QUESTION 1:IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?

1. DIGIPAK 2. MUSIC

ADVERT3. MUSIC VIDEO

Janna Ajaj

1.DIGIPAK

For my digipak I found that most of my ideas came from a range of different R&B albums such as Rihanna’s album Unapologetic . I made sure that I understood the correct codes and conventions so I could create an accurate and successful digipak which applies towards my target audience. As you can see my front cover includes a large image of the artist ‘Deejay’ in the centre of the digipak so that the audience’s attention is immediately drawn towards her. I used a rule of thirds shot with a long-wide shot in order to capture Deejays full body which shows her outfit, figure as well as her posture. As the shot of Deejay is quite far it makes the audience focus on her body, especially the male audience which links to Mulveys ‘Male Gaze Theory’ rather than focusing on her face. Deejay looks very fierce in this image giving a sexy, seductive androgynous look. This ties in with the element of star persona since this is HER album. Moving on, the colours which I have used in my digipak I believe conform to the typical colours of an R&B digipak. When doing my research, I looked at a range of different colour schemes used and found the most obvious colours used on every R&B digipak usually consists of black/white and some gold effects. I believed them to be very bold, eye-catching and something that you wouldn’t be able to miss if you were to see it on the shelves in a store.

Rihanna’s album unapologetic inspired my album cover to an extent. For example, the use of bold white and black writing as well as the italic typography. I believe that it was very effective against the white background choice which I had chosen to use, also against Deejays outfit choice and mise-en-scene. I had made sure that the colours chosen were consistent throughout my digipak, music advert and music video.When I begun editing my digipak album cover I decided to subvert away from some conventions used on Rihanna’s album cover. For example, I had to have Deejay fully clothed in my digipak to keep it universal and appropriate for all. I decided that for my digipak I wanted to keep it very simplistic as I did not want to confuse my audience with a lot of text, as this could cause them become uninterested in the product. As you can see in Rihanna’s digipak she has a lot of text all over her body even her face where you cannot see some of her facial features, I found this effect to look very clustered so I subverted from this idea and instead went along with the black and white typograph as well as similar fonts to match some of the conventions of an R&B digipak.

My inspiration came from Rihanna’s Unapologetic album which she released in 2012. I used various different effects which was also used on her album due to the codes and conventions being very similar to her as well as her target audience. My target audience being both male and female teenagers and above I wanted to make sure that I did not just conform to one specific gender or a certain age range. I therefore in the planning process I created surveys as to what people would like to see on a digipak to what colours etc. taking all of their opinions into account. Going back to Rihanna’s album cover you are able to see that Rihanna’s facial expression is very captivating and seductive as she looks straight into the camera as if she is staring straight at her target audience. I have also used this effect with Deejay as I have seen this on my R&B music albums not just Rihanna’s (being a prime example). Others include: As you can see the facial expressions in Beyoncé's Ciara's, and Brandy’s album covers are all very sexy conforming to the male gaze theory.

The inside of my digipak uses very similar conventions to Rihanna’s Loud album which was released in 2010.For this shot of Deejay I have used a long medium close up shot. Which frames her face perfectly. This shot allows us to really look closely at Deejays beautiful facial features, which creates a visual characteristic of the artist for the audience to enjoy. This is very popular in a lot of R&B middle-digipaks, the close up especially allows the recording company to create a representation for the artist, it connotes realism as the audience are able to see Deejay really closely which they may not be able to in real life. I have subverted away from the colours which Rihanna has used on her Loud digipak as it conform to perhaps a more feminine target audience as it contains rose petals and feminine colours such as red, pink, baby pink, to the font also being very soft. Where I have stuck with my bold black and white typography and theme throughout my digipak which is also shown on the actual CD itself. Images on next page

Finally the back of my digipak. This is the back cover of the digipak as it clearly signified by the song list which runs down the side of Deejays body. This allows the audience to see what songs are included on this album as well as the number that they are. This saves them time trying to flick through each song to find the specific song which they want to be played. I have present the song list which shows a consistent layout of typography throughout the album. I also used the same colours throughout as well as outfit/mise-en-scene which conforms to the stereotypical conventions.Here I have conformed to the stereotypical R&B conventions as Deejay is looking directly into the camera and therefore directly at her audience. Deejay looking at her audience can be interpreted in many different ways, but overall it gives her audience as sense of fulfilment that there is a direct gaze and add to a more intimate moment with her fans.

A convention which is seen on not only R&B music digipaks but most digipaks on the market today are the use of a barcode/record label company/copy right details and on occasion credits thanking those who have helped with the album.

