Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms of real media products?

My brief consisted of me producing a promotional package for an existing song. The genre I chose was ‘Chillwave’ and within this genre I have chosen a song from the duet ‘Shiloh – Morning’. In order for me to create a successful and accurate products I undertook thorough research and planning. Part of my brief was to create a digipak and a magazine advertisement to accompany my own music video. Each product of mine has used and may have also developed the typical conventions of real media products. In this post I will be evaluating my media product in terms of the typical conventions and my decisions, inspirations and how they are proven successful as a real media product.

In the slideshare below, I discussed what the chillwave genre is, successful artist within that genre, and also the codes and conventions. Briefly the chillwave genre’s main conventions focuses on relaxing visual and sound elements and has major references to summer, nature and ambient down tempo sounds. The visuals from music videos are usually drug influences hinted by the abstract narrative. I believe all my three products have used and developed the codes and conventions of the chillwave genre.

From gathering research into my genre I began to look at music videos and drew inspirations from them, some of my inspiration were gathered from other genres such as rock and indie (which you can view in blog). One particular music video from the chillwave genre drew my attention, presented below is a music video for the song ‘See’ by Tycho. 

This music video was a major influence to the production of my own product. As with most videos the visuals are edited in beat with the music, however in terms of the conventions of the chillwave genre there is certainly the quirky abstracted narrative that also emphasises nature as well as there being hint references to drugs and there effects.

In my music video I have done a similar loop circular narrative. A lot of chillwave music videos are set in locations of a forest/woods or beach I wanted to follow this typical convention. In my music video I have three main locations, the locations transitions from a hill, to the park, woods, and ends again with the hill. The initial idea of these location were to convey different meanings, the park was to convey an equilibrium, the woods was to be associated with the disequilibrium, and the hill was to suggest the resolution, as my music video was mainly narrative based I wanted to  use Todorov’s theory. From viewing chillwave music videos I have also noticed that most videos do not usually present a lot of people, there are usually one or two main characters sometimes people may not even be present and the main focus is nature. I believe this is due to the fact that chillwave is suppose to create a chill-out moment done as a solitary activity after getting wasted from a party or a stressful day. My music video present only one character acting as his physical self and spiritual self to back up the conventions of the genre. In my music video you will also notice that I have also used filters and overlays to give the illusion of summer time which is also the focus of chillwave music videos.

To compare and contrast my music video to ‘See’ by Tycho, I believe the narrative has similar elements of  curiosity and revelation, each sequence from both videos tries to unfold the enigmas of the narrative however doesn’t present the whole meaning of what is going in the video allowing the audience to interpret it to how they perceive each meanings as. There is also a clear sense of nature from both videos and clearly reflects the summer time music of chillwave. Both videos are abstracted and are very ‘out-there’ however maintaining a relation between the music and visuals.

My music video has slight relations to the lyrics and more relations to the visuals, however as there is no lyrics in Tycho’s music video there is no relations rather the beat of the music does. Tycho’s music video also has more references to drug influences and behaviour compared to mine as there is mere reference to drugs in my video; the audience can interpret my second character as hallucination, flashback or spiritual entity. My music video transitions of each locations is very vague compared to Tycho’s where there is a clear instant transition between the locations . Each sequence in Tycho’s music video has a relation to each scene including the performance, there is even a flash back near the end of the video showing each transition in the narrative for the climax. My music video also does this however it is much vague in terms of the flash back and there is also a different kind of climax at the end. The performance of my music video also references the narrative however unlike Tycho’s video the performance does not collide with the narrative scene instead my video gives the idea of my character’s life after his death, my performance also does not include any instruments instead I used a blurry ghostly face lip syncing the angelic lyrics.

I have made a Prezi below discussing more about how my music video uses the conventions of real media products

Inspiration

In context with my digipk and magazine advert design I was influenced by chillwave artists such as Toro Y Moi and Washed Out. I have use incorporated the double exposure effect used in Washed Out’s album ‘ Life of Leisure'.

As well as this I was also inspired by artists from other genres. One Republic’s Native album was an inspiration due to there artwork's composition of the images and its representation of the band.

Toro Y Moi’s album design ‘Causer of This’ interested and I was initially planning to use his composition of layered images as a template for my own work. However I was not particularly keen about the colours and theme style he used. 

As with my music video Tycho has inspired me with my digipak and magazine design due to his use of imagery, style and colour.

I also came across another artist named Ulrich Schnauss who is within the indietronica genre and has also collaborated with Tycho, his album design consists of mainly images of the sky and sea edited in dark smudged effect.

