Question One: In what ways does your media product develop, challenge or use conventions of real media products?

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

Goodwin’s Conventions of a Music Video

Goodwin’s conventions of music videos points out 6 main characteristics and features that can be found in them.

These include;

1. Music videos demonstrate Genre characteristics

2. There is a relationship between lyric and visuals.

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals.

4. The demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which occur across their work.

5. There is frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly the voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There are often intertextual references.

These characteristics are said by Goodwin to be applicable to all music videos and genres, we had to research the Genre of our music video, which was Dance Pop and see the various different characteristics of these sort of videos. This helped us a lot when it came down to planning out our music video.

We had to research other established videos of the same genre, in order for us to be able to attract our target audience when showing them our video.

We didn’t have a lot of experience with music videos, with myself and Calum never having made one before, however we did have experience with the media side of things – such as Premier Pro, cameras, set up etc.

We looked at Dance Pop groups and artists videos such as Ellie Goulding and her videos such as her narrative video for ‘On my Mind’. We also looked at videos by Clean Bandit and there ‘Extraordinary’ video with its positive vibes. Along with this we looked at Tove Lo’s song ‘Stay High’ and the journey she went on throughout the video.

Whilst looking at these music videos we took note of the shot types that were used in the video, such as fast-paced shots to keep up with the upbeat music. We wanted to follow the conventions as well as we could so that it looked proficient and link in to the genre of Dance Pop.

Saying this, we still wanted to challenge some types of these conventions to portray our message of desire and sadness. We want our music video to conform to the stereotypes of the Dance Pop genre whilst being unique and fun, having our own twist on the various different sterotypes.

In order to evaluate the success of our music video and answer the question I am going to see if it applies to each of the characteristics, saying whether or not my music video challenges, develops or uses them

‘Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics’ Goodwin stated that one of the main features of a music video is that ‘Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics’.

I applied this to my genre of the song I chose (Desire by Years and Years) which is of the genre Dance Pop. I decided to look up many conventions and typicality's of the Pop Genre as a whole, with Dance Pop being the Sub Genre and style of music, and found that there were many conventions that applied to our music video and many which didn’t.

The Artists are portrayed in fashionable, mainstream outfits. In our Music Video this doesn’t necessarily apply as our artists aren’t in the video however the main character Lois is wearing typical teenage girl clothes. As well as this she wears a dress as she is getting ready to go out and also some lace up high heels. These are very much in fashion as they are sold in many UK fashion stores so therefore this does apply to our female lead in our music video.

The lyrics are usually based on love or relationships. This does apply to our music video as the song called Desire includes lyrics such as ‘Is it desire? Or is it love that I’m feeling for you?’ which links to the convention of love and relationship lyrics in the Pop genre.

They are stereotypically associated with people in their teens partying and dancing. Our music video does partly comply with this, as the protagonist Lois, is a teenager, and she is getting ready to go out to party, which is stereotypical of the genre. However she doesn’t go out with her friends and there is no dancing in the video, therefore it also doesn’t comply.

Artists are portrayed in a very sexual or seductive way. Our video doesn’t necessarily comply with this as our artists Cupid and Medusa are not in the music video, however our character who represents our artists, Lois was arguably shown in a sexual way. We showed her applying lipstick which is seductive. However we did use many shots which conform to Goodwin’s later theory of voyeurism of the female body.

Hair and makeup are used to communicate the characters feelings. An example of this is the close up of Lois applying lipstick, suggesting she wants to look good for her potential date. As well as this we see her shaking her hair around in confusion and pulling at it in the quick shots which shows her confusion and therefore complies with this genre characteristic.

There are many close ups of the main star. This does link with our video as there are many close ups used of our protagonist Lois, when she’s happy and when she’s sad. This fitted with our music video as we need to show the emotions that Lois is feeling and this linked in with the genre of the music video.

Point of View shots are very commonly used. Our video does comply with this as we use Point of View shots from Lois’ perspective when she is texting her love interest, this is so we feel more sympathetic for Lois in the music video.

