Question 1

QUESTION 1:
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS
AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Whilst in the pre-production stages of creating my music video I
researched a range of real media texts from various genres,
including some from the same genre as my product. I did this to
get an idea of what is conventional for the genre and also a wider
idea of what is conventional for all music videos. I analysed 3
dif ferent music videos. These were: Taylor Swif t’s Wildest Dreams,
Fall Out Boy’s Centuries and Kaiser Chief’s My Life. I also
researched various dif ferent ancillaries from a plethora of
dif ferent artists including Ed Sheeran, Arctic Monkeys and
Rihanna. Researching these media texts allowed me to establish
various dif ferent conventions for numerous areas such as editing,
camera, setting and narrative. The genre of my music video is
indie rock. This meant that the videos I researched in this genre
were the most influential to my work.

Firstly, the setting is conventional in the sense that the setting
works in cohesion with the story to allow it to develop fully and
also tells us about the characters and era, for example the theatre
in the Taylor Swif t video tells us that her character is an actress
from the 1960s, because of the vintage appearance of the setting.
Much like with all of the videos I researched, the settings used in
my video always leant itself to the story. All of the settings used
also allowed us to establish a stereotypical teenager; they lend
themselves to the narrative and fit with the character. Like the Fall
Out Boy video, we associate Romans with the coliseum therefore
the characters fit in. This is a convention we have tried to replicate
rather than just using an abstract setting that doesn’t help to
establish a narrative. For example, the school setting allows the
audience to assume an age for the character. The bedroom tells us
about her feelings and personality. The grey walls suggest she is
unhappy and emotionless. The unkempt room implies that she is
disorganised and distracted. However, to some extent we also
developed this convention. The settings in the music videos I
researched were all exaggerated and opulent. Whereas, because of
the nature of the narrative we wanted the setting to feel more
realistic in order for it to be more relatable to the audience.
Screen shot from Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams
showing a 1960’s style movie theatre
Screen shot of the protagonist's bedroom
Screen shot of the school setting
Fall Out Boy’s Centuries video, establishing shot of
the coliseum

Furthermore, a development in our video is that we also did a
performance scene within the video. Most of the videos I
researched included some sort of performance within the
narrative. However, where our music video dif fers is the person
performing the song. The people performing within the real music
videos are the artists of the song, such as Ricky Wilson in the My
Life video or Taylor Swif t performing in the Wildest Dreams video.
Whereas, in our video we use the character rather than an artist.
This is because we feel that the audience is able to get an insight
into the character’s feelings and emotions in relation to the song.
For example, when she is hitting the walls during the chorus of one
of the performance scenes suggests anger on her part, showing us
her reaction to the situation.
Performance scene during Kaiser Chief’s My Life video
Screen shots of the performance scenes within our video

In contrast, unlike the videos I researched, some of the settings
used in the mise en scene also reflect the character’s personality,
for example the dull wall in the bedroom. They suggest that inside
she doesn’t feel much, due to her situation. They are also plain
like a jail cell suggesting she is trapped in this situation with no
clear way out. The unclearness comes from the fact we associate
grey with fog or a bad day. This could develop the regular
conventions of a music video, being that the setting informs the
narrative, for example in the Fall Out Boy the full establishing shot
of the coliseum tells us it takes place in Rome and it is a
traditional gladiator fight but does not tell us anything about the
characters themselves. The settings in my video are used to
establish a narrative, but we have also used the setting to
establish a character personality type.
The room shows aspects of her personality such as grey being dull or lifeless and the messiness being
disorganisation.
The setting above is from the Fall Out Boy Centuries video.

Moreover, the editing used in all 3 videos I researched seemed to
rely heavily on the rhythm and pacing of the song. For example, at
the start of the Taylor Swift video there are slow paced cross cuts
with a transitional fade used instead of a straight cut. This meant
the pacing of the editing was slow to fit with the song. Similarly,
the Fall Out Boy video has fast paced editing at some parts in order
to build tension within the video. This use of pacing and cross cuts
throughout was something we emulated within our video. For
example, during the slower parts of the song we used cross
dissolves to make the cut smoother to fit the pace of the song. In
addition, during faster parts of the song we used sharper cross cuts
to match the tempo of the song. It made the video reach a more
professional level. Another example of this is at the beginning of
the video during the montage sequence when the music gets faster
and hence the editing is growing in pace to fit this. These cuts, like
most real media texts, were cross cuts which are common when
telling a linear narrative.
Talyor Swift Wildest Dreams video showing a cross fade.
Screen shot from our video showing a dip to black fade.
In addition, we also included continuity editing in
order to make the narrative flow better. This
convention can be found in most linear narrative
videos, such as the Fall Out Boy video or the
Taylor Swift video. The only time we develop on
this convention is at the start during the
montage sequence in which the clips used are
from different areas of her life. This was done in
order to establish a background for the
character in a short amount of time. This use of
montage editing is not commonly found.
However, in most videos I have researched with
a linear narrative the character is usually
introduced at the beginning of the video, like
ours.

