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

of real media products?

Analysis of Nine Key Still shots from the Music Video

Key shot #1

Lauren’s hand running down the window

Analysis of the Still Image• The still image shows a hand (in the actual video

this is a tracking shot of the hand running down the window). The hand running down the window gives the connotation of hope or searching for hope giving the overall impression that things are not well for the character.

• The bright light from outside represents the source of hope. This makes the audience feel sorry for her as she is trapped behind the window trying to find a way to get to the hope and access the hope. This gives the impression she isn’t going to be able to get what she wants or access what she wants.

Analysis Continued• The wrist bands on her arm help create the connotation

she’s strong willed and a fighter, suggesting that she is going to fight for what she wants and fight to achieve the hope and ideas she is searching for.

• The shot being slightly slanted to the right helps to show the hand running down the window as it more effectively shows the hand touching the window than if it was a straight on shot due to the perspective angle.

• The face and the rest of Lauren is purposely omitted from the shot. This is because any other facial expression or body language could subtract from the image of “searching for hope” that I wanted to create. Having it just as the hopeful hand keeps this idea of hope strong and there is no risk of external elements subtracting from this.

Analysis and Conventions• Black and white is used to create depressing emotions

for the audience and to make everything in the video appear slower and more nostalgic. This is the mood of the song and I am using these video effect filters to help meet the depressing and sad mood. This is conventional of music videos to use video effects and filters to achieve the feel they want. A similar effect was used in Maddonna’s music video that I researched into. This means that this code and convention is being met because it is also being done in a professional music video.

• I feel that I have used this convention well as it does create the emotions I was aiming for and therefore meets the criteria of this particular convention. The use of it can be improved though. Less contrast would work better as it would create more shades of grey. Grey is a more depressing colour than black and white, therefore the video would be more depressing matching the song and the convention aim better. Apart from that it’s met and I think this convention is being applied in a good way.

Shot from Madonna’s video

My Shot

Conventions formed in the shot• Music videos tend to mostly include close-

up, medium shots and long shots. This shot in particular is a long shot of the hand, being used to create the image of hope in the mind of the audience. Shots in professional music videos are used to create emotions, and this is what my shot is doing.

• In this case I think I am meeting this convention well, as the bright light, the tracking and the window separating her from the light create hopeful emotions for the character and this was the emotion I was trying to create with the long shot. It could be improved by the light being brighter to create a bigger and larger sense of hope, but I still feel that I have met this convention well and made a nice shot because of this.

My Shot

A long shot from Infernal’s ‘From Paris to Berlin’ to create an adrenaline emotion.

Conventions Continued•Music videos use props to add significance and emotions to certain people or objects. This was done with the pearl necklace in ‘Oh Father’, Madonna’s music video that I researched. In that case it was used to show the young girls connection and sorrow for her mother, and her trying to get closer to her mother who recently died. She wants to be with her mum.•My shot here uses the prop of wrist bands on the wrist. These create strong, tough connotations. These were connotations I wanted the character to have. This suggests that she will fight for the hope she wants to try and achieve what she is searching for.•I don’t think I have used the wristbands well in this shot. They don’t stand out very well against the character’s arm and therefore aren’t noticed meaning the tough connotations may not be noticed. To fix this, pure black wristbands should have been used. These would have stood out more therefore making the emotion I was aiming to achieve with the props more apparent and noticeable to the audience.

My Shot

The pearl shot from Madonna’s ‘Oh Father’

Intertextual References of the still shot

My shot (centre) is linked to the above two shots. The idea of the hand came from the photo I found on iStockphoto whilst the black and white is based on the music video ‘Oh Father’ by Madonna. Elements I have included myself include the tracking of the hand running down the window and the slanted the angle.I think the intertextuality used is a strong pastiche reference to the two sources referenced. I don’t the referencing needs improving, it creates the emotions I was looking and hoping for therefore it’s a good reference that works really well for what I needed it to.

How the Artist is represented

• This shot doesn’t create much representation of the artist as so little of her can be seen. This does make her appear mysterious and dark in this shot alone. However this is good and suitable for the song as the song is a dark song which contains dark themes and images such as things like death, pain and sorrow.

• The wristbands make her look tough though creating the image of a strong independent woman who fights for what she wants.

How the genre is represented• The genre of the song is Rhythm ‘n’ blues (R’n’B). The

rhythm part comes from the rap section in the middle whilst the rest of the song appears to be a modern sort of blues. Because of this I focussed this shot on the blues element.

