media

1. Evaluation 1: ‘In what ways
does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products.’

2. The Evaluation
 When setting about the consideration of first creating our music video, our group
had to ensure that we gave the most realistic and professional feel available for a
low budget production to create. We had to ensure that the video fitted with the
general tone and style of the song as well as create shots and scenes that
complimented and challenged the genre norms. This was a difficult task but
crucially essential in gaining a professional and electro dance music style of video
and we consistently explored genre rules to ensure that the video was original
and reflected the tone of the song and our production company, but also fitted
music video rules. This is essential for all modern music artist as the style of the
video and the artist’s image to the listener is key in bringing in fans that are going
to attend concerts or buy music from the artist.

3. Lyric and Music visuals

4.  When looking at EDM (electro dance music) norms, we noticed that the majority of the time, the
artist took a secondary role within the video as the songs are dance based and therefore usually
hold a stronger narrative as the artist is simply accompanying the music as opposed to building their
brand name.
 However, when looking at up to date modern examples, within the last year, it can be said that
popular established artists are taking on the EDM genre and featuring themselves in their own
video’s more. For example, the video that we have taken a clip from is Justin Biebers ‘What Do You
Mean.’ some larger artists such as Justin are taking on the genre as they are aware that the
advances in technology allow for new catchy beats and music to be formed that brings in the largest
audiences. Our stereotypical audience would be teenagers as this modern style is the most popular
with this age group, but our secondary audience would be a female audience between the ages of
20-30 as they are more likely to listen to EDM music is clubs and therefore this shows that EDM
music brings in the biggest audience for modern artists
Lyric and Music Visuals

5. Lyrics and Music visuals
 The first picture from the slide is a scene from our music video, it shows the protagonist (Rosie) lip synching to
the lyrics of the song during the middle of the video. She is dressed in a outfit that compliments both the modern
norms of music artists (as it consists of jeans and a sports type top) and she is moving whilst singing along to
the song. This makes it clear for the audience that she is having fun and enjoying herself, this fits the genre
norms of dance music as often the artists are reflected as positive and happy as the music is light hearted and
meant to be enjoyed. It also reinforces artist status as she's seen as the central character whilst reinforcing our
domestic abuse storyline as these happy shots contrast the devastation later in the video.
 The second picture is a screen grab from the Justin Bieber Music video. He also decided to heavily use himself
within his music video as it also reinforced his celebrity status as all the people watching will be reminded of him
and his previous music and therefore he is more likely to bring in new fans and maintain old listeners from his
previous albums. The close up shots of him lip synching also fit the tone and storyline of the video as the lyrics
are from his personal perspective and therefore the fact that he is included within the video is essential in
reinforcing and intensifying the lyrics which insure as better connection with the artist and listeners. The dark
colouring of this shot also reinforce this dark tone and ensure that he is the centre of the music video as his
white t shirt contrasts the background.

6. The Artists Image

7. The Artist Image
 Its essential for all music companies to remain popular amongst fans as a means of bringing in a large amount
or artists for the company and therefore more money. This can be said that the importance of artist image and
career has only become increasingly more important as a result of record companies no longer physically or
digitally selling enough records as now over 95% of all music is illegally downloaded. This means that now
music created must appeal to such as large audience as a means of bringing in some money through a
primary and secondary audience or even through the uprising of DJ’s who use already established music and
remix it for a new song. This is supported by the Jeromie remix cover of ‘what do you mean’ that has reached
over 1 million views and therefore the rights to the original songs must be brought. Also the artists must bring
in fans that are willing to see them in concert as the importance of concert revenue are essential and therefore
the artists image dictates the amount of fans that they have. If a artist is seen as having a bad attitude or is
unlikeable, they would struggle bringing in an audience. Also if the artist is appealing to their audience through
their physical appearance, they are more likely to bring in a larger audience. This is obvious when you explore
the popular artists that are within the charts currently and you can notice the majority of them are young and
attractive as they are most likely to bring in a younger audience who regally buy concert tickets.

