Evaluation Task 1 - How Media Forms Are Used and Challenged
1. Evaluation Task 1 - In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge from and
conventions of real media products?
By Claudia Kaye
2. What are forms and
conventions?
• Conventions and forms are stablished ways
of doing things.
• They are the codes that categorise what kind
of media and texts and genre the product is.
• This is what the audience then further expect
from the particular did text or type of genre
3. Camera
With regards to camera shots, we used various forms and conventions. In Sara Bar
Similarly, we used various close up and behind shots to show our artist Amelia pla
4. Sara Bareilles - Behind Shot Amelia - Behind Shot
Amelia- Close Up Sara Bareilles - Close Up Shot
5. This closely relates to Richard Dyer’s theory on Star Image and how
artists are constructed as artificial images. He says that ‘A star
image is not a real person, but is constructed out of a range of
materials’. In our music video, we wanted to give our artist an air of
authenticity, although she is designed to appeal to a predominantly
young female audience which would generally define her as a
synthetic artist, much like; ‘Katy Perry’ or ‘Britney Spears’. By
focusing on her playing piano in her music video, we wanted to
construct her as organically synthetic and therefore widen her target
audience.
6. Editing
In terms of editing, we used discontinuity editing techniques, similar to that of Kate
Nash and Sara Bareilles, differing greatly to our AS thriller. This is due to the fact
that we don't follow a linear narrative in our piece. We used a conventional structure
for our music video, in which we started at the end and ended at the beginning.
Another few ways in which we followed a conventional format is by using ‘cut to the
beat’ techniques; having the shots last as long as the beat of the song to make it an
enjoyable watch. ‘Lyrics matching visuals’ was another conventional element we put
in again making it more enjoyable, both of these conventions inspired by Andrew
Goodwin. However, it wasn't only a conventional structure that we followed, our
music video also contained various unconventional elements, for example; our
music video contained slow motion editing, something that is usually found in film,
but rarely in music. Another unconventional element that we used was our
transitions between performance and narrative, going from colour, to black and
white filters. This, again, is usually an element found in a film, rather than a music
video, therefore it is unconventional.
We took inspiration from Carol Vernalis who talks about music videos having a
faster pace by using quick cuts. In one section of our music video we have a faster
pace to build up tension of a car crash. These quick cuts created a fast pace, which
increased tension massively.
10. Mise en Scene
We used clothes to introduce our star image and style of the
artist. However, strongly contrasted her two outfits from
performance to narrative. In the narrative sections of the music
video she is dressed smart and in basic colours. This is to show
her organic side and show that her focus is solely on her music
rather than drawing attention to her image. However, in the
performance element, she is dressed far more casually, again not
in bright colours, so that the focus remains on the music. We
decided to dress her more casual in the narrative section in order
to portray her youthful side and as someone who cares about
style just as much as comfort, this makes her a relatable artist,
giving her more chance to build a fanbase. We challenged
conventions in this case as it is usually expected for females in
music videos to be wearing provocative wear and have heavy
make-up. Two conventions we strongly avoided.
12. Lip Synching
After analysing various music videos of artists similar to ours,
we gaged an understanding of how to film performance (lip
synching) scenes. We knew that we had to stick to the usual
convention of filming the artists lip synching from various
angles, to create an ongoing time frame. Similarly, in Adele’s
‘set fire to the rain’, she is filmed sitting down from different
angles and the shots are put together to make it look like it was
all done in one. We were in a similar position as our artist was
sat at a piano, we followed these angles where possible and cut
it to the beat in order to follow the conventions of any music
video. These shots would then be constant in the music video,
along with various other shtots, of her in town, looking away
form the camera, looking at the camera. A variety of shots
resulted in and interesting music video.
13.
14. Narrative
Our narrative was in colour and our performance element was done in
black and white, this was to secure a separation between the two.
Although there is both narrative and performance elements in our music
video, the narrative section dominates. In Sara Barellies ‘Love Song’,
there is a link between the performance and the narrative, however ours
opposes this concept and keeps the two strongly separate, similar to
Adeles ‘Set Fire to the Rain’. We have done this purposely, in order to
emphasise the meaning of the song rather than the song itself. This is
common of new artists, trying to get there style across. When people
can relate to a songs’ meaning they can relate to the artist themselves
and become a fan. This is why it is so common for a new artist to focus
on narrative, to gain and build a fanbase. Proof is in our structure, we
start off with the narrative and end in on the narrative, leaving the
audience thinking about that rather than her actual performance. A
relatable narrative provokes greater opportunities for the audience or
fans to identify with her.