• The Blues are usually considered to be depressing songs that are designed to create the emotion of sadness in the audience’s mind. Because of this lots of depressing ideas are contained in the still shot. The use of black and white creates depression, while the bright light outside the window trapping her from the hope also helps to connote sadness. All of this suggests the ideas of blues to the audience as it is making them feel these sad, upset emotions that the still creates.

Successfulness of the shot (Summary)• I think it is a fairly successful shot. It meets most of the

codes and conventions contained fairly well with them being used in an effective way to create the ideas of being trapped from hope fairly well.

• There is room for improvement though. The wristband connotations aren’t strong enough and could be more noticeable if they were black, whilst the black and white could be improved with less contrast as grey and shades of grey are more depressing colours. If it weren’t for these two minor things, I think the shot would be extremely good and one of the best in the entire music video.

• This shot doesn’t challenge conventions, and follows all of the ones mentioned fairly well for the reasons stated above.

Key Shot #2

The Eyes Close Up

Analysis of the still Image• This still shot is a big close up of Lauren’s eyes. The eyes are

looking deep into the camera with the audience staring back into the eyes. She is slightly facing away from the camera which creates the connotation that she doesn’t want to look fully into the camera. This could represent that she is depressed or upset about something and doesn’t want to face it, or that she is too afraid to ask for help from what’s behind the camera as she may not like the response she is given.

• In the exact same way as the previous still slide, this slide is in black and white and it is following that convention in a good clear way as it is meeting the depressing elements and emotions that my music video shots need to convey as that is the emotion the song “Cirlces” gives.

Conventions of the shot• In some ways this shot is challenging

conventions of other music videos. Conventional music videos don’t tend to contain big close ups like this shot is. However this is a successful challenge I feel. The shot is being used to convey the character’s fear and depressive emotion therefore it is a necessary challenge that works to help create a depressing music video.

• Another way that this challenge is successful is that it helps create a relationship between the audience and the character as it’s close to the character and she is filling up the entire shot. Without this the relationship between the audience and character wouldn’t be very strong and this shot helps to build that relationship and create sympathy for the character from the audience.

Conventions of the shot• There is however an unsuccessful

challenge in the music video. In Lauren’s right eye, a reflection of me can be seen filming that particular shot. This is negative for many reasons. One reason that this is negative is that it instantly makes the video look less real to the audience as it shows that the video was artificially created and helps to show it has a work of fiction that isn’t real. It also isn’t professional of music videos and makes my music video look less professional. This would be better if it wasn’t there as these elements would no longer be a problem.

If you look carefully you can see me filming.

Intertextuality.

• Whilst not a direct pastiche or parody reference, elements of this shot were based on the shot from Madonna’s ‘Oh Father’. The lighting of my shot is based on the professional shot, with half of the face being lit and half of the face being slightly shrouded. I don’t think it’s that effective in my shot as it creates more mysterious connotations. This does not suit the song as the song is not that mysterious and therefore doesn’t match the song. I could improve it by using more dark lighting on one side, bright on the other so that it turned from mysterious to dark, suiting the dark emotions of the song better.

How the Artist is Represented• This shot gives a different representation of the artist to the previous still

image.• This one creates the representation that she isn’t that tough as she is looking

for help but too afraid to ask for her it. This is shown by the angle of her face. She isn’t directly looking at the camera, but her eyes are therefore she wants help, but can’t bring herself to ask for it. This could also give the idea that she is independent and seldom and doesn’t want to ask for help.

• Apart from the above still not much is learnt about the artist. All that is seen is her eyes, no hair, costume or clear make-up features are given. This should keep the audience interested as they would watch more to learn more about her and find out about her, as the use of the above connotations could create sympathy for her.

• Half of her face being light with the other half being dark however creates mysterious connotations as the lighting is mysterious and uneven. The song is more dark than mysterious so this isn’t good for the song, and it could be improved with a harsher more contrasted lighting change to change the mysterious feel to a dark feel. This would suit the emotions of the song better.

How Genre is represented

• Like the previous shot, this shot is more aimed at representing the blues side of the genre.

• The idea that she is too afraid to look at the camera fully creates depression and sorrow for the audience (common emotions of the blues). Apart from that, nothing really signify genre in this shot. I feel this is a strength of the shot however, because this is early in the song (about twelve seconds), genre hasn’t been created or shown to the audience yet so the ambiguity of this shot allows for the rest of the video to form to a different genre that matches the song, as this shot could have been mistaken.

