The music video uses conventions of the genre of R&B music videos through its visual style and editing techniques. Close-ups of the female artist are used to adhere to the Laura Mulvey theory of the male gaze. The editing pace also matches the music to connect the visuals and lyrics. The digipak and magazine advertisement further develop the brand identity through consistent imagery and layout that matches conventions in their formats. Overall, the media product challenges conventions slightly by featuring other individuals beyond just the artist but generally uses and develops typical R&B music video and marketing forms.

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

2. Laura Mulvey Convention
 Throughout the video we used body shots of Hannah. This is sticking to the
Laura Mulvey theory of the male gaze as we decided to use close ups to show
off the girls figures.
 We used this theory at the start of the video to illustrate what style and genre
the video is. Straight away we thought this would entice our audience to
watch it.
 The male gaze is typically used in R&B videos to enhance the features of a
woman. We decided to stick with the conventions as it would allow our music
video to be more identifiable to the R n B genre.

3. Close ups
 We used a range of close ups throughout our video. This is typical of
a R&B music video as it beginnings to create the sense of a
relationship between the artist and the audience.
 By using close ups we have also stuck to the idea of voyeurism. It
would allow the audience to become a part of the music video and
feel involved in it. It would also assist the audience in having a
connection with the performers in the music video.
 Using close ups also adds to the idea across of our music video about
women being independent women. This is shown through the strong
stance and expression the girls have during the various close ups.

4. Digipak
 The digipak sticks to typical conventions of an R&B digipak. In previous
digipaks we looked at in our research we saw that they have very plain
backgrounds which enhance the writing that is included on them. Following
this research we decided to use a plain background with white writing
therefore it would be fitted to the conventions.
 In our research we also found that the key images on the digipak are of the
artist. We therefore decided to put main pictures of Hannah but also broke
conventions as we included pictures of other people featuring in the music
video. We did this so that there was also an insight of the album on a whole
and what to expect rather than it just being branded by the artist.
 Finally we linked the digipak and the music video as the artists are in the same
costume. The digipak also sticks to the style of the video. This again is used
frequently in R&B songs as it creates a brand identity for the artist which is
something we aimed to achieve.

5. Magazine Advert
 Our magazine advert sticks to conventions of a typical music magazine
advert which we did our research on. It includes a close up of the artist as
the main image. We did this to make the artist instantly recognisable for
an audience.
 We decided to use the same layout and fonts with our headline and sub
heading as the digipak which again helps to create a brand identity. In our
tag line we decided to again use the
 As well as this the magazine advert is plain which makes the information
on it stand out. This is a typical convention of a magazine advert.

6. Lyrics and visuals
 Throughout the video our aim was to include a relationship between
the music and the narrative of the video.
 The song is about independent women therefore we tried to portray
this though a range of motifs we used. Our first one was that the girls
were dressed in army print clothing which the audience would
connote with strength and power. Also we decided to give Hannah a
group of girls which would back her. This links with the lyrics as they
are both about girl power and being the dominant gender and by
having more than just Hannah this is what we would be showing.
 We decided to use this convention as it is a very typical one to use in
music videos. It is common for the lyrics to match the visuals and
narrative in the music video.

7. Music and visuals
 Whilst we were editing our music video our aim was to match the
pace of editing with the pace of the music. An example of this
would be at the beginning of the video the music beats are fast
which we matched with the cuts from each of the girls used in the
music video. Whereas in sections where Hannah is dancing during
the slower verses the editing from one shot to the other happens
less frequently.
 This again is a typical conventions of music videos. It helps to
tell the audience what is happening in the video and the
emotions the artists are feeling. An example of this is on the
slower sections Hannah is trying to seduce the boy, the slow
editing would add to this effect.