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

Through research of artists who appeal to both genres such as Jay-z, Nicki Minaj and Kanye; i realised to appeal to both audiences you have to aim your video at one of the genres audiences by using key genre characteristics of that main genre and then add typical genre characteristics that would attract the other genres audience.

I used this convention; for example In Jay-z and Kanye's video Otis the key Hiphop features within the video include male dominance (conveyed through the use of low angle shots.) My media product also used this to convey the artists dominance to the audience. I did this so my artist could be generic to those of the genre.

The hip hop genre also uses cars, gold jewellery and girls to appeal to its audience however how they appeal to the audience of the R&B genre is typically through the use of genre characteristics such as location shots e.g. in video Otis, there are various shots of a scrapyard type background. I didn't use this convention as this isn't how I wanted to sell my artist.

Another key convention common within the hip hop genre is an illustrative relationship between the music and visuals. For example in rick ross - stay scheming whenever the music changes the on screen image changes like at 1:01 when the music flickers so does the on screen image.

I used this convention in my video as well for example at 0:00 when the music starts of with a female voice singing, on screen the moving clouds reflect her voice. When the tone of her voice changes so does the on screen image for example at 0.08. I continued this convention throughout in order for my target audiene to identify the conventions as those of the hiphop genre and so be able to enjoy my video as something familiar of the genre.

Research of my target audience allowed me to realise that not many consumers like black and white videos; but this is dependant on the concept of the song. This could be because the age group I researched wasn't old enough and so the younger generation that I used for my research could just find colour more entertaining and pleasurable. However a black and white video is a commonly used characteristic of a video from both the Hiphop and R&B genre to portray sadness, depression, a dark message or even just for meaningful lyrics that are sad, for example; jay-z's 99 problems, kanye's mercy or Rhianna rockstar. Even though these conventions may only exist for these artist because they are well established in the industry I still thought it would be more marketable to follow the convention.

The concept behind my song made me decide to challenge my target audience and infact use a (sometimes used) genre characteristic of both genres in order to ensure my video was conventional and portray the message behind the song effectively. The Use of black and white also gave the video a moody feel which followed the idea behind the film that had a message of current struggle but 'one day' achieving goals and dreams.

I chose the song one day by a local up and coming Hiphop/R&B artist because it had a positive message behind the video; which isn't very typical of songs from the hiphop genre so i thought i could challenge this whist using existing conventions of the genre which i thought i could easily portray through using an illustrative relationship.

A key convention of the hip hop genre is to have props such as cars and gold or silver jewellery, money and girls, some of these can be seen in rick ross' stay scheming music video. However this isn't a key convention of the r&b genre so by not using this convention of the hiphop genre i actually used a convention of the r&b genre. I did this because i thought it would sell the artist better and would help blend the two genres together rather that fully submerging the artist in this convention of the hip hop genre.

Following Godwin’s theory in my video i used mostly medium close ups, close ups and medium long shots i did this to follow the demands of the record label as this was typical convention of  a hip-hop genre video, also this was so the audience had a connection to the artist.

Looking at other music videos of the genre i noticed the artist was on the screen for the majority if not all the time for example; In Nicki Minaj's Video - right by my side, she is on screen for a majority the time. Also in contrast to a female artist; in jay-z and kanyes' video otis, they too are on screen for the majority of the time. I used this convention and made sure that if i used a shot without the artist in, the next shot would have the artist in again. I did this so that my video followed those of the same genre and so could be easily recognised as one of the hip-hop/r&b genre.

Following this convention would allow my video to sell to my target audience, by becoming a typical video of the genre the existing audience of the genre would find my video pleasurable because it has the conventions of the genre that they recognise and find pleasurable and so subconsciously will be able to enjoy my video.

The male costumes of the hip hop genre normally have gold jewellery and chains and trainers, jeans but name brands that are expensive and not affordable to the target audience however they are desirable.

Costumes of the r&b genre are similar but the clothing does not have gold jewellery and the clothes reflect those that are affordable to the target audience such as those sold in top man and river island.

I thought it would sell my artist better to use the convention of the r&b genre rather than the hip hip genre. This is partly because my artist already had his own individual style and so i wanted to keep this and not sell the artist falsely, also i felt the costumes of the hip hop genre would take the attention away from the message behind the song. I had the artist wear casual everyday clothes to be relate-able to the target audience.

Common locations of the hip hop genre include scrap yards, streets, sets, houses, city buildings and beautiful scenery of foreign countries.

locations of the r&b genre can sometimes follow the same conventions but it tends to be more related to the song and have more of a connection between the song and the artist to sell the song and also to reflect the mood of the song, for example rurual estate backgrounds or the sky or alleys.

I followed this convention of the r&b genre to reflect the mood of the song. I felt that this would sell the song better and allow the audience to pay more attention to the message behind the song. This is why i used the location of the moody sky and the cloudy sky. Also the location of the brick wall was more of the hip hop genre however i felt it also went with the mood of the song and was meant to connotate the building up of something to achieve 'one day.'