Summary• Overall this shot tried to challenge conventions of music

videos. One successful challenge was the use of a big close up, an unconventional shot of music videos but in the case it was used (to create a relationship between her and the audience and to show depressing emotions it would work).

• However I feel the shot was mostly unsuccessful. I can be seen filming in the eye reflection which isn’t a good challenge and certainly makes the video look unprofessional and the fact the lighting creates more mystery than dark emotion when the song seems to highly focus on dark emotions. It’s not a good representation of the song. To improve this I would remove my reflection and improve the lighting by showing more dark emotions. I would improve the lighting by having it more contrasted, more dark one side and lighter the other.

Key shot #3

‘With Wings Let me Burn Tonight’ Close Up

Analysing the Shot• This still image is a high angle shot. This puts her at a

lower status to the audience, making her appear less significant. This is juxtaposed by the fact the shot is a close up as close up shots are used to make characters seem significant and important. Her lips are in the middle of moving, showing that she is singing or is going to sing part of the line that the song requires.

• She is again looking off side at the camera again suggesting she is afraid of the camera or doesn’t want to look at the camera as she may not like the answers she is given or find something different to what she is looking for.

Further Analysis

• She is wearing a white vest-top. This stands out against the black hair, clearly showing black and white. This creates dark connotations for the song therefore meeting the songs themes and clearly showing the themes to the audience.

• A shallow depth-of-field has been used, to make the background appear blurry. This again juxtaposes the high angle idea as the blurred background puts all of the focus on her. This makes her seem important to the shot and shows her to be significant in the shot.

Conventions of the Shot• Whilst being used in a real music video (‘Oh Father’ by

Madonna) it is not usual of music videos to contain high angle shots. This means that I am developing conventions of a music video.

• The convention being developed is camera angles.• Most professional music videos tend not to use high

angle shots. This is because they make the singer, artist or character in the shot seem less significant or less important and less powerful. Music videos tend to want to show their artist as the opposite of this. However I have used a high angle shot, and whilst it makes the singer appear all of those things, other elements have been included to make her appear more significant and important. The use of close-up shot has made her appear more significant as she is dominating the screen, whilst the shallow depth-of-field blurs out the background putting all of the focus on her. It is through these methods that the convention has been challenged and further developed upon.

My shot, showing a high angle

A shot from Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ Music Video showing a more conventional low angle

Further Conventions of the shot• In another way though this shot is conforming to

conventions of music videos. Most music videos tend to use bright lighting (Mise-en-scene element) to make the artist more noticeable, visible, vibrant and happy. Whilst I am following the convention of using a bright light it is being used for a different reason.

• The reason I am using a bright light is because the light is there to represent hope, the barrier is no longer there and the hope from the first shot is finally overpowering her. This links into the chorus (through a flash effect) to a bright white place to represent heaven. The light is her transition into heaven.

• However, I am still using a bright white light so the convention is being followed. It could be improved if the light was getting progressively brighter to show the full transition into heaven.

My shot

A shot from Busta Rhymes ‘I love My Chick’ music video

Intertextuality

• No purposeful intertextuality was considered for this shot. This shot was designated (since it was thought of during the problem stages) to be the transition into heaven through a bright white light, it’s what I wanted to show. It wasn’t based on anything I had seen or heard, it’s just what I wanted to symbolise to the audience. It may be intertextual to other elements, but this is not intentional.

How the Artist is Represented• There is a contradicting representation of the artist in the

shot. The high angle makes her appear weak and less significant, whilst the close up and shallow depth-of-field make her appear mores significant and important.

• The look I tried to convey was weakness (and the high angle showed this). It has been successful because she is made to appear significant at the same time, which she is, she appears most in the video. This could be improved if the shot was slightly higher with an even shallower depth-of-field used to make both connotations more apparent and symbolised stronger to the audience.

How the Genre is represented• Again it’s just the blues element represented during

this shot. This is done through the use of high angle making her appear weak to the audience. This creates sympathy from the audience (one of the emotions of blues music). The fact she is looking away from the camera leads to the same depressing emotions meaning the genre of blues is well represented in this shot.

• It could be improved if the background was blurred out more through a shallower depth-of-field. This would have made her appear more alone making the audience more depressed for her and sorry for her.