8. The Artist Image
 The first picture is a screen grab from our video of our protagonist artist Rosie standing in front of a graffiti wall. This
shot was purposely chosen by the production team, Sunrise productions, as it fit our modern image and alternative
style of music that we are producing. Stereotypically, a graffiti wall would have connotations of youth, rebellion and
adventure. Theses are all things that both the company and artist want to be associated with as these ideas fit the
EDM genre and also suggest to the audience that the artist is modern and unpredictable, therefore bringing them in
a young fan base. We also decided that this shot would be approved by the record company as it centres in on the
artist and shows her in a positive light, therefore reinforcing her star image. This fits a theory created by Carol
Vernallis as she explored the positive effected on maintain star image through regally using the artist in a video as it
reminds the audience of the artist and keep the association of the music with the artist.
 The second screen grab is again from Biebers video. It shows him jumping in the air as he and his female
character, that he just saved, escape the masked antagonist characters. This storyline that runs throughout the
video of him saving the stereotypical ‘damsel in distress’ character fits the image that the record company would
want for Justin as it puts him in a ‘hero’ role and therefore suggests that he is powerful. This means that the fans
see him as typically masculine and it bring him in more female attention.

9. The EDM Genre

10. The EDM Genre
 All artists that create music videos that are within the modern electro dance music genre or any other genre,
must follow some genre structures that are created within the genre. Stereotypically, there are certain rules
with music video that producers use as a means of influencing the viewers as well as fitting music video
norms. For example, the use of a narrative would be expected from a EDM song or a slow pop track but for
different reasons. EDM music lyrics usually play a small role within the songs and therefore the video can be
shaped by a storyline that helps provoke emotions or empathy from the viewer. Pop songs however may use
narratives to match the lyrics of the song, for example, Ed Sheeran used a narrative in his song ‘everything
has changed’ as a means reflecting the tone and lyrics of the video, therefore also provoking emotions from
the audience as the song runs parallel with the lyrics. The importance of genre norms when considering the
videos for certain songs in very important as they can completely change the tone or impression of the artist
or the song. For example, a rap artist will use fast paced rapid editing and dark settings as a means of
intensifying their ‘rap’ image. If they used an upbeat light-hearted storyline, it would draw away from the
content of the song and not fit the artists star image.

11. The EDM Genre; Our Video
 Mise En Scene; Stereotypically, EDM music videos do have a narrative to accompany the lyrics as often the producers of
the music are not the same as the artist and therefore using the singer within the video would give an unfair
representation of the artist. Some of the narrative within the video does fit the genre stereotypes as typically love stories
are used and therefore this fits the beginning of the song. Also the use of the bright and upbeat setting whilst our artist is
lip-synching would be expected as typically the narrative reflects the tone of the songs that arte usually positive. However,
the abuse storyline goes against genre norms and therefore gives the artists a unique style of video. The genre norms of
the mise en scene within the video are typical as the London location is fast paced and original and therefore does fit as
typically the settings are popular and recognisable locations.
 Editing; This is also reinforced by the use of the editing styles that are rapid and fast paced within our video, as well as
being non-continuous, therefore creating a quick contrast between the storylines. The editing is however motivated by the
artist as the full attention of the video is on them and therefore goes against genre norms that usually depict multiple
characters to be in the centre of the frame. This therefore means that we have a unique chance to fully label our artist and
bring them to the forefront of the video.
 Cinematography; Another element within our video that fit genre norms was the use of the cinematography. The wide
angle shots allowed us to explore location that fit the tone of the song in particular parts of the song. Also the close ups
reinforce artist image as well as drawing in the importance of the lyrics to fit the narrative. Finally, the use of the high
angle shots ensure that our protagonist character is seen as the most central and powerful characters, therefore ensuring
this creates a stark contrast from her later in the performance when she is seen as weak in comparison to her abuser.

