

Video comparison - overlays

Visual overlays are a huge part of my video, if they weren’t included it would look completely different. For my overlays I mainly used a macro lens to get detailed and subtle shots to put over other further out shots. A video comparable mine is ‘Wallace by Azalea Banks. Her video is not only in black and white but includes similar overlays. Eyes are a big feature in her overlays much like in my video too. Most of this video is based around a performance aspect, but mainly just her face lip synching. This is very similar to my video as there is a lot of lip synching and almost all of those shots have overlays too.