Summary• Overall I think the shot is fairly effective at creating

the negative depressing emotions the song gives off. The high angle makes her appear weak and depressed, whilst the close up and shallow depth-of-field still makes her appear significant. It forms to conventions, and develops the camera angle convention in a successful way.

• To improve the shot a progressive-brightening light should be used to strengthen the idea of heaven with a shallower depth-of-field used to put more significance on her and to make her appear more alone.

Key Shot #4

The Close up of the Teddy during ‘But to me you were Perfect’

Analysing the Shot• The shot shows a close up of a dead decayed teddy, with it’s

insides hanging out from the head. This creates a depressing and sad emotion in the audience’s mind because they are seeing someone’s childhood toy lying there, all broken and decayed suggesting that a young child’s happy memories have been ruined and tormented. The use of the close up allows the audience to focus in on this and gather some strong thoughts and ideas about the above connotations. It creates sympathy for the teddy’s owner, all of which are dark emotions representing the depressing mood of the song. The high angle element to the shot also makes the teddy seem less powerful (in a status way) creating more sympathy and sorrow.

• The eyes aren’t visible against the black again creating further sympathy as it appears to not have full eye sight.

Conventions of the shot• Like the previous still image, this shot is further continuing

the development of the high angle idea. It is unconventional of music videos to use high angle shots as most music videos tend to want the singers appear like strong powerful figures to the audience. These emotions do not fit in with the song I am trying to represent to the audience. I am trying to represent negative emotions to the audience. A high angle shot conveys those emotions. Some professional music videos use high angle (such as ‘Fear’ by Stopped Making Friends), but it isn’t common.

• I think it is used successfully in this shot as well. It shows the lack of power the teddy has by having the audience look down on it, creating sympathy for that and the owner of the teddy. It also helps to show the decay of the teddy as the decay appears larger and more all over the teddy than a shot with a direct angle would have as it wouldn’t have had the added perspective.

A shot from Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ Music Video showing a more conventional low angle

My high angle shot

Further Convention• This shot also conforms to certain music video

conventions. This shot is a shot of a prop. Music videos use props to convey emotions and feelings or to signify certain things.

• In this case it is being used to signify the depressing emotions of the song by showing it to be broken, weak and decayed creating the negative and sad feelings in the audience’s mind. This is conforming to the convention because it is being used to represent emotions. It creates these emotions because a teddy has the connotation of being a precious childhood toy. Here it is shown ripped and broken, suggesting those childhood memories have been tormented and ruined creating sorrow for the owner and the teddy. It also creates the idea of abuse, again creating sympathy for the teddy making them feel depressed which is the emotion the song aims for.

• I think it is being used very effectively, with little that could add to the negative emotions to improve the overall feel.

My shot

Pearls from Madonna's ‘Oh Father’ to show her grief for her mother’s death

Intertextuality

• This shot is based on the cartoon on the right which I found on deviantart. When I first looked at it, it made me feel depressed, sorrow and all the negative emotions I wanted the audience to feel. Through this I came up with the idea of using a decayed teddy in my music video to create the same emotions to the song, and I think it has worked. It could perhaps be improved by darkening the inside fur, or spreading it about more or using to make it look so heavy as it can be distracting from the actual head of the teddy which is where I wanted the focus to be.

How Artist is Represented• There isn’t much representation of the artist in this

shot. It doesn’t show her, or reveal much about her to the audience. It gives the idea that she has abused a teddy bear making her appear angry and violent, this is not the connotation that the song should suggest. This is however not a problem as this shot is very ambiguous to it’s artist meaning and this is cleared up in the next shot with her in as it shows her hugging and caressing the teddy showing it’s her precious item and that someone else has abused it. This suggests she is weak and defenceless which are certain feelings the song does suggest.

How Genre is Represented

• Again this shot mainly represents the “Blues” element of the R’n’B genre. It shows a depressing sad teddy, which has been beaten and abused creating sympathy from the audience and creating negative emotions for them. These are all feelings the genre of song has, and therefore it clearly represents the negative feelings and thoughts to the audience.

Summary• Overall I feel that this is another successful shot in the

music video, clearly showing the sad part of the multi-genre song to the audience through the use of a beaten teddy, tarnishing a childhood memory (generating sorrow) through a high angle (creating further sympathy) thus resulting in the conclusion of the audience being sad. Conventions are being developed (high angle) and followed (use of emotional prop) with both of these elements being done successfully.

