Evaluation 1 of music video coursework

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

2. MUSIC VIDEO
• The use of the black and white filter on performance
parts of my coursework is conventional with other,
existing, music videos of a similar genre (i.e. Ed Sheeran
- A Team).
• There is also a conventional use of stock characters in the
narrative of my video according to Vladimir Propp’s
narrative theories, namely the princess & the villain who
are represented by the woman/victim and the stalker.
Showing how the narrative itself follows conventions and
not just the visuals of the video.
• The most obvious way in which my music video
challenges current conventions is in how it presents its
themes. While there exit other songs/videos with a mood
of desperation, my coursework uses the theme a stalker/
victim scenario that is not conventional. The use of POV
shooting from the perspective of the stalker also makes it
so that you see the story from his perspective more so
than the victim’s which is another unconventional feature. 2
Ed Sheeran - A Team

3. MUSIC VIDEO
• Another conventional feature of my music video is the use of several locations for the
performance aspects of the video, as well as different outfits that still follow the same colour
scheme which accents the black and white filter.
• The costumes changed from scenes that were shot at night or during the day, so that their colours
would match better with the level of lighting, i.e. lighter colours during the day and darker ones
in the evening.
3
Evening 1 Evening 2 Day 1 Day 2

4. MUSIC VIDEO
• In one of my conversations with the artist, he told me
that the overall emotion of his song was desperation/
longing, which is a conventional to the genre.
However, how I chose to represent it in the video was
unconventional by the use of a stalker who is
obsessed with a woman and escalates to violence.
While the idea of longing for a woman from afar
would have been somewhat conventional, by the use
of violence in the stalker’s character made him an
unconventional representation of these themes.
• The escalation to violence being explicitly shown is
another unconventional aspect, as even music videos
that include violent aspects don’t directly show it, or
not to the extent my video does. The original case of
violence appears somewhat conventional as it’s
somewhat subtle and not overly violent, but the
example at the end is more explicit which wouldn’t be
seen in most music videos. 4
Shot that directly represents the longing emotion
StalkerWoman/victim
Conventional level of violence Excessive level of violence

5. PRINT/MAGAZINE ADVERT
• When producing my magazine advert, I used the King’s Of
Leon, Only By The Night advert as a point of reference in
order to make sure that I obeyed certain media conventions
and also for my products layout.
• The main thing that I took from this comparison was the use
of different coloured type for different sections, but
keeping the overall font consistent.
• By cross comparison, certain information on the print adverts
is similar; namely the use of mentioning early release singles
and places where the album can be downloaded.
• Another idea I got from comparing my old print advert to
the KOL one was to have a textured background, the KOL
one has a somewhat leathery appearance to it’s
background, and mine has a mesh type pattern to it with a
black to grey colour gradient.
• It challenges certain conventions established by the KOL
advert as it has a smaller image of the album cover, but still
uses the vanilla version of it rather than an edited version
with titles on it. 5

6. ALBUM PACKAGE
• The outside of the album package has an overall
conventional appearance to it due to the position of
album name and artist name on the front cover.
• The positioning of the song list on the back as a scroll
from top to bottom is another conventional aspect as the
listings on albums are often displayed thusly. Just as the
positioning of institutional information follows a
conventional format.
• The choice to not have the album and artist name on the
CD would have been seen as something unconventional
a while ago, but in the modern music industry this is a
common industry practice. So this feature is no longer an
unconventional one.
• The second image of the insert is another conventional
feature as it displays the studio name which the artist is
signed to, this is another common industry practice as it
promotes the label alongside the artist. 6