General Conventions Vodcast 2

Conventions Vodcast

Our Vodcast:
This is our vodcast on what we have learned about conventions:



Part 2:




This vodcast talks about the general conventions that are widely used in many different genres of music video. We tried to use a variety of clips from different genres to make it easier to see that these conventions are for a wide range of genres.

VLOG: General conventions of magazine adverts

General conventions of magazine adverts

COSTS: General conventions of magazine adverts

General conventions of magazine adverts 
As adverts vary in size so does the price, the bigger the advert the larger the cost.
The whereabouts of the advert is also vital to its price as if it is printed on the inside of the back or front page it is at its most pricy. Another thing to consider is what our main target audience is and which magazine genre would be most suited to publicising our artist. However it is also a good idea to place smaller adds in alternative magazines to appeal to a secondary audience.
A good website to check out costs of placing adverts in magazines is Small businesses.
It states that 

at the time of publication, a national woman's lifestyle magazine charged nearly $250,000 for a full-page ad while a niche gardening magazine only charged about $10,000.

Positioning
Inside the front cover, inside the back cover and the back cover are prime advertising spaces. A West Coast magazine at the time of publication charged $141,800 for the inside front cover, for example, while a full-page ad cost $118,400. Advertising toward the front of the magazine costs more than toward the back of the magazine, with the exception of the back cover. The magazine may demand that the ads towards the front are a minimum size, perhaps full or half-page only.

VLOG: General conventions of digipaks

General conventions of digipaks

Digipak general conventions

General conventions of Digipaks 
What a digipak looks like 
 A digipak should be four or six frames. It is a slim cardboard holder for a CD maybe containing extra bonus footage or DVD, it is more flexible than the plastic dual case which is less eco friendly. Digipaks can denote that the Cd is a special limited edition. 

Examples of student digipack and magazine advert (A grade)

Aspects that must be included:

Front
Spine
Back
Membership postcard/flier
Lyric section
Disk impression
Band info section/booklet
Free image/poster

Digipak album cover analysis by a student on slideshare (see full version on link)

General conventions of a digipak 

1.Artist logo

2. Album title

3. DVD or bonus details 

4. Track listing 

5. Link between external panels 

6. Flow between inner panels

7. Small print

8. Logo's, URLS and special media (record label, distribution company)

9. Spine catalogue number

10. Editions extras edition booklet

General conventions of music videos Vodcast

General conventions of music videos  - Vodcast
This vodcast outlines the general conventions seen in a majority of widely seen music videos which I have previously blogged on 

General Conventions MV: STYLE OF VID

DIFFERENT STYLES

Lady Gaga - You and I (Laurieann Gibson, 2011)
All American Rejects - Gives You Hell (Marc Webb, 2008)


NARRATIVE VIDEOS
Videos that follow this concept have a clear narrative that follows the story of the lyrics. For example, the video to the All American Rejects' video of "Gives You Hell" has clear links from its video to its lyrics and they even created another video named "Full Narrative Version".

PERFORMANCE VIDEOS
This convention is usually used by rock/alternative bands as they prefer to focus on their audience. The definition of a performance style of video is when the video uses a live or studio set up. For example Megadeth's "Wake up Dead" is a performance video although still having a narrative intertwined.
CONCEPT VIDEOS
This style of video is when the main music video doesn't follow the same story as what they lyrics are saying but does have another narrative intertwined. 

CONCLUSION
A lot of music videos combine two of the conventions as it widens the appeal for instance, Lady Gaga's"You and I" video is a combination of both Performance and Concept. This is because although there isn't a narrative that follows the story of the lyrics, she also incorporates dance throughout.

General conventions of a music video 2

General Conventions of a music video

Camera shots-
Range/cut from long shots to close ups and extreme close up shots. Rather than in film where, usually in the opening, extreme long shots are used to set the scene and don't use close up/extreme close up shots as frequently. The close up shots usually focus upon the lead singer signifying their importance much like a central protagonist within a film, how ever the frequent extreme close up shots are directed more towards the lead singers mouth as they lip synch, which is unusual to see in a film.

Example of this are seen in many recent videos such as Taylor swifts 'Wildest Dreams' and Justin Bieber's 'What do you mean'.