• One minor thing that would make the shot perfect would to make the fur less noticeable, by using less or spreading it out more. This would allow more focus on the teddy and therefore put more focus on the negative emotions.

Key shot #5

Walking shot

Analysis of the Shot• The shot shows her looking away from the camera into the distance

whilst walking, suggesting she is lost and looking for something. This creates hope in the audience’s mind that she hopes what she is looking for.

• A shallow depth-of-field has been used to put more focus onto her as she carries on walking towards the camera through a tracking shot. This makes the audience focus in on her and pay more attention to her, creating a stronger relationship with that particular character.

• A hand held camera was also used to film this shot to create a higher sense of momentum and action through the use of camera shake and tracking her walking. This represents the song as it makes the video appear more fast paced to accommodate the change in pace with the music.

Conventions of the shot• In one way this shot is challenging music

video conventions. Music videos tend to use more stable still shots, filmed on a tripod. I am challenging this by using a hand held camera.

• I have used the hand held camera to create a greater sense of momentum, movement and pace within the shot to accommodate an increased pace in the music of the song I am trying to represent.

• I think this has been a successful challenge of conventions. In the video it has appeared to increase the pace to suit the video and made it seem like it has more energy in the video.

My shot

A steady shot from Alicia Keys ‘Another Way to Die’.

Further Convention• Another way I am challenging in

conventions is through the location of the shot.

• Most R’n’B music videos don’t tend to be set on a normal street, but this was a conscious decision for the music video.

• It shows her in a normal place, allowing the audience to instantly relate to her (Uses and Gratifications Theory) and this is building a relationship between the audience and the character because there is this similarity between them. For this reason I feel it is a successful challenge, as it makes the audience care for her more. This means they would feel more sympathy, sorrow and depression when her more negative-emotion shots started appearing as they would care for her more.

My shot

An expensive looking location, more convention of R’n’B music videos from Busta Rhymes ‘I love my Chick’.

Intertextuality

• Since this shot was to represent pace, I based it on some of the walking shots the TV show ‘Battlestar Galactica’ where the director of it used a hand held camera and tracked the characters walking to give a sense of momentum and pace. I have used the idea and received a similar shot here by using the same shot type and technique. I feel it has been successful as it had created motion, it has created and made a more fast sense within the music video.

How Artist is Represented• The artist is represented to be a down-to-earth normal

woman in this shot. This is done through the use of Mise-En-Scene. She is in a location that most of the audience will be able to relate to, wearing a costume that again will be relatable. This was a conscious decision to build up a relationship between her and the audience, so that the audience cares more about the character as they would like the character more because of these similarities between them. There hasn’t been anything that has made them feel sorry for this other character yet, which means a relationship between them would increase the impact of the negativity from later shots. That is why I think this is a successful challenge of conventions.

How Genre is represented

• In this shot the ‘Rhythm’ of the R’n’B is represented. This is done through increased pace and momentum (the use of a hand held camera creates this sense) making it appear more exciting and active compared to the rest of the music video.

• The representation of genre could be improved however, more standard Rhythm elements could be included to make this more strong to the audience, without taking away from the solitude and contempt of the character as that would remove elements from the songs meaning or not represent them in a fair way. Perhaps faster movement or subtle rap poses could meet this improvement and overall improve the representation of genre to the audience.

Summary• Overall this shot was successful in meeting it’s aims. It did

create more momentum, motion and pace within the video, whilst using realistic and relatable-to-the-audience features to build up a relationship between her and the character. Both of these were challenging conventions and both of these were successful conventions.

• This shot could still be improved however with the representation of genre to the audience. Subtle rap poses and movements would make the genre more clear and illustrate it in a more effective method because there isn’t that much in the shot that suggests genre apart from movement, which isn’t something that is just linked to rhythm.

Key shot #6

The Pull Focus Shot

Analysis of Shot

• An extremely shallow depth-of-field has been implemented in this shot. This has been used to place all of the focus on her hand to symbolise the lyrical value of “So hold my hand”, as it allows the audience to really concentrate on the hand which is being held out to them. It’s breaking the fourth wall to the audience as it’s directly aimed at them. This makes them feel more involved with the video and they would therefore care more about the depressing emotions the song tries to convey. The hand is the only element in focus and therefore this has all of the audience’s attention.

Conventions • This shot is conforming and challenging to conventions.

