Media Evaluation Question1

1. In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Question 1 – Marlyn Ukah

2. The purpose
ResearchResearch PlanningPlanning EvaluationEvaluation
My main task was to get in a group of three and create a music video, which was within our own choice.
We got to chose which music genre that we wanted to pick from and what sort of music that we wanted
to work with. To be able to do this I had to make sure that I was aware of the different genres that where
available which meant that I had to carry out research in finding the kind of music that was listened to
around the globe, this enhanced my understanding of the music genre, as well as researching about the
music genre I also had to look at the different theories and theorist that come under the music video. That
was beneficial as it has allowed me to mentally start planning the way in which I wanted my video to be
portrayed.
Also alongside the music video we created ancillary products which where to compliment our music video
during the release of the album.
Knowing the difference between digipak and advert was beneficial as it helped know how to design each
of those products and how we wanted the artist to be portrayed in both of them.

3. Artist Similar to my idea
■ When thinking of what we wanted our artist to be represented as we looked at real modern
examples of artists that already exists, we looked at artists such as ….
■
LADY
GAGA
I like the way in which Lady Gaga portrays her
ideas and beliefs in her videos, which is something
that I wanted to be able to do in my video to
portray the unconventional ideas and beliefs of
the artist through her actions and facial
expressions.
Florance and the Machine, the way in
which she carries herself in her music
videos is admirable, she showcases power
and strength even though some of the
things that she is doing might not be
normal in the mainstream culture, this also
wanted to portray I wanted my artist to
showcase her self in a unique way with
strength and power

4. Identifying Music Video
conventions
■ I think that we have followed the conventions that are expected in a music video
because we have made sure that there is a link between the lyrics and the
images on the screen. Of course before we could create our music video we had
to carry out extensive research, so my group and I decided to go and watch
music videos from the past and look at the recent ones, to see what was
common in all music videos so that we could also make sure that our music
video also has the conventional background.

5. Theory
Goodwin- Andrew Goodwin states that there are
8 aspects in a music video.
1.Narrative and Performance
2. Star Image
3. Relations of visuals and the song
4. Notion of looking
5. Technical Elements
6. Performance, narrative or concept based
7. Relationship between lyrics and visuals
8. Genre Characteristics
Dyer- Star image
When prepping our ideas at the beginning of the
production we wanted to be able to make sure
that our artist was someone who was
comfortable in her own skin. We made sure that
we presented our star in a way that would
promote her ideologies, in the way that she
behaved throughout the music video. This was
done by the way that we made our artist look, we
wanted her to have that original, unique look that
mainstream artist wouldn’t usually have, by the
way that she looked and dressed we where
already able to showcase her beliefs making her
appealing to the audience.

6. Theory
■ Adorno- Adornos theory
states that the music video
especially mainstream music
videos represent and promote
the mainstream values and
lifestyle, his theory was used by
us as we showcased some
hobbies that the mainstream
public would be into such as
dancing, reading etc.
■
Mulvey- We never planned on our artist to
have a sexual effect on the audience, rather we
wanted her to impact the audience in a thought
provoking way. So we decided to go against the Male
gaze theory. Due to the fact that our narrative was not
based around the female but rather the female
finding love.
But on the other hand we also challenged
Adornos theory, by making sure that our artist
was not portraying the typical mainstream
values.

7. Identifying Angles
■ From looking at artist that we thought where similar to NYX we identified ways in
which in their video camera angles where used to identify the artist and also
portray the narrative or in our case narrative and concept. We decided to use
High angles because even though our artist held some kind of power we still
wanted our audience to look at our artist in a different way rather than look at
her in a admiring kind of way, we wanted the audience to also connect and
sympathise with the artist, and we decided to do that through the use of high
angles. This is seen in last male shots of the artist when she is singing at the
end before she come face to face with her love.

