A2Media Studies

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? As part of my initial research I studied Andrew Goodwin’s theory on codes and conventions. One idea within this theory is that the lyrics and visuals should have a relationship which should amplify, illustrate or contradict each over. In this video we decided to show a direct relationship between the lyrics and the visual. Throughout the video we used a number of flashbacks which would illustrate the lyrics and amplify the regretful tone of the song. This creates a non-linear narrative which resembles a number of different media products such as the films “ghosts of Girlfriends Past” and “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”. We decided to use this common convention so that the audience could comfortably understand the narrative. This technique has also been used to follow the traditional conventions for a narrative music video as it tends to suggest rather than complete the storyline.

A more specific example of the relationship between lyrics and visuals is towards the end of the video during the placard scene where the writing on the cards is the lyrics to the chorus. As the idea for the placards came from the movie `Love Actually` we was originally going to mirror the text on the cards from the film exactly. However to conform to Andrew Goodwin’s codes and conventions we decided to change them to the song lyrics. We also used the idea of the placard scene to further obey the ideas of Goodwin’s theory as he suggests that intertextual references are essential in music videos. We further continued this convention with the photobooth scene which is a reference to the Justin Biber song `Mistletoe` to continue the romantic theme throughout the video.

We also used voyeurism to create a romantic relationship between the two characters in the video and also to further create a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. For example the lyrics in the song state `I lose my cool and I blow it` and the video shows the male lead reaching out to hold the girls hand but at the last minute he loses his nerve and pulls his hand away. Another way in which we used voyeurism in our music video was through the photo booth scene. The camera shows a shot of the two characters hands to make the fact that the artist pulls his hands away abundantly clear. We did this to continue to establish the relationship between the two characters in the video but also to create the feel that the audience were watching a real date.

In my digipak and magazine advert I continued to follow the conventions of the R&B genre. Through researching digipak’s such as ushers `My Way` and Chris Brown’s `Exclusive` I found that generally R&B artists have a sophisticated look. I also analysed Chris Brown’s `F.A.M.E` digipak which went against these codes and conventions and seemed to fit more in the Hip/Hop genre. Therefore I decided to stay conventional with my digipak and magazine advert and to do so I decided that the artist should be dressed in a shirt and tie. Also to conform to the conventions of R&B I used a number of close-up shots. However I also gained inspiration from the Eminem album `Curtain Call` despite Eminem belonging to the Hip/Hop genre. I decided to look at examples from Hip/Hop because the two genres of music seemed to become similar over the years. Also I believed that the mise-en-scene of a stage with a red Curtain (as shown on the curtain call digipak) seemed to conform more to the traditional R&B genre.

The front cover of my Digipak also shows a woman grabbing the artist’s tie this was done to conform to the stereotype of male R&B artist being charismatic with women. An example of this is again shown by the advert for the Usher single `Hey Daddy` as it shows a women’s hand on the artist’s chest. Also I have further taken inspiration from Chris Brown’s Exclusive Digipak by simply keeping the same image as the front cover on the actual disc and desaturating it. Throughout my digipak and magazine advert I decided to keep a constant text. I noticed that on many R&B digipak’s such as Justin Timberlake’s `Futuresex Lovesounds` featured a Serif font and therefore I decided to use a similar font for my digipak and magazine advert.2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

In my ancillary text I have tried to keep the representation of my artist consistent for both the digipak and the magazine advert however this differs from my music video. In the music video it shows the artist in casual clothing on a regular street. The video is similar to older R&B videos such as `My Baby` by Bow Wow featuring Jagged edge as it shows the more traditional side to the genre in the sense that it shows the artist establishing a relationship with a women rather than seeing her as a sex object. Similarities can also be made to the Chris Brown song `Yo` as the mise-en-scene is a street and the artist is wearing casual clothing. This gives the artist a contemporary feel as more modern artists seem to borrow their stylings from the Hip/Hop genre which is known for its casual dress sense. I have done this to develop the stars image as the costume has been designed to make the artist seem more accessible to his target audience and as if he has a similar life with similar problems as the audience. The mise-en-scene also develops the artist’s star image as it shows the artist chasing the girl in a real life scenario which makes him seem as if he is regular person.

Throughout the ancillary text the artist is dressed in a shirt and tie on a stage. One reason for why I have done this is to show the different codes and convention in the R&B genre. For example Chris Brown’s album `Exclusive` features the song `With you. ` In the music video for this song it shows the artist wearing casual clothes but the digipak shows him in a full suit. Therefore this shows that the codes and conventions of more recent R&B videos are for the artist’s attire to vary as the traditional values of the genre are kept whilst at times the more contemporary style is shown.

In the digipak and magazine advert I decided to have the artist in a costume that was more traditional to the genre. I researched other artists of the same genre such as Ne-Yo and his album `Year of the Gentlemen` so that I could conform to the R&B genre. I then decided to have the artist in more formal wear for my ancillary text. The reason I did this was to make the ancillary text clear as an R&B product and also to develop the stars image. By doing this I believe I gave the artist the image of a post-modern artist as I tried to incorporate altering codes and conventions of the genre. I have also chosen Mise-en-Scene to conform to the conventions of the genre as I attempted to develop the artist’s star image as a showman. The image on the digipak cover shows a women grapping the artist’s tie. This has been done to further establish the artist’s star image and also to make him more appealing to a broader audience. During the music video there are a number of close-up shots of the artist to give the artist a star image of sensitivity. We did this to aim at a target audience of mainly the female market. However by showing the women in the digipak grapping his tie it creates the persona of a `ladies man` which would seem more accessible to the male audience.

Through analysing Chris Brown’s F.A.M.E digipak I decided to use a conventional costume for my artist in the digipak as the F.A.M.E digipak could easily have belonged to a different genre such as Hip/Hop due to its heavily edited front cover. This was another reason for why I decided to go with the more traditional R&B conventions for my ancillary text.

I also decided a serif font for my Digipak as I noticed that many other R&B ancillary texts use a similar font. Also the font that I had chosen seems to fit the traditional image of the digipak and magazine advert as the lettering seemed to be elegant and sophisticated. I also chose to keep the colour of the font simply either black or white to conform to the suave feel that I was trying to create through the ancillary text. I used a yellow strip behind the black texts to make the text clear however by using the subtle font it did not take the focus away from the main image of the artist.