Music videos commonly use shallow depth-of-field to put emphasis, significance and attention onto the artist of the song. My music video is using a shallow-depth-of-focus in this shot.

• However, it is being used in a different method and is therefore developing conventions of a music video. The shallow depth-of-field here is being used to draw attention into the hand to create a relationship with the lyrics that show the lyrics “So hold my hand”. It is used to help break the fourth wall to create a stronger relationship with the audience.

• I think this is a successful development because it makes the audience care more, and because they can only see the hand it would make them want to hold the hand and help the character with what she needs.

• It could be improved if an even more shallow-depth-of-field was used to put even more emphasis and attention and focus on the hand to make it stand out more and therefore present more significance of it to the audience.

My shot

Shallow depth-of-field from Madonna's ‘Oh Father’ music video.

Further Conventions• Another way this shot conforms to

conventions is through the use of camera angles.

• Music videos commonly contain close-up shots in the music video to make elements, artist or ideas seem more important and to give them more significance.

• I am using a close up of her hand to put significance and importance onto her hand. This is a successful conform to conventions because it is putting significance, status and importance on the hand and therefore it is a successful challenge. It could be improved with an even shallower depth-of-field to increase the importance and significance of the hand.

My shot

A close up from Stop Making Friends ‘Fear’ music video

Intertextuality

• No purposeful intertextuality was considered for this shot. This shot was designated to be a shot that reflected the lyrics “So hold my hand”. It wasn’t based on anything I had seen or heard, it’s just what I wanted to symbolise to the audience. It may be intertextual to other elements, but this is not intentional.

How the Artist is Represented

• There isn’t much representation of artist in this shot. It shows her asking for help from the audience, by asking them to hold her hand to give her support as she is holding it out to them. This makes the audience feel sorry for her because she needs help, and this makes them want to take her hand and give her the support she needs to try and overcome whatever it s she is going through.

How the Genre is represented

• Genre isn’t really represented in this shot. There is nothing that suggests rhythm or blues. This does however, make the hand-holding element more effective as it isn’t watered down with other connotations or representations so therefore the audience will concentrate on the hand-holding support element making it more effective to the user.

Summary

• This shots aim was to represent the lyrics “So hold my hand”. This has been done successfully through the use of a close-up shallow depth-of-field on the hand placing significance and status on the hand.

• This shot is also successfully developing conventions by using standard conventions to convey different meanings. A shallow depth-of-field is used to make the audience sorry for the character. It is conforming to conventions in one way because it’s using a close-up to give significance to something.

• The shot can be improved by using an even shallower depth-of-field to place even more significance on the hand increasing the sympathy the audience has.

Key Shot #7

Clenching the teddy

Analysis of the shot• This shot shows her, in what is supposed to be

heaven (that has been made to look more grey as grey is a more depressing colour than white clenching the abused beaten teddy from an earlier shot. It is a medium shot to show her, her reaction and facial expression as well as her clenching the teddy. The lighting is bright to show the purity and brightness of heaven and to try and give a stronger representation of heaven to the audience.

Conventions of the Shot• One way this shot is conforming to

conventions of music videos is the lighting. It is conventional of music videos to use bright lighting in their shots, this could be to add pace, make it more vibrant, happy or to signify certain elements.

• In this shot it is being used to try and make it look like heaven as the stereotypical idea of heaven is a bright place with bright lighting. I don’t think it has been very successful here because the shades of grey and pale lighting don’t create a clear image of heaven or doesn’t suggest it to be heaven. This could be improved with white lighting and more white colours throughout the shot as this would have looked more like heaven.

Bright lighting from Busta Rhymes ‘I love my chick’ music video

My shot

Further Conventions• Location of the shot is also conforming to

conventions of professional music videos. Professional music videos use locations that signify meaning, have nice compositions or relate to the artist or song themes.

• I am conforming to this convention through using a location to represent heaven. I tried to use a plain white area to represent and show heaven. However, as the previous slides states this hasn’t been successful because of it being to grey and the lighting being to pale as these suggest elements that aren’t heavenly or aren’t expected of heaven.

My shot

A location used to show a difficult marriage (marriage counselling) from Busta Rhymes ‘I love my chick’ music video.

Intertextuality

• The idea of clenching a teddy comes from films I saw when I was a child where the protagonist is close to a teddy bear and constantly clenches it. This was used to create sympathy for the child. I have used it in the same way, to create sympathy for the artist from the audience.