12. The EDM Genre; ‘How Deep is Your Love’
Calvin Harris
 The second shot is taken from the beginning of the video where we are introduced to the female protagonist
character.
 Mise En Scene; The protagonists costume would be seen as fitting music genre norms as her white dress depicts
her as being innocent and weak and therefore fitting sexist norms within the music industry, however, EDM regally
goes against these gender norms and paints women in just as powerful roles through narrative. This fits Archers
theory of music videos as he believes that they are more effective when the women has power and uses sexuality
to pass the tone of the video to her audience. Also the use of the dark location creates a contrast from her
character
 Editing; this video also fits genre norms as it also has a large amount of rapid editing that fits in time with the pace
of the song. However, it can be said that the jump cuts allow the audience to easily transport from one scene or
time to another and therefore this genre norms is useful when creating music video as the producers only have a
short amount of time to consider a whole video.
 Cinematography; the use of the point of view shots within this video also fit genre norms as often the producers try
to include the audience into the video as a means of reflecting the adventure and pace of the song as well as
creating the illusion for the audience that they are in the place and therefore that they are included in the video and
this intensifies the song and the video.

13. Intertextual References

14. Intertextual References
 In order for a music video to be successful, it must appeal to a modern audience that will be wanting to
listen to it immediately and therefore there has to be contemporary and relevant intertextuality within the
song and the music video for the audience to listen to the song or became a fan of the artist. This therefore
means that certain references are used within music video that would have already been established by the
audience and therefore create a good ‘star image’ for the artist. For example, the rise in feminism within the
21st century is clear within a large number of videos and artists around in popular music and originally, the
artist ‘Britney Spears’ used the ‘hero’ style theme in her music video ‘Toxic.’ This idea was them adopted in
2015 by another popular female artist ‘Taylor Swift’ as she used the ‘Superhero’ idea in her music video for
her single ‘bad blood’ and therefore she made a reference to another independent female artist.
 This therefore explains how intertextuality can help build an image for an artist. Also interxextuality can add
a new dimension to a music video as the artist can mimic an already popular and established idea as a
means of relating their music to that of another artist and therefore they can use other peoples ideas as a
means of communicating or influencing a tone or style to their video.

15. Intertextual References
 The shot of our protagonist, Rosie, being followed by the camera as she's walking down the street could be a
reference to the already popular and established music video ‘Down Town’ by Macklemore as he also uses s a
number of shots in his video where the camera tracks him walking as if it was a person following him down the
street. This is effective within his video as it gives the audience the impression that they are joining in with the video
and therefore this matches the positive style of the video. However, intertextually we use the same shot but to give
a more sinister feeling to the video and almost to give the impression that Rosie is looking back on her relationship
before the abuse. This intertextuality may not be obvious but is a nod to modern music videos and will be easily
recognisable for his audience who are likely to be similar age and gender to our target audience.
 The second shot is a still from Biebers ‘What do you mean.’ It explores interextuality as it play on the idea of
‘superhero's and therefore again is a reference to the Spearse ‘Toxic’ video. This fits Goodwins theory as he
believes that its necessary to have a music and lyric corrolation within the video and therefore the artist explorers
intertextuality and his swap from the frustrated male character literally waiting for a decision to the male character
that becomes the ‘super hero.’ therefore fitting the change in lyrics and song pace towards the end of the song.

16. Camera Work and Cinematography

17. Camera Word and Cinematography
 The way that a camera is used in the filming of a video can make such a dramatic difference to the
perception of a music video and its style or tone. As technology progresses, its become a lot easier for
artists to take full advantage of technology to maximise the professionalism and clear videos that they can
cerate on an extremely low budget. This can be seen clearly within Ellie Gouldings music video for her hit
cover song ‘How long will I love you,’ this whole video is filmed on the Nokia Lumia 1020 phone but still has
a clear camera with a powerful narrative and good use of diverse cinematography. This therefore proves
how the way the camera is used as opposed to what camera it is has an abundant effect. Some artists
chose to purposely create messy and unclear looking videos that reflect the style of the song or artist. For
example, the popular indie band ‘Supergrass’ created their music video for ‘Alright’ with the deliberately
shaky hand held camera. This was intentional is it fit the lyrics of the song as they sing ‘we are young’ and
therefore it has a unprofessional finish that you would expect from young people filming and therefore fitted
the band and their image well.
 Cinematography can also be used to shape the listeners opinions of a character or situation and therefore
can also shape the narrative and tone of the video.

