Conventions: Media Concepts

“the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are 'discontinued' (Chandler)

a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work?
- We stuck to conventions in both our portfolios, but subverted an equal number, to try and be creative. We didn't want to be stuck to these conventions, but saw them as foundations for us to build our own ideas on top of.
b) Have you created a hybrid piece?
- We didn't create a hybrid piece, but we did take ideas from several different genres. Our thriller opening was very conventional, but our music video contained elements of rock videos (performance sections), jazz videos (the panning through transitions), whilst maintaining the soft ballad sections too.
c) Have you used intertextual references?
- For both texts, we chose to keep away from intertextual references, as we didn't wish for anything to influence our own creative ideas. Our Advanced Portfolio proved very difficult with this, as we had used a signed artist, but we chose to effectively start again with a brand identity, and go from there.

'one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable' (Bordwell 1989, 147).

a) Do you think it is hard to agree on a set of ‘rules’ to follow when making a product?
- It is very hard to agree upon a set of rules, as there are so many different aspects to consider for each media product. Each theorist we have encountered has looked at media texts in a different way, and with this in mind, it proves no-one can agree on one definition of a media text. With there being no definition of a media text, no-one can create a set of rules which everyone else will agree with.
b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?
We didn't see the conventions as rules, but more like guidelines or foundations. They weren't there to tell you what to do, but to advise on how to make your products better. Within the thriller opening, we stuck to the majority of conventions, but subverted a few, whereas with the video, we subverted over half.
c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?
We didn't always break the rules, but tried to bend them slightly. We kept, with both projects, within the boundary and the brief of each genre, but managed to stay creative, and input our own ideas within each convention to keep it all fresh and new.
d) Did you make any rules of your own?
Not as such, but by bending the conventions we had initially, we were able to re-write a few of these conventions to better fit both our thriller opening and our music video.

Conventions give the producers a framework to work with- a set of guidelines (McQuail)

a) Was it helpful to work within a set of guidelines?
Yes it was, as these guidelines helped give us a better understanding in which direction each portfolio had to head. By giving us guidelines, we were able to create projects that fitted the brief perfectly, and also aided the creative aspect to each idea.
b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?
In a way, I guess we were, but Naomi and I both had very strong ideas before even being handed some conventions. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but did have a very large influence on confidence within the Advanced Portfolio, compared to the Foundation Portfolio.
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?
With the Foundation portfolio, we were a bit scared with breaking conventions - seeing them as guidelines that could not be broken. However, within the Advanced Portfolio, there were fewer conventions that were too strict, and a much simpler brief, giving us more opportunity to break and bend the conventions.

"Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)

a) Do you think you produced better work because you stuck to the conventions of the genre?
I believe we did create better work because by sticking to the conventions, we were adhering to the guidelines that help make the majority of thrillers and music videos. By doing this, our work actually looked like the genre they were meant to be, and also gave more of a professional finish to each.
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?
I don't think we would have been any more creative without knowing the conventions for each project. We had ideas for the music video before receiving the conventions, which were used in the finished product, and the thriller opening adhered to the conventions, but bent several and subverted many to keep ourselves distinctive and different from the rest.