1. QUESTION 1 – IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS.

2. My media product works well when compared and contrasted to other
media products of the same genre and style, not only does it develop and
challenge different forms and conventions of real media products, it also
takes inspiration and uses certain aspects from other texts, the first being
the title of the music video. The name of the song ‘Hey Brother’ and the
Artist Avicii, matches the narrative of the music video as it focuses on two
brothers with major differences when it comes to relationships, one
brother abusing the girl physically and mentally, and the other brother
trying to save her giving the narrative fairy tale like conventions making
the video a pastiche to that approach, the lyrics that are used in the song
are also parallel with the action on screen, this is commonly used on
music videos within the pop genre. The song can also be classed as a
mainstream song at the moment, meaning that it should follow similar
conventions.

3. The music video follows Nick Lacey’s repertoire of elements, the setting
of the music video is a suburban environment, this being common in the
pop genre, the house, the secluded hill all follow conventions of the
romance approach that this music video uses. The settings are
consistent with what the spectator would expect from feature film for
example, the mise en scene uses aspects from film narratives which is
used quite frequently in the creation of music videos of any genre such
as the pathetic fallacy when it begins to rain in the suburban area, this
creates a juxtaposition between the mood and the setting, which in some
ways challenges conventional approaches to music videos as the
spectators wouldn’t expect this. The scene where the good brother is sat
on the hill to think about the events that just happened develops what is
expected, I used this as a way to make use Neale’s mental machinery
as the record labels have seen that the audience respond well to this
and they have used it in a lot of pop music videos following a romance
approach.

4. The characters in my media product follow Propp’s character roles,
the Hero, the villain and the princess needing to be saved, the
spectators expect this so it doesn’t challenge the original conventions
too much as the video still needed to appeal to the intended audience.
Binary oppositions are clear in this music video between good and
evil, the protagonist wearing bright clothing compared to the
antagonist wearing dark; this is shown with the use of medium and
close ups to show the tension between the two, and to also show the
contrast between colours of clothing.

5. The narrative is one of the main areas of the music video that
challenges original conventions; the central topic being domestic
abuse and because the type of video is narrative/elliptical, the video
follows a very strong topic that could affect people in different ways,
so this was used to make it stand out from other media products of
the same genre, all of the characters in the narrative are portrayed
initially as equal, there is no clear antagonist, it is then with the use of
camera angles such as medium shots of the two brothers two show
their oppositions and the close ups of the girls reaction to the good
brother, that we see how the narrative is going to unfold, this makes
use of Todorov’s 5 part narrative, begins in a state of equilibrium,
disruption, notice of the disruption, attempt to resolve the disruption
and return to the equilibrium, even though the end could be argued as
a disruption, the narrative shares similarities to music videos by artists
such as Olly Murs which this video took inspiration from. The
disruption leaves the audience with an enigma leaving them to make
their own interpretation of what just happened, following Barthes
hermeneutic code.

6. According to Halls encoding and decoding theory, the themes of
domestic abuse are implied, they have been encoded into the text so
the audience can decode them however they want, however the topic
of domestic abuse that has been encoded into the narrative almost
follows the hypodermic model as there is only one view that social
problem, which in some ways challenges conventional encoded topics
and connotations, the character types and their roles which are
features of the genre make the audience interpret them in a particular
way. Leotards grand narratives have also been encoded into this
media text as feminism, so according to the music video there is no
death of the grand narratives.

7. Finally is how the use of camera work and special effects uses,
develops or challenges conventions of real media products. Like most
surreal, elliptical areas of music videos, this music video uses high
contrast to give the impression of a dreamlike state that the spectators
may not understand the first time, but when re-watching the music
video they would understand the use of this effect, a lens flare has
also been used on the opening shot to give the video an upbeat mood
and show the spectators that this is currently in a state of equilibrium.

8. Opening establishing shots are commonly used in music videos to set the
scene for the target audience; we developed this by adding effect to set the
mood. The camera work throughout is quite stereotypical of the pop genre,
especially in main stream songs, there is a lot of close ups and medium
shots during Todorov’s state of equilibrium to show that the woman is
trapped and to create a sense of isolation for the characters, and when the
disruption happens long shots appear to show the freedom of the hero and
the princess, it only returns back to medium shots when the two brothers are
in shot creating a sense of sibling rivalry which is sometimes used in the
romance. Low angle shots also show power and heroism of the good
brother. In conclusion I believe that this music video uses and develops
conventions of real media texts more that it challenges conventions with the
odd exception of the narrative following a powerful topic, the narrative
structure, character types are all used and developed from other texts.