Dance Pop Music Videos: Charli XCX - Famous

When looking at Charli XCX’s Famous video there was many clear conventions of the pop genre shown in the video. For example, the video shows many point of view shots, such as when she looks at her phone to see herself lip synching.

The video also includes many close up shots of the lead character in the video which is clearly found in the pop genre’s characteristics. As well as this her makeup in the music video includes bright pink lipstick and rosy cheeks.

When considering Barthes Theory it is clear that the Semic Code is upbeat and almost wacky and out there with the style of video, as well as this the bright makeup signifies the bubble-gum pop style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f5A4DnGtis

Dance Pop Music Videos: Demi Lovato – Cool for the Summer

In the Music video there are many close ups of the main artist Demi Lovato which shows the emotion she’s portraying in the video, which is all about exploring her sexuality with lyrics like ‘I’m a little curious too’, this shot in particular shows her curiosity reflected in her face and pop songs use close ups to get this across within the narrative of the story.

In the music video there are many shots which show Demi in a very sexual or seductive way as the way she is portrayed in the mid shot, with the other females – who are all in longer tops – is a lot more seductive due to her top showing her assets. The second shot, shows Demi’s body as the central focus in the clip.

Another way this conforms to the pop genre is it’s the setting of the music video. The setting is in the famous place of New York which is known for its opportunities, reflected in the video.

Dance Pop Music Videos: Ariana Grande - Focus

In this music video it includes many long shots of people dancing which is a generic convention of pop music videos. It is used to fit in with the pace of the song and is often used with female singers. Many people who like her as an artist could potentially learn the dance routine and it’s another way for her to sell albums and relate to her fans.

Use, Develop or Challenge? My music video arguably challenges this characteristic in some ways, as although it clearly does fit some of the genre conventions specific to Pop music, it also doesn’t include the artist which is a major feature in pop music. Our music video does have a main character who is a representation of the artist, so in some ways the character does comply to the Pop genre styles, however as it isn’t the artist Cupid and Medusa, it subverts typical Pop music videos.

The mise en scene, which is a vital part of the music video, as the artist releases a message through props, clothing, makeup, location and creates a motif through these is not present in our music video. This is because the actual artist does not appear within our video, so the audience could feel detached from the artist, although the recurring motifs such as the blonde hair and pink lipstick Lois wears means that they can relate to the character.

As we don’t have close ups of the artists themselves this means that the audience cant relate to the artists and a form of synergy is lost in this respect as the artist appears on the website however not in their own music videos.

‘There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals’ • Goodwin stated that another one of the main features of a music video is that ‘There

is a relationship between lyrics and visuals’.

• This is very common in the Pop Music genre as the artist is a key focal point of the video and therefore their lip synching is commonly used, as well as this the Pop genre is the main genre in which the Music Video will follow a storyline, meaning lyrics and visuals will relate to each other a lot more.

• I applied this to my lyrics and visuals of the song I chose (Desire by Years and Years) which I feel go together fairly well. I decided to look other music videos in the pop genre, and see if they had a relationship between lyrics and visuals. We found that there are many links between this convention and our music video.

‘Is it desire?’

This shows Lois and her love interest and links well with the lyrics on screen. Desire is infatuation but can be confused with love and lust. By showing her looking with a heart in her eye it shows the potential in her mind to mistake her and his desire for love. This could lead to love or disappointment.

‘Where are you taking me? I cant be blamed’

This links the lyrics with the visuals as the lip synching goes well with the lyrics and is correctly in time. The fact we chose to have a close up of lips gives a sense of seduction to go with the lyrics and also mystery.. As we don’t know who is singing the lyrics much alike we don’t know where the person is taking the singer.

This shot is to the end of the film and signifies her putting down the rose that she was given by her love interest. By doing this it shows she has given up on them, which could be because it only hurts her. This links in with the visuals well because she doesn’t want to be ‘abused’ mentally by the persons love, like the song suggests.

