In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? – This task requires you to compare the outcomes of your research of similar media products with the outcome of your group’s finished production.

Goodwin key music video conventions

Using Your Research Findings – note/ bullet point typical generic conventions

Your Production – Use, Develop or Challenge

Genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)-

Typical conventions of an RnB/pop music video of a girl band are:

- Dance routines- A formation

presenting each characteristic of each group member.

- Usually concept or Narrative, rarely performance although some performance is involved.

- Individual time for each member.

We first developed the convention of a formation. Usually there is a set formation that remains the same throughout the music video. Our production developed this as we rearranged the performers throughout the video so all of the band members have their time as a lead singer. We generally changed the lead each time we changed the layer so that we can differentiate the different personalities of each member. Our music video also developed the typical convention on a Concept/narrative video as we added some concept to our video, come narrative and some performance. We used the narrative part of our video before there is any music to present the story being told in the song. There was dialogue between the band members explaining what was going to happen in the song. We then used Concept and Performance to develop the video. We used the convention of individual time for each member as we felt this was important to give each member an individual style.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting

Goodwin’s theory suggests that the lyrics and visuals should relate, emphasize or contradict each other. From research I have discovered that the lyrics tend to illustrate or amplify the visuals in a

Our production we used all three of these. We firstly used the visuals to illustrate the lyrics. This also amplified what the music video was about. We then used the visuals to contradict the lyrics. This is at a part of the video where the lyrics suggest chilling out and the image is of a basketball match. We used this to create a certain atmosphere for our video. We wanted to amplify the fun of the video rather than the parts of the lyrics, which suggests a calm and quiet atmosphere.

narrative video. If the video is mainly concept then the lyrics and visuals contradict each other.

Relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

 

The music and the visuals usually illustrated each other in music video I researched. In the videos the visuals would fall on the beat of the music, amplifying what was happening in the video. This was a common denominator in every video I researched.

Our production also uses this technique to amplify the scene in the video. This makes our video more upbeat but also amplifies certain elements of our video creating a tone to our production. There are also distinctive sounds in our video, which we companied with visuals to illustrate such as the sound of something rolling and someone rolling a basketball.

Demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. (a visual style).

Depending on the record label the artist would either have close ups of their costume/face or voyeuristic close ups of bodies and sensual body parts. For record labels like ‘Big Boy Entertainment’ or ‘Columbus Records’ The close ups were of the possessions of the artist. I found that For males signed up to either of

Our music originally came from Big Mouth Entertainment. Their music videos rarely use voyeuristic close ups of the female bands they produce. The focus usually relies on the atmosphere of the video, for example, what is happening in the video. The motifs are small and are usually a strip of something e. a red stain for a video involving passion/love/anger or danger and bright yellow strip for videos with a softer tone. Our video contains frequent close ups identifying something that is going on during the music video. The cuts are also frequent and sharp, which is a god use of the typical convention of Big Mouth Entertainment videos.

these record labels the close ups were usually of their jewelry or face where as women were usually shown in close ups with certain costume or certain design to their costume. The close ups did contain some voyeuristic treatment however it was not as obvious as close ups of female artists of other record labels.

Notions of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

In many of the Music videos I researched with an all female girl band showed voyeuristic treatment of the female body. In one video (mis-teeq, Scandalous) there was a man behind a camera suggested scopophillic treatment of the female body as well. The idea that the audience was constantly watching the female’s lips, legs and hips suggested a voyeuristic theme to the video.

Our music video used a few close ups which may be interpreted as voyeuristic treatment of the female body because they contain close ups of lips and eyes. These are to suit the demands of the record label as well as sell the artists. We challenged the idea of multiple voyeuristic close ups because we wanted to take the focus from the girls bodies and focus on the action of the music video as the action links to the music and lyrics.

intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.).

In my research I found there were rarely intertextual references. Intertexuality was most likely rare because of the types of videos I explored because RnB music videos usually contain original scenes. Some RnB/Rap videos contain intertextuality eg. Eminem –loose it, however because ours is an RnB/ Pop, the videos I researched contained no

Our music video also does not contain any intertextuality. Although in my research I found no intertextual references, intertextuality can be used. Our group decided not to use it as again, it would take the focus of the events happening in the video and typical intertextual referenced used such as ‘Jail house rock’ or ‘Scream’ would be inappropriate to use for our video. We would also have to consider locations and availability of a location to do our intertexual reference and permission may have to be given to use certain references. Our production used the convention of rare, if any, intertextual references as they would be inappropriate to use for our type of song and music video and would take the focus off of hat we are trying to present in the video.

intertextuality.

Technical DirectionsArtist/bands / actor’s positioning, movements, gestures, pose and mode of address etc.

Usually with girl bands containing three members, the rule of thirds is used which presents the main person in the band in then second third in front of the other two members and the other members of the band in the 1st and 3rd thirds to present the lead performer of the band.

We used this convention and showed it strongly throughout our video. In multiple layers containing all three girls, we used the person who was singing at that time to stand up front with the two members behind. This also supports the convention of the formation of the group as the rule of thirds uses formation to present each member. The rule of thirds also establishes the important character in that scene, which is why we used it when the members sang in turn.

Editing directions(Match cuts, jump cut, reverse shots – cutting rthymn etc.)

For males in RnB videos Matched cuts are used. This is because the action in the video is usually carried out by males, either jumping, running or participation in an extreme activity for example Racing

We have challenged this as we do not have main male roles in our music video. Most of the males are in the background either conversing or acting as a friend of the band. We use no extreme activity in our music video.

Selection of mise-en-scène including colour, figure, pops, lighting, objects, costume, location and setting and use of

RnB videos with a high budget usually show rich male characters and seductive female characters, they also

Because of the song we have chosen our music video better suits the conventions of a low budget video and we use these conventions. We show our performers hanging out in different locations. Because our video is low budget, the locations we use are not luxury homes and cars. We show local locations, which will

crowds/dancers etc. show possessions such as mansions, cars and swimming pools. RnB videos with a low budget frequently show dancers, local locations and hangout areas rather than mansions.

relate with the target audience, as they will show real life scenarios in the video. This makes are video more appealing t our audience and makes marketing easier.

Framing of Shot CU, MLS, ELS etc.)

Typically RnB videos use a lot of voyeuristic and scopophilic close ups. They so use establishing shots to show the location (usually a U.S state such as L.A, Miami or New York) They also use long shots to show the performers costume to allow the audience to view the performers fashion. This appeals to their audience.

Our video again uses this convention as we show a lot of close up’s of our performers in similar costume to show that they are casual. We also use close ups of our performers to link lyrics and visuals and also to emphasise something that is going on either in the background or with our girl band.