How Artist is Represented• The artist is represented to be upset, hurt and beaten herself. This

is shown by her clenching something that has beaten, dead and falling apart. It suggests her past is important to her (as a teddy would presumably be something from her childhood) and that she doesn’t want to let go, suggesting she was once happy. This only helps to make the audience more depressed, more sympathetic towards her.

• The bracelets from earlier shots are also hidden in this shot, suggesting she doesn’t want to be tough and strong, she doesn’t want to fight it all by herself and that she wants the help she couldn’t ask for in earlier shots. For these reasons I think this shot is successful at representing the artist as it reflects the negative emotions of the song to the audience and makes them feel the emotions the song has.

How Genre is represented

• Like earlier shots, this shot is again representing the blues element of the multi-genre song.

• It is doing this in the same method as the artist is represented because this creates the negativity and sadness of the blues for the audience therefore reflecting the genre to them.

Summary• When it comes to conventions of the shot, the shot is

mostly conforming to conventions and ideas of real music videos. These aren’t successful because they don’t create an accurate image of heaven or a clear representation of heaven to the audience. This would be improved with brighter lighting and more white tones in the shot, then it would look more like heaven and be a better representation of heaven as I do not think that is clear to the audience.

• However, genre and artist representations are clear in this shot as the fact she is clenching the teddy makes the audience feel sorry for her and they feel depressed looking at a dead beaten teddy therefore signifying sorrow to the artist and the blues element of the genre.

Key shot #8

The Teddy’s severed head on the floor.

Analysis of the Shot• In the video this is a tracking shot of the head falling off of the

teddy and hitting the floor. This still image is of the teddy hitting the floor. This represents decay, age and abuse as it shows the teddy being decapitated. This successfully represents the song because the song is about death and abuse and this is clearly signified to the audience.

• It is a long shot of the teddy to show how it’s been dethatched from the body further suggesting the abusive element and improving the reflection of the song to the audience.

• More shades of grey are also apparent in this shot. This keeps the depressing connotations going throughout the video.

• The lighting is also quite dull and pale which again adds to the depressing connotation.

Conventions of the shot• One way this is conforming to conventions of a

music video is through the use of a prop to create an emotional response (such as the pearls are used in Madonna’s ‘Oh Father’).

• It is being used here to convey abuse, anger and death as the teddy bear has just “died” in a way as it’s head has fallen off. This creates distressing emotions as the audience would feel sorry for the teddy, and the artist who has just lost her childhood toy.

• It is a successful challenge as it creates emotions that the song has and conveys. It puts the ideas of death, harm and abuse in the audience’s mind further emphasising the distressing elements of both the song and that of the shot. It could be improved if there was more momentum with the head falling off

My shot

The pearls from Madonna's ‘Oh Father’ music video.

Further Convention• Another way in which this shot conforms

to conventions of music videos is through the use of a long shot. Music videos commonly use long shots to show important elements or to signify emotions. I am using it to signify the solitude of the head and how beaten and abused it has been.

• I think it is being used successfully because it does show it to be solitude (no other parts of the teddy are shown or identified in shot) and it does show it to be a beaten teddy because the bits of fluff from the teddy can be seen merging out of the bear’s head therefore showing to have been abused and beaten.

My shot

A long shot from Infernal’s ‘From Paris to Berlin’ music video

Intertextuality

• The idea comes from a photo I saw on geekalerts.com which showed a teddy bear’s head detached from the body. When looking at this photo I felt depressed because an innocent, cute teddy bear had been abused in what had appeared to be a malice and cruel way. For this reason I decided to include a headless teddy in my music video, but I also wanted to convey solitude so for that reason my shot just shows the head.

• I think this is successful because my shot does create these ideas in my audience’s mind and therefore makes them feel distraught and depressed by what it is they see on screen.

How Artist is Represented• Whilst there isn’t much representation of the artist, there is

some continuation from the last song. This is that she doesn’t want to let go of her past and now her past is falling all around her and she can’t hold on. This creates the same idea of sorrow, negativity, distress and sadness in the audience’s mind making them want to help the character. It shows her to be this beacon of depression who isn’t having any luck or anything good happening to her.

• This is a successful representation of the artist as this is the mood the lyrics of the song convey as the lyrics talk about ideas of harm, abuse and death. These are all depressing things and having her being a character who is depressed better reflects the song than a character who is not depressed.

