Research & Planning: Conventions

I will be looking into the conventions of music videos, magazine advertisement & digipaks.

Music Video Conventions

What are codes and conventions?

The codes and conventions of music videos are the different techniques used to construct meaning in them. These techniques can be divided into two types; technical and symbolic.

Technical Techniques:

 how meaning is conveyed using technical equipment e.g the way the way camera angles are used, different types of shots, sound either diegetic and non-diegetic sound, the pace and style of editing, and the genre.

Symbolic Techniques:

are ways of showing meanings beyond what you can see for example through, facial expressions, gestures, poses and mis en scene.

Although each genre of music and their music videos have different typical conventions I am going to focus on music videos in general. 

Reasons for codes and conventions:

• So audience can become familiar with a particular genre, as they get used to recognising the different conventions within a certain genre
• Provides a structure that the audience can understand 

The codes and conventions  

• Camera - The way the camera is used is crucial in producing a music video. It can have and create different effects by different angles, and movements, generally every music video uses a variety of camera shots, angles and movements to create different techniques and to make the video unique and interesting.
• Editing Techniques - Editing is the process that concludes the making of the music video. 
• Sound (non diegetic and diegetic) - Sound, like footage can be edited to create different effects and variations to the normal vocals that we hear. Sound Parallel sound is when the music matches the mood of the video. 
• Mise-En-Scene - Props, Lighting, Costume, Hair/Makeup, Location/Setting, and Colours - These elements usually depend on the genre of the music video and the style. These elements are important in contributing towards the chosen genre. (FOR A LATER POST CHECK BOOKMARKS ON LAPTOP)
• Notions of looking - Stereotyping - Notion of looking elaborates upon stereotypes and labels that you may associate with a certain artist/group. These stereotypes are usually taken advantage of in many music videos in order to appeal to the specific target audiences. 
• Style - to see the list of different types/styles of music videos from a previous post, click here. 

Magazine Advertisement Conventions

The functions of magazine adverts:

• To promote the artist
• To sell the song/album available 
• To be eye catching

The conventions & their importance:

• The release date - the audience need to know when they are able to start purchasing the album.
• Album/song title - to be able to purchase the album you would need to know the name of the album.
• Image of album cover - helps the audience purchase the album as they would need to know what the album looks like. This also helps promote the band because the advert will look more interesting and eye catching with a visual image.
• Artists name - essential for the audience to know who the name of the artist/band is. Help promote them to become more well known in the music industry.
• Information about the album - crucial so the target audience can get an idea of what will be in the album and what to expect.
• Where it is available to purchase - so the audience will know wether it is available to purchase on iTunes, Amazon etc online or in store and if so what stores.
• Record label logo - by knowing which record label they are signed to, we would get an idea of what kind of music they're playing in the album. Also, once again they image in the advert might make it more visually appealing and interesting. 

Digipak Conventions

What is a digipak?

It is a patented style of CD or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI Media, a MeadWestVaco, etc. 

They conventionally have a gatefold like a book, the outer packaging is made of card/paper and the inner packaging is made of plastic, they are normally used on special editions and albums, they became popular with artists and record labels in the early 2000s

As I will be creating the front cover of the Digipak in my research I am going to focus more on the conventions of the front page.

The conventions:

• The front panel, as well as the back panel are the main promoters of the CD and are very much used to draw in the audience/consumers of the product
• Tend to have a large eye catching image on them
• The picture illustrated on the front commonly have a relation to the song or the artist
• The song/album title is also found on the front
• Close relationship between the digipak design and target audience