QUESTION 1 – IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR

MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF

REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS.

My media product works well when compared and contrasted to other

media products of the same genre and style, not only does it develop

and challenge different forms and conventions of real media products,

it also takes inspiration and uses certain aspects from other texts, the

first being the title of the music video. The name of the song ‘Hey

Brother’ and the Artist Avicii, matches the narrative of the music

video as it focuses on two brothers with major differences when it

comes to relationships, one brother abusing the girl physically and

mentally, and the other brother trying to save her giving the narrative

fairy tale like conventions making the video a pastiche to that

approach, the lyrics that are used in the song are also parallel with

the action on screen, this is commonly used on music videos within the

pop genre. The song can also be classed as a mainstream song at the

moment, meaning that it should follow similar conventions.

The music video follows Nick Lacey’s repertoire of elements, the

setting of the music video is a suburban environment, this being

common in the pop genre, the house, the secluded hill all follow

conventions of the romance approach that this music video uses.

The settings are consistent with what the spectator would expect

from feature film for example, the mise en scene uses aspects from

film narratives which is used quite frequently in the creation of

music videos of any genre such as the pathetic fallacy when it

begins to rain in the suburban area, this creates a juxtaposition

between the mood and the setting, which in some ways challenges

conventional approaches to music videos as the spectators wouldn’t

expect this. The scene where the good brother is sat on the hill to

think about the events that just happened develops what is

expected, I used this as a way to make use Neale’s mental

machinery as the record labels have seen that the audience

respond well to this and they have used it in a lot of pop music

videos following a romance approach.

The characters in my media product follow Propp’s character roles,

the Hero, the villain and the princess needing to be saved, the

spectators expect this so it doesn’t challenge the original

conventions too much as the video still needed to appeal to the

intended audience. Binary oppositions are clear in this music video

between good and evil, the protagonist wearing bright clothing

compared to the antagonist wearing dark; this is shown with the

use of medium and close ups to show the tension between the two,

and to also show the contrast between colours of clothing.

The narrative is one of the main areas of the music video that

challenges original conventions; the central topic being domestic

abuse and because the type of video is narrative/elliptical, the

video follows a very strong topic that could affect people in

different ways, so this was used to make it stand out from other

media products of the same genre, all of the characters in the

narrative are portrayed initially as equal, there is no clear

antagonist, it is then with the use of camera angles such as

medium shots of the two brothers two show their oppositions and

the close ups of the girls reaction to the good brother, that we see

how the narrative is going to unfold, this makes use of Todorov’s 5

part narrative, begins in a state of equilibrium, disruption, notice

of the disruption, attempt to resolve the disruption and return to

the equilibrium, even though the end could be argued as a

disruption, the narrative shares similarities to music videos by

artists such as Olly Murs which this video took inspiration from.

The disruption leaves the audience with an enigma leaving them

to make their own interpretation of what just happened, following

Barthes hermeneutic code.

According to Halls encoding and decoding theory, the themes of

domestic abuse are implied, they have been encoded into the text

so the audience can decode them however they want, however the

topic of domestic abuse that has been encoded into the narrative

almost follows the hypodermic model as there is only one view that

social problem, which in some ways challenges conventional

encoded topics and connotations, the character types and their

roles which are features of the genre make the audience interpret

them in a particular way. Leotards grand narratives have also

been encoded into this media text as feminism, so according to the

music video there is no death of the grand narratives.

Finally is how the use of camera work and special effects uses,

develops or challenges conventions of real media products. Like

most surreal, elliptical areas of music videos, this music video uses

high contrast to give the impression of a dreamlike state that the

spectators may not understand the first time, but when re-

watching the music video they would understand the use of this

effect, a lens flare has also been used on the opening shot to give

the video an upbeat mood and show the spectators that this is

currently in a state of equilibrium.

Opening establishing shots are commonly used in music videos to set the

scene for the target audience; we developed this by adding effect to set

the mood. The camera work throughout is quite stereotypical of the pop

genre, especially in main stream songs, there is a lot of close ups and

medium shots during Todorov’s state of equilibrium to show that the

woman is trapped and to create a sense of isolation for the characters,

and when the disruption happens long shots appear to show the freedom

of the hero and the princess, it only returns back to medium shots when

the two brothers are in shot creating a sense of sibling rivalry which is

sometimes used in the romance. Low angle shots also show power and

heroism of the good brother. In conclusion I believe that this music video

uses and develops conventions of real media texts more that it challenges

conventions with the odd exception of the narrative following a powerful

topic, the narrative structure, character types are all used and developed

from other texts.