Using conventions from real media

Each of your media production tasks had a specific set of

conventions whether it was the music magazine, the music video
or the ancillary tasks. In each case you researched real media to
establish conventions and guidelines to aid you in the production of
your own work.
For this topic you need to consider how your understanding of
these real media has developed over the last two years.
Task 1
In pairs begin by making a note of the conventions of music
magazines, music videos and of the print work you created for the
ancillary element of the A2 work.
We will feedback to the whole class so you create a substantial list.
Ensure you add any conventions you did not think of to your lists.
Conventions of music magazines:
General
Music reviews
Album reviews
Information on upcoming albums
Reviews of live gigs
Interviews with live bands
Tour dates
Questions
Competitions
Upcoming tours
Advertisements
Whats in next issue
FC
Front Page
Masthead
Cover-lines
Cover-stories
Pictures and captions
Route of the eye
Principle of thirds
Pull quotes
Hotspots
Sans serif fonts
ISBN
Mostly black and white colours (Fonts)
Contents
The title Contents
Route of the eye
Principle of thirds
Hotspots
Eye catching colours
Pictures and captions
Mostly sans serif fonts
Pages numbers and whats on them pages
Double page spread
Headline
Big picture taking up 1 page
Kicker- article starts with a big first letter
Route of the eye
Principle of thirds
Hotspots
Captions
A important question
Pull quote from another article

An important notice

Conventions of Music Videos:

Performance
Narrative
Animation
Crane shots
Pans/tilts
Close ups e.g. on artist, mouth, instruments, props
Jump cuts
Split screens
Props, Costume, location relevant to music genre
Lip syncing
Male/female gaze
Conventions of ancillary products (digipak & magazine
advert):
Digipak
Name of the band/ artist.
Name of the album
Track listing
Price
Bonus Material
Website
Credits
Recording information, producer, where it was recorded and when.
Who wrote the songs.
Pictures of the band/ artist.
Logo
Barcode
DVD logo
Cd logo
Website banner
Colour and style to fit
Artists genre.
Unfolds
Cardboard sleeve/
Adverts
DVD or cd
Booklet
dvd/ cd case
Mag ad
Name of the band/ artist

Name of the album

Website
Reviews
Picture of the band/artist/album cover
logo

Applying theories to your work

Postmodern style: Irony, Parody, Pastiche, Bricolage, Intertextuality.

Bricolage is the process of deliberately borrowing or

adapting signs or features from different styles or genres to
create a new mixture of meanings (OSullivan et. al, 1998).
Pastiche: Bog standard copying of conventions or can be
done for bricolage effect. Whichever, this ultimately
reinforces their importance in culture and society. Parody is a
kind on pastiche which makes fun of the subject.
Intertextuality is the way in which media texts gain their
meanings by referring to other media texts that the producers
assume that the reader/decoder will be familiar with and
recognise (OSullivan et. al 1998).
Task 2
How did you pastiche or parody any other media texts? (This
includes bricolage and intertextuality). Use the correct
terminology in your answer and be specific as to the features
you borrowed or copied.
Music magazine

Music Video

Ancillary tasks

Task 3
Look back at your previous work and find three examples from both
pieces where you have used conventions from real media texts:
Convention

Music magazine production:

Convention 1:

Convention 2:

Convention 3:

Music Video:
Convention 1:

Convention 2:

Convention 3:

Ancillary work:
Convention 1:

Convention 2:

Example of how youve used

it within your production
work (remember that you can
challenge, follow or vary existing
conventions)

Task 3
Pick 2 of these conventions and write your notes up into a
paragraph, using the space below, on each of them, discussing how
you used them within your own work.
Remember to be specific and detailed.
Try to evaluate how effective your use of these conventions was in
your work. What did you use and did it work?
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Task 4
Swap your paragraphs with your partner and discuss the ideas you
both put forward.
How can you improve your work?