1. QUESTION 1: IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS
AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
BY LEWIS LLOYD
2. WHAT IS A CONVENTION?
• A convention is a certain theme or aspect of a media that will
reoccur during the text. For example, movies have genres that
each have their own separate conventions. In this case, different
types of music videos will have different conventions.
3. CONVENTIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS
Below are some of the conventions of music videos;
• Video represents something from the genre (Band performing for rock songs)
• A link between the lyrics and the visuals
• Lots of close ups of the artists
• Reference to looking
• Intertextual reference (references to something that exists in the real world.)
• Shaking camera (Rock music)
• Close ups of band performing (rock)
4. VIDEO REPRESENTS SOMETHING FROM THE GENRE -
USED
• For our music video, we in fact used this convention. Through out the video, we had
numerous shots of the band performing their music in different locations, fitting with the
theme of rock music. We also used the theme of chaos and not sticking to the rules, another
reoccurring convention of rock videos. We got some of this inspiration, obviously, from the
fact that it is a convention but from more specific bands that will be discussed on the next
page.
5. VIDEO REPRESENTS SOMETHING FROM THE GENRE -
EXAMPLE
• One video that can be used as an example here is New Found Glory’s – My Friends Over You.
In this video, it portrays the entire band on stage for the whole song, messing around and
wrecking the place. This hits both of the criteria for what we have used in our own video. Not
only do they have long shots of the band but they each have their individual close ups as we
do in our video. They also have the band set up in a similar fashion as we do in the video;
with the drummer in the back, the two guitarists by the sides and the singer at the front.
6. A LINK BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS - CHALLENGED
• We challenged this concept or this convention by not using it. Although we had many places
through out the song that we had the opportunity to use this convention, we felt as though it
didn’t fit the theme. In early development of the video, we had actually picked certain lyrics
that we could use with some of the visuals. However, these visuals would link to a completely
different story idea that we had. The only example is when the lyrics say “You can find me
underground” and the lead singer in our video (myself) points towards the floor.
7. A LINK BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS - EXAMPLE
• Going on from the fact that we did not use this particular convention, this
does not mean that we did not find people in our genre that did use the
convention. For example, Panic! At The Disco’s – Victorious uses this
convention all the time. Through out the video, the lyrics state that “tonight
we are victorious,” while onscreen, the lead singer is getting showered in
champagne and lifting cheques as if he has just won a boxing match. These
visuals link directly in with the lyrics.
8. LOTS OF CLOSE UPS OF THE ARTISTS - USED
This particular convention, we chose to use and use it a lot through the video. When
watching our video, audiences will notice that there are close ups of the lead singer, close ups
of the fingers of the guitarists and close ups of the drummer. Alongside these, audiences will
also notice that there are plenty of high or low angle shots of everyone. This is something
that we felt that we had to include as the band were the main focus for our video and
without these, it would just be straight narrative. Also, the point of a music video is to
showcase the band.
9. LOTS OF CLOSE UPS OF THE ARTISTS - EXAMPLE
• One particular video that we took inspiration from was All
Time Low’s – Something’s Gotta Give. During this video, we
see numerous shots of the lead singer and the rest of the band
from different angles, some of which have been transferred
from their video and you can see the inspiration in our video.
The angles are all similar and they serve the same purpose as
ours.
10. REFERENCE TO LOOKING - CHALLENGED
• We physically had to challenge this one. There are a few spots in the video
where we get shots of people looking at cabinets or looking into the camera
but we do not get any that we planned. In other videos, bands may fulfil this
requirement by having the members look outside of a window, into a window
or having them point to something off screen then having the whole band
look at it. However, for the narrative that we had chosen, we chose not to do
this.
11. REFERENCE TO LOOKING - EXAMPLE
• To find examples of this, we can look at many difference videos. One below is
from Fall Out Boy’s – Dance, Dance where a teenage boy throws rocks at a
girls window and gets her to look out of it. Another is from, again, All Time
Low’s – Something’s Gotta Give where we see the narratives version of the
lead singer looking in a window to stare at his reflection.
12. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES - CHALLENGED
• During the making of our video, we had not come across any intertextual
references that we felt that we could use during our song. Using some of the
earlier ideas for our narrative, we had plans to have the main character of the
narrative using things like iPods to listen to the bands music and things like
that. However, as plans changed, our video had to be changed too. In the final
version, we eventually ended up with no intertextual references that felt like
they made sense. If we had used them, it would have just seemed as if we
had used them because we could or had too.
13. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES - EXAMPLES
• One example of this below is from Good Charlotte’s – I Just Wanna Live. The video follows
the band as they make a name for themselves as “The Food Group”. However, one shot pans
out and we see their CD complete with “Parental Advisory” stickers on it. This makes a
reference to something that would exist in the real world if “The Food Group” were a real
band. Next to that, we have an example from Wheatus – Teenage Dirtbag where the song
sings about having tickets to go and see the band Iron Maiden live. As these lyrics are sung,
the girl puts the tickets down on the table. This band is something hat exists outside of the
narrative world and can, therefore, be classed as an intertextual reference.
14. CAMERA SHAKING AND OTHER EDITING NOTES
• As with most rock videos, the editing will have to be fast with mainly short
takes. The camera movements will have to be erratic and there will more
often than not be few moments of stability in performance sections.
Sometimes, this is contrasted using slow motion beside the fast paced editing.
we used all of these techniques in our video. As you see, while the band are
performing, the camera is rocking from side to side, while the narrative is
happening, handheld cameras are being used and as the lead singer falls
backwards onto the bed, slow motion is used. These are all edited together
with cuts and barely and other transitions. We did use more than cuts in our
video but the majority was cuts. Bands that are good to look at videos for
these type of editing skills are either Fall Out Boy or New Found Glory
(Specifically videos like “One More Round” and “This Ain’t a Scene”).
15. ANCILLARY TASKS
• The one band that we took most of our inspiration from for our two ancillary tasks was A Day
To Remember. Their posters seemed to capture the essence of what we wanted to portray
through our band. Their promotional work was simple, clean and looked very good. The
stylistic use of mainly two colours prompted us to use the simple colours of red and black.
However, we had to take our own inspiration for the poster background as two block colours
did not seem to work well for our band. However, A Day To Remember and their rebellious
roots gave us some much needed help.
