A2 media Evaluation Question 1

1. In what ways does your mediaIn what ways does your media
product use, develop or challengeproduct use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of realforms and conventions of real
media products?media products?
By JahquaniBy Jahquani

2. • Our group’s products use develop the
conventions of our genre. Which is
alternative rock. When producing our
products we had several codes and
conventions to consider, we had the
choice to also challenge them.

3. Todorov’s Narrative TheoryTodorov’s Narrative Theory
• Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in 5 stages:
• A state of equilibrium ( Emmanuel getting bullied)
• A disruption o the equilibrium by some action( Emmanuel fighting back)
• A recognition that there has been a disruption ( other students backing off)
• An attempt to repair the disruption( Emmanuel leaving school)
• A reinstatement of the equilibrium ( Emmanuel committing suicide)

4. Researching TheoristsResearching Theorists
• After researching theories of music videos the key theorists were Andrew Goodwin
and Laura Mulvey. Goodwin argues that music videos demonstrate genre
characteristics, there must be a relationship between lyrics and visuals and there is a
frequent notion of looking. We conformed to Goodwin’s theory as we have a
relationship between lyrics and visuals. After looking at Laura Mulvey I found that we
would not include her theory of the male gaze.
• After researching I also found some general codes and conventions across a wide
range of genres including close ups, props and the editing matching the pace of
music.

5. USEUSE
• More specifically to our music video we used several conventions from rock genre.
For example a common theme is locations being warehouses, deserted buildings and
tunnels. We identified this feature and decided to replicate a similar location. Using
an alleyway highlighted the main actor’s loneliness and gave him a sense of feeling
trapped. We used inspiration from Linkin Park’s original video for One Step Closer. In
the video the band is performing in a dark tunnel and also at the beginning of the
video we see people in a dark alleyway pointing and laughing.
This scene is where we see Emmanuel walking
down the alleyway
This image is from the original Linkin Park
video we see people pointing and laughing in a
dark alleyway.

6. USEUSE
• Another way we used the codes and conventions of the rock genre was by
including a narrative involving being bullied or being alone.
• Our narrative includes Emmanuel being bullied by fellow students and finally
building up the courage to face them before killing himself.
• He is shown as an outcast from society, this narrative has also been seen in
Linkin Park’s videos Numb and you can see this in other genres to including
RNB and Pop
Both music
videos have
a narrative
leading to
suicide

7. USEUSE
• Other actors were different from the main character, this was to show that everyone else was
normal whilst Emmanuel an outcast and dissimilar. This difference has also occurred in other
rock videos.

8. USEUSE
• We incorporated the idea of suicide into our video to show that bullying could have serious
consequences. Our inspiration came from the video below which also incorporated the idea of
suicide. To do this we used a mid shot this was partly to make the hill seem higher but also to
show the impact of how high Emmanuel was jumping. In Ed Sheeran’s give they used a high
angle shot to show the blood and boy position the protagonist landed in.
• The use of the mid shot showed pathetic fallacy, the audience are able to see the dark sky and
the clouds which relates to how Emmanuel is feeling before he jumps.
Ed Sheeran – Give Me LoveEmmanuel about to jump

9. DEVELOPEDDEVELOPED
• Rock videos usually have unique lighting and effects including dark rooms and
flashbacks. Our video takes this one step further by concentrating on the transitions
between shots. We developed the codes and conventions by not using traditional pan
shots but fading images and white screens. This gave the next scene more impact .

10. CHALLENGECHALLENGE
• Our video doesn’t include a performance and interaction with the
audience or the fans. For example Linkin Park – faint, shows the
band performing. In addition we didn’t use the stereotypical leather
jacket, heavy make up mis en scene.

11. How did we use, develop and challenge the codesHow did we use, develop and challenge the codes
and conventions with our album cover?and conventions with our album cover?

