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

2. Techno-pop as a whole A typical techno pop music video is very technological. In not all, but most techno pop music videos the producer adds a lot of special effects, flashing lights and random images which can be placed to confuse the audience and grab their attention. In other techno pop music videos which we looked into (especially British techno pop music videos) effects where used, but not in an expensive technological manner, but by using clever camera tricks. Also rather than having a story for the audience to follow, a series of different shots and scenes that relate to the artists personality and background are shown for the audience to learn more about the artist or band. Other techno pop artists have taken this further and taken a funny, clever and/ or totally random idea, adapted on it and produced it into a well made music video; for example, dancing inappropriately in a crowded public place, running from one side of the screen to the other into another scene continuously or even dancing on treadmills to the track they are advertising.

3. Our Techno-pop Video Our music video takes these conventions and uses them as well as develops them. Our product uses forms and conventions of a real media product firstly by using special effects, but in a way which isn’t too complicated for the audience to grasp or understand. It then develops and almost challenges them by taking an idea from a previous Hip Hop video but developing the idea further and into our video. The idea we saw on the Hip Hop video was that the group was walking backwards in different places, and then editing the shots and reversing them so it looked as if they had been walking forwards the whole time. We then developed this idea by taking it into a crowded place such as a High street or a skate park and doing a lot of random movements, and then later reversing them. This was using forms and conventions of a techno pop music video by taking a clever/ totally random idea and adapting on it. It almost challenges a techno pop music video as our idea was original to the genre, but we have developed the idea from a previous Hip Hop video making it not completely original. It also uses forms and conventions by showing the artists personality in the mise-en-scene, especially settings and costume. Throughout the music video places that are local to the artists are shown (in Rosehill and Sutton) intentionally for the audience to get an insight to the artist’s background. Also there are scenes where the artist is singing along with the lyrics and is free to show off his personality, again to build a relationship with the audience. And finally the costume chosen is a typical young Englishmen’s clothes, to again show the artist’s personality. We also used an idea that isn’t too complicated for our audience to grasp how we managed to do it.

4. Andrew Goodwin Andrew Goodwin states that music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. As stated in previous slides, techno-pop videos tend to be fun with both special effects and highly technical lighting or with funny, new, random experimental ideas. Our music video uses an experimental idea and develops it by using the ‘walking backwards and reverse the shot’ idea but adding our own idea of ‘jumping’ from one scene to the other and from one time of day to another. Goodwin also comments on the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In our music video we illustratively show a relationship between lyrics and hand movements when the artist is lip syncing with the music. At a certain part of our music video the lyrics say “eyes still glues to the telly sets” as the artist draws a TV screen/ box with his hands. However not all of our music video is lip synced and the artist does not always sing along with the sound track.