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

1. Media Studies
Question 1 of 4
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media products?
Before we even began to start the production plan of our main task,
we had to do an extensive amount of research. A music video is
essentially a short film, used as a marketing device to promote an artist,
becoming more and more prominent since the 1980’s. By looking at
luminary examples of music videos in all genres, we were able to
gather what specific forms and conventions belonged to certain
genres, and why they were successful. However, we also found that
Madonna- Erotica going against
typical
expectations could
also lead to
success, much like
Madonna, who is
Our Production
now a star in the
industry, but is also
CAPTION: Here, we have used a major convention of an
the artist most
extremely successful artist, an extreme close up, to unveil
specific persona ideals. associated with
music video
censorship. In our group, we then decided to work with ‘pop’ as our
chosen genre of music, and find out where the social demographic
interest came from, plus whether to challenge or conform to traditional
conventions of the genre.
In addition to research on the Internet and in books, I also analysed
case studies, focusing in detail on the ideas that interested me, and
what we could recreate as part of our coursework production. Through
the in depth breakdown of each video, I learned the features included
which made it recognisable to the audience as a ‘pop’ video. I also
studied
the
camera
angles,
shot
Livvi Frank- Now I’m
types That Chick Our Production
and the
mise-en-
scene, in CAPTION: The mise-en-scene in this video really stood out to me, as its
order to simplicity looked professional and allowed the artist’s persona to be the
focus of the clip, without being too busy or taking any visual quality away
see how from the frame.
the
director created a relevant ‘star persona’, and how the techniques
are used in order to make it a success. At first, my group struggled with
creating a realistic idea for our production, as we started out being a
bit too ambitious, considering that we had practically no budget.
Nerissa Edwards

2. Media Studies
Question 1 of 4
Despite this, we knew that we wanted to be very creative and
innovative in terms of the way in which we would shoot the footage, in
order to
avoid the
cliché
‘candyfloss
pop’ feel.
We also
Cheryl Cole- Three Words
Our Production
had to
make the
star persona
of our
CAPTION: As well as looking at American productions, I also actress
analysed promotional techniques used for British artists. With much really stand
smaller budgets, I took particular interest in some of Cheryl Cole’s out,
videos, with simple sets, putting all the viewer’s attention onto her however,
image and performance. Above, an attempt of this idea was also
not so
used in our production.
much so
that the target audience could no longer relate to her. We also used a
piece of her costume, the chain, as a recurring theme to help create a
sense of familiarity between the audience and our artist.
Throughout the research process, we discovered that pop videos do
not normally have a narrative, instead, focus more on the image of the
artist. So that we could ensure a professional finish to our production,
we decided to conform to this feature, especially since the lyrics of our
1 2 3
CAPTION: Here are examples of Bjornberg’s theory, and how we went
4
around the idea of a narrative:
1. With the inclusion of dancers and props, a performance element
was added, and there was no direct need for a storyline
2. Creative, abstract camera angles were used so that the viewer is
always kept intrigued and interested in how the video would
continue
3. Bold make-up made the artist’s persona clear to the viewer,
meaning the absence of a narrative did not affect the video
4. Quick cutaways were used on specific beats in the song to help
the visuals flow with the audio and help to link the two
chosen song did
not have a particular meaning, for example ‘drop your socks and grab
your mini-boom-box…’. Kaplan, a music video theorist, felt that some
music videos ‘reproduced the classic narrative forms found in films,
Nerissa Edwards

