Taylor Wooltorton

Media evaluation 1

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

Throughout the planning process of my music video, one of the main focus points that I focused on was codes and conventions used with my music video and the relation to other music videos and artists who use the same conventions. My music videos genre is a mixture between indie/pop. Both genres have an interesting set of conventions that fall into their categories, and both help towards our conventions for Jordan Burrows ‘’Give it all up’’. Upon realizing these two genres are quite different, but work well together, I took it upon myself to research into similar music videos and artists that have been created, but while also focusing on the genres. For example, some of the conventions we used were use of star image, costume, and link between narrative and performance.

For the opening sequence of my music video, we use a high angle shot looking down at the main character/singer in our music video walking up a hill in some woods. This showed that the main character is dealing with some kind of trouble, The hill representing his troubles, and showing how hard it is for him to overcome them, symbolizing the plot of the story before it happens, and the high angle shot was used to represent how he is feeling at the moment, which is small and insignificant as a character. We used a woodland scene because it represents nature, symbolizing the artist of the song, who is a natural and independent artist. This convention is also used in the music video ‘’down down down’’ by ‘Charlie Simpson’. The video focuses on a crime of some kind, possibly a kidnapping or robbery. I used this video as a reference because the artist is very similar to ours, in the sense that they are both indie/pop, and also the music video uses the location of a woodland area, either representing the artists genre, or symbolizing the storyline on the video, suggesting we used the convention of location to represent the artist and the style of song, while using ‘Charlie Simpsons’ ‘’Down down down’’ as a reference, as you can see below.

One of our sequences contains our main character singing into a microphone, which is a consistent convention throughout our music video, it features a medium close up shot and close up shot of our main character singing into a microphone while looking into the camera. This is a common convention used in music videos with the same genre as us, we used this convention because it made the music video feel more true to its genre, in that a stereotype for it includes constant shots of the lead singer of a band singing into a microphone with his/her band around them. We also used this because it made the audience feel closer to the singer, due to the fact he is looking directly into the camera, and therefore at the audience, making them feel included and part of the music video/song.

A music video that also does this is ‘’Awkward’’ by ‘San Cisco’. In their music video, the lead singers are always looking into the camera and singing directly at it. They use this convention because it makes the audience feel closer to the singers/band, and makes them feel as if they are a part of the band or the storyline to the music video. We used this convention for the same reason, only their camera angles are still, and they don’t use a microphone in their video, whereas our camera moves around while the lead singer looks into it. We chose to do this because it seems as if the audience are moving around in the room/ scene with the singer/main character.

Another convention we used was a balance of narrative and storyline in our music video. In a stereotypical pop music video, there is a heavy use of storyline, which links to Goodwin’s theory of a music video including performing, narrative and concept. This is a common convention used in music videos with the same genre as us, focusing on a storyline, which usually revolves around the main singer or the band. Our music video focuses on a super villain who falls in love with a superhero, and how he wants to give it all up for her.

Another music video with the same genre as us that does this is ‘’Goodbye Mr A’’ by ‘The Hoosiers’. The music video focuses on the band being jealous of a superhero, and how they want to be superheroes, so they try to get rid of him. We chose to use this music video for a reference because not only does it focus heavily on storyline, but it also has the same sort of storyline to our music video, including superheroes, costumes, and an interesting storyline. It also focuses on the band being the main characters in the storyline to their video, which we also do.

The next sequence portrays our main female character looking at the camera while shouting ‘’no!’’. The shot was a medium close up, and the convention was based from ’30 Seconds To Mars’ song ‘‘Do Or Die’’. During their music video, the band record their fans looking into the camera at a close up shot while shouting ‘’no!’’ while the words appear on the screen at the same time. This convention makes the feel of the music video seem more personal, by using their fans to sing their lyrics for them, suggesting a closeness to their fans and their audience, and also the fact that they are singing directly at the camera suggests the lyrics are aimed at the audience watching, to make them feel part of the song and music video. I thought of how we could incorporate this in our music video, and eventually came up with the idea of using a medium close up shot on Emily while she sings directly at the camera shouting ‘’no!’’, suggesting a more personal relationship between the audience and the characters in the music video, linking the convention from ‘’Do Or Die’’ by ’30 Seconds To Mars’ and our own video.

