Conventions of real world texts

Conventions from real world texts

 

In creating both my foundation and advanced portfolios, it was essential that I conducted a wide range of research to familiarise myself with the conventions from real world texts. From doing this, I would enabled myself to create products to a high level of professionalism as I had acknowledged the successes of existing products and applied them to my own.

For my foundation portfolio, many tasks were carried out in order to become accustomed with what I should be including in the creation of my music magazine to fit the conventions of real media texts. I chose to create my music magazine based around the ‘Indie’ genre therefore the magazines I looked at including Q Magazine and Under the Radar. From these magazines I found that their popular features included interviews with both popular and upcoming artists, reviews and latest news. This also inspired the name of my magazine “Emerge” as it describes the impending artists as well as covering artists that have already developed. I also found that other existing music magazines such as NME, Kerrang! And Top of the Pops have short, catchy names therefore I think my magazine name follows this convention. Following the popular conventions I discovered, I created the contents page with different sections. For example one section called ‘’features” is a whole section of interviews with various artists, and there is also a section called “regulars” which includes reviews and behind the scenes information. From these magazines I also found that the front cover typically includes either a close up shot or a mid-shot of the artist. Therefore I selected a photo that I took of my artist in a photoshoot that was originally a long shot, and using Photoshop I zoomed in to her face to make it a close up. This creates an attention-grabbing effect as the artist is making direct eye contact with the audience enticing them into purchasing the magazine.

My house colour scheme consisted of green, black white and grey. I used these colours as they are all prominent and complement each other so that each one stands out. Q magazine uses red, white, black and sometimes grey, so it became evident to me that I needed one bright colour, green, that would make the typography stand out, and have the rest particularly neutral so that they flattered the brighter colours. The colour scheme was extremely important to choose as I needed to be able to attract my target audience successfully. Often throughout the Indie genre, the audiences like to feel relaxed and at ease, therefore the colour green seemed mandatory to use as it has connotations of tranquillity, nature and peace which would help in luring in readers.

For my advanced portfolio, I also created a music video based around the Indie genre. I needed to watch similar music videos in order to gain an understanding of what is typically included to make it a successful, professional indie music video. By researching into the Indie genre I discovered that there is a reoccurring theme of when it comes to setting. The music videos tend to be set in basic and minimalistic areas, quite commonly outside or at a live concert. This way the chief focus is on the individual artists as performers doing what they love to do. It also keeps the concentration on the actual music itself and the talent that they are showcasing. This is very distinctive in the indie/rock genre as the genre itself stemmed from the passion that people have to perform and play rather than the extravagant details that can be seen in other genres which revolve around the success that comes with the music. A contemporary twist in indie music videos is to include a narrative in-between these shots to break up the music video and give it a story for the reader. Also there is more room to play around with the video if a narrative is included which makes it a popular technique for various artists. I thus decided to adapt this convention in making my own music video. Therefore I incorporated a range of flashbacks in-between the other shots, making it an episodic narrative, as I feel that this enabled the audience to see the performer’s relationship with the person that’s passed away to evoke sympathy from them. Andrew Goodwin’s theory states that the lyrics should match the visual so I ensured that I achieved this by having the performance on screen toning the lyrics.

I also had to create some ancillary tasks for my advanced portfolio which were a magazine advert and a Digipak. In my magazine advert, I was able to make use of the conventions that have become familiar to me as a consumer and as a media student. The target audience of my video is aged 15-20 which I am part of and I have therefore been able to include aspects that I know will be successful with my target audience. Social networking and the internet have become increasingly significant in the lives of my primary target audience, and therefore including a website and a twitter reference would appeal to them and enable existing fans to take their relationship with the artist a step further. Placing star ratings and comments from existing sources that the target audience would likely recognise would increase the motivation and interest from the audience to purchase the album as they would trust the sources. After researching real life media products I was able to understand and acknowledge the relation between the video and the magazine advert. This is used to make the album identifiable and display the same feel and theme to the audience. I adapted this convention when creating my own magazine advert by taking a photo for the main image in one of the same locations that I shot my video in, that also appears at the end of the video. This demonstrates a clear link between the advert and the video which the audience will be able to recognise. The fonts and colour scheme that I have used on the advert is the same as I have used on the digpak which hence creates a house style and furthers the ability for the audience to identify the relationship between the video and the advert.

My digipak is very similar to my magazine advert as it further develops the house style making it distinguishable. I used the same font, “moon flower” with the same colour swatch. On the cover I used the same image as my magazine advert which expands the idea of being identifiable. On the inside of the Digipak, the left hand side displays a number of candles placed into a heart formation and on the right hand side is a close up of a candle. In my music video I included shots of candles therefore anyone that has seen the video would be able to recognise the images. Also on the inside of the Digipak is a personal message to the supporters and fans from the artist to display his appreciation for me. It also mentions other people that have contributed to the making of the album and had any participation in the songs. This is a common aspect in Digipaks as it allows any other musician involved in the making of the album to be credited. The back page is simpler than the rest of the Digipak as it is a plain black background with the tracks listed in numerical order. This ensures that the audience is focused on the songs themselves rather than be distracted by other images. To create a professional look to the back of the Digpak, I added a barcode, a record company logo, a serial number and a website which rounded off the realistic look I was aiming to achieve. Overall, my Digipak follows conventions of real life Digipaks and therefore creates a professional feel to my product.