1. A2 Media Studies Evaluation
Q1: In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?

2. Conventions of R&B music videos that we have achieved in our own
music video production
The R&B song genre have very conventional type videos and mostly follow a certain pattern.
• For example, most R&B video follows a romantic-type narrative that correlates with the song.
• R&B music videos, generally shows a performance (multiple times) with the artist lip-syncing the
song.
• R&B videos can also have quite a bit of product placement showing the products that the artist
used. Clothing is mostly shown and luxury goods.
• Change in costumes is very praised in R&B music video as they can be looked up to because of
their styles and this would be a good way to get the artist trending.
• The romantic story that is represented by the lyrics normally their stories revolving around a
woman or the person they like.
• The location of the music video ranges from the everyday environment in the artist’s home or
being in luxurious areas to show power that is shown in R&B music videos.
• Fan service for the audience is sometimes present to engage the audience into the song. Hand
gestures and intimate eye-contact with the camera represents the character of the artist and we
have address this a lot in our video as most R&B artist do this. Not only R&B artist but most pop
singers too.
The next slides will show the different conventions that we have used and also give analysis if we
followed the convention or if we took a more unconventional route for our music video.

3. For our music video, we have followed the typical conventions of R&B
music videos because they are most effective for this genre
The location for this
shot was chosen
because we want to
show a correlation
with the location and
also the sad nature of
the song. The ‘sepia-
like’ tone colours in
the shot matches
quite well also with
the costume of the
artist. The black
trench coat stands
out with our heavily-
This screen grab from our music video shows the lip-syncing performance that would be contrasted filter that
typical in R&B videos and all genres in general. We tried hard to represent our artist we applied to create
as the confident and emotional artist that the song is representing. In the screen grab, the emotional
we followed multiple conventions in this individual lip-sync sequence. Another atmosphere of the
convention that we used for this shot is the different gestures and facial expression song that many R&B
that creates the artist’s image in the video. The emotional hand gestures that we artists follow and
directed Connor to do was very effective to represent the mood in Craig David’s ‘Can adapt to.
You Feel Me’. This hits the conventional point of creating an image for the artist and
also showing fan service for the fans and I feel that this is very conventional or
essential for artists in music videos.

4. Another convention that we followed is the use of different costumes
for different locations:
The location that we used for this
shot has the opposite atmosphere
to the hard brick location for the
other costumes. We compliment
the location along with the
costume of the artist to show off
the fashion sense and style of the
artist. The strong colours that is
shown in this location lets us do
this. This is very important for an
R&B music video, to set up the
star’s persona.
Shown here in this screen grab is Connor wearing a red hoodie in this mid shot. This shot contrasts the
trench coat shots as we tried to show the contrasting atmospheres of the song and it’s meaning. For this
shot we toned up the brightness and focused on the bright colours such as the red from his hoodie.
Having this change of costume shows the audience variety and this technique is very conventional in R&B
videos. The artist fashionable and trendy style is also conventional in R&B videos so we present different
clothing styles that the audience could take notice of and make a trend. This is very typical for R&B music
videos due to the artist’s tastes.

5. Showing the narrative conventions of an R&B music video
In this shot, we have Connor facing his
reflection in the mirror. This shot connotes
him reflecting on what he did and suggest
regret and this shot is typical in R&B music
videos.
Another shot from the narrative sequence
is this mid shot of Connor lying down on
his bed. We have tried to stick to
conventions that are effective and we
chose that this is the most effective for
showing emotion and also give the
audience a relatable action that they might
have felt or done before.
We had plenty of ideas of adding a plot for our music video but we came to a conclusion that instead of
having a minute of just showing narrative pasted in our sequence, we just put the narrative as flash backs of
the artist regretting leaving the girl he likes. This narrative part of the music video is very similar to what
R&B artists have and the storyline is very typical as well. This is very effective as many audiences would be
able to relate to what was happening and this again, creates an image for the artist. The image that we have
created for the artist here is the more emotional and vulnerable character. We did these flashbacks to give a
story to our music video instead of just having performance aspects of the song.

6. Multiple lip-sync performances is present in R&B music videos and we
succeeded in creating a variation of lip-sync sequences.
We had 2+ locations for
each of the costumes.
This gives us a lot of
footage that we can edit
in post and I feel that it
was successful in getting
the right footage for lip-
syncing parts.
We utilized the power of post when we sequenced the edits of our multiple lip-sync sequences and this
really helped us in rhythmic editing (cutting in beat with the music) and cutting to different location
while keeping the lip-syncing in sync. Having plenty of lip-sync sequences is one of the conventions used
in R&B music videos. ‘Can You Feel Me’ is quite a fast tempo song and the beat is very catchy so we have
used rhythmic editing to cut in beat and show the different locations that we shot in. This keeps the
audience interested in the changes and immerses them in music video.

7. R&B music videos use material possessions to create a trend and to
cater to the audiences that would be interested in what the artist
wears In this shot, we focus on
the Converse shoes that
the artist is wearing and
we tried to have a tracking
shot that follows the
movement of the shot. The
dolly that we had wasn’t
effective in bumping
tracks so we had to
handheld it mostly.
However, we got this shot
effectively done and we
used it properly to show
the flow of movement in
the introduction.
To show this we took close-ups of the artist’s costume and this gives the stylish impression that the
young audience would be interested in. This caters to the young audiences more because they would
be the ideal audience as possessions would be more important to them in the recent years. The shot
that we have here is a low angle close-up of the artist’s footwear. The effect that we created for this is
to emphasise the artist’s trendy clothing that is very relevant and all R&B artist points out their own
clothing styles.