However, a convention we challenged in our music video was how we didn’t use instruments throughout the entire video. One of the main conventions and stereotypes for our chosen genre is a heavy use of instruments and a showing of the band. However, throughout our entire music video, we have no instruments being used or seen. We chose to do this because not only did it put a huge emphasis on star image, it meant that the audience would focus more on the storyline and the main singer rather than the band and the instruments around him.

A band with the same indie genre as us that also do this is ‘Fall Out Boy’ with their ‘’Young Blood Chronicles’’ series, which focuses on their album ‘’Save Rock and Roll’’, and features a heavy use of star image and storyline. Throughout their series, the main focus is on the band and their struggle with rock and roll in the new generation, where it has died out. Throughout their videos, they have no use of instruments, excluding the video for ‘’my songs know what you did in the dark’’ which features a rapper burning their instruments and music. This suggests that they are challenging the convention purposely, and wt the focus to be on the narrative and the star image, which is where we got the idea for our music video.

However, we also looked at music videos with the same genre that use star image and narrative, but also include instruments and a band, and we focused on ‘’One Republic’’ with their song ‘’Counting Stars’’. In their video, they include a heavy use of the band and star image, while also focusing on the narrative performance. They use this convention well, and although we were intrigued by what they did in their music video, we wanted to challenge the indie/pop stereotype and focus more on star image and narrative rather than of the band and them playing, so that the audience would focus more on what we trying to get across, which was the heavy use of narrative and star image.

Another convention we used in our music video was the links between lyrics and visuals. Throughout our video, we focus heavily on the link between lyrics and visuals, and that the lyrics make a constant reference to the visuals on screen, as the visuals reinforce what the lyrics say. For example, we use this with the lyrics ‘’friends’’ and ‘’more’’, which appear in our music video on pieces of paper which the main singer holds up to camera. The word ‘’friends’’ is actually the font used by the popular American TV show ‘’friends’’, which we thought was interesting part of mise en scene, due to the fact that so many people will understand the reference. We chose to focus heavily on the links between lyrics and visuals because it makes it easier for the audience to understand what is happening on in our music video, because every word is linked to the visuals shown in front of them.

A music video with the same genre as us that also does this is ‘’Elvis Ain’t Dead’’ by ‘’Scouting For Girls’’. In their music video, they use the link of lyrics and visuals by singing the title of the song while a poster of Elvis floats by with the lyrics on, suggesting that they are focusing on Goodwin’s theory with the link of visuals and lyrics, and want their audience to notice how and why they’ve done it, which is where we got our idea from to do this.

Another convention of our music videos genre that we used is the love interest used in many indie/pop music videos, which links to Goodwin’s theory of looking. Throughout or video, the main convention of our video is based on love interest, even the song itself is to do with love. For example, the narrative of our music video focuses on the main character giving up something he believes in to be with the woman he loves, and one way we show this is by using signs with hearts on, which is the symbol for love, by using scenes with the characters holding each other and kissing, and scenes with them arguing, which lovers do from time to time. We used this convention because it’s a common convention that is used throughout all forms of media, especially music videos; it is an easy convention to spot from an audience’s point of view, and links well into narrative.

Another music video that also includes this convention with the same genre as us is ‘’By My Side’’ by ‘David Choi’. In this music video, the main convention used is a love interest between two people. The narrative focuses on a man trying his hardest to be beside the woman he loves. This was an interesting music video to focus on because not only does it have the same genre as our song, but it also mixes the convention of a love interest and seeing the lyrics through visuals within the music video very well,, for example, he sings the lyric ‘’by your side’’ as he stands next to her and looks into her eyes’’, which plays on the lyrics and visuals. From this, we took the idea of focusing on a love interest heavily, and basing the lyrics and visuals on the love interest throughout the video, because not only is it a common convention for our genre, but is also easy to spot out from an audiences point of view.