18. Camera Work and Cinematography
 To film our music video we solely used a I Phone five and a I pad. These products had to be used as our budget
was extremely low for the production of this video and therefore we had to use multipurpose products that we
already owned. All though this equipment would not have been the first choice for Sunrise productions, the video
was clear enough to have a good impact on the audience and still be effective for the viewers.
 Cinematography, our video; within the screen grab you can see a tracking shot of our protagonist Rosie as she is
walking down the street in London. We decided that this would be an effective shot as it almost suggests that she is
looking at the camera as if it was the antagonist character within the video and therefore the audience see the
situation from her perspective and spark more empathy for her character later in the video. This is reinforced
through the use of the close ups allowing us to see distorted parts of lip synching and the protagonists face,
therefore fitting the general tone of the song as well as the lyrics ‘blind heart’ as it suggests that the protagonist is
living a twisted version of her life.
 Cinematography, Harris; In the ‘how deep is your love video,’ certain shots and angles are used as a means of
maximising the sexual shots of the female character. For example, there is a close up long tacking shot of her body
that reflects the general sexual tone of the video. This fits normal EDM genre norms for music videos as they often
use sexual images of women as a means of interesting a male audience and just fitting normal music video norms.

19. Lighting

20. Lighting
 The lighting can play a massive role in changing the tone and narrative of a music video. Stereotypically, its
know that dark colouring within a video usually provoke and connotes sadness or anger whilst brighter pastel
colours usually connote happiness or freedom. This may not however also be the case, especially within
modern music videos as now often artist that are working within the dance or house music genre will use low
lighting as a means of creating a party style tone or creating intrigue from the audience. For example, within
the ‘I cant feel my face’ music video created by the artist ‘The weekend,’ the shots are consistently dark and
the surrounding setting is also dark and uses deep colours such as red and green. This was used as a means
of drawing attention away from the artist at the beginning of the video as the lyrics are talking directly about a
different person and therefore to diffuse the audiences attention from the artist to the lyrics of the song, the
producers will use low lighting to maximise the effect and nature of the lyrics. This therefore shows the effect
that lighting can have in altering the attitude and audiences opinion of the characters or story line within the
videos and therefore shows how natural lighting can both help or hinder a music video depending on the
narrative or producers intention of the perception of the video and how its perceived by the audience.

21. Lighting
 In our music video, we tried to vary the lighting used as a means of maintaining a varied video that created an
obvious contrast between dark and light tones within the video. The particular shot that we are looking at now is of
our protagonist within the first few seconds of the video as she is lip synching after her domestic abuse attack. We
decided to film the beginning of this shot slightly out of focus as this reflected the narrative and helped to add to
the idea that she had only just woken after being knocked out. In this shot we decided to use natural lighting to give
the video a realistic effect and to look generally scary. We did however choose a woodland area as it meant that the
area was dark and gave a sinister effected that reflected the narrative of the song. This was reinforced by a dark
filter that we also added to the shots just to intensify their effect as well as create a stark contrast between reality
and her romantic memories.
 In the ‘how deep is your love’ video. The producers effectively used lighting as a means of also creating the idea
that the protagonist female character had just woken from a unknown life. This therefore supports the evaluation
question as it suggests that our music video and this video fit the norms expected of modern music videos as
producers often use lighting as a way of reflecting the characters emotional or physical state. Within the Harris
video, the lighting progressively becomes brighter as the video develops, this skill would have been used as a
means of the producers being able to quickly show the emotional progression of the character as bright lights
connote happiness and strength.

