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

Acoustic videos conventionsThe previously mentioned conventions are standard for most music videos but when we look into different genres there are extra conventions. My chosen track for my media product fell under the acoustic genre. Here are some of the common conventions of acoustic music videos –

• Shots of the artist/character playing an instrument• Slow paced camera movements• Based around feeling or emotion felt by the character• Locations are key, memorable places to character or

reflect the mood of the song ( i.e. if it’s a sad, depressing song the location will be somewhere run down and dull)

• Use of black and white editing• Costumes and makeup is plain and everyday

Use of conventions

In my own music video we used the typical convention of the character playing an instrument. We used both the piano and guitar playing shots that were repeated throughout the video.

In our music video we used the convention of slow paced camera movements. Above is a screenshot of an example we used in our video. When we filmed in Hainault we decided that it would be good in our music video to give a clear shot of what kind of location we were in. So we did a slow pan of all the trees in the forest and it worked well within the song.

Below is a screenshot of another typical convention that we used for video. The convention of using black and white editing is very common in acoustic videos and also videos with a feeling or emotion behind it that is somewhat depressing or sad.

Here are some screenshots of all the different costumes and makeup that I wore throughout the different shots of our music video. We kept within the convention of acoustic music videos here of using very plain and everyday makeup , costumes, and also hair. Acoustic videos focus mainly on the emotion behind the song not really on how the character/artist looks.

Challenging our genres conventions

Although we did conform to most of our genres conventions there were however conventions we used that were not typical of that genre which is what makes our video more unique. Here are some of the extra conventions we added into our video that challenged our genre –

• Dance routine and location• Bright lighting

Here are some screenshots of the dance routine that we used within our music video. Dance routines are generally used for the ‘Pop’ genre, however we used mainly contemporary styled dancing to fit the mood of the song instead street/pop dance.

Below is a screenshot of one of the locations that we used. This was in our school’s dance studio where we filmed a few lip syncing shots and also the dance routine for our video. This location challenges the convention of acoustic videos of using quite dull and run down locations to reflect a mood/emotion. This dance studio however is the complete opposite it is newly decorated and is filled with bright lights so does not give off a dull or depressing mood.

Our added in conventions that we used were actually ideas we took from another music video. Whilst researching different acoustic music videos and videos with specific meanings we come across Pixie Lott’s ‘Cry Me Out’ video. We really enjoyed this video and it gave us some good ideas to use for own.

Here is the link to her video -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsKnKB4nbls

Here are some screenshots from her music video. These are the particular ideas that we took from the video. The idea of having a dance routine and also the singing to your reflection in a mirror.