Furthermore, props found in real media texts are commonly placed
in a scene for symbolism. Such as the religious iconography used
in the Fall Out Boy Centuries video. In our video we used this same
convention in order to symbolise her feelings. As we all know fire
has connotations of anger and passion. This is the reason we
decided to burn the image of the main character and her
oppressors to show her ridding herself of the bullies and ultimately
becoming stronger. Another example of this in our video are the
masks worn by the ‘demons’ in the dream sequence. They
symbolise the oppression in her life and the fear she has
developed of her bullies, they act as an obstacle in front of her
getting to a point where she can free herself from the situation,
this is also the reason they are at the foot of the stairs, they are in
her way. The bruises in this scene are also used to symbolise the
mental abuse she has endured as well as just the physical aspect
of bullying. This use of symbolism is conventional of real music
videos.
Screen shot of the masks within our video
Screen shot of the Centuries video with religious imagery.

Similarly, our use of costumes also follows conventions of real
media text. Within all of the music videos I researched, and
ancillaries the costumes almost always helped to define and
elaborate on the narrative. For example, on the Rihanna digipack
she wears dark revealing clothing which suggests her profession
and current situation or the unkempt outfits worn in the Kaiser
Chief’s My Life video suggest that they have been in some sort of
ship wreck; though we can only assume due to what we see in the
video and what is lef t as enigma. Similarly, within our video for the
first half of our video the main character is dressed in very
conservative clothing, suggesting she’s shy and wants to be
hidden. Whereas at the end of the video her dress code has been
completely changed to suggest a development of the character in
regards to her feelings.
Rihanna digipack
Screenshotsfromourvideoshowingthedifferencebetween
clothing.

In addition, as for genre conventions we tried to portray them as
closely to the conventions as possible. The themes of bullying and
escaping from a situation where one may feel oppressed is a
common convention of the indie for genre. For example, this can
be seen in All Time Low’s Kids in the Dark music video. Escaping
from a horrible situation is also seen in the Fall Out Boy video,
which I researched before going into production. These themes are
common throughout the indie rock genre because the lyrics are
usually very personal and tell stories about how the artist felt at
some period of their life. This is also the reason why we chose to
use close ups and point of view shots throughput the video, in
order to make it more personal.
Screen shots from two recent videos from the same genre showing a similar narrative to ours.
1) Fall Out Boy, Centuries- 17th October 2014
2) All Time Low, Kids In The Dark- 10th March 2015

Another convention of the genre is the use of dark colours. For
example, on the Arctic Monkeys digipack the colours used are dark
green and the digipack only features one character. Dark colours
have been used throughout the genre because of the stereotype of
non conformity. In society people are expected to wear bright
colour in order to appear happy. Therefore, black or other dark
colours are going against that social norm. I have used this
convention throughout my digipack and video. For example, in the
video the performance scenes take place in a dark room with
minimal lighting. I tried to emulate this dark room and the colours
used on my ancillaries to create a house style. Many fans of the
genre, including my target audience, will have a preferred reading
because of this use of colour, whereas other may still see the
colours as dark and threatening because of a stereotype of the
rock and indie rock genre.
My digipack
Arctic Monkey’s digipack

As for the ancillaries I have taken into account many conventions,
which I have used to inform my ancillary product. For example, the
use of character can be found on all 3 adverts I researched.
Specifically the Olly Murs advert, in which the character in the
pairing video is also found on the advert. This creates a theme
throughout both the music video and ancillaries to make it more
recognizable while also establishing a theme. I have used the
same convention of character within my video and ancillaries,
however unlike the Olly Murs advert, the setting is also replicated
between both the music video and advert. This in turn then creates
a house style.
Olly Murs advert and video showing the same character
Myvideoalsoshowingthesame
characterontheadvert

The use of character also appears on the Arctic Monkey’s digipack,
which is closer to my genre. The character on this digipack is
presented in a personal way with a close up. This close up is use to
create a sense of closeness for the audience which means the
audience feels more for the character. I have also used close ups
on my ancillary. Because the theme of bullying is such a personal
situation I wanted the audience to feel close to the character in
order to establish sympathy, rather than just use a long shot in
which people may feel distant to the character and her situation
thus lessening the severity of the situation. She is also using
direct mode of address on the front cover to achieve this sense of
closeness with the audience as well.

Another convention that strongly influenced my ancillary was the
layout of all 6 ancillaries I researched. All of the ancillaries I
researched had a similar layout. For example, the contents text
was always in a list on either the lef t or the right hand side of the
back cover. Other technical conventions include the date of release
on the advert, the name of the album on both the digipack and
advert and the name of the band on both. These features can all
be found on my ancillaries in order to make them appear more
professional.
3 different digipack which informed my layout

Lastly, another convention I chose to include in my ancillary was
the typography. All of the product research I explored had similar
typography styles regardless of genre. The typography was always
simple and easy to read, like the magazines in As, this was most
likely done so that it was accessible or every audience member. It
also makes the ancillaries less cluttered and doesn’t distract from
the artist or character seen on the front. The font is also a similar
font that I have used for the logo of the band. This means that pre
existing fans would find it more recognisable.

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