How Genre is Represented

• Again it’s only the ‘blues’ element of the genre that is represented with this shot. The teddy is dead, its head is severed from the body. This makes the audience feel sad and upset as a teddy is supposed to be something happy that young children love and cherish. Because it has died they would be upset and distraught because it suggest happiness has died and that nothing good or happy could come out from the music video. There is nothing nice about the shot it is all sad and depressing and therefore this is a successful representation of genre to the audience.

Summary• Overall I feel this is a successful shot. It is conforming to

conventions of an emotional shot and long shot in a successful and emotional way as they are being used to create distraught and negativity in the mind of the audience. The continuing representation of artist is also successful because of it still showing her to be upset, weak and caressing the past. The genre representation is also successful as it is all showing depression and therefore suggesting the blues element to the audience in a clear, strong way.

• It could be improved if there was more momentum of the head actually falling from the body, but this would only add shock value. This wouldn’t relate to the song as it is not a shocking song.

Key shot #9

“It’s hard to say that everything will be Okay” Final Close Up

Analysis of the Shot• The background is more white in this shot creating a stronger

representation of heaven because it shows the white brightness of heaven. This symbolises a holy place and purity within the character. The fact she is in this place also suggests that she has died which creates sympathy from the audience as death is a tragic experience that evokes sympathy in people for those that are lost and those who were left behind.

• The lighting is bright and appears whiter which helps to create stronger representations, ideas and imagery of heaven.

• Her lips are moving which means that suggests that she is in the middle of singing a certain line.

• It is a close up shot which makes her appear more significant and important to the audience, making her the key element of the shot.

Conventions of the shot• One convention of this shot is the use of bright

lighting. Music videos commonly use bright lighting to create vibrance and excitement within the shot.

• I am conforming to this convention, but for a different reason which means there is development of connotations. I am developing it because I am not using it to show vibrance or excitement. I am using it to show heaven and using bright white lighting to try and show the happier more positive outcome of the afterlife.

• I think this is a successful development of conventions because the bright white lighting connotes heaven to the audience, it suggests heaven and the use of the white background helps to show it as heaven. It is a much better representation than earlier, but it could still be whiter for further improvement.

My shot

Bright lighting from Busta Rhymes ‘I love my chick’ music video.

Further Conventions• Another convention being used in the shot is the

use of location. I am conforming to this location.• Most professional music videos use locations to

represent meaning or provoke emotion in the audience (such as the church in ‘Oh Father’ to show the artist’s guilt). I am using a blank white studio background to show heaven, to create the idea of afterlife and death. This is a successful conforming of conventions to the audience because it clearly shows it to be heaven. It is more successful than the previous attempt because it is plainer, and whiter and brighter creating a better connotation and representation of heaven to the audience better showing it to be the afterlife to him. Again if it was whiter and brighter it would look more like heaven and give them a better connotation of heaven.

My shot

A location used to show a difficult marriage (marriage counselling) from Busta Rhymes ‘I love my chick’ music video.

Intertextuality

• No purposeful intertextuality was considered for this shot. This shot was designated to be a shot that reflected the lyrics “It’s hard to say that everything will be okay?”. It wasn’t based on anything I had seen or heard, it’s just what I wanted to symbolise to the audience. It may be intertextual to other elements, but this is not intentional.

How the Artist is represented

• Because the artist is in heaven there is further sympathy created for the artist as she has died and is no longer amongst the living. The idea and imagery of death also creates depressing and distraught emotions for the audience as it represents them to be dead and no longer alive. It also represents the artist to be a singer as she is singing in the shot. Apart from that nothing new is updated from the artist representation in this shot and because it still deeply affects the audience it is still successful.

How the genre is represented

• The element of “blues” in the multi-genre song is represented again. The idea of death is a depressing, distraught topic that commonly appears in R’n’B songs and because she is in heaven, she has been visualised to be dead and no longer living, creating connotations and themes from this genre in the video. Because this affects and causes distraught for the audience it is successful and effective, but can be improved with a brighter white light and more white colours on the video instead of the different shades of grey.

Summary

• Overall I feel this was a more successful shot in the music video. It conforms to conventions of lighting and location, creating depressing emotions of heaven because of it being strongly linked to the ideas of death and the pain there is for people when someone dies. It could be improved with brighter lights and more white colours but apart from that it is still a successful shot that meets the aims it set out to do.