Explain how far 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.

In AS Media production in year 12 I had to create an opening to a Thriller movie as part of a group. For my A2 Media production I worked in a group to create an Alternative genre music video, a website and an album cover. This would be a challenge as my year 12 production had different key codes and conventions in comparison to my A2 production. Last year I found it helpful to analyse pre-existing products to help identify the codes and conventions I needed to make a thriller opening so I did the same for year 13.

For my year 12 production I used the Internet for Google and Youtube to help me with my research of my market analysis of similar products on the market. I used Google to find information about the synopsis of other Thriller films and used Youtube to find the opening sequences of Thriller films and analysed how the synopsis related to the opening. The codes and conventions I found for Thriller openings were that they were suspenseful and were enigmatic to keep the audience entertained. They involved first person camera views and stereotypical scenes with archetypal characters to fit so audiences could easily identify what was going on. Products that influenced our creation of our Thriller film opening were films such as Seven because of the enigmatic opening which had cryptic symbols around the opening credits. We used a similar effect and used purple smoke to present our credits. The choice of the involvement of a mysterious artefact in our production was due to the influence of films such as Angels and Demons and National Treasure and the use of flashbacks influenced by Slumdog Millionaire. Our opening was based around an interrogation scene which we took inspiration from The Silence Of The Lambs.

For my year 13 production I used the Internet also for Google and Youtube but for used Google for images of album covers and to analyse websites of Alternative artists and bands and Youtube for Alternative music videos. When watching the music videos we identified that Alternative music videos involve symbolism, enigma, slow edits and close-ups to show emotion. Music videos such as Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars” influenced the type of video to be Illustration, a music video which represents the lyrics visually. We used this when the lyrics “Two paths to choose” were sung. At a certain point in the song, we used a rewind effect on the music video to take the video back to the two paths seen near the beginning of the video to conclude the artist’s decision. This effect was influenced by Coldplay’s “The Scientist” where one of the band members is seen walking backwards the entire time. Some of our shot types of the artist (Jake Black) playing his instrument were influenced by Audioslave’s “Be Yourself” song to show our artist playing the guitar properly and portray him in a professional way and keep with the convention of switching between the narrative and the artist/band playing instruments.

The album cover we created was to match the music video and to create a brand consistency between the main product and this ancillary text. The album cover was made to coincide with the key codes and conventions we identified when analysing Alternative album covers. Our album cover consists of pictures focussed on the artist and a simple layout which does not clutter the album. Looking at Coldplay’s “Parachutes” album cover, it’s very simple and symbolic and the title of the band and title of the album is clear. Oasis’s “Don’t believe the truth” album has a similar clear titled front and the back has the list tracks in a simple font. We used the same idea for our track lists at the back and used a simple font. These band’s albums influenced our creation of the layout of out album cover and we used a picture of the artist in black and white, sitting in front of a lake to symbolise the message of the album but as well as not giving too much away and giving off a sense of enigma for the audience. The album covers we evaluated also had the record label at the back and most of them had the barcode on the back too so as not to distract focus from the front of the album. A picture of the artist is used on each side of the album cover to create a sense of artist awareness and the creation of a star image (Richard Dyer).

The website was quite a new experience for me as I had never made one before or knew any codes and conventions. I used Google to search for Alternative band’s websites to find how they were designed and themed. When studying Snow Patrol’s website I noticed how they had a tab system at the top of their website to allow people to view information such as tour dates, news, photos, a community forum and a store. The background was also themed to their latest album. All around their website they made it clear you were visiting a Snow Patrol website. Similarly, we made ours based around our artist and album to let people know that this website was all about Jake Black. We used pictured similar to the album cover and used the same font used in the music video and front of the album cover to help with the bran promotion. Our website also included an artist bio, tour dates, social networking sites linked with the artist, a forum for fans to post messages and a store.

In conclusion, through thorough market analysis on similar pre-existing products, we were able to create an effective main product and ancillary texts which included a range of key codes and conventions which were influenced by bands such as Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Audioslave and others. Using these influence and these codes and conventions, our target audience would find it easy to identify what Jake Black and his music are all about.