This however this is not shown in The arctic monkeys music video Fluorescent Adolescent as the band members don't actually appear in the music video, even though some of the camera angles are included the absence of the band in the video is unusual but a common trait in the bands early music videos, which has now significantly changed as they have now gained global success.


Another example of an artist who does not appear in their own music videos is Sia known for her controversial and widely know music video Elastic Heart. Sia has publicly announced that this music video is her "Anti-fame manifesto" as she "doesn't want to be famous, or recognisable”.



Camera movement-
whip pans, tracking shots and fast overhead crane shots (high aerial shot) which follow the performers as is it common for a lot of choreographed moves and dance to occur a good example of this is Peace's music video 'Lost on me'.



Editing-
Jump cutting and montage editing are regularly used to quickly move from person to location to instrument this creates a non linear sequence which is timed usually to the beat which in its self creates a logical sequence. Also the fact that the editing is so quick means that people are more likely to repetadley watch the video which is helped by the videos usually unresolved ending creating intrigue. But there are exemptions for example continuity editing is used in Sinead O'connor's music video 'Nothing comapres to you' which uses dissolve shots.

Lighting-
 Extreme artificial lighting is used on the leads face to create a bleamishless effect making them seam perfect, this is also shown in Sinead's close up above. Also strobing can be used as well as a common use of black and white.

CGI-
I used mainly in high budget videos to create either a futuristic set or brightly coloured back grounds as seen in Nicki Minaj's Starships video

Narrative music video-
Where the music video follows a story which has some relevance to the lyrics of the song. This makes for interesting viewing as it can add more meaning to the song as in Greendays Wake me up when September ends, this emotional story of a young couple who are split apart when the boy enrols in the military shows the horror and pain of war and puts across the bands negative feeling towards the military action at that time.





Another reason for narrative music videos is to help attract the target market for the artist for example Taylor Swifts series of narrative music videos appeals to her youthful female audience due to the main theme of love and helps define her approach as an artist.







This can spread across a wide variety of genres for example in The all american rejects video Gives you hell



Ellipsis-
Where jump cut editing is used to create the effect of moving through time for example in Olly Murs's video of Dance with me tonight he moves from day tonight in one short cut through the use o ellipsis.

General MV Conventions 1

GENERAL CONVENTIONS

Neon Trees - Everybody Talks (Justin Meldal Johnson, 2011)
Sam Smith - Stay With Me (Jamie Thraves, 2014)
Maroon 5 - Sugar
Azealia Banks - 212
Rihanna - Stay
EDITING TECHNIQUES
Generally the pace of editing within music videos is much faster than that of a film, this is because usually the editing matches the tempo of the music playing. For example, in the music video for Neon Trees - Everybody Talks the editing between shots speeds up at 0:57 because this is when the chorus kicks in. In contrast to this, Sam Smiths video to "Stay with Me"  has long slow takes, but this still fits with its tempo of music. This helps to signify the mood and feel of the video and song. It also has an impact on how the audience feels, having long drawn out editing and music has an impact on how a viewer breathes making them feel sombre, whereas fast past editing helps the viewer to feel excited.

CAMERA/SHOT VARIETY
There's usually a wide variety in the different camera shots being used in music videos and are primarily used to focus on a particular meaning. For example, in the music video for Maroon 5's "Sugar" mid shots are used to show the emotions of the brides and grooms to enhance the element of surprise. Another way directors use the variety of shots is to focus on the artist/protagonist in the video, in Azealia Banks video to "212" close ups are used of her mouth frequently throughout the video so the audience focus on the lyrics but also her image. Extreme Long Shots and Long Shots are sometimes used to show the crowd, for example 30 Seconds to Mars uses this technique frequently in their videos.

LIGHTING
Lighting can dramatically effect the feel of a music video and how an audience takes the meaning from it. It can completely change the mood of a video, for example in Rihanna's "Stay" the lighting is all very monochrome which connotes the sultry and saddened mood. Although a counter type would be "212", this whole video is done in black white and grey, yet this colour scheme doesn't dampen the upbeat hip hop style in the slightest.

COSTUME AND MAKEUP
The costume and makeup used by artists in a video is very influential on the target audience of their fan base, pop artists normally wear trendy, modern clothes so that they fit in with the style of their audience. Rock bands and artists usually wear plain clothes, focussing their attention on their audience and their music rather than their image.