This artwork design was for the song ‘I Take Comfort In Your Ignorance’ by Ulrich Schnauss (remixed by Tycho) which Tycho designed the artwork specifically for this remix. In my music video you will notice this kind of colour theme throughout, I have also used this for my digipak and magazine advert design.

Digipak

I have previously discussed what a digipak is in my ancillary research  there I also discussed its codes and conventions – below is a slide share of that post. 

When creating my digipak I made sure that I included the necessary conventions that I have discussed in my Slideshare. I made sure I included the logos, emblems, and copy right messages and information in order to protect my product. I had to research my artist and the net label that my artist Shiloh was signed to (which is Comonostro). Throughout my design I have used the same theme as my music video; the colours, style, and props I have used is included in all my products. I have maintained a watercolour effect to add upon the typical chillwave artworks.

Front Cover

When creating my front cover of my digipak, I had to analyse the conventions that are required. The image is visually appealing and eye catching and will easily catch the viewers attention. However compared to other typical digipak my design is less direct and has more of an enigma; the purpose of this is get the audience thinking and to intrigue them to purchase the product. My front cover is the only design where I have decided to place my artist the reason for this is because I intend to represent the artist I allow the audience to know who the artist is as this is the debut album. I have also used the same mise en scene from my music video allow the audience to recognise the album from the music video. As with the most Digipak designs the name of the artist is usually written in the same typography through each products, the name of the album is also very distinct from the rest of the text – my digipak follows this convention.

Back Cover

The back cover presents an image of my hand holding the pebble present in my music video, the hand has been double exposed with an image of the pebble on a rock behind that is blurred image of the me. When creating the track list I used the same typography as Shiloh’s name however I changed it to black in order for the audience to easily read the text – this is important as the audience will need to know what song are on the album for them to make there purchase. On the bottom of the back cover I included the relevant websites of the artists and record label which is a convention for digipaks. I also added the logo on the bottom right corner with the barcode as this was typical in most digipaks. 

CD Design

I have added the logo on the CD design on the bottom middle so it is easily recognised by the audience. This design is composed of two images; an image of me walking a hilltop, and an image of a bird flying through the sky. The image is then splashed with blue and green watercolour to relate to the my theme. Water symbolically can refer to tranquillity and peace hence why I have chosen to use watercolour as my theme. As with most CD designs the typography is usually the same as the front cover and the text that are present is the artist’s name and also the album’s name there may also be some other information such as quotes or brief description. I have used the same white typography for the name of the artist and the same red typography for the name of the album.

Left Panel

The left panel is bit more different from the front and back cover. The front cover and back is what catches the viewers attention therefore most digipaks will have less emphasis in detail with there inside images. The artwork is still relevant to the theme however the style and how the artwork looks a bit more different. Inside the left panel, digipaks will usually have more information about the album and the artist I decided not to do this as there is not enough information about the artist due to the fact that they are still undiscovered and not well recognised. On the left hand corner I have placed a text ‘live, relive, revel and regret…’ This quote is placed below the title of the album and have done for the purpose of creating and interest and to also give a brief description of the album.

Right Panel

The right panel will hold the CD, this design is completely different from the back and front cover, this image acts as the background for my CD and I think this image is very relevant to my artist motif and identity. I have framed the image as with all the design to make it fit the part of my digipak. The left panel and the right panel have a different but relevant design however, the purpose of this is to make the CD stand out when placed on the right panel  as the CD has the same style and design with the front and back cover.

Magazine Advert

In my previous post I have also discussed what a magazine advert is in my ancillary research  there I also discussed its codes and conventions – below is a slide share of that post. 

When creating my digipak I made sure I included all the necessary conventions of an advertisement, I included release date, artist/ album/song name, label logo, and where it is available to purchase.

As with my digipak I decided to use warm colours as I have previously before chillwave is known as summer music. I have not used the same image for my front cover of my digipak and magazine advert like most typical magazine adverts as I decided that it would look better as its own individual artwork. My magazine advert maintains a constant theme with my digipak; both products have similar element of design i.e. the use of water colour, mise en scene, and style. With most magazine adverts the texts are usually align, I decided not to do this as I wanted the text to form a swaying effect to reference the title of the album ‘ Venus Sway’ I also noticed that some magazine adverts tend to place the front cover of the album on a corner I decided to do this as the image I have used on my advert is different from my front cover therefore my audience will know the album and easily recognise it when at the shops.