media

1. QUESTION 1: HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS USE
OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS AND HOW
DO THEY REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS AND
ISSUES?

2. Fatima- “Biggest Joke of All”
This music video features a lot of mid and establishing
shots, which is a key convention in R&B artist’s videos, to
keep the audience engaged with the narrative and the
locations that the narrative is built around.
Location shots feature heavily in this video to symbolise
“Fatima’s” star image, as the video revolves around what
her life would’ve been like growing up.
Our product
Our music video features a lot of close-up shots of
Faderera lip-syncing to give the effect of her speaking to
the audience directly, deepening the connection between
artist and audience.
Similar to Fatima, mid-shots feature a lot in the video,
particularly of Faderera’s costume and body language,
emphasizing the glamorous tone of the video.
Mid-shots of the dancers are also heavily featured in our
music video to help illustrate the chilled, yet sassy tone of
the video.

3. Jorja Smith – “On your own” Our product
Slow motion shots are a common convention of R&B
music videos. For example, a slow-motion shot is used to
show Jorja blowing bubble gum. A slow-motion shot is
effective here as it heightens her happiness and child-like
behaviour in this moment, connecting further
emotionally with the audience.
Jump cuts are also prevalent in this music video. The
jump cuts are effective in showing the images of the
book in the video as it keeps the audience engaged and
intrigued.
Our music video features both jump cuts and slow
motion shots. Most of the slow-motion shots were
centred around the dancers performances which
helps to highlight their sexy dance moves and
emphasize the chilled atmosphere of the video.
The use of jump cuts are also used. The use of jump
cuts in this video are very effective as it keeps the
audience intrigued to watch the rest of the video, as
new shots and scenes are presented throughout the
video at different times.

4. Ella Mai : “Trippin” Our product
The use of lighting , especially bright colours is a key
convention of R&B music videos. In Ella Mai’s video,
the use of purple and blue light emphasize her
feelings for this person that she is singing about, as
purple is a colour that connotates with love. The use of
blue light also emphasizes the chilled out vibe of the
song, as blue is often associated with the sea, which
people often find calming.
The use of candles are also used in this video, which
emphasizing the cosiness and warmth of this particular
scene.
The use of bright colours are also used in my R&B
artist’s music video. For example, the main lighting
we had was the bright white light shining through the
gaps that we created in the set, making the light look
gold, emphasizing the sophisticated atmosphere of
the video.
Similar to Ella Mai’s music video, we chose to have
the dancer's silhouettes in purple lighting to make the
dancer’s stand out more. We also chose pink lighting
as well as the purple to further emphasize the
femininity of the artist.

5. JGrrey- “Growing” Our product
In Jgrrey’s music video, she is wearing very casual, quite
urban-looking everyday clothes, for example an Adidas
tracksuit and jeans and a coat, suggesting that her star
image surrounds staying humble despite her being in the
public eye. Casual, urban street clothing is a common
convention in R&B artists, as they want to feel relatable to
their target audience.
In our music video, Faderera is wearing a sequin
jumpsuit with glittery high heels for the majority of the
video and a pink sparkly bandeau with white jeans and
heels for one of the scenes. These two costumes help
emphasize the glamorous and feminine atmosphere of
the video, as glitter and sparkles are often associated
with glamour and girly-ness. However, these costumes
contrast greatly with JGrrey’s music video, as well as the
vast majority of female R&B artist’s videos, hence
coming to the conclusion that we have challenged this
convention of costume. However, we chose to have the
dancers in plain black dresses to emphasize Faderera’s
importance in the video- a common convention in R&B
videos.

6.  Both Ella Mai and Jorja Smith have their track listings on the back cover, with an image surrounding it to keep
the audience engaged whilst viewing it. However, Ella Mai does not have the title of her album on the front
cover whereas Jorja Smith does. Furthermore, both artists have the “parental advisory” sticker on the front
cover, which is a common structural convention of R&B digipaks as most R&B songs contain swearing and rude
language. It is also an institutional requirement to have this sticker on the digipak.
 Similarly, our digipak also has the parental advisory sticker on the front cover alongside the title of the album
and her name as well as the track listings on the back cover, hence conforming to the structural conventions of
R&B digipaks.