8. Hand gestures and facial expressions that addresses the audience and
this can also be fan service that the young audiences would
appreciate more.
Again, this appeals more to the younger audience as they would
be more likely to be ‘swoon’ by the fan service done by the artist.
We did this also to make the performance part of the music
video feel alive and not have dead lip-sync. R&B artists do this a
lot by having exaggerated hand gestures and movements that
would make the audience feel involved and related to the song
that the artist is singing. A specific example for this camera
interaction would be from Craig David’s music video for ‘Seven
Days’. This video has similar shots that would shows camera
interaction with the audience. This is effective in all music
videos as it makes music videos more animated and engaging. It
also creates the image for the artist in the music video.

9. Digipak conventions and what we used for our own digipak
Digipak can have 4, 6, or 8 panels. For the ‘Can You Feel Me’ Digipak, we took a 6 panel digipak
template and worked with it to create the artist’s digipak. There are specific conventions that all
digipaks need to follow and these specific conventions are:
• Digipaks always have the name of the artist around the album (usually at the front) and also the
album name.
• Track list is also present, inside the digipak or on the back of the digipak
• Promotional record label is always present
• Pictures of the artist. Mostly relatable to the theme of the title track
• Credits to the producers and people who constructed the album
For our digipak we used all of the necessities in a digipak and we have also added some features that
we felt appropriate for more recent digipaks. These features include:
• Social network mention for the artist
• Freebies that would involve the consumers and it involves the audiences too

10. The front page of the digipak. This is the main cover that portrays the
artist. The high contrast image of the artist along with the black suit.
The wall gives the mood a mellow feel that R&B artists can relate to.
The pose that the I used a white
artist is showing coloured font for the
here suggest text of the album
confidence. As the name ‘Can You Feel
costumes really Me’ as this would
emphasises a make the title stand
mature and out. This is also
sophisticated orientated towards
image. Recently, the left as due to the
R&B artist start to habit of people to
be more mature in read from left to
costumes rather right.
than the old-school
hip hop baggy style
that used to be a
trend before.
Below the title of the album, we placed a grey
coloured font of the artist’s name as we wanted to
follow the necessities of a digipak and this would
be able to promote the artist even more obviously
because they would know who the album is by.

11. This shows the back of the digipak and also the track list that we have
inputted the songs in. We decided to add in special extras that is now more
common in music albums such as the DVD extra, showcasing the music videos
and also a live performance of the title track added in.
Simple black
background along
We added the
that corresponds with
barcode to show
the white font.
authenticity of the
Having a simple back
album and all of the
cover makes the
artists have to do
people focus on the
this procedure. This
artist’s photos
is very typical and
throughout the
one of the many
digipak. The 6 panel
conventions that we
shows photos of the
decided to follow.
artist throughout to
give a variety for the
audience to see.

12. These are the other panels of the digipak that we have used to portray the
artist. These two panels shows credits to the producers and people who
helped construct the album. The added black panel also shows the content of
the album for example, the added videos and performance.
This page was placed in the inner panel of the
digipak. It shows a close-up shot of the artist. The Nowadays, the artist plugs in their social
effect that we used for this is the dreamy effect and it network username for the people who are
create a few vignetting in the photo. We used this interested as this creates publicity and
effect in all of the other photos in our digipak as it is provide current affairs about the artists. Fans
very effective in creative a dramatic mood and it also of the artist will be most likely be the
looks modern compared to the raw and untouched interested ones about the social network
photos. detail.

13. Magazine advert conventions and what we followed:
Magazine adverts have a simple primary purpose. The primary purpose is that you want it to
sell/promote the artist as much as possible. Newly released albums do this a lot to gain publicity
to the album and if the audience like it, they would most likely buy it. The conventions of
magazine adverts are:
• Should include the release date of the album
• Album/title track
• Image of the album cover
• Artist name
• Information about the album itself and show title tracks
• The information of where it can be bought
• Record label logo to promote the record label as well.

14. Magazine advert for ‘Can You Feel Me’ and the effective aspects that
we thought of to represent the artist.
The addition of the star Pretty conventional magazine
rating system, gives us the advert as the photo from the
initial review of the album album is present that the
that would show opinion audience could spot easily.
about the coming release.
Reminiscent font that That
We chose a short quote would be expected by the
because we wanted to lessen audience. This would seem
the text in the magazine like a small preview of the
advert to keep it simple but actual album.
effective and give the main
spotlight to the artist. The front cover showing just a
shot of the artist is very
The remaining text shown is conventional and effective as
the released date it introduces the image of the
information below. We artist. The spotlight kind of
placed it at the bottom of the effect emphasises the suited-
page because we felt that it up and mature image of the
would be appropriate and it artist.
won’t be distracting for the
readers. The record label logo is present as well because they would want to
advertise the artist’s record label and not only the artist themselves.