The document discusses how the student's music video project both conformed to and challenged conventions of music videos in the alternative rock genre. It conformed by including elements like performance shots of the band and using typical camera angles, as well as incorporating a subtle narrative about a boy trying to impress a girl. However, it also challenged conventions by including conceptual shots of London throughout to link scenes, which is more common in pop music videos. The project demonstrated an understanding of conventions by researching other examples in the genre.

1. EvaluationQuestion 1:
In whatwaysdoesyourmediaproduct
use,developorchallengeformsand
conventionsof realmediaproducts?
Alice Hicks

2. For my music video, I both conformed to and challenged
the conventions of real media products in the
alternative-rock genre. I wanted to reflect the
stereotype of the genre through the artist in the video,
which Andrew Goodwin believes a music video should
do, as well as adding some individuality to make it not
only stand out but also appeal to a wider audience.
Simon Firth categorises music videos into 3 typologies;
performance, narrative and conceptual. My music video
includes examples of all three types which makes it
much more entertaining for the audience so that they do
not get bored. However, my other media products,
including the website and digipak, reflect the typical
conventions of the genre so that it is clear to the
audience the genre of which the band is representing.

3. By researching existing products of the same genre, it
gave us an understanding of the typical conventions of
an alternative-rock music video. A lot of similar products
that we looked at were mainly performance based which
was an aspect that our own video conformed to.
We also looked at the types of shots used in these
products, such as mid- close ups of the band members
and extreme close-ups of instruments, so that we could
get an idea of what camera angles and shots we would
use to film our band.
Mooseblood’s ‘Boston’ video includes a range of
interesting shots of the band which we used our self as
well as a fascinating colour theme.
USE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

4. Another video which we were specifically influenced
by was ‘Stay Home’ by Transit. This was because
although it is mainly performance-based,
conforming to the typical conventions of the genre,
it also includes a subtle narrative throughout which
we wanted to include in our own video.
The suburban setting is also something that we
noticed was common in this video and other existing
products; we used this as a convention of our own
video so that the audience could relate to the artist
and recognise the genre that they are familiar with.
USE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

5. Our narrative relates to Todorov’s theory of narrative
as it focuses on the main singer who lip-syncs the
lyrics of the song while he is making his way to a girl’s
house.
This also follows Michael Shore’s theory of the
common narrative of a teenage boy trying to ‘win
over’ the girl he likes. This is a convention which we
have developed from other media products as it
convention within the genre.
The close-ups of the singer represent features of the
Star Image theory by Goodwin which is used to
promote the star- this is relevant as we wanted to
promote the new upcoming band as much as possible.
DEVELOP FORMS AND CONVENTIONS

6. Another way in which our music video challenges the
typical forms and conventions of the genre is our use
of conceptual shots of London throughout.
This is typically a convention of a pop video which
often uses scenery to break up the narrative shots. We
decided to use this convention as we thought it would
be an interesting way link the performance and
narrative shots together.
An example of this is shown in Rudimental’s video
‘Free’ which falls in the genre of pop. The shots of
scenery link to the lyrics but also offer alternative
visuals to the narrative
CHALLENGES FORMS AND CONVENTIONS