‘Your love only gets me abused’

Dance Pop Music Videos: Little Mix – Black Magic

The scene shows the girls holding hands around candles and a book of magic, which links in with the lyrics above as they are practicing old witchcraft. The high angle shot as we are looking over them whilst they are sat down shows that what they are doing is wrong, and could be an attempt for the audience to take an oppositional view to the actual meanings.

‘And its called Black Magic’

‘Said he loves you’ ‘Make the boys want more’

There is a shot of a boy, straight after a shot of the girls and the lyrics relate to this shot as it is clear that he is the love interest in the music video. Or so we are first lead to believe.

The girls undergo a change of outfit and clothes, from typical ‘geeks’ to fashionable, beautiful girls. This change suggests they have changed their appearance to make the boys want them, and puts out a negative message to young girls.

Dance Pop Music Video: Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me

‘Your on the phone with your girlfriend’

‘Laughing on a park bench’

‘You belong with me’

This shows the link between the two as the girls love interest in the music is shown on the phone and we immediately know by the lyrics that its to his girlfriend, this sets the tone of the video and we assume many themes of unrequited love.

This shows the girl and her love interest in a mid shot, and the bench is clearly visible. They are clearly having a nice conversation and we start to see potential for a future together in the story.

This is shown whilst the girl is lip-synching to the words on screen meaning they relate in two ways, as also it is clear through the focus pull that the boy only has eyes for the girl and is a nice conclusion to the narrative.

• My music video uses this characteristic, as it uses a relationship between lyrics and visuals to convey the narrative of the story. Within my music video, a lot of the visuals relate to the lyrics, such as when the lips are close up lip synching to the lyrics. I will show some examples of my music video using this characteristic in the next slide.

• Here are some of the conventions of the Genre and how our videos applied.

Use, Develop or Challenge?

‘There is a relationship between music and visuals’

Another characteristic that Goodwin theorised was that ‘there is a relationship between music and visuals’.

This is very common in the Dance Pop genre in particular as the editing has to be either fast or slow paced, to fit in well with the beat of the song. It is common that the visuals link to the music as the editing has to be fast paced depending on the music.

I applied this to my music and visuals of the song I chose (Desire by Years and Years) which I feel go together fairly well. I decided to look other music videos in the pop genre, and see if they had a relationship between music and visuals. We found that there are less links between this convention and our music video.

Use, Develop or Challenge? My music video arguably develops this characteristic. We tried to keep the slow parts of the music edited slowly and leaving clips on for longer and when the chorus kicked in we tried to make it faster. However, due to the amount of clips we had and how we chose to edit it, some shots are left on for a longer amount of time even when the beat chances to be more fast paced.

Furthermore the time when the music does become fast paced and the clips change to become edited faster we did to keep the audience engaged and interested in the narrative.

This adheres to Goodwin’s characteristic and also follows conventions of the Dance Pop Genre. As we included some slow clips whilst the music was fast we did this to create effect and subvert the Dance Pop Genre but we did this to subvert but also develop the idea it rather than challenge it.

The demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which occur across their work.

Another characteristic that Goodwin theorised was that ‘the demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which occur across their work’

In the Pop genre there are many close ups used for the artist, this is because the artist is presented as a Brand. For example artists such as Selena Gomez have videos with many close ups to portray her beauty, this leads on to her various different deals such as clothing lines, promotion of beauty products and films which she is involved in. This is an example of synergy and how the synergy is promoted for the artist, by showing the artist off and allowing the audience to connect with them.

In music videos, when the artists emotions are shown via extreme close ups it makes us feel more connected to them and engaged in the videos and perhaps more likely to purchase their album and this means that the record label will get more money and profit.

Motifs can be developed easily by various different artists which people can copy and allow them to feel closer to the stars. For example Micheal Jacksons motif was glove he wore on one hand, and Miley Cyrus’ motif became sticking her tongue out, which many people began to impersonate.

EXAMPLES Our video uses extreme close ups to show the character of Lois, not the artists as they do not appear in the video. The extreme close ups can translate a lot of emotion.

