1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
EVALUATION QUESTION 1

2. A large focus when producing my final product was
researching and analysing existing music videos, in order to
understand the different genre conventions and to gain
inspiration.
Various aspects of my music video, including the setting,
characters and camerawork uses the conventions of existing
products. However as well as this, I wanted my music video
to remain unique, therefore certain aspects such as the
narrative and editing techniques do challenge the
conventions of real media products.

3. SETTING
When analysing the settings of various existing music videos, it became clear that
a wide range of different locations were used, to make the video appear more
visually interesting. In my final product I developed this idea of using a wide range
of settings, which effectively demonstrates how I have used real media products to
produce my music video.
By using different locations throughout my music video, I was able to
convey a range of emotions the main character was feeling.
Present days shots were primarily shot in
the woods when the main character is
feeling alone and upset. By using these
wide, open settings it effectively conveys
how isolated she feels.
The flashbacks all take place in public
places, e.g. pub, parks, where the
character is surrounded by her friends,
this indicates a clear change in her
emotional state.

4. CAMERA TECHNIQUES
In terms of the camera techniques that are used in my music video I
have generally stuck to conventions, in order to make my final
product appear as realistic and professional as possible.
The present day shots, which take place in the woods, uses a very
controlled camera technique, with a range of close up and long
shots used to add variation. This is something that is common
within music videos, as the variation makes it visually interesting
for the audience. I also included panning and tracking shots
throughout, as this again is a convention of music videos.
Long Shots Mid Shots Close Up Shots

5. …CAMERA TECHNIQUES
I have challenged conventions through the use of the hand-held
camera technique, as demonstrated during the flashback scenes
(for examples, in the pub and playing pool). The hand held
technique and uncontrolled filming style suggest that it is one of the
main characters friends filming her and that she is aware that she is
being filmed. I felt that this is not something that is very common
within music videos, therefore by doing this a unique aspect has
been added to my final product.

6. NARRATIVE
It could also be suggested that the overall narrative of my music video
breaks conventions slightly. The music video begins in the present day, with
the stylistic shots of the main female character, however the video then
fades into a sequence of flashbacks, as indicated by the hand-held style of
filming. This demonstrates a time distorted, non-linear narrative, which I
found to be quite uncommon when researching other existing music videos.
This type of narrative was chosen as it reveals the story to the
audience in an unusual way and they are instantly engaged with the
video as they want to find out why the main female character is so
upset.

7. … NARRATIVE
Despite the style of narrative breaking conventions, the
overall story of the music video is quite typical of music
videos, especially of the indie/alternative genre. The focus of
the video is a relationship which has ended badly for
unknown reasons, and it deals with the themes of love and
heartbreak, all of which I found to be common when
researching videos of the same genre.
The screenshots below each show different aspects of the narrative that
are revealed.

8. SPECIAL EFFECTS
In terms of the special effects added in post-production the video
generally follows conventions. It became clear when analysing
different music videos that special effects and some form of
manipulation was present in all of them, in order to make them more
visually interesting, therefore it was necessary to do the same for
our video.
We added the ‘Luna’ effect over the present day scenes to decrease
the light in the image and highlight the shadows, in order to create a
darker tone for these shots. This created a highly effective contrast
between the more lively flashback shots. This idea was influenced
by watching Devlin’s video for ‘Watchtower’ as it was clear that an
effect had been added to the images in order to convey the
emotions of the characters, something I thought was highly
effective.

9. …SPECIAL EFFECTS
This style of effect was also added to the images in our
ancillary products, to keep a consistent house style. The
darker imagery also fits with the indie/alternative genre of
music. This can be seen in the images below.

10. …SPECIAL EFFECTS
Despite generally following conventions, the inclusion of a
speeded reverse sequence at the end of the video is
something which does not follow conventions of music
videos. From the planning stages of production we knew that
this was something we wanted to include in our final product,
as we felt it would add something unique and visually
exciting for the audience. The high speed of this sequence
and ghosting effect fits well with the fast pace of the video at
this point, which creates quite a dramatic and exciting climax
for the video.

11. …CHARACTERS
The characters included in the video are generally
stereotypical to music videos, especially of the
indie/alternative genre. The main character is a teenage girl,
as shown through the opening establishing shots, who has
recently been through a break up. The overall representation
of this character is fairly stereotypical, as she is clearly
heartbroken and upset.

12. …CHARACTERS
During the flashback scenes we see her at the pub with
friends and on dates with her boyfriend, all typical things we
would expect teenage girls to be doing. Because the target
audience of our video was teenagers and young adults, we
felt it was important to include characters that were of a
similar age, in order to make the video more relatable.