Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media texts?

Part B: Ancillary Tasks EvaluationMagda Cassidy

The first ancillary product I created was a four panelled Compact Disc Digipak.

Front and back covers

Inner panels

During the research I conducted and in the production of the ancillary materials, I felt it was vital to ensure that the digipak I made

conformed to the generic media conventions we are used to seeing in real media texts. I wanted it to look professional, and to be easily recognisable as an album digipak.

In order to do this successfully, I researched the main conventions of album covers…

Conventions of a front cover:

•A simple colour scheme•The artist/band’s name featured, usually in a large, bold, recognisable print•The name of the album, usually underneath the artist’s name – but this is not always necessary•An image of the artist – or something you associate with the artist, such as a logo or instantly recognised album artwork; e.g. (from top to bottom) The Maccabees, Rihanna, Avril Lavigne and Biffy Clyro.

Conventions of a back cover:

•List of song titles, usually centred, sometimes numbered.•Barcode – usually in a corner on the right hand side•Name of record company, often some copyright information.

Conventions of inner panels:

•Colour scheme that ties in with rest of album•Little or no text•Images associated with the artist; giving clues about the songs on the album, and continuity across the panels.•Sometimes include a little booklet, full of images of the artist, or characters in their songs and videos paired with lyrics from their songs.

Examples of female artist’s digipaks conforming to these conventions…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/57296830@N02/5470982355/

(my analysis of Adele’s album)

In the next few slides, I’m going to compare my work with examples of industry standard CD digipaks, to see how I have used media conventions, and also to see if I have developed them in any way. I will compare my digipak with digipaks of two artists; 1) Ellie Goulding’s ‘Lights’ 2) Josh Groban’s ‘Illuminations’.

I have chosen these two because both albums have interesting artwork based around the theme of lights, which is something I tried to touch upon in the creation of the ancillary products.

Artists name in large font, easily readable so there is no confusion as to what the artist’s name is. This helps make the artist memorable. The artist is the ‘USP’, and the continuous link between albums and is therefore more important than an individual album.

Album name in a smaller font, again easy to read, ties in with colour scheme.

Images on cover relate to album name, ‘Lights’ has lots of gold specks all over cover, ‘Life In A Northern Town’ has images of the north, and these images help to illustrate the title.

Artist’s face very prominent, looking away from camera in obvious pose.

Same colour schemes and/or uses same imagery as on front cover

Record company logos at the bottom and copyright info Barcode

List of song titles

Colour scheme is similar to the rest of the album.

Both albums are about a place close to the artist’s heart, for Josh Groban it is New York, and for me it is Blackpool, so the inner panels both contain images of attractions associated with these places. Pictures like this give the album continuity and a clear theme/mood.

Summary of my findings:

Conventions used:• Front and back covers follow typical digipak layout which is easily identifiable. You immediately recognise what the product is – so this use of conventions is effective.• Inner panels give clues about the CD.

Conventions challenged:• Album covers usually have a lot of black on them, the brightness of mine would contrast with others on the shelf, making it stand out.• Inner panels have a unique ‘look’ exclusive to the artist. The almost ‘fake fairground’ style represents the superficiality of a moneymaking tourist town.

Next I am going to compare the album poster with other industrystandard album advertisements, and again discuss how my

product uses and challenges media conventions.

Conventions of an album poster:The conventions for album advertisements

are very vague, however, here are some elements I have noticed…

•Like with the album covers, the artist’s name, and the name of the album must appear in a large, clear font.•Album adverts are usually portrait.• Sometimes, the album’s release date is stated•An image of the album cover is often included somewhere.

I will compare and contrast my album

poster with Jack Johnson’s ‘To The Sea’ advert, and discuss how both comply with the

conventions I have stated in the

previous slide.

Colour scheme relates to theme, e.g. blue for north cold and blue for the sea

Artist’s name in big bold font, album name directly underneath – so the two are associated with one another

Release date, in smaller font.

Imagery suggesting content on the album, creates a clear brand, continuity, and something the audience will remember.

Summary of my findings:

Conventions used:• Clear name of artist and album – so that the audience know what’s being advertised!• Clear release date.• Bright, eye catching.• Images on the poster reflect images used on and in the album

Conventions challenged:• The poster is landscape, whereas most are portrait

Summary

I feel my ancillary products generally conform to the forms and conventions used in real

media texts. Due to the nature of album covers and album advertisements, it is of utmost

important that it is clear what you are selling, so I feel it is important to conform to the

generic conventions of album covers. Because it’s creative, the process of making the digipak and poster still gave me the freedom to make

the digipak unique and interesting.

However, I also feel that my work challenges conventions due to it’s very bright colours,

and unique appearance. I feel that the inner panels in particular challenge conventions because they’re so different to what we

usually see.

The poster also challenges conventions due to it’s size, and when surrounded by other

posters, this key feature would make it stand out.

I feel the products use the conventions of acoustic/folk music style well, it is clear when looking at the album what genre of music it is

paired with.

Although challenging conventions is interesting and help in the promotion of your album, I feel in this case it has been wise to

mostly conform to the forms used in real media texts, in order to help market and sell

my product.