3. Media Studies
Question 1 of 4
whilst others emphasised performance and the montage of imagery’.
Similarly, another theorist Alf Bjornberg states that ‘narrative structure’ is
‘much less common’ in pop videos, replacing it rather with a ‘linear
narrative’. Therefore, instead of trying to interpret the lyrics and
creating a visual parallel to the words in a process of synaesthesia, we
decided to concentrate on the beat of song, and make the video a
bit more abstract. Firth concluded that conceptual videos do not tell a
story, but the metaphorical sequence creates a mood or a feeling to
be evoked by the viewer. Consequently, we centred our attention on
inventive shot types, props, makeup, and costumes in order to create
a believable image, as abstract videos are all about emphasising
colour and movement whilst showcasing the star, then during the post-
production stage we could show our creativity by utilising the software.
When it came around to filming, my group stuck to the story board
quite well, however spontaneous decisions were frequently made, as
1 2 3 4
5
CAPTION: Here are some examples of how we used and developed
conventions of typical pop music videos:
1. The split screen techniques has been used in conjunction with Goodwin’s
theory of fast paced cutting to the rhythm of the song
2. Developments made to average dance sequences by incorporating the
idea of mirror reflections
3. A normal clip was transformed with an inventive twist by speeding up the
time frame
4. This frame depicts our ideology of the glamorous star trapped with urban
environments by obstructing the view with metal bars
5. Innovative shot types with various camera positions enabled us to
demonstrate our creative flair
we developed ideas, or changed them if they did not work. Our
primary concern was to be original, and not just copy ideas of videos
that we had seen. Our group had so many problems which meant that
most things were decisions made on impulse. Screenwriter William
Goldman stated that directors were able to ‘transform the ordinary
into their vision just by where they put the camera’. We went about this
by trying out novel camera angles, or putting our own twist on shot
types we had seen during research. For example, an ordinary mid shot
was distorted during the editing process by speeding it up, developing
traditional music video techniques. This gave an erratic yet quirky
effect to the frame, conforming with the fact that we wanted to keep
to a theory by Goodwin on pop videos. He explains that whilst songs
Nerissa Edwards

4. Media Studies
Question 1 of 4
such as ballads would include a narrative, pop videos include, ‘fast
pace of the cutting, much of it happening on the beat, representing
the pulse or rhythm of the soundtrack’.
Additionally, instead of shooting a normal long shot of the artist doing
a routine with the background dancers, which is a feature present in
most pop videos, we challenged the convention by transforming it into
extreme close ups and cutaways of their movements. We did this in
order to achieve an abstract feel, develop her star persona, and link to
1 3
2 CAPTION: Costume ideas conforming to the
ideals of most pop artists. Circled above are
the some references to sexual innuendos in
terms of the outfits, connecting to voyeuristic
themes. However, each costume is designed
to draw the viewers’ attention to specific
objects:
1. Focus on the chain- her trademark
2. The short dress brings out the angles in her
body shape- relating to the abstract ideals
of our video
3. Simple leotard allows her face and the
extravagant makeup to take centre stage
the demands of record labels including the need for lots of close ups.
Likewise, we tried to have a wide variety of locations and costume
changes, so the actress would seem as realistic as possible. Professional
productions normally portray a sense of glamour, charisma, and ‘sex
appeal’, especially in women, with frequent reference to the notion of
voyeuristic treatment of the female body. We tried to incorporate the
same design, with ‘scantily clad’ costume ideas, however without
doing it so much so that the target audience would be limited.
Music videos show the viewer mechanisms with which a character
fulfils a social role, therefore possessing many features that engage the
audience. For example, the representation of character ‘reveals the
body bit by bit’, an idea which we tried to recreate in our production,
allowing the viewer to feel involved in the video, rather than just being
passive. Furthermore, for the same reason, the use of partial views, a
wandering camera, abrupt editing and post production techniques,
Nerissa Edwards

5. Media Studies
Question 1 of 4
brings out
particular
aspects of
the song, and
extends the
iconography
of the
popstar.
CAPTION: These two snapshots show some of the cutaways and Overall, I feel
that my
partial views included in our production. This, along with the use of
discontinuous editing at certain points, facilitated the artistic
group have
nature of our video, whilst adding to the abstract theme
tried to
throughout.
integrate
many key
forms and conventions of pop music videos into our own production
and demonstrated genre characteristics, as well as giving our own
personal touch to develop some of the usual ideals. By studying real
media products we were able to take advantage of some of the
techniques that we analysed, and I feel that we have applied our
‘style in vision’ to our work, creating an original and innovative video
which reflects the artist.
Nerissa Edwards