During
the construction process of my media texts, I have learned about the
values and significance of forms and conventions, especially when
applying these conventions to pop products. This is because the pop
music genre is targeted towards a younger audience of 'tween' children,
nearing their teenage years, as pop music videos have quite a strict set
of forms and conventions that must be followed (examples of these
conventions being the consistency of colour and vibrancy throughout the
music video, as well as the convention that any singers/performers have
to smile throughout the duration of the video to enforce positivity,
which is a major theme that appears in a majority of pop music videos).
The
purpose of using conventions from real media texts is to make my
group’s media text more recognisable towards our target audience. If we
had not used many conventions typical of pop music videos, then our
fictional media text would have confused the audience, not eliciting the
response our group would have wanted to receive. This is why our group
ensured to follow an array of conventions that are typical of pop music
videos, such as the use of vibrancy and colour; often seen when each
member of Miss Melody is performing in front of a colourful background
(achieved through filming with the green-screen, and editing in
post-production).
However,
although conventions are very important to follow when producing media
texts, not every convention necessarily has to be followed. In fact, my
group thought that developing and challenging a few conventions would
provide a better outcome with our completed media product. An example of
how we have developed a convention is through the pace of the editing.
Taking inspiration from Little Mix’s ‘Move’, which features a multitude
of swiftly-paced cuts that appear consistently throughout the entirety
of the music video, our group decided to take a similar approach.
However, because the pace of ‘Feels So Good’ (the song performed by Miss
Melody) is slower than the pace of ‘Move’, our group thought it would
be better to have a slightly slower pace of editing in our music video;
especially as Miss Melody’s target audience are ‘tween’ girls, who would
most likely not understand the decision behind incorporating a very
quick-pace of editing into our media product.
Finally,
challenging conventions is something that our group has also decided to
implement into our media product, as we felt this would be beneficial
towards the end result. An example of how Miss Melody has challenged a
convention of the pop genre is through choreography. The choreography
used in Sugababes’ ‘Push The Button’ was very risqué and sexual;
something that would likely appeal to an audience of young males, aged
between 15-25 years. Because ‘Feels So Good’ is aimed towards a
completely different demographic, the choreography that would be used
was intended to be a lot more innocent and fun-looking, so that Miss
Melody’s target audience of ‘tween’ girls would feel more compelled to
enjoy watching the music video.
In
addition to conventions from other music videos, my group drew
inspiration from theories on media texts. For example, Andrew Goodwin's
theory 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' helped our group to
construct focus in certain sections of the music video. Using Goodwin's
'Amplification' theory (where the soundtrack cuts to the beat of the
video, but also cuts off the beat to emphasise on particular features),
my group cut off the beat when cutaways appeared, to ensure there was
focus on the girls in the group acting happy and friendly, to set a
positive example to their target demographic of 'tween' girls.
Although
there were no direct inspirations in our ancillary texts, our group
made sure to follow typical conventions when constructing our album
cover and Advertisement cover.
In the album cover, generic conventions that have been followed includes the following:
- Image of the group (
) - Name of the group (
) - Name of the album (
) - Barcode (
) - List of songs featured in the album (
)
In the advertisement cover, generic conventions that have been followed includes the following:
- Image of group (
) - Name of group (
) - Showing what is featured in the album (
)
Although not exactly a convention, something that is commonly
seen in advertisement covers is the emphasis of bold words, which is
intended to heighten the audiences' anticipation towards the release of
the album. This is seen in various advertisement covers (examples
including McFly's 'Motion In the Ocean' cover: "THE ALBUM OUT NOW";
Jessie J's 'Who You Are' cover: "INTERNATIONAL SMASH"; and Vanessa
Hudgens' 'Come Back To Me' cover: "fantastic"). Miss Melody has
implemented the use of bold words in their cover (
;
which is fully capitalised and ends with an exclamation mark, to
add to the importance), to capture the audiences' attention.
;
which is fully capitalised and ends with an exclamation mark, to
add to the importance), to capture the audiences' attention.Miss Melody's advertisement album incorporates pink coloured font to maintain a feminine look. This is to attract their target demographic of 'tween' girls, as pink is believed to be a feminine colour, thus appealing to girls who embrace their femininity. Additionally, this is also the reason that the pink heart is visible in 'Miss Melody', since hearts are also believed to represent femininity, thus providing more of a reason for little girls to be appealed by the advertisement cover.
In the advertisement cover, other features included are:
- Record Label (To broaden Miss Melody's consumer base, market their album, and also to make it
available via stores and other media outlets):
- Social Media Accounts (To display that Miss Melody has conformed to popular social media trends, to appeal to their target demographic, since they are believed to be into social media):
- Their own website (To show that Miss Melody is an authentic girl group, as professional artists have their own website):
No comments:
Post a Comment