7.  Kehlani and Rihanna’s digipak front cover both feature a close-up shot of their face, taking up most of the album
space. The purpose of this is to attract their target audience as having their face on the album makes it clear that
it belongs to them, rather than having a symbolic picture or drawing. Similarly, our digipak front cover features a
close-up shot of Faderera’s face, to highlight her sassy personality, hence conforming to the conventions of an
R&B artists digipak. The colours featured in all three digipaks are very similar, as they all contain pink and red
tones which could be symbolising their femininity. Also, the album titles in all three digipaks are white which could
be symbolising the artist’s purity/innocence. The font style we used in our digipak is similar to the font style used
in Rihanna’s album, as it is a style that is quite plain and straightforward. We wanted to use this particular font
style to emphasize Faderera’s star image of being honest and real as a person, both towards her fans and her
friends and relatives.

8. Our homepage on Faderera’s website consists of of her name, newest album, social media links on the left
side of the page and menu headers situated on the right side. Having Faderera’s newest album on the
homepage entices her audience to buy it. On the other hand, Beyoncé's homepage consists of various images
throughout her career, which gives fans a more in-depth insight into her previous successes. The menu
headers are situated on the side of the page in a bar set-up with links to separate pages. Even though the
structure of her website is different to Faderera’s, we do have similar menu headers such as tour and music.
However, the structure of Kehlani’s homepage is very similar to Faderera’s. For example, both homepages
feature the artists newest albums and their names in the middle of the page above the album. However the
only difference between them is that Khelani’s homepage doesn’t have any menu headers.

9. We chose a red background for our website as it matches the background of the digipak which we thought was
both aesthetically pleasing for the audience, the colour red also represents love which is a key theme in
Faderera’s songs, and it emphasizes the connection between these two products in Faderera’s overall music
campaign. We chose to have all text in white as it stands out behind the red background and we thought the
colour white goes well with red. Similarly, Nicki Minaj’s website features a lot of text in white and goes very well
with the light pink background of the website which stays the same throughout. The colour pink emphasizes
femininity which is the vibe Nicki Minaj could’ve been going for. Also, Nicki’s signature is featured on the
homepage which helps the audience feel more connected to her, as a signature feels more personal than just the
title of her name.
However, Rihanna’s website is set out in black and white which emphasizes the classy and glamorous tone of the
website. The black and white also heightens Rihanna’s fierce and bold personality which is shown through the
array of images on her homepage. Rihanna’s website is similar to Faderera’s in terms of star image, as they both
portray the artists as fierce and bold women, which is a common trait of female R&B artist’s.

10. Our artist, Faderera challenges stereotypes of women in wider society. For example, the song “Say IT” is a very
flirty and feisty song and this song helps to showcase Faderera’s star image of being a bold and fierce women
who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, emphasizing the “realness” of her persona. You can tell she has these
characteristics through her performance in the video, for example she looks directly at the camera when lip-
syncing, emphasizing her sassiness and doing various sa poses throughout the video, making her look even
more confident and sure of herself. Therefore, Faderera is challenging the stereotype of women, in terms of
women being portrayed in society as weak, and spineless, who can’t stand up for themselves or speak their
minds because they’re scared of what people may think, and therefore need a man to come in and save the day.
Faderera is everything this stereotype is not, and therefore is a brilliant role model to her target audience,
which will mostly be young girls and women as through her star image and music, she is showing her audience
that women can be strong, independent and most importantly, confident.

11. Faderera conforms to the stereotypes of ethnicity in terms of R&B artists, as the majority of artists, especially
female R&B artists in the music industry, come from an afro-Caribbean background. Faderera is also a positive
role model in the black community as well as amongst other black female artists in the music industry as the
music industry is known in some people’s opinion as being institutionally racist, and Faderera is showing
through her music and star image that you can succeed despite your ethnicity and that you should stay true to
who you are and where you came from. In the black community in wider society, discrimination is still very
high, especially in the Criminal Justice System, which has lead to an increase over the years in black arrests
which is what Faderera is trying to get away from. She is trying to change people’s opinions of black people
and to show them that underneath, we are all the same and deserve every success in life, hence challenging this
stereotype.

12. The dancers in our music video emphasize Faderera’s star image of being a strong, sassy confident woman,
therefore challenging female stereotypes. For example, we chose to cast female dancers instead of male to
symbolise female empowerment in society, which in my opinion, is sometimes lacklustre. We showed this
female empowerment by having the dancers surround Faderera in every scene, symbolising the support they
are giving her and the support that women should have for one another in wider society. We chose to position
Faderera slightly in front of the dancers to show her importance in the video, but directed her to interact with
the dancers through gestures and facial expressions to emphasize that the empowerment and connection
between them is still prevalent throughout the video. Also, the dancers dancing in silhouettes symbolises the
fact that we are all the same underneath and can achieve just the same or even more than men can, as you can’t
see their faces only the outlines of their bodies emphasizing the fact that what’s on the inside counts.