2. MusicAdvert

I was inspired by Jessie J’s ‘Who you are’ advert which had been released around 2011. The typography which is present on this music advert is the artists name as well as the album although the album name is much smaller than Jessie J’s name. I have conformed to these conventions on my advert as well, making Deejays name a lot larger than the name of the album which is found at the bottom of the advert in the information box. I have done this because I believe that people will immediately be attracted towards the artists name as that is because they know it before they are aware of the album/single. I found that on many music adverts (not only R&B) the major convention is an information section at the bottom of the page which includes the artists details such as their website, date which it will be released as well as other social media platforms where you should are able to follow Deejay. The typography which I have used is very similar to Jessie J’s and is also very similar on other R&B music adverts. The name of the artist “Deejay” is black and bold with a gold rim around it which could symbolise wealth as well as the font which is used as it Is joined up could also be interpreted as wealth or style. I have only used this specific font for Deejays name as it is very eye catching, as did Jessie J, is allows the audience to interpret it in

their own way. Both adverts follow a gold/black and white theme throughout which can be seen in the main image and text. These colours are vital urban colours which are used on a range of different R&B products on the market. I have also stuck to these colours throughout all my products which I have produced. This can suggest wealth/purity, again it leaves the audience to decide how they will interpret it.

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The main image of Deejay, you can see that she is wearing vary large earrings similar to Jessie J which a lot of urban artists wear. It add a sense of attitude and edginess to their image. The outfit choice of Deejay also conforms to the R&B ‘dress code’ conventions. For example, Deejay is seen wearing Air maxes, ripped jeans and a black cropped top and to top it off she is wearing hair extensions in a cornrow style. This whole image of Deejay will instantly shout out “urban”, “R&B”, “ghetto”. Which conforms to the stereotypical R&B genre. My music advert appeals to both male and female audience due to the fact that she is a woman however she is not dressed in colours which would be expected of a typical women so in this way subverts from the typical ideology. It can then also attract as female audience due to the fact that this artist subverts from the typical ideology of a ‘woman’. They can then use Deejay as an example of how women can be different yet successful, she can be seen as a role model by many of her fans. Finally, doing my research I found that having other music records comment on what they thought of the album for feedback subverted from a typical R&B music advert and is usually seen on other genres such as POP & ROCK. However I thought that it looked quite effective and filled in the space as otherwise it would have looked very plain. I didn’t mind going against the typical R&B genre music advert because it is not an extreme way which could effect its success of the overall album and in some ways it can actually help to promote it to an extent.

3. MusicVideo

For our music video we used conventions from current and previous music video of the R&B genre so that we were able to establish a recognisable image which was able to attract an audience immediately whether they were into the R&B genre or not. When I was carrying out my research and planning for my music video I looked into different music videos where I could gain inspiration. I noticed that many music videos of today are either based around a narrative or performance. Once gathering my ideas as well as my groups ideas we decided to use both of these ideas of a narrative and performance and incorporate it into one music video. We decided to do this as it complemented the songs lyrics perfectly as well as my artist but mainly it was a good way in which we could show off her star persona. As we were inspired by artists such as Nikki Minaj, Rihanna and Jessie J’s music videos, digipaks and music adverts we noticed a constant similarity amongst them, which was that they were constantly shown more or less through every single shot of their music video, or it is very clear who the album or music advert belongs too as their image identifies it immediately for you. In my music video I kept the colours very neutral, however in some shots I decided to make them a little darker or add specific effects so that I was able to conform to the codes and conventions of an R&B music video. Another convention which I was inspired by was the use of really fast cuts. I used various shot types which lasted around 1-2 seconds until moving onto the next shot. I found this in a music videos such as Nikki Minaj – Annaconda where the shots constantly change every second as the beat is very consistent. This can be very uplifting for specific target audience. From my research I noticed that the R&B genre typically uses studious locations, specific colours and props as well as effect In their videos to emphasis on a specific feature, which is why I have used this convention in my music video so the target audience could easily relate to this as they have seen the effect before.

In my music video there are many different types of camera shots which I have used, especially close ups and extreme close up of the artist. After watching Beyoncé's video for ‘Drunk In Love’ there were various different shots I used as inspiration as they appeal to myself as well as the target audience. These shots were used specifically to highlight and create a more intimate moment with the an extreme close up of Deejays lips similar to Beyoncé's as you can see in her video. I really liked this shot as it indicates the artist is either talking or singing commanding they are in control. Whilst Deejay and Beyoncé are singing they are constantly moving their head to the sound of the music which shows that she is singing and ‘Vybing’ to the music implying that her target audience should also join along with her.

In my overall music video I have used many different creative effects and editing techniques which help to emphasise specific aspects of the music video. For example, the mirror effect, a

4 screen view and overlapping effect of different images to give the viewer an array of different moving images to look at keeping them interested.

Above it can clearly be shown that both videos are using direct gaze. This has been used in many music videos, not only R&B videos. This is a convention which conforms to Dyer’s star theory, as it focuses on the artist using a close up shot. Another similarity in this shot is the lights In the back ground although they are different types of lights and the ones shown in my video aren’t as vibrant or noticeable it allows the audience to be drawn to the artist and not to be focussing entirely on the background. We conformed to this because the artist will be singing throughout the song and the lip-synching will be more identifiable if we do so. It also creates audience engagement capturing the audiences attention directly. We had many shots of our artist ‘Deejay’ gazing directly at the camera. We did not have her consistently singing through the music video as we wished to conform to both a narrative and performance.