12. Codes and Conventions of anCodes and Conventions of an
Album CoverAlbum Cover
• The artist’s name
• Album Title
• The main image
• Age restrictions
• Logo
• Colour scheme
• Track list
• Barcode
• Recording information

13. We used the codes and conventions of
album covers by including the band
name. We used the same font as other
Linkin Park albums.
Using the same font makes
the band instantly
recognisable.
We used the same font as
Minutes to Midnight, road to
revolution & songs from
underground .
This font is consistent in 3 of
their albums including:

14. CHALLENGECHALLENGE
• As well as using and developing the codes and conventions of real products
we challenged them. One common code and convention of rock music
videos are the band with the instruments they individually play. We decided
against this as when recording the lip synching, we only had one person and
it wasn't possible to get him to play all types of instruments. Also the
opening scenes of the original video featured a guitar solo but we used the
narrative from the beginning so there was no space for including this.

15. Album TitleAlbum Title
An album cover gives the audience a
sense of what the album will be about,
for example Rihanna’s album Loud
was letting the audience know that a lot
of upbeat songs would be on the
album.
We included the album name
( Hybrid Theory) however we didn't
use a big font size. We wanted to
focus on the band and making the
album cover instantly recognisable.
Some album covers don't even
include the title or artists name. For
example Aerosmith – Draw the Line.

16. Main ImageMain Image
• Different genres have different codes and conventions for album pictures,
for example the pop genre will usually have a close up of the artist or band
whilst a rock or Alternative bands will have an unique picture not of
themselves.
Pop Alternative Garage
We decided wanted to use a
plain background however
we also wanted to
incorporate scenes from the
music video. We combined
this to create a faded look
and a montage of different
images.

17. Age restrictionsAge restrictions
• There is usually a parental advisory sticker to let audiences know that the
album may have offensive or inappropriate language. This also depends on
the genre of music, for example Hip Hop albums will include this whilst Pop
wont.
We developed the codes and conventions
of the rock genre album covers, we used a
parental advisory sticker because we felt
that the album included a lot of sensitive
subjects e.g. One step closer Lead singer
Chester Bennington wrote this to express
the anger he felt growing up. He didn't fit in
well and got beat up a lot. Bennington
wanted kids who hate themselves at times
to know that he went through the same
thing. He did not intend it as an excuse for
self-pity or anger.

18. How did we use, develop and challenge the
codes and conventions with our album
cover (back) ?

19. BarcodeBarcode
• All album covers have a barcode, which is used for pricing.
Both album
covers have
a barcode.

20. Record Company InformationRecord Company Information
• Linkin park are with the labels Warner Bros and Machine. Their debut album
hybrid theory was with Warner Bros. This promotes the record label as well
as showing who the band is associated with.
Both these Linkin Park album covers
have the Warner Bros logo. We used
this convention because it had been
used in ALL Linkin Park album covers
and it is used across all genres.

21. Track listTrack list
• The back of an album usually consists of a track list which is a list of songs
on the album. We decided to make this the centre of attention on our album
cover, the use of a clear background makes it easy to read, we also but the
track list as centre text & directly under the band’s name. Four singles were
released from the album: "One Step Closer", "Papercut", "Crawling", and "In
the End", which were responsible for Linkin Park becoming a mainstream
band.

22. ADVERTADVERT
An album poster is to promote the
album it usually includes :
•A list of the most popular track(s)
•The artist’s website
•A themed photo shoot
•Release date
•Where the album is available
•A preview of the actual album

23. Visual imageVisual image
• We wanted to make the connection between all of our media products therefore we decided to
use a A4 image of our album cover; which included a faded montage of some scenes from the
music video. We developed the codes and conventions as rock adverts usually have a themed
photo shoot or unique images that relate to the artwork on their albums.
• Another image that is used is the preview of the actual album cover:

24. Date of releaseDate of release
We developed the codes and
conventions by not giving a
specific date of release, by using
the words ‘out now’ in capital
letters and an exclamation mark
gives a sense of excitement.
Also the advert says includes the
#1 track One Step Closer this
attracts the target audience even
more and by showing that the
album is available in stores and
online means that the target
audience can access it anytime.
Other genres such as
Hip Hop give a specific
date such as Kid Cudi –
man of the moon:

25. The codes and conventions that we have used will
appeal to Linkin Park’s target audience which we found
were teenagers. We have used some stereotypical
themes such as the narrative being about bullying but
have also challenged them by not including heavy
make for example.
In terms of the Digipak and Digipak advert we followed
most of the codes and conventions which will appeal
to the target audience.