Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

By deconstructing existing music videos, we were able to analyse what conventions worked and what didn’t. It made me realise that in order to create a successful media product, I needed to follow the essential conventions that people recognise.

In our research, we found that music videos can be categorized in terms of style:

• Performance – Band/ artist playing.• Narrative – Includes story.• Mixture – Both performance and narrative based. • Cameo – Band/ artist features in the narrative but doesn’t perform.

After watching and deconstructing Taylor Swift’s video ,‘Mine’ (mixture), Rihanna’s video, ‘We found love’ (mixture), and Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s video, ‘Atlas Hands’ (cameo), we decided that we wanted to use a narrative style in our music video, as this proved a successful element in all three videos.

Initial Research

Deconstructing existing media productsAfter deciding that we wanted to create a music video in the ‘romance’ genre, we looked at various real music videos within the same genre to gain an understanding of the codes and conventions used. Taylor Swift’s ‘Mine’ and Rihanna’s ‘We found love’ present two very different relationships; one is more innocent and sweet, whilst the other is very destructive and dangerous. This is because they both target different audiences.

Characters

Camera work

Close ups of main protagonists to highlightmutual attraction.

Editing

Sepia tones connoting warmth and love, creating a sense of nostalgia.

Blue tones are cold and harsh, connoting sadness.

Mise-en-scene

Beach location connotes romanceand nature.

Couple are shown to be in love through the proxemics: kissing, dancing, hugging, holding hands etc.

Costumes and props

Jewellery (ring) symbolizes the unity of the couple.

Girl – wearing white to connote purity and innocence (Taylor Swift), or stockings and crop top (Rihanna) suggesting a more bold/ daring personality.

Two shot of coupleestablishing the relationship.

Darkened haze framing shot creates a dreamy effect.

Taylor Swift conveys a ‘girl next door’ stereotype whereas Rihanna’s character ismore bold and adventurous.

Neutral make up and clothing is simple and natural.

Close up of hands with focus on the ring and touching ofhands connotes love.

Natural sunlight connoteshappiness and love.

Male protagonist ispresented as an alpha-male – good looking, confident, charming.

Happy ending – couple get married.

Jump cuts create excitement reflecting the feeling of being in love.

Codes and Conventions used in our videoTaylor Swift – ‘Mine’ Our video Codes and conventions

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We used a close up of our female protagonist looking up atthe male protagonist, showing an instant attraction. The propof the romantic novel, ‘Birdsong’ connotes that the female character is an intelligent, hopeless romantic, foreshadowing the love that unfolds in the video’s narrative.

This two shot is conventional of the romance genre because it clearly establishes the relationship between the two characters. We’ve included many two shots throughout thevideo for this reason. The proxemics of this shot also connotethat the couple are in love because they are holding hands and smiling.

Many scenes of our video are filmed at the beach, as we understood that this was a romantic location. When focusingon the mise-en-scene, we filmed many shots with the sea in view, as it connotes peace and nature, reflecting the love in the relationship. The natural lighting creates a sense of hopeand happiness.

The proxemics we used throughout the video clearly follow the conventions of a romance genre, with the couple kissing, hugging, holding hands, smiling, laughing etc.

Taylor Swift – ‘Mine’ Our video Codes and conventions

In Taylor Swift’s video, a wedding ring is used to symbolise the unity of the couple. Similarly, we used the prop of a silverheart necklace to represent the love within the relationship. When the love deteriorates and comes to an end, the necklaceis taken off symbolising that the love is over. To highlight thesignificance of this prop, we used extreme close ups.

In the post-production stages of our project, we edited thevideo to have tones of blue and sepia towards the end of thenarrative, when the couple are fighting. This connotes the sadness felt by the characters and ultimately the audience empathises with them further because of the colder, darkeratmosphere.

We’ve used POV shots to make the video more personal, andmake the audience empathise more with the characters. These shots are used particularly in the montage sequence to create the impression that the couple are using a hand held camera, making memories, eg. on the beach the femaleprotagonist is playfully running away from the camera and looking directly into it as if the male protagonist is filming her.

In the same way Taylor Swift’s video uses photographs as a visual motif symbolising a collection of memories, we’ve usedphotographs in our video of the couple and have presented them in a scrapbook, creating a sense of nostalgia. These photos are included in the girl’s bedroom and at the end of thevideo when she puts them into a scrapbook.

Subverted codes and conventionsMale Protagonist

We challenged the ‘alpha-male’ stereotype that’s often presented in romantic media texts and decided to make our male protagonist a quirky, intellectual, indie character; perhaps a more realistic portrayal of a modern teenager, as opposed to the typically good looking, over confident ‘alpha-male’ stereotype. We chose to do this because we wanted to make our male protagonist relatable to our target audience and provide a different take on the romantic genre. However, we decided to make our female protagonist fit into the ‘girl next door’ stereo-type, following a convention of the romance genre.

EndingOne of the main criticisms of the romance genre is that it sets up unrealistic expectations for what life is really like. Taking this into account, Rachel and I wanted to subvert the traditional ‘happily ever after’ ending and create a narrative that gives a realistic portrayal of young love. We wanted to make comparisons between the idealistic and modern-day perceptions of love and relationships by portraying a couple who appear to be happily in love, however it's not the perfect fairytale ending and the love fades. We showed this through the use of editing, camera work and props. The blue tones connote sadness as and a sense of loss as the relationship deteriorates, the close up of the girl crying shows her heartbreak and the necklace being taken off symbolises that the love is over. The scrapbook was a key prop, as it holds a collection of memories, representing the couple’s relationship. Our video ends with the girl placing the necklace into the scrapbook, as that’s the last piece left of their relationship. She then closes the book, signifying that the love is over and she’s accepted it’s time to move on. The front cover of the scrapbook is our album cover ancillary, linking the products together, however we decided to make the title word “forever” creating a sense of irony. This challenges the audience’s perceptions of love and the idea of a fairytale ending, which is what we wanted to achieve.