Pop Star Justin Bieber – Extreme Close ups

• Justin Bieber, in the images above, was starting out in his career and as a loved pop star adored by many teenage girls. Therefore the need to promote Justin Bieber as a brand, in order to create synergy and make more profit for him and the record label, is done by the use of extreme close ups.

• Later on in his career, the use of extreme close ups stopped, as Justin had made a large amount of money and therefore could just focus on his music, not needing to promote himself as a brand as he had developed a loyal fan base. Therefore it is clear that Justin didn’t want to be a part of his new music videos, and wanted to use them to be artistic with interpretive dance, shown before.

Use, Develop or Challenge? My music video challenges this convention as the artist (Cupid and Medusa) aren’t featured at all in the music video. Our actor however, Lois creates a clear image for herself and can promote herself to do other products through the music video. The band not being in the music video is less typical of the pop genre however Sia, a famous pop singer, is never in her own music videos. The audience may not feel connected to Cupid and Medusa as a band, due to the fact that they don’t appear in their products. However this gives them a sense of mystery and anonymity which can intrigue many people. Our bands motif is clearly mystery as they don’t appear in the video but it is very effective in engaging an audience through the various different characters and themes throughout their videos. This gives them more of a chameleon edge, as they can pick different actors to portray the various different narratives of their stories. The website is very bright and colourful, attracting a range of different people.

The fact that the genre is pop and our artist isn’t included in the video could be seen as strange and this definitely challenges the idea that the record label pressure the artist to include many close ups of the artist.

‘There is frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body’

Another characteristic suggested by Goodwin’s theory is that ‘There is frequent reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body’. This is common in the Dance Pop genre as many woman are shown to be dancing, or many woman may be shown to be sexual for the purpose of the music video.

This characteristic clearly links in with the ‘Male Gaze Theory’ suggested by Laura Mulvey where she suggested that a lot of the media is seen from the point of view of a heterosexual male.

This is definitely common in the Pop genre.

In our video Lois is shown in a dress, where she is looking in the mirror and adjusting her outfit which does adhere to the convention of voyeurism of the female body. Her legs are shown in the shot of her shoes which are a seductive part of the body, and also her hair is adjusted to see her neck which is also a seductive part of the body as it is not seen without moving hair.

Use, Develop or Challenge? Our video uses this idea, as our main character in the video, Lois, is a female who can be shown in a sexual way as she is shown to be putting lipstick on seductively, and getting ready, showing skin such as her legs. Although these are just normal aspects in the process of getting ready to go out, in the sense of voyeurism of the female body there are shots that can suggest the notion of looking.

The video also only has one brief appearance from a male in the music video, with only a quick flash of an eye appearing, this means that the video could necessarily be watched from a heterosexual males viewpoint. In my opinion, our video isn’t to be watched for females and isn’t seductive, only in certain ways. The main aspect of the music video is the narrative, this is why the video only uses the characteristic, not develops it because we don’t take voyeurism of the female body as our main element within our music video.

‘There is often intertextual references’

The last characteristic that Goodwin hypothesised was that there are ‘often intertextual references’ within music videos. Many music videos have intertextual references to other forms of media, for example films, music videos or books. There are many examples of these which I plan to explore in the next slides.

In the pop genre, intertextual references are often encouraged – due to the fact that it is such a wide genre and so many people listen to and watch pop music, as opposed to other genres which are less popular.

We chose to make this reference prominent throughout our video as we feel that the videos link in a way that the two girls are unsure of themselves, struggling with things and confused. The video includes strong female leads which links in with ours and we thought this reference was suitable to apply within our video.

https://gifs.com/gif/gJKzzD

Use, Develop or Challenge? My music video uses this theory as there is an intertextual reference within this. In our music video we used the ‘How Deep is Your Love’ video starring Gigi Hadid by Calvin Harris. This music video was about a girl who tries to find herself, I felt that it was applicable to our music video and people who have seen our music video and the Calvin Harris video will understand the references as we did them as close to the original as was possible.

Our CD and website however don’t use intertextual references, as we didn’t feel they would fit the genre, as they could have ruined the theme.