22. Mise En Scene

23. Mise En Scene
 Mise En Scene is a key contributing factor to the creation of music videos. Costumes, locations, colours, filters,
setting and props can made a drastic difference to the way that some videos are acknowledged by their
viewers. Within the modern music video industry, setting plays a role almost as big as narrative as it can be
said that the location and lighting can change the viewers image of the artist or song immediately.
Stereotypically, prior to 21st century music videos, the videos would have consisted only with one location
usually with the artist dancing and lip-synching to their music. Music videos such as Michael Jacksons ‘Thriller’
changed the music video norms as he introduced pronounced characters, unusual costumes and original
narrative to help the progression merging of music videos and film. This is supported by the popularity that his
red leather jacket costume brought about as it was featured in a number of his videos and became a symbol
not only for Jackson himself but the whole 80’s era. This therefore shows how small factors such as costume
and performance can actually have an essential effect on the artist image and how they are seen within the
music industry. Mise En Scene is always explored, even in the simplest of music videos as producers want to
maximise the effect that music videos have on their audience and therefore they explore literal visual elements
of the video to help fit the style and tone as well as the lyrics from within the song itself.

24. Mise En Scene
 The picture on the left is a screen shot from our music video that shows a small shot of our protagonist in a close
up lip synching shot. She is singing a repetitive section of the song and therefore the same shot is used over and
over again however we changed a few elements within the shot as a means of keeping the video interesting and
showing development. We decided to change the artists makeup as in each shot her lipstick colour changes from
red to pink to purple. This is effective as it gives a sense of time passing and therefore reflects the rapid pace of the
relationship that is focused on in the narrative. It also adds to her ‘star image’ as makeup can alter the effect of the
video and adds a sense of modern professionalism. As the clip and lyrics are repeated 3 times, we also decided to
add 3 different coloured filters to reinforce the sense of time progression as well as suggesting that the protagonist
is young and the video is youth infused as modern technology allow for filters and therefore the video appeals more
to a younger audience and fits EMD colourful and bright music video stereotypes.
 The second screen grab is from Swedish house mafias music video for their song ‘Don't you worry child.’ They use
a prop of an aeroplane to reinforce their star image as the low angle shot and prop gives them a sense of power
and supremacy. This is essential for modern artists as they desire their life's to appear separate and different from
their fans as a means of gaining popularity and an image that seems unattainable to the general viewer. This is
stereotypical of a music video however goes against EDM genre norms as it does not add to the narrative of the
song.

25. Genre Norms and EDM Discourse

26. Genre Norms and EDM Discourse
 The two screen grabs that are featured in the slide above are both retrospectively taken from two different
EDM genre music videos. Its essential for any artist or production company to sully explore their genre
norms and stereotypes in order to create videos and songs that are best fitted to the audience. To find
interesting ideas, often artists will use the influence of other artists videos within that genre to create new
original ideas or for intertextuality. For example, when looking at other music EDM videos in order to find
helpful content, we ensured that we looked at both current and old genre norms as well as videos from
artists that explore a number of genres or music styles in order to maximise revenue and audience
exposure. We noticed that extremely popular artists such as Taylor Swift, will create music that can be
placed into a number of different genres; her older music is singer songwriter country style music, she then
created pop music as well as dance music and instrumental. This maximises her audience as well as
ensuring that she has a place to fall back into as her music career develops and she may find a signature
music style.
 We decided to ensure that our video fit the EDM genre norms as well as well as being enjoyable for a wider
audience as a means of ensuring we have a large fanbase.

27. Genre Norms and EDM Discourse
 To prove that our team has taken influence from other music videos, we ensured that we used shots and
cinematography that runs parallel to other EDM music videos. Our first picture (in the top left of the discourse
slide) is of a party that we decided to film at. We noticed that this was a popular setting for modern EDM music
video as they are often associated with reckless behaviour as well as youth culture and therefore they fit genre
norms. This was inspired by the shot used in the Swedish House Mafia’s music video as they used original clips
from various world wide tours that they have performed at. This helped to further establish their relationship with
their fans as well as reflect the tone of the song and the image of the band as they reach superstardom.
 The second screen grab is from our music video and shows Rosie dancing in front our favourite location in
London surrounded by unusual graffiti. This shot was clearly inspired by the mid shot of Justin in his ‘what do
you mean’ music video as we can clearly see him also dancing in this unusual location. This clearly fits the
genre norms as it creates a contrast from the darker sections of both Bieber video and our video and also
again fits the genre norm of dance music as again its associated with adolescence and rebellion.