EXAMPLE

CONVENTIONS

Use/Copy/Apply?

Develop/Challenge?

VIDEO

• Real Media Text example?

PAIR 1

Prelim - Present Face

Continuity Editing: MOA, Reaction Shots, Eyeline Match

Any film sequence to use as a RMT?

The Fight scene from Sherlock was studied to see how match on action and eyeline matches help convey and condense  time, place and space. It built narrative tension as the blows came thick and fast and the fighters became increasingly desperate. In our Video Preliminary Task called Present Face we tried to emulate these basic continuity editing conventions but not always successfully. For example, we did not manage to use MOA well for unwrapping the present, so in reality the present was unwrapped twice and created narrative confusion for the audience.

Editing Montage - Day at school

Continuity Editing: Condensing Time and Action for narrative sense - ellipsis

Any film sequence to use as a RMT?

We then developed the conventions of continuity editing by developing MOA, Eyeline matches and reaction shots for narrative sense and created an ellipses of time for our Editing Montage preliminary task. We were able to condense a whole day at school down into 1 minute by ensuring that the continuity editing conventions created a sense of narrative as the student rushed madly about their day. Her frustration of losing her money in the vending machine was clear by the reaction cut to her angry face and eyeline match to her kicking the machine.  The montage made sense to the audience through the application of the continuity editing tricks as we were more able to develop how MOA, reaction shots and eyeline matches can be used to create narrative sense and enigma.

PAIR 2

Music Video Test

Music Video Media Forms:

Edit to the Beat, Lip syncing + Representation/Star Image

Choose a MV that you studied as a RMT?

We watched XXX by XXX to see how a heavy rock music video was constructed. The technical conventions of editing to the beat and lip syncing are universally accepted as the norm for music videos so we applied them to our 20 second practice music video.  A student performed and mimed the words but we were  unable to really pin down the required MES such as leather jackets, red bandana and heavy black make-up which would have been complying to the heavy rock repertoire of elements.  However, in spite of the lack of conventional MES, we ensured the segment was edited so that the lip syncing was proficient enough to convey his extraordinary talent and star image. We also focused on the pace of edit to the beat which was fast, furious with plenty of short clips to convey the hectic, energy driven blueprint of heavy rock.

Music Video

Music Video Genre Conventions:

Edit to the Beat, Lip syncing + Representation/Star Image

Choose a MV from your artist or genre to use as a RMT?

However, when we then came to produce our own full length music video, we were able to develop the edit to the beat and lip syncing conventions and enhance the overall look of the music video with the necessary and required level of detailed MES. For example we saw from many of Birdy’s music videos, especially XXX that she and many other indie pop artists, wear abstract and ethereal costumes to convey the offbeat and edgy narrative themes and quirky star image. We dressed our star in a white gauze floaty caped dress with hair extensions and roses in her hair.  This represented her as angelic and out of this world and whilst was conventional to the genre, was something we were able to develop and make individual to our interpretation of the amplified narrative of jealousy and loss. Our full length video evidenced a development of music video conventions, over and above just lip syncing and editing to the beat. We developed the generic repertoire of elements, enhancing the overall star image and narrative of the indie pop genre through appropriate but adventurous MES.

PAIR 3

Montage - Day at School

Narrative Structure - Narrative Arc

Choose a film that has a traditional narrative arc - beginning, middle and end to use as a RMT

When we filmed our video preliminary task to show a day in the life of a typical student, we modelled it on the traditional narrative arc conventions of a beginning, middle and an end. This traditional convention is how traditional stories are structured so we copied this in our ellipsis reconstruction of a day at school.  Having examined the classic fairy tale of The Three Little Pigs, we too adopted this straightforward narrative structure.  We began the montage with the student waking up, then walking to school, having lessons, falling asleep, eating lunch, going to lessons then leaving school for home. This linear structure is very conventional and easy to replicate in a montage sequence.

Music Video

Narrative Structure - Anachronic, episodic, amplified?

Choose a MV from your artist’s genre as a RMT?

However, when we came to plan our narrative structure for our music video we were more confident to start challenging these traditional structures and used an anachronic structure with flashbacks and flash forwards as in XXX by XXX. This created a narrative that was challenging as it encouraged the audience to watch it again in order for it to make sense.  For example, we included frequent flashbacks to the singers past when she is happier and in love - these flashbacks were colour corrected to black and white to create a retro feel and included visual metaphors of her previous happy life i.e. smelling a bunch of flowers, watching a white dove fly and running her fingers through long grass - all metaphors for happiness and contentment.  Narrative conventions were therefore developed and became more complex in our music video.

