Section 1, Past Exam Question

1a) Explain how far your understanding of the conventions of existing media influenced the way you created your own media products. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how this understanding developed over time.

I have experienced many music videos during my life, especially from the indie genre. This helped me greatly when we created the music video for A2. I  knew what the typical conventions were such as playing instruments as a band or using inanimate objects. A big part of a music video is the objects that are used by the artist to keep the viewer entertained. An example of this is in The Maccabee's video to First Love. Within this video there is the use of many inanimate objects such as chalk, a mug, flowers and a dress. We liked this idea and thought it went well with the video being disjuncture, so decided to use in our music video. We used objects like: a skateboard, a colander, costumes and inflatables. Secondly, the video has to have a good ending so the user could essentially feel 'satisfied' after watching it. We took inspiration from Vampire Weekend' video for A Punk- another video I was familiar with and was in our chosen genre. The ending of their video consisted of the band swapping positions for the last bit of the music and then running out of the shot just as the music finishes. Our ending is very similar to this. To finish our video, we have three band members walk out of the performance shot as their instruments stop playing but leave the guitarist playing till the very end, and then he walks out of the shot in a different direction to the other members. I believe, to make a music video enjoyable to watch there has to be some comedy involved which we have used in our music video. In the video a comedy sketch is used where there is a member in a monkey costumer chasing another member in a banana costume. The inspiartion for this came from the classic Benny Hill style chase. When it came to creating the poster and digipak I decided to use a female friend to use on the front. I had a clear idea about the male gaze because it has been used on many media products I have seen before, epecially on magazine covers and adverts. I could then use this idea with my products I try to create that facial express on my 'model'. I could use this image on my poster and digipak. A magzine cover I saw which used the male gaze but not exactly in the typical way was i-D magazine with Behati Prinsloo on the front with half a skeleton face painted on. I used this idea on my model and had the magazine as my inspiration after I saw it in a media classroom. To create a media product I believe it is necessary to have knowledge of media conventions and have experienced existing media to create something of a high standard.