1. Q1: In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Task: Select 10 stills/images from your music videos and the
two ancillary tasks. Annotate each one of them in
Photoshop or Powerpoint to indicate which conventions you
have used at which point.
Alexandria Hasler.

2. Our music video follows the Hip-Hop/Rap genre and this is illustrated very
quickly in the sequence. 20 seconds into the video, the establishing shot
fades into the shot shown above. This shows the conventions of the Hip-
Hop/Rap genre by what he is wearing, how he is holding himself and also
by the Urban location that he stands before. His hat is worn back to front
which is quite common to see with similar artists. His stance is also quite
low and relaxed which again is a common feature. The background, I think
stands out as I’ve never seen a music video in such a unique yet
understated location.

3. Dancing, as expected is also a
feature in our video. However,
instead of the focus being solely
on the artist, with women dancing
around him like conventional Hip-
Hop/Rap videos, the dancers
involved are doing their own thing,
they are not used in the same shot
as the star, but used in their own
shot and simply add to the effect
shown.
Along with the two female
dancers, the star even did a
breakdancing routine. This goes
against typical Rap videos as
the star usually just stands
there. However we are showing
in our video that the star has
more talents than just rapping.

4. Our video also features the same sort of location throughout, although the actual
setting does change as the footage was filmed in two different car parks and also a
shopping centre. I think that this challenges the normal forms and conventions of
typical Rap products as the artists are normally shown in a variety of locations to
show off what they have (houses, cars etc). The fact that we have used a very
Urban location does use the generic conventions of a Rap video however does
challenge the conventions as we have taken the Urban location to the extreme.

5. Another strong feature in our video is the artists outfit changes, something that was
mentioned as a good point in our audience feedback. The focus on the shoes and
hats creates an identity for the star and also subconsciously gives the audience an
opinion of how they think the star would be in real life. This is something that is
shown all the time in real Hip-Hop/Rap videos as the stars feel the need to show off
their style and wealth. However in real rap videos the artists would do this to the
extreme (expensive jewellery, designer clothing, etc). Our artist is a lot more
subtle, making him seem more personable to the audience.

6. The artist is shown throughout the majority of the video to maintain eye contact
with the camera. This is used to help the audience to connect with the star. This is
commonly used in the rap genre as the artists feel they need eye contact to look
superior and even domineering. However, our song is not an aggressive rap song
so such harsh eye contact is not necessary. The shot shown below is one that
would very rarely, maybe never, be used in a generic rap video. This is purely
down to the camera angle, the fact that the camera is looking down on the artist
makes him seem less important. I think that it works here though as the rest of
the video is all about him, so can make the audience feel more equal.

7. The split screening idea is something that we got from an indie video. So is challenging
the normal forms and conventions of a real rap video as it is something that hadn’t
been done before. However, in our video it proved very effective as it allowed us to
highlight key features of the star and location. In the screen shot shown above, the
main video continues on the right and on the left there are two smaller shots, one of
the back of the artists head, showing off his hat, and the other of the city scape
location in which the video was filmed. This looked successful as it allowed the
narrative of the video to seem deeper without the artist actually saying or doing
anything extraordinary.

8. We also showed the artist alongside a rap companion, this is sometimes shown in rap
videos if the artist is part of a rap group. The way that the artist seems to interact with
the other young man shown makes him seem more friendly and approachable to the
audience, which is not commonly featured in real rap videos as they’re meant to seem
more dominating and almost aggressive.

9. I think that our digipak does use the normal conventions and forms of real rap
artists however develops them and makes them more engaging and interesting. We
decided to use the artists’ tattoos as a theme and utilise this for our front and back
cover. This I think looks very effective and professional and is exactly what you’d
expect to see for a rap artists’ digipak. The inside of the digipak however is very
different, the colours are more bright and it looks much more light hearted which
again is drastically different to your average rap artists’ digipak. This again makes
the artist a bit more personable which ultimately matches the song which our video
was created for as it is a very light hearted song.

10. Our magazine advert I think is exactly what a real rap
artist would have. It is very simple and only shows
the details which are actually needed. The image
shown is also very iconic so would catch peoples eyes
straight away. The font used is also the same as the
one used for the digipak which I don’t think would
normally be done in real rap artists’ magazine
adverts.