8. Shot sizes
■ After making sure that I watched existing music videos, I was able to see what sort of shot
size that was expected from an alternative RnB music video, it was evident that most
music videos in that genre consisted of close ups and longshots n the artist supporting
Dyers Star image theory. Due to this I also felt like it was necessary for my artist to be
shot in similar ways.
■
■
Looking at some of the artist that I
specifically got inspiration from
artist such as Florence and the
Machine and also Sia, I saw how
the camera shot sizes where
carried out close ups on their faces
where there to allow the audience
to connect with the artist.
The long shots, in the existing videos where used to
show presence and importance on the artists, which
is what we wanted to show in our artist as well so
we decided to also go with the idea of a longshot to
portray the importance of our artist to the audience.

9. Mise En Scene
Lighting and Colour
■ The genre we picked and use is known for having colours that are dark and
mysterious, so we decided to go along with the stereotype and chose to go along
with a dark colour scheme throughout, we chose colours such as red, blue,
purple to enhance the mysterious effect that we wanted the audience to feel.
These colours also are known to represent danger and passion which is
portrayed through our artist as she's this mythical person looking for some one
to love.
■
■ We used mostly low key lighting to enhance the power that she holds and also to
add extra effect.

10. Setting
■ Looking at music videos that held a similar concept allowed to see the sort of setting that
was expected in an Alternative R&B, we chose to follow the conventions but also switch
it up, we picked a underpass which held a dangerous vibe to it, to showcase the scenes
where the boys where fighting to give it a more natural feel.
■
■ The artist we decided on, we put in a dark room to enhance the mysterious vibes and also
give her an isolated vibe.
Underpass
The street

11. Iconography
■ From the beginning we knew that our artist was going to be a niche artist, that mean
that to represent her ideas and ours we would have to use iconography. We
looked at modern examples of artist similar to NYX and found that the
iconography that was being used was irregular from the ones that are found in
the mainstream genre. We decided to go against the convention of using odd
iconography and decided to use iconography that went along with the narrative,
so we used tarot cards, marbles, candles, a belt, a scarf. To portray the artist as
a tarot reader.

12. Costume, Hair and Makeup
■ When it came to the creation of our character, we decided that we did not want to
give our artist a normal, mainstream look, we got ideas from a tarot reader in
how she looked, we wanted to give the audience the effect of mystery and
power, so we made sure to make our artist look the part.
■
■
Costume
When looking the costume of existing
examples that where found we made
sure to dress her up in black because
we knew that the colour black would
connote mystery, darkness.
Hair and Makeup
We wanted our artist to look mysterious not just by
the clothing but also by her face and we thought
that the makeup had to be sharp and dark to
portray the representation that we where trying to
give off to the audience the tarot reader vibe. We
decided to go with a smoky dark purple eye look, to
give off and emphasise on the mystifying
atmosphere that was going on throughout the
music video. We decided to give her a dark lip as
well because we wanted to follow the conventional
look of a tarot reader.

13. Body Language & Facial
expressions
The body language from the artist she's got flexible body language emotionless facial
expressions, showing that she's unique and fixed with the alternative RnB genre, which
is conventional in the alternative RnB.
I have used and developed this idea as my artist has an emotionless facial expression, creating suspense and
tension for the audience who are unaware of the characters feelings and emotions similar to these existing
artists. .

14. Conclusion
■ In conclusion throughout the process of planning and creating the music video, throughout
my music video I made sure that the conventions where challenged and also and also
used. Using conventions was helpful because it allowed our music video to be effective
and successful, also we where able to develop ideas from those conventions that
made our music video unique, challenging the music video conventions was also a big
part of what made my music video unique as we where able to go against the norms of
a music video and create our own music video with our own ideas. It was important
that our music video was reflective of the genre in which its under so we made sure
that the micro elements, cinematography and mise en scene carried out the theme in a
proper manner. Overall due to the choices that we made in challenging conventions
and following certain conventions of a music video our music video was able to gain
great success.