2. In the music video industry there are certain conventions that are mostly
always present and if we look close enough we can see these
commonalities in multiple videos therefore we can also imitate them or
challenge them with our own media product. Here is Andrew Goodwin’s
theory's of these conventions:
Andrew Goodwin says:
1. Genre characteristics are demonstrated though music videos.
2. Music videos will show the relationship between lyrics, music and
visuals.
3. Record Labels will demand for the artists to have a developed motif that
is present and recurs throughout the artists products.
4. Especially in male music videos there is frequent use of women in
derogatory ways.
5. A music video is either performance based or has a narrative structure.
6. Most music videos have references to other media products such as
other, music videos, television programmes and books , even other
artists.

3. Here we conformed to the
conventions held in a normal
music video, we didn’t just do
this shot to imitate the
conventions but we did this
because it is a lovely shot to
show case the main instrument
in the song. Also as this video
is actually acoustic, it allows us
to match the music with the
visuals also supporting
Goodwin’s theory, this is done
in many other music videos.
One example of this particular
shot is Lucy Spraggan’s
Mountains, although the shot
isn't exactly the same it still
serves the same purpose, as
both our artist and Lucy's main
instrument is the guitar it is
meant to highlight the use of
the instrument. Another way
these type of shots help the
music video is to split the video
up, it stops us from getting
bored of the artist and
interested in their talent.

4. In every music video you need a type
of establishing shot , this is apparent
in both our own video and the
professional video. This shot type
also makes us conform to Goodwins
theory as we have this reoccurring
image which allows us to show a
clear image and style which would
normally be an attempt at marketing
the image if it was up to a record
label. This also acts as a profile shot
so we can identify with the artist and
what they are about as we see the
different characteristics , even
appearance adds to the effectiveness
of the artist for example the shirts.
Like Lucy Spraggan’s style we chose
to dress our artist in chequered
shirt’s as a smart casual look and
straight hair all these things add to
the development and the perception
of the artist.

5. You never realise how much
gestures matter until you find out
the effect that that particular
gesture. When taking the first 2
shots we thought that it would be a
really nice cut-a-way , a way to
highlight one particular feature, but
after showing our video a couple
more times perceptions of the hand
gesture began to mean something
else. One particular thought was
that the hand on the railing
symbolised thinking of suicide but
then when the hand dropped from
the railing it meant that the artist
gave up on that idea.
Originally I thought concentrating
on the hands on the railings were
just nice creative shots but I
didn’t think the 2 could link
together and mean something
totally on its own. The 3rd image
is from another Spraggan video at
times it also concentrates on hand
movements. I though this was me
developing the conventions of a
music video before I saw this
video but then realised I was just
unconsciously conforming to the
conventions yet again.

6. During filming we just loved the look and the atmosphere
of Raphael's park that we wanted to get as much of it
as possible into the music video, within reason
obviously. The band stand gave us a wonderful view of
the lake and we thought that this would look really well
in this video. Each angle shows another side to the
location and you just have really nice artistic shots of
the artists. This conforms to the conventions of the
music video as it is meant to show a loneliness, this is
achieved by the trees without leaves and the posture of
her body. This has been done in many video’s but my
by far favourite use of this technique has to be
Evanescence’s – My Immortal, as you can see by the
screen shots each angle shows a different vulnerability
and their all so artistic it just fits very well with the
song, that is what I wanted to achieve with my own
music video of course Evanescence was able to do this a
lot more elaborately. Since this has been achieved
multiple time s it means that I am conforming to the
conventions, but this isn’t necessarily a bad conformity.

7. This is quite a typical
London shot it has been
done many times before
therefore I don’t feel like I’m
developing this shot but
conforming again, yet with
the same effect it makes in
Adele’s video’s. Having the
artist walk in a music video
also makes them seem like
they are walking through
their own journey or that
they are walking in their own
little world, this is very
effective as it make’s the
audience relate to the lyrics
more as they understand
that walking becomes a kind
of coping mechanism in the
visuals in a music video.

8. This shot is also quite popular it
seems to show the artists
struggling with their
problem, for that reason alone I
wanted this shot because it
shows how big the world is
compared to the individuals
problem. Unlike Adele's shot, my
own looks a bit more positive as
it is brighter and sunnier this
comes in line with the lyrics as
its saying “Let go ”. At this point
I'm conforming with the
conventions of a music video but
have also challenged them by
putting a more positive light
upon it.

9. Our own digipak was originally very
light, we later decided that the
theme of our digipak shouldn’t be
contradictory to our song, therefore
we made the digipak dark and
mysterious looking this is another
factor that conforms to the
conventions that Andrew Goodwin
stated. I got some inspiration from
the band “Band of horses” as I
admire most of there digipaks and
the style of there music
compliments their style.

10. On a digipak there is
always 1 picture that that
is only edited but hasn’t
got writing on it, I chose
this picture because I
believe that this particular
picture has a lot of
personality and fits very
well with the general feel
of the digipak. This is just
a simple picture
expressing a mysterious
nature. This is also
another convention that I
am conforming to
because this is often
done.

11. Originally our back cover was colour
as I liked the different colours that
appeared hen I took these pictures
close up to crystal. This picture
develop’s conventions as I haven’t
personally seen this done before but
I’m sure this concept has been
imitated before.

12. Although I didn’t create the advert
my self, I’m really impressed with
it as it has a surreal edge
considering the horses are lined it
gives a matrix kind of feel as if
she’s in an alternative universe.
This fits with the front cover of the
digipak as she is blended. This
develops the music conventions as
I’ve never seen this type of editing
before.
Challenges…..
Honestly there is only one convention
that we do challenge and that is
that we haven’t given a clear topic
or reason to why our artist wants
to “let go” normally the reason
would be relationship troubles but
we wanted our video to be able to
be generalised therefore accepting
anyone’s problems, no matter how
big or small .