In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Question oneMusic video

ResearchI have challenged and used many different forms and conventions of

typical existing media products in several different ways. When conducting research into existing music videos I watched and analysed

different professional videos for example;

Chris Brown - Gimme That Duration: 4.55Starts with a pan inZooms in to a variety of thingsLow angle shot of man sitting downChris Brown walks around, camera follows himClose up of girlZooms into Chris putting his headphones in and glancing at girlMusic begins at: 00.39 seconds

I also watched and analysed ‘Eminem – Stan,’ and ‘Mariah Carey – Obsessed,’ I specifically chose to look at these

videos because they both have a strong narrative structure, similar to my own music video (a star and a stalker). I

conducted a lot of research into narrative and found that my music video had a restricted narration, as it only offers minimal information, for example it has a beginning middle and end. In terms of narrative depth, I have used subjective

character identification as the viewer is given unique access to what a range of characters see and do. One of

the main points I discovered was that my music video follow Todorov’s theory of narrative structure;

Narrative structure

Todorov’s theory of narrative structure

1. A state of equilibrium – the stalker seems like a genuine fan of Vivo (the singer) and everything is normal and as it should be.

2. A disruption of the equilibrium – we see the stalker has a rather sinister side as she starts writing lusting fan mail, turns up at the stars house and follows her as she walks her dog.

3. A recognition of the disruption – Vivo is confronted by the stalker and she knows that something is not right.

4. An attempt to repair the disruption – the stalker is heartbroken by Vivo’s actions and writes a suicide note to Vivo blaming her for her actions, hoping Vivo will feel guilty.

5. A new equilibrium is made – Vivo doesn’t care about the stalkers death and continues on with her own life.

Narrative structure continued…

• I also found that my music video challenges other theories such as Propp’s theory of narrative, as I do not include character types that he describes in my production.

• I also found that they both have the same genre, a pop song but with a thriller like feel. However, in these videos, along with many other professional music videos, I noticed the singer had a main part in the video; I challenged this by assigning ‘the singer’ with a minor part in my project .

Effects I discovered that in some music videos, shots are played in slow motion (slowing the shots down) this was used to create suspense or emotion. I used this convention and embedded it within my own music video by editing the speed of shot to create drama, it also helped shots fit in with song lyrics. Like in existing products, I used the saturation tool on iMovie to change the shots into black and white, this indicated that the shot was a memory/flashback, but it also created quite a sad/mellow mood. By analysing a variety of music videos I realised that the shots used only last for a few seconds, and with the length of most videos being 3-4 minutes, there had to be a mass variety of shots. Within my project I ensured that I took many shots of the same scene in many different angles and also used many different locations to give my project an authentic/professional feel.

LocationsI decided that I needed to shoot many different locations for my music

video to make it look more authentic and professional.

• Bedroom – this location was used to show the stalker in a ‘natural habitat’ showing the audience that she is just a normal young girl .

• Recording studio – this one of the most powerful locations I used, it gives the impression that Alex (Vivo) is a real singer as she is pretending to record a song.

• Living room – this is a very relaxed, casual location, where Vivo is chilling out watching television, totally oblivious to the stalker standing at her window.

• Small path – I chose this path at it is surrounded in trees and graffiti, which gives the impression that it is spooky, which is exactly the atmosphere I was aiming to create as the stalker follows Vivo down the path

• Quayside – for an establishing shot I found a high point and filmed the River Tyne from here, I managed to include famous landmarks in the shot such as The Sage and the Tyne Bridge. I believe this made the video feel personal and our audience would recognize it

Ancillary task

ResearchI analysed existing CD covers to inspire my own project and to

help me understand basic conventions of existing products.

• Both CDs have used pictures of the singer on the cover

• Both photos have a black and white effect

• Both CDs have the singers name very visibly on the cover

• They are very simple designs which makes them look sophisticated

• They have minimal colours but used a bright colour to make the writing stand out

Research