1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Siobhan Fox
Evaluation Question One:

2. First I am going to look into the conventions
I used, developed and challenged from my
Music Video
My definition of conventions:
Conventions within a media context is something the producer uses when
making a product so that the audience know straight away what genre
the product is from.
Question One

3. When researching into the POP genre I analysed quite a few
different, already existing music video’s by artists such as Jessie
J, Little Mix and Stooshe to establish the conventions they have used
in their videos so I could use and develop them to make my music
video look and feel like a real POP video. These are the conventions
I picked out that I used:
Question One
- Performers are established first
- Shot types
- Fast pace editing
- Mise en scene
- Green screen
- Lighting

4. At the very beginning of most POP music videos it is the performers
who are established first so as a group we took this into account and
began our music video by establishing performance shots with the
singers first:
Question One
Jessie J’s music video My music video

5. I found out that the shot types within POP music videos are mainly mid shots and
close ups so I took this into account when planning and filming my music video so I
could use these shots in mine, such as:
Question One
Little Mix and Jessie J’s music video My music video

6. Stuart Hall - Theorists
Question One
Stuart Hall is a media studies theorist who came up with the
Encoding and Decoding theory. This was a basis of three main
concepts;
The dominant reading – positioning the audience
The negotiated reading – audience partly agree
The oppositional reading – audience feel opposite

7. The certain shots types used with in my music video which may use the dominant
reading and position the audience to how they feel about the performers as well
as the characters in the narrative scenes. For example the group mid shots may
show that the performers are friends and happy whereas the close ups and mid
shots on the performers in the narrative scenes may make the audience feel upset
and position them to feel sorry for the girl being bullied.
Stuart Hall – Continued
Question One
Friendship Upset - bullying

8. I tried to do this with in my section of the music video and I think that it worked well
as it went with the beat and is exciting for the audience to watch and from my
questionnaire I found out that my target audience like to watch fast pace editing.
Question One
For example on the lyrics ‘ready steady go’ I edited three separate clips together.
Again on the lyrics ‘waste my life’ I edited three separate clips together.
Ready GoSteady
Waste LifeMy
A common convention used in the POP genre is fast pace editing to the
beat, this is due to the fast pace song and along with the bright colours makes
it exciting for the audience to watch.

9. The POP genre is known for its fashionable clothing and when I researched into the
different outfits and makeup the performers wear it is seen to be colourful and
fashionable so we decided to take this into consideration when filming our music video.
Question One
Colourful hair Bright lipstick
Fashionable clothing
Mise en scene

10. Green screen is used in some POP music videos as it is exciting for the audience to watch as
they are of a young age and makes the video more interesting, this is a convention which we
used in our music video. We gave each character their own background to show that even
though they are in a group they are still individuals with different personalities, this was used
in Little Mix’s music video. In some cases the same backgrounds flows throughout the video
and this is what we decided to do.
Question One
Little Mix’s backgrounds
Our backgrounds

11. Lighting in the POP genre music videos are always bright because they are fast beat and
have an exciting feel. This is a convention I used in my music video as well as picking bright
backgrounds for the green screen, I done this by at first using studio lights but then on
Adobe Premiere Pro I brightened the clips.
Question One
Bright backgroundBright lighting

12. Summary of USE
I have looked in detail at what conventions are
used in the POP genre music videos and taken
the parts that I think would work well and from
the finished product I think they have worked as
it makes it seem as if it is a real music video and
this is the effect I was going for.
Question One

13. For my music video I wanted to be able to
take some concepts and conventions from
original, already existing POP music videos
and develop them to make the video seem
like our own and not been copied from
others.
Question One

14. Question One
We did this in many ways, such as using the split screen with the use of green screen so we
could put in our unique backgrounds. We originally took the idea from Little Mix’s split screen
however developed it because there are three singers in our group compared to their four, so
changed the direction of the split screen.
Our split screen Little Mix’s split screen

15. The music videos I have analysed have only had one or two different backgrounds, mainly
white and green screen whereas we wanted to develop this and add another screen to add
more variety and make it more interesting, we done this by adding a black screen which is
not used as much as other coloured screens.
Question One
Green screen
Black screen
White screen

16. Within the music videos I have looked at group vs. solo shots and they do not
seem to be of a equal ratio, the solo shots seem to be used a lot more than group
shots so we wanted to develop this to make them equal.
Question One
Group shots Solo shots

17. Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs
Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs suggests that there are five basic
section that a person wants and needs in life which are:
Question One
From this I can take that the group shots in my music video represents a need of
friendship with in the third section of the hierarchy.

18. The shot types in POP genre music videos are mainly mid shots therefore we wanted
to develop this by adding more shots types such as long shots, close ups and extreme
close ups.
Question One
Extreme close up
Close up Long shot

19. Summary of DEVELOP
I feel that the conventions I have chose to
develop have worked well as they did not need
to be changed completely but if I used them as
they were it would have made it seem that I
copied the music video, therefore by doing this
it has made it my own.
Question One

20. I wanted my music video to try and be original
and creative therefore I wanted to challenge
some conventions of POP genre music videos,
this meant creating ideas that are not commonly
known for these music videos.
Question One

21. One convention that is not common in POP genre music videos is having narrative involved.
We thought that the video would be much more interesting and exciting for our target
audience if we added narrative, therefore constructed a storyboard on bullying which may be
something the audience could relate to. Plus, when I sent out my questionnaire to my target
audience I found out that they wanted there to be narrative within the music video. I feel that
this worked well and gave our video something to follow.
Question One
Shot establishing the girl walking past
the bullies at the beginning of school
Mid shot to show the bullies behind
the girl representing the bullying

22. Todorov’s theory
Todorov’s theory suggests that there are five stages of narrative
which are;
1) Equilibrium
2) Disruption
3) Recognition of disruption
4) Attempt to repair damage
5) State of new equilibrium
This can be seen to go with my music video as we have
introduced narrative and there is a beginning where they fall
out, the teacher then notices this bullying and then it is
resolved, usually within a music video there is no narrative
therefore ours challenges this and introduces Todorov’s theory.
Question One

23. Within our group we felt that the clothing in the POP genre may not be suitable for our
target audience age as it may seem too provocative with the low cut tops and short
skirts, so therefore we wanted to challenge this by wearing clothing suitable for the age of
our audience and be covered up.
Question One
Our video – covered up
Little Mix’s video – not as appropriate

24. Another convention which is not commonly known to be used is different angles, such as
left/right and high/low but I wanted to challenge this and add more of a variety to make it
more interesting. I done this by not only adding the more common angles such as left and
right but by adding a moving effect which travels past all of the performers on the right
side, this worked really well as it added more variety.
Question OneRight angle
Left angle Moving camera

25. Summary of CHALLENGE
The conventions I have challenged have also
worked well because it makes it more interesting
and suitable for the target audience as well as
adding certain camera movements it makes the
music video more creative and original.
Question One