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Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?



Here's the text version of what I'm saying in the video above:



Digipack:

For the front cover I have used a combination of a photograph and digital images to create it. Front covers tend to be one media, like a painting, photograph or digital artwork. Therefore I feel like I've subverted from genre expectations. The people walking forward on the bass guitar string are red and blue to match my overall package theme. The front cover doesn't feature the band, as many indie bands tend to not feature on the front cover. Using Dafont.com I choose a unique font and created my band logo from that. The logo has a main colour of red but with a blue glow, helping to add to the band identity. Using these colours over and over again the digipack, website and music video creates a motif that the audience can associate with the band. Hence my album cover is conventional in some aspects. The digipack includes song lyrics, band photos and song credits. On the back cover there is record label logo, copyright information, barcode, website adressses (for the band and record label), and track listing. All what you'd expect to find on a typical CD
The inspiration for the style of some of the images in the insert booklet comes from the cover of Lou Reed's Transformer album. The cover was from a Mick Rock photograph that became over-exposed. To recreate this effect I manipulated the images in photoshop using the posterize tool and turned them black and white. I've also used this posterize effect on the animated images on the band website to give the package a harmonious feel.













The Website:


For the website I followed the conventions and included things that fans would expect to find on there: gigs, a shop, news, contact information, gallery, music and a Twitter Feed. As well as buttons to external sites, such as Spotify and iTunes. Looking at professional band websites I found that many bands in the indie genre had gone for a fairly minimalist look for their front page. Oasis's website in particular had a backdrop that was animated. For my background I have three images on loop in red and blue. Throughout the website the colours are the same as the ones in the music video and digipack (red/blue and black/white), and the fonts are also consistent throughout. 

The band logo and image from the digipack front cover is also on the homepage to create a coherent image. The pre-order message lets the audience know that there is new music available soon and creates a buzz for the artists. 

The website adheres to Richard Dyer's Star Theory. The theory talks about the connection between a 'star' and their audience. According to Dyer a 'star' is constructed through a range of media texts to be sold to the audience. My website focuses on building up the 'star image' through, gallery, merchandise and gigs offered to fans. Star Theory can also be applied to my music video and digipack as they also focus on the band and creating an image. 



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