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

Music Video:
In our music video we used the conventions of both music videos and the dance genre, while challenging some stereotypes of music video form and conventions. Our video contains both performance and narrative, with the narrative based upon concept.

We took great influence from Andrew Goodwin's theory of the codes and conventions of a music video. These codes and conventions are what make the music video an individual media form.

According to Goodwin, music videos create a relationship between the music and visuals, as well as the lyrics and visuals, in the sense that they either create illustration, amplification or disjuncture. We have used illustration and amplification.

Amplification; repeated shot adding new meaning to lyric 'infinity'

Illustration; physically 'coming in like a wrecking ball'

The following Coggle shows how we applied Goowdwin's theory of the relationship between music, lyrics and visuals to our own music video:
(Drag the screen to the left to read, and then to the right)

We closely followed genre characteristics, taking elements from other dance music videos with regards to style, editing, mise-en-scene and also artist identity. Our music video uses key dance genre conventions, including:
Dance music videos usually contain lots of dancing, especially in crowds of people:

Katy B - Broken Record

Redlight - 9TS Baby

Route 94 - My Love

Zhu - Faded

We felt that this was an important convention of the genre and so felt it necessary to include this in our music video. Audiences of dance music are generally interested in these types of lifestyle, such as dancing at clubs, and so we wanted to adhere to their gratifications. We challenged the convention of having this inside a club, as we wanted to make it more dreamlike and lacking reality. It was also practically difficult for us to create a club-like atmosphere and so we didn't want to create this with an amateur appearance. Therefore, we used the convention by dedicating a whole set-up to dancing, but filmed it within the studio with a party-like atmosphere:

Dance music videos are often narrative and/or conceptual based, with a lack of performance. We have followed the narrative convention by making our video largely narrative based. However, we have also challenged the convention by including performance. We did this in order to widen the appeal to more mainstream fans of dance music, due to its recent chart success. The following presentation explains this choice. (Turn on Autoplay) [click here if it doesn't load]

We have also used editing effects, which is incredibly typical of the dance music genre. They are usually used in order to fit with the often jumpy and pace-changing music that is of the genre. We followed this convention, however we did not use as much as some dance videos do because we didn't want to distract from the busy narrative. This video shows the effects that we did use:

Our performance scenes are incredibly conventional of the genre. 

The following table shows some of the conventions that we focused on (click to enlarge)

In addition to these, we have also used lots of camera movement. Not only is this stereotypical of the dance genre, often due to music being fast paced and up beat, it is also incredibly conventional of performance videos.
In this clip, the camera moves in time with the lyric 'hey'. This is conventional according to Carol Vernallis' editing theory.
We found that it was important to include a wide range of shots, especially in the performance sequence, due to the audience's needs and gratifications; the video needs to be interesting with a range of shots in order to maintain the audience's interest and attention.Andrew Goodwin says that the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist, including 'money shots' which are close ups of the star's face. They create 'visual hooks' to maintain the audience's interest.

Katy B money shot

AlunaGeorge money shot

Ellie Goulding money shot

We have used this convention in both the performance and narrative, in order to create a star image for our lead singer, Naomi:

Goodwin also states that there is often voyeuristic treatment of the female body. We chose to challenge this convention as we did not want to sexualise our female lead singer. This was partially due to genre choice, as the females we took influence from are not sexualised, nor is the body treated with voyeurism.

This collage shows some of the female artists we took influence from, including Aluna Francis from AlunaGeorge, Grace Chatto from Clean Bandit, Ellie Goulding, Katy B and Jess Glynne. (Hover mouse over images to enlarge)

The following mind-map demonstrates how we created our female's identity:

For our narrative we have used intertextuality. This is typical of music videos, with post-modernism and reference to popular culture commonly used. They can be used in order to demonstrate the contextual influences of the time, to use a contemporary influence to highlight a message, or in our case to relate and appeal to the target audience.
Here are some examples of intertextuality used in music videos:

We have used Alice in Wonderland as we felt that this would not only convey the 'wonderland' of the 'jungle' in her head, it also links to the audience. The primary target audience of 16-24 year olds would remember Alice in Wonderland as a nostalgic childhood film, and so this would create interest in the audience.

