The document discusses how the media product uses and challenges conventions of real music video genres. It uses locations like a vintage shop and field seen in other genres. While some locations like a church challenge expectations. Costumes develop conventions through a modernized version of 1980s new romantic style. Enclosed spaces are used in unconventional ways by bringing dance into them. The mise-en-scene mixes conventional elements like lights and words with unconventional dancing to challenge expectations. Overall, the media product both develops and challenges conventions of similar music video genres.

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

2. Our main location was Retreat Vintage.
LOCATION.
This can be intertexually referenced to
Crystal Café, which is used in the
opening of Crystal Fighters ‘Follow’
video. This therefore uses and develops
genre conventions, as both our music INTERTEXTUAL
video and Crystal Fighters are within the REFERENCE: fancy dress
same genre. shop, from Pet Shop
The video’s both begin with a panning boys video, again using
shot of the key location, which is a genre conventions, and
strong intertextual reference, and is a 80’s themes/costume
strong link in using genre conventions. and ideas.
A vintage shop however, also develops genre conventions of
dance. As the action that takes place within the video poses a
parallel dystopia from the normality of the high street, and the
chaos of the vintage shop.

3. CHURCH: The church is a strong challenge of genre, as the genre is synth-pop
and dance, and isn’t associated with religion and peace. The church is therefore
a symbol of irony, as we have taken the symbolic matter of religion and peace,
and transformed that by using the church as a location in a dance and electro
synth-pop genre music video.
FIELD LOCATION: The location of a field, whereby we have used multiple
shots of a girl standing in the field with a stop motion effect ,again
challenges genre conventions. The genre is usually associated with
dance/club scene, and the use of a naturist quiet location, manipulated to
The screenshot at the bottom is
our genre and video significantly challenges this. Nature is a connotation
from HADOUKENS video Bad
of life and evolution yet, we have used it to show the character being Signal. This is of similar genre,
under control of the song therefore supressed and lost. and we have used and developed
genre conventions of this through
UNDERPASS: we filmed a character dancing in a graffiti underpass costume, and colour. The main
bridge. The underpass connotes the feelings of enclosure, which locations of this are clubs and
links in with our overiding theme of control, and dystopia – the raves, which is a typical genre
graffiti adding to the mise-en-scene and using genre conventions convention, and shows the way in
of bright colours and pop art. However, this is very challenged from which through our use of location
our genre as dancing is usually represented in a club or rave scene. we have challenged this.
However we have taken this concept of dance, and used it in genre
challenging locations such as the underpass. This again shows the
control the song has over the characters, as it is manipulating their
behaviour, and showing the power it has. This can be intertextually
referenced to Crystal Fighters ‘I love London’ video, where the
character is filmed dancing in public genre challenging locations of
streets and tube stations.

4. CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE.
WITHIN our music video we also used a
Red telephone box as a location. This is a
strong cultural signifier as phone boxes
are associated with British Culture, we
used the two characters going into the
phone box with normal behaviour, and
once picking up the phone begin to
dance/be in a trance, which shows the
strength and power the song has and in
a way shows its ‘infecting the British
nation’.
THIS CHALLENGES GENRE CONVENTIONS.
This type of idea/location would usually be found within the Punk
genre, who use strong cultural signifiers, not in a dance genre, as it adds a
political edge/idea to the video. This can be seen in ‘Sex Pistols’ God save
the Queen. It adds a mocking sarcastic tone to the video, and uses genre
conventions of punk.

5. COSTUME.
The costume we used within the video was
very loud vibrant and used genre conventions However, when looking at HADOUKEN, a
to exhibit this. The conventions of the genre band within the same/simular genre, I
are ‘New romantic’ costume, which is a style think genre conventions to some extent
that we have taken on board throughout the within our music video have been broken.
costume used in our video. The photo’s above We have taken previous styles (left) and
are of a comparison between our costume to kept with them, by slightly modernising
new romantic fashion in the 1980’s. Although and bricolage. Whereas, Hadouken have a
I think ours is a more modernised version, very modernised style/costume, that is
again with elements of bricolage in it the style very club scene/indie. Therefore we have
is defiantly developing and using genre broken genre conventions of costume to
conventions. some extent.

6. The screenshots above, show the way in which enclosed spaces, such as tunnels and the underpass in our video have
been used within the genre. The enclosed spaces aren’t associated with dance, and by bringing dance culture into them,
shows the way in which it is powerful, and in this way we have complied and used genre conventions. However, in
Hadoukens video they are bring the music into these spaces, but not the action of dancing that goes with the music,
whereas we have therefore we have developed an already existing genre convention into something new.
OUR VIDEO USES GENRE CONVENTIONS,
SUCH AS ENCLOSED SPACES.

7. The mise-en-scene used within
these too screen shots of our video
uses and challenges genre
conventions. The top shot definatly
uses genre conventions, through
the lights, the word ‘rock’ and the
texturize effect, giving it an
electro/dance image.
The screen shot of clothing, firstly uses
the genre conventions of Pet Shop Boys,
where there is a shop window showing
clothing, also as the clothing is
80’s/vintage, this also relates to the genre,
as this is the time it was most popular and
associated with. However, by bringing in
the juxtaposing image (above) and the
dancing into this mise-en-scene is
challenging genre conventions, as this
mise-en-scene isn’t usually associated
with that action.