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

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

2. Izak and myself aimed to conform to the typical conventions of an R&B
video and this is evident through the narrative we used. Our song told a
story so we thought that it would be suitable to have a visual to depict
the situation our artist is singing about. Izak and myself were very much
inspired by the concept of Jordin Spark and Chris Browns ‘No Air’ music
video and this is where our idea originated from. In Jordin Spark and
Chris Browns music video, the narrative is about a couple who are on
the verge of a break up that both mutually feel the need to fight for their
relationship. This narrative is typical as most R&B music videos consist
of a male and female who are in love. However, Izak and myself wanted
to take conventions and forms of this narrative and develop the story so
that it would be similar to Jordin Spark and Chris Browns music video
but so that it would also relate the theme of our song.

3. In our music video we used intertextual references from Chris Brown and Jordin
Sparks music video e.g. the writing on the window at the beginning and the fading
techniques of the artist. We pushed these ideas further and developed them by
incorporating the titles into our music video by making our artist write the name of the
song onto the window to make it more relevant to the song rather than just having a
scene of our artist drawing a symbol. Another way in which we developed the narrative
was through the fading techniques we used. This technique was used in Jordin Spark
and Chris Browns music video at roughly 3.18 where Jordin is laying on her bed and
see's Chris brown before he disappears. Izak and myself used this editing technique in
our music video but developed it so that is has a purpose. We wanted to there to be a
clear association between the fading of our female star and the theme of our music
video and ancillary text so by using this intertextual reference from Chris Brown and
Jordin Sparks music video and developing it, we have conformed to the narrative of a
typical R&B video in terms of the audio relating the visuals.

4. Seeing as the genre of our music video is R&B, we wanted to include various
camera shots and angle types that are commonly used in other well known R&B
videos such as close ups, extreme close ups, long shots, mid shots, highlow
angles, etc. Using these specific camera shots helped us to portray the artist’s
melancholic emotions. Most typical R&B videos consist of close ups, mid shots,
long shots, etc. to show the audience the stars facial expressions and body
language and Izak and myself conformed to the typical camera shots of R&B
videos. Within the R&B, genre music, the artist usually sings about things that
happen in life, experiences that have happened to them, or things that just
happen in modern life. All of our shots are conventional to this genre music as
they portray how the artist is feeling. In our video we used various shots such as
close ups, mid shots, tracking shots, long shots, etc which are conventional in
R&B videos as these shots also show the a full length of the artists style and
appearance creating male gaze. Using a combination of mid shots and close
ups also makes the background restricted, making our artist the main focus in
the music video which is also conventional.

5. In terms of the star persona, Izak and
myself wanted to conform to the usual
expectations of how an artist should be
portrayed in R&B music videos so we
used some of the typical conventions
such as the make up, aesthetical
clothing, etc. However, some might say
that we challenged the idea of a typical
artists star persona as we didn't make
our artist wear clothes that would
reveal her body, subverting against the
idea of male gaze. We also subverted
from using some of the typical
conventions such as cars, a lot of
jewellery, dancers in the video, etc.
because our song tells a story which
mainly requires the focus of our artist
and another actor so using these
conventions would be unnecessary and

6. It is evident through the editing that we have conformed to the forms and
conventions of an R&B video. We used intertextual references from Christina
Aguilera’s 'You Lost Me' music video where there are shots of her singing that are
being overlapped. Izak and myself thought that this editing technique gave the
music video a mysterious ghostly effect and decided to incorporate the idea into
our music video as it would be a visual which would relate to the story. We also
wanted to conform to the typical pace of an R&B music video and kept the pace of
the shots reasonably slow, giving the audience more time to see the performance
and facial expressions of our artist. The use of desaturating the colours in our
music video help to create and enhance the depressed mood we are trying to
depict to the audience. In this case, we subverted to the conventions in an R&B
video because R&B music videos tend to have bright colours and objects that
stand out so by desaturating the colours in certain parts of the music video, we
have went against what we would expect to see in a typical R&B music video.