In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of

real media products?

CONVENTIONS= SO IMPORTANT!

• Conventions are vital for an audience to figure out what they are watching. They are often the same depending on what genre of film/video you are watching and create different signs and meanings that allow the audience to make up conclusions for. The hypodermic needle theory can help us prove that it depends on who the audience is to get a desired result. Theorists such as Andrew Goodwin have allowed me to follow/use, develop or challenge many conventions of many different genres in order to make my music video successful.

Here it goes….!

Conventions I have used from The Cure’s work…

In the majority of The Cure’s music videos (and many other British rock bands of the 80s) it just consists of the band performing to the camera. There is rarely any clear narrative nor is there any specification of time/day etc. However, the edits are evidently continuous. SO in my music video I have kept the band’s performances the same and the use of thought beats (Cheers Andrew!) which will makes the video more pleasing to watch. Well I think so anyway. My actors were so energetic and natural in front of the camera which is always the case of The Cure, and although it might not be an applicable convention to many other genres, it’s vital for my music video as it follows elements of my inspiration’s work.

Conventions used from other work…This is one of the music videos from a different genre that I have used as an inspiration. The key feature that I have used in my own work is the use of the star image/narrator. I really love the way the whole music video is focused on Mike Dignam (the artist) as it allows you to watch the video without any other distractions such as narrative shifts. It’s such a calm and simple video yet has so much to offer as a successful product. I have also applied the theory of Levi Strauss’ to my work of which he thought narrative focuses on the conflict of binary opposition. In my video, not only does it focus on youth, but also isolation vs freedom.

Developing…• Despite using these conventions from The Cure’s videos, I did develop some of

them by adding in my own narrative and shift in time. Like so…

I decided to have my narrative as a girl writing in her diary about her antics that she’d had during the day. Despite it being a male singer, the song is asexual therefore could be from the point of anyone, boy or girl. Hence the decision to use Tilly. (Well it’s because she’s beautiful lets face it!) This could also be seen as challenging the conventions of its original genre however.

Challenging…

• In one way or another (personally) I feel as though I have challenged conventions of pre-existing products, especially from modern media products, because of my choice of song. Despite the song being from the 80’s it still focuses on things that everybody thinks about in the 21st century; Wanting to have fun, being with friends and FRIDAYS! Conventions help you understand what you are watching yet without the song, my video makes no sense. This is why I chose to use a young group of people to show that you don’t need to follow certain rules, regulations and conventions in order to live your life. The video is all about having fun, being with your friends and living life to the full without worrying about the slightest of things like school! This is also challenging that of a real media product because even in the rock genre, there are videos that I haven’t used conventions of such as a boy/girl relationship/breakup (ugh) I really wanted to emphasise this youthfulness and just living in the moment which is much more realistic if you’re asking me!

Challenging continued…

• As a 21st century audience member and from growing up in such a heavily media reliant society, we sit down and watch a music video from say the genre of POP and can automatically assume what we are about to watch which is why (again) conventions are so important. FOR EXAMPLE… If I was going to watch a music video to a Justin Timberlake song then I can probably guess that there are going to be dancers (the majority of them being female) JT as the protagonist/star image and maybe some bright flashy lights to make it look pretty.

TADAAAA!