Moodboard showing our references from 1951 film

The following Padlet shows all the ways in which we used Alice in Wonderland references in our music video:

We have also used and challenged Carol Vernallis' theory from 'The Kindest Cut - Functions of Music Video Editing 2001'. This explains how we used and developed the conventions of Narrative and Camera Movement and Framing:

Editing
'Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat'
Our whole music video is cut in time with the beat of the music. This makes it easier for the audience to watch and engage in as it moves according to the audience's expectations. We have also changed the pace of cuts in order to increase the pace of the visuals according to the music. This strengthens the relationship between the music, lyrics and visuals.
This video shows some examples of our editing in time with the music:

Vernallis suggests that music videos often break the rules of continuity editing; this is a convention of music video editing. We used this convention, for example by placing clips together that are from the same scene but at a different point in time. We also broke the continuity rules by using the same set-up with different events happening. 

For example, we introduced a piñata in the balloon set-up and then returned to the previous set-up:

However, we did have some continuity in places in which the narrative would not make sense otherwise, for example this match-on-action:

Digipak:
Since the digipak's purpose being to sell the music, it was an incredibly important artefact in the construction of our artist. 
We looked into other albums of the genre along with their conventions:

We found that it is common to have interesting effects on the album cover and so we applied this to our video by using overlaying to create a blurring effect. Dance music albums usually have a focal image of the artist, but it is not usually an over stylised image for example with pop music where the artist's appearance would be incredibly important. Therefore, we dressed our band in plain white T-shirts so that the blurring effect would create maximum impact. this is similar to the AlunaGeorge album displayed above.
As dance albums differ a lot in order to allow for creativity and individual expression, we followed this convention by creating a whole new look.
Albums of the genre do not usually have a photo on the back cover. They are usually incredibly minimalistic, with white bold writing to list the tracks. We have followed this convention:

Our back cover

AlunaGeorge & Disclosure back covers

We followed all of the basic forms and conventions of album covers in general. This is displayed in comparison with Disclosure's debut album 'Settle':

Website:
We have followed the conventions of artist websites closely in order to create a website that adheres to the audiences' needs and expectations. With two of the main functions of websites being interactivity and purchasing opportunities, we looked into how other music websites provide this for the audience and then followed these conventions.

This video takes you through a tour of our website, pointing out the interactive and purchasing opportunities for the audience. Please turn on annotations.

In addition to this, we have generally followed the basic conventions of an artist website, with some exceptions. For example, the type of content and pages that we have included. I have compared our website with that of dance act Chase & Status.

Banner
It is typical to use a large image as the website banner that will connote the artist identity. There is also often use of the band logo. We have followed this convention by having a large powder paint image at the top including the band logo.

Chase & Status banner

Our banner

Menu Bar
The menu bar is conventionally below the banner, and lists all of the pages available on the website. We have followed this convention. 

Chase & Status menu bar

Our menu bar

The pages on the menu bar are very similar for most music websites. There are conventional pages that the audience expects to see, for example 'Home, News, Gigs/Live, Photos/Gallery, About & Contact'. We have followed this convention. However, dance acts often have another page titled 'Videos' in which they display all of their videos. We challenged this convention as we had displayed all of our videos on different places on the website in which we felt they fit better with the style of our website. We also didn't want to overwhelm the audience with as many pages as the Chase & Status website.

Gigs/Live Page
The live page will list upcoming tour and show dates and allow for the opportunity to purchase tickets. We have followed this convention.

Chase & Status Gigs page

Our Tour page

About Page
It is typical of artists to have a section where they provide the audience with further information about themselves as people. We have followed this convention.

Chase & Status About page

One of our About pages

Photos/Gallery
We have followed the convention of having a page of images of the band. Like Chase & Status, ours is divided into different albums to select from.

Chase & Status photos

Our photos 

Social Media Links
Social media is incredibly important in the construction of an artist. Therefore, it is conventional to have a set of social media links available on every page of the website. We have followed this convention, placing them in the same place on every page in order to make them easy to find.

Chase & Status social media

Our social media