Evaluation Question 1

G324 Evaluation1. In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

By Saffron Eck

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

Genre CharacteristicsOur genre is electro pop – I have already looked into the music videos of other artists in this genre in previous posts but I concluded a few things:

1) The artist sings to the camera quite a lot

2) The artist dances at least a little bit

3) Generally narrative/concept based

4) There are lots of different shot angles and distances

1) The artist sings to the camera quite a lotWe have conformed to this convention as we felt it important for the artist to

engage with the audience.

2) The artist has a dance routine/ dancesInstead of having a dance routine we had the artist dance in some of the shots to conform to the pop genre.

3) Generally narrative/performance based

We kept to this convention by having a storyline (about the boy and the girl and their relationship) but also having the performance part. Generally when you say a ‘performance based music video’, you would think of a band playing on a stage or something but it is also when the artist is just singing to the audience such as in part 1 above. But we also included some concept based application into the video which is more random – we did this to make the video a bit more interesting, although it goes against the normal conventions.

For example here, we had the artist lifting up her coat in the red background and when she dropped it again she was in a different one. Because it is quite random it adds a concept feel to the video, but adds a bit more interest to the video.

4) There are lots of different shot angles and distancesWe felt it was important to conform to this convention because it is clear that so many artists in the genre use it. There were many time in our video where the artist was singing the line of a lyric but we used different angles.

Question 1 continuedGoodwin’s Principle of establishing a relationship between music and visuals and lyrics and visuals is common in all genres of music video’s. You can either illustrate, amplify or contradict them.

A relationship between lyrics and visuals

In the pop genre there is an equal distribution of the visuals illustrating, amplifying and contradicting the lyrics. There are some in the Saturday’s video for ‘higher’ which is in the pop genre.

In the shot above, the lyric being said is ‘It’s getting hotter and hotter in here’, so the lyrics are being amplified by the visuals because she is fanning herself to show how hot she is.

In the above shot of the video, the lyric is ‘we’re gunna lift it, lift it higher’, as the dancers lift up their arms. Because it is not very obvious when you watch it, I would say that the lyrics are being illustrated by the visuals instead of amplifying.

A relationship between music and visuals

There are lots of examples of this in their video, watch here. It is mostly where on the beat of the music a shot will change.

Goodwin’s Principle in a video in the pop genre

Goodwin’s Principle in our video

A relationship between lyrics and visuals

Here are some examples of where we matched lyrics to visuals:

Lyric: I’m just a girl Application: Amplify

Lyric: You’re just a girl Application: Amplify

Lyric: This is my heart Application: Illustrate

Lyric: Picture perfect girl Application: Amplify Notes: She is holding a picture frame around her head.

Lyric: And playing around like this Application: Illustrate Notes: she is playing with her bear

Lyric: This ain’t a doll house Application: Contradict Notes: She is standing on a ‘dollhouse’, so she is contradicting the lyric.

We chose to illustrate and amplify the lyrics because many other artists do it too and we wanted to follow the conventions. But we also chose to contradict the lyrics in a few parts purely because it fit with our storyline – although she is standing on the dollhouse while singing ‘this ain’t a doll house, we did it to show how much she resents the boy and wants to not be a doll.

A relationship between music and visuals

He clicks his finger directly on the beat which is really effective.

This part is really effective when they step on the strawberry because it is rewound and then played again to fit to the beat of the music.

There is another strong beat where we have the artist simply standing there and then it goes onto the next chorus.

Question 1 continuedDue to the demands of the record label a lot of close ups will be needed. It is especially important for a new artist and the pop genre uses lots of them.

Extreme close ups

Medium close-ups

Close up

Another demand of record labels is to use star image motifs to brand the music as it will generally create more profit and make the artist more popular.

The love heart has been used on the video and the CD cover. This is a star image motif which recurs throughout the work of Scarlett to create a brand.

We also used writing on the video which is not commonly used on other existing videos, so it will stand out. If we had to make more videos for Scarlett we would use it again to create a recurring theme for the viewers to recognise.

Like lily Allen, her style used to be part of her brand. This would also be a good idea for Scarlett because she is a new artist. So at music events and in future videos she would often wear head bands and nice earrings and heels, as she did a lot in the video we just made. This would give her audience something to associate her with.

Question 1 continuedA large majority of pop videos use voyeurism on a female, and we followed this convention because it often makes more people watch the video.

Another convention in music videos is the notion of looking, which many artists in the pop genre use. Two examples are Diana Vickers and Ke$ha.

We used the notion of looking by having the artist looking into a mirror and we also related the lyrics to it.

‘I tried to be a picture perfect girl’

Because she wants to be a picture perfect girl, we show her looking in a mirror to connote that she has

imperfections but she did try.

And this shot falls on the lyric ‘I ain’t a doll’ to show she is not a

doll and is not perfect.

Question 1 continuedArtists will generally develop and visual style and brand identity through matching typography and house colours etc. throughout all of their work. We thought this was very important to keep a continuity because otherwise it will be too random and confusing for the audience.

We used the same font and colours for ‘Scarlett’

We used the same house colours of mainly pinks and blues and whites.

Unfortunately we couldn’t use the same font on our video editing software but we chose a very similar one and still use the multicoloured effect for each letter.

Magazine AdvertDigi-pack

The video

We used the stars on all the pages to create a theme.

We used the same font in the magazine ad and digi pack.

Another characteristic of music videos is colourisation which we used multiple times throughout the video. Some artists like Rihanna decide to use it for the whole video, but we only used it on certain shots.

Question 1 continuedOften music videos have intertextual references to other media such as films, video games, TV or other music videos.

We used a few subtle references to conform to this convention:

Barbie featured in our video which could be seen as an intertextual reference to the music video ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua, and to

the Barbie video games and films.

Because of the tea party idea, especially with the bear, there is an intertextual

reference to the film Alice in wonderland.

A convention of pop music is the fast cut montage effect. We included this in our music video because it ensures multiple viewing.

All of these shots are just for the lyric ‘But you were in your own fantasy world’, which creates a section that

is very fast. With all the text popping up quickly it makes people want to view it again to see it clearer.

These shots have also been put together in a short space of time to create a fast cut montage.

There are many artists who have used fast cut montages but one example is Rihanna who has a lot in her video Te Amo – view here.

Question 1 continuedThere are lots of conventions that relate to digi-packs and magazine adverts within the music industry, but I have concluded some points about them:

1) They use the same house colours throughout their work

2) They use the same typeface throughout their work

3) They have a clear layout

4) There is generally no white space on them in the pop genre

5) There is always industry information on them

6) There is also a bar code on the back on the digi-pack

7) The artists name is in the biggest font and the album name is smaller

I looked at this in the 6th slide – the convention is to use the same house colours, and we made sure to do this.

I looked at this in the 6th slide too, but the convention is to use the same font through out the work, which we did.

If you look at our magazine advert, it is laid in a clear order with her name and album at the top, some important information at the bottom and then tour information over the image. We also ensured that all the writing was on a clear background and could be easily read.

Generally there is no white space in magazine ads and digi-packs in the pop genre because they are usually more colourful and wacky. The only white we have is for the stars.

We included some industry information on one of the pages in the digi-pack such as the record label and their address. On the back cover there was also vital information like Scarlett's and the record labels website, which most over artists in the music industry will have.

We ensured that we included the bar code. It is easy to forget about it and not leave a gap but it is vital because otherwise it could not be sold.

On the front cover of the digi-pack and on the magazine advert, the artists name is in the bigger font and is more colourful and then the album name is slightly smaller because it is slightly less significant.