Task 1 - In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?

Codes and conventions 'the familiar and predictable forms and techniques used by the media to communicate certain ideas or to convey a desired impression'


In a Music video the codes and conventions you would expect to see are:-
- Something that would last around 3 mins
- A star image
- A narrative
- A performance
- Audiences would expect it to be lip synced
- Audiences would expect to see cuts and edits

Codes and conventions of the digi pack are:-    
- list of songs
- Album Title
- Band name
- Photographs of band members
- Record Label logo
- A bar code

Code and conventions of a music poster:-              
- Name of Band and Album
- Release dates
- Tours dates
- Specially featured songs
- Music Genre
- Photo of band

A close up used to capture the
 emotion of the narrative

Our dancers with the set in shot

I had a narrative within our music video reinforcing the lyrics of the song. It enhanced the idea of pull and push relationships and the idea of loving and hating elements of one another. This was a dance performance consisting of a lot of physical lifts showing abuse that happens within relationships that is never seen as it is always kept 'behind closed doors'. The lyric 'never knew that i could be this way' allowed us to use the narrative to enhance how people make others act unlike themselves. In our example the boy being violent towards the girl resembles how she makes him feel and what she makes him do, it shows how someone brings out the worst is somebody else. By having a narrative we have met the expectations of the audience but not many boy bands have a passionate dance in there video which may slightly subvert the expectations of our 15-24 year old males and females. The narrative and performance was said by Steve Archer to be an addition to the bands performance. The dance in our video adds and extra aspect to the music video.

I got inspiration for the relationship shots from 'love the way you lie-Rihanna'
The shots of their faces when they are kissing and showing mixed emotions was what i found fascinating and eye catching for an audience.

Our set

I wanted to make our set individual trying to reflect the star image of Synergy. Having the dangling lights it create a darkness with a few brighter lights showing that in the narrative the  relationship has got happiness but it is cover up by the anger and upset that is masking their feelings. The smashed mirrors resemble the upset and uncertainty of the relationship, the sharp edges resemble the pain that the girl is going through physically and the boy mentally. I want the set to reflect the narrative so that there is a link between the band and the story that is being told. It helps resemble the band as it shows rebellion through the smashing of mirrors. Having a unique set would not conform to the audience expectations as they haven't seen it before, it isn't a well used design idea so it makes them think harder about the video and view it intently. Negus argues that a carefully constructed mise en scene is appropriate to the context and tone of the track.

A close up unfocused shot of one
guitar and one in the mirror
crossing over one another

The use of the mirrors and reflections 

I wanted to used the mirror so that we could collect jagged shots of the band to resemble the rebellion and rule breaking elements of the band. By zooming in and out on the mirror we were able to capture different band members as the mirrors rotated. Also by becoming in and out of focus it creates the unsteadiness culture of the band which also helps represent the stability of the narrative relationship. I used these ideas to once again continue linking the band performance to the narrative elements with in our music video.

I found the close up shots of instruments really fascinating in 'Lover Boy-You me at six'. They inspired me to create the same image for Synergy as by seeing their hands playing it allows the audience to see their talent and engage with that. 

I used close up shots to capture the mood of the band and their star image, Negus argues excessive filming around the star image help portray what they are about faster as they don't have long to show who they are and what they are about. By using close ups it allowed us to quickly show the instruments that the different band members are on which immediately begins to reveal the personality of the band allowing the audience to connect with the more easily. The lip sync, close up, and the miming of playing instruments that remain at the heart of the music videos was said by Steve Archer  to assure the audience that the band really can kick it. The lyrics within the song such as 'Stay with me' reinforces the message within the song. Goodwin identifies that there is a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close-ups of the main artist/vocalist and develop their own star iconography, in and out of their videos, which over time, becomes part of their star image.

This close up shot is similar to ones used by other band that are in the media today such as 'you me at six-underdog'. It helps create an image for the band and allows the audience to engage with them and get to know there faces faster which helps promote them as a whole.

Smoke and close up shots of the light bulbs gave us a link between the narrative emotions and the emotions of the band. The smoke gave an unclear effect to the relationship showing a lack of communication and understanding of each others feelings, the lights were like glimmers and hope and happiness that are clouded by the smokey misunderstanding In terms of narrative it gives a narrative enigma and draws the audience into investigating the smoke screen that lies in front of them.

I have stuck to the codes and conventions of the digi pack fairly well

There is a photo of the band, the band name, Album name, and the logo of virgin as well as the bar code.

I have also added on video elements such as the broken mirror to make a link between to song that is also the album title and the digi pack. I have conformed to the expectations of the audience as i have everything that is expected to be included, I haven't really subverted the codes and conventions of the digi pack, we have stuck mainly to what the audience know. I subvert more within the music video due to the broken mirrors and feminine narrative with in the video.

This poster is very simple, not containing much detail, simple containing basic information. I felt when making this by having the simplicity the information written on the poster will stick in peoples heads more. I did some posters with the whole band and this one just containing the lead singer as his face is the most recognisable. I decided that keeping the same colours scheme as the digi pack would help the familiarity of the band become fluid and distinctive. By having the writing in bold vibrant letters it allows audiences and fans to see that Synergy's album is out now, without too much information about tour dates and other extended elements. I felt that we could add tour dates into the digi pack meaning that the posters are advertising two in one.







I got inspiration for having small amounts of writing in bald print and having lack of colours so that the writing stands out from this Greenday poster