PRINT

PAIR 4

Professional Cover copy - NME

Print Technical Conventions

Masthead, Pug, Plug, Coverlines, Cover star

Choose a magazine that you copied as a RMT?

We studied magazine front covers and in particular NME.  Our print preliminary task was to copy a front cover which also enabled us to explore and improve our photoshop and indesign skills. It was clear from our research that all magazines have common media forms and conventions such as a masthead, a main cover star and main cover line and then a variety of other print forms such as pugs, plugs, coverlines and inserts and captions.  We were also able to determine that conventionally magazines have barcodes, prices and issue details on the front cover with plenty of bold fonts and copy to entice a reader to read on past the front page.  For example using language such as exclusive, one only, free and inside all create a sense of intrigue for a reader and are conventional to print advertising.

Music Magazine

Print Technical and Genre conventions: Masthead, Pug, Plug, Coverlines, Cover Star and Representation/Star Image and Genre

Choose a magazine from your genre as a RMT?

However, designing and producing our own music magazine cover meant we could not only apply the technical conventions and traditional media forms but really start to develop a creative and unique look that was appropriate to our chosen genre. For example I chose indie folk and made sure my masthead had a meaningful vibe to it and called it IF. Using a misty, smoke effect around the font called MIST meant that instantly the eye is drawn to the  masthead and a sense of enquiry is set for the target audience to want to know more. I wanted to challenge the usual plain fonts  used in mastheads and add a sense of mystery to it.  The MES I used for my main cover star meant that I followed some of the conventions of an indie folk star as she wore a boho outfit consisting of a fringed leather waistcoat and maxi tie-dye skirt but I added a battered 70’s floppy hat and retro red stiletto shoes. This developed the conventions of an indie folk star and gave her a more contemporary look but at the same time kept to the contract for indie folk fans who would be expecting to see a certain style for that genre.

PAIR 5

Tour Poster

AIDA

Choose a poster you analysed as a RMT

In our print preliminary tasks I created a Tour Poster for a star. I looked at several examples and liked the way Katy Perry’s Diamond Tour was designed using prisms, double shadowed fonts and a light, jazzy and happy colour palette or pinks, yellows and oranges. They all helped convey the Pop genre and attract the target audience of young teenage girls.  The conventions of poster design are to attract and interest and ultimately get a target audience to act on the desire created, i.e. buy tickets for the tour were present. I copied these ideas for my poster of an imaginary pop star called Fred.

Website

AIDA plus B + K

Choose a website that you analysed for your genre tas a RMT

When I designed my own Website for my promotional music package of XXX by XXX, I took advantage of using the conventional print goals of attracting, interesting, creating desire and then encouraging action by the use of distressed fonts, neon colours and exclusive photos. However, I further developed the purpose of the site by ensuring my target audience were able to interact, be entertained and be informed by including social media links, photo galleries, merchandise and ticket sale pages. I was able to enhance the standard purposes of advertising and marketing material. Developing these advertising conventions meant that my website contained all the expected repertoire of elements such as home pages, navigation bars but also provided the audience with unexpected and exciting opportunities to interact with the star.

PAIR 6

Music Magazine

Star Image - Representation

Choose a magazine that you analysed for star image as a RMT?

My music magazine was clearly an opportunity to apply the basic conventions of star image and representation by ensuring that the metanarrative of my star was clear to see through the images, language and copy about them. I made my star conventionally heavy rock by including leather jackets, red bandanas and electric guitars in the cover photo, all of which conformed to the heavy rock genre and would have been part of the blueprint for the genre. The audience would not have been disappointed by the representation of my star as it followed the conventional repertoire of elements.  I copied the front cover of an old NME magazine where Ozzy Osborne was photographed angrily staring at the reader and breaking the 4th wall.

Digipak

Star Image

Choose a DP that you analysed for star image/representation as a RMT

However, by the time I was able to design and produce my digipak, my ability to convey star image and genre was much more developed. I was able to interpret their metanarrative and their ideologies in a much more metaphorical way by creating a visual metaphor of a broken mirror on the front cover with the star’s shattered image looking back.  This interpretation of the album’s moody and melancholy songs was a development of the conventions of the indie rock genre which often uses ideas and images that are quirky and thought provoking. For example the XXX digipak featuring XXX shows the star hiding like a frightened animal in a cartoon mousehole which is a visual metaphor for the song XXX which is about life being over whelming.