Media evaluation for A2 music video project. Question one.

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

2. What is the purpose of a music video
and why are they so popular?
A music video is a message to the audience. Its purposes are to
entertain and promote artists whilst promoting brands. But it's mainly
to promote the song. A music video or song video is a short film
integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic
purposes.

3. In what ways has our music video used forms
and conventions of real media products?
When planning for our music video we wanted to replicate aspects of some of our favourite singers music
videos. For example, a lot of our inspiration for the shots through out our music video came from Lana Del Rey
videos. So we used similar editing techniques to create a likeness and a soft feel to our music video. We used
vintage filters on premium pro to increase the brightness and intensity of the colours like in Lana's videos. We
adapted some of the forms we have seen in real media products such as the layering of footage to create a
collage look with lots of visually interesting footage and colours. We also used snap shots of the footage to
make them look like captures of time to create that home footage form. We used colour schemes and fonts to
create a professional feel and keep a strict continuity throughout the products we did research into what
elements digipaks typically have in order to produce the most life like product we could. We also researched
into band websites and what features they tend to have. We found Instagram a most popular choice to share
news, images and footage to represent our band.

4. Conventions of a music video/Genres
and sub genres
Do artists need to adhere to conventions? Genres can limit the artist creatively, visually and
stylistically. Sometimes behaviour can be controlled by producers and the expectations of
audiences. In some cases music videos are produced to adhere to ideas at the time. Artists could
conform to the zeitgeist.
Andrew Goodwin created a theory which involved 6 features of a music video:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
2. there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals.
4. the demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the
artist may develop motifs which recur across their work.
5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the
female body.
6. There are often intertextual reference.
So in what ways did our music video use, develop or challenge this particular theory?
1.

5. How did we use conventions
Throughout our music video we tried to adhere to some of Goodwin's typical conventions but at the same time
challenge some aspects. Firstly we did demonstrate genre characteristics through out our music video as we
were aiming to represent the indie rock genre, whilst incorporating some vintage and personal look to the
footage like Lana Del Rey. Our first inspiration came from Wolf Alice whose song we used to create our music
video. We researched into their album covers and what kind of themes their music videos tend to have. We
really liked the idea of doing a friendship themed music video full of hand held footage and natural shots, which
fit perfectly with the genre conventions of indie rock. In a lot of our favourite music videos a lot of the filming is
done in outdoor locations and including multiple elements and people. For example in Lana Del Rey's ‘Video
games’ some of my favourite scenes include outdoor locations, which give it a unique and spontaneous feel. We
decided to work with the lyrics and visuals to a certain extent, I took really inspiration from the lyrics in the song
“Ill keep you safe, you’ll keep me strong” which really drove the ideas and content we decided to use. The
message of loyalty, friendship and love conveyed through the lyrics of the song inspired our music video,
however we did not have direct links with visuals and lyrics, more of a range of interpretations and influences.

6. The male gaze and conventionsOne of Andrew Goodwin's conventions is “There is frequently reference to notion of looking and particularly
voyeuristic treatment of the female body.” Ever since we learnt this theory this convention in particular has
stuck with me. The exploitation of females through art forms can both be empowering and dehumanising. In
some ways the notion of looking, I believe, is outdated. A woman is strong and beautiful, the notion of looking
should not be used as predatory or insulting but instead the notion of looking in awe of the beauty and
strength of a woman, with respect and admiration. I find the use of voyeuristic treatment of women very
dated and really in our day and age should not still be happening. The use of women for voyeuristic purposes
can be seen as empowering to some women but to the extent of dehumanisation and disrespect is completely
unacceptable in our creative art forms. I wanted to take this opportunity of creating an art form to represent
women in a positive and empowering light. We chose not to include any males in our music video to represent
the importance of relationships with friends and the power and happiness women can find through art forms
such as music and also the power that can be found from friendship and beauty. The male gaze theory created
by Laura Mulvey (1975) looks at the way women look at themselves and how women look at other women. I
think its so important to bring support and kindness to humanity. I think the use of the media over the past 30
years or so has in some ways made it acceptable for women to call each other “sluts, slags, whores” the use of
social media to tare other women down is not doing anything for gender equality. By people using these terms
to call each other by makes it seem like its acceptable to use these derogatory terms regularly. We tried to
combat all elements of the male gaze theory, we made our female characters strong and happy as opposed to
being objectified or represented as a sexual fantasy.

7. In what ways could be further have pushed the
use, develop and challenge forms and
conventions of media products?
In some ways we did use forms of real media products to create a
professional quality to our music video. However in many ways we
developed forms through editing, content and effects. We were inspired by
the indie rock genre to create something individual with intense colours and
quick paced editing. However we incorporated different elements of genres
such as baroque pop which involve collaborations of footage and narrative,
which we used to represent the theme of friendship. We have also included
pop elements such as the close ups of the lip syncing which is quite typical of
that genre. If we were to produce our music video again, I would include
different characters and story lines to challenge what we typically see in a
music video. Like Altman argued in ‘no such thing as genre’, genre is
progressive, like he suggests, a new formula needs inventing in order to
regain appeal to audiences. I would focus on making conventions more
individualised and focused as an art form like many of our inspirations.