The document discusses several conventions that are commonly present in music videos: 1. Relationships between the lyrics/music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying, or contradicting the lyrics/music. 2. Genre-related styles and symbols. 3. Multiple close-ups of the main artist. 4. Voyeurism, especially regarding females. 5. References to other media texts. The document then examines how these conventions were incorporated or not incorporated into the creator's own music video and ancillary products based on audience feedback and the goals of accurately portraying the artist and song.

3. - A relationship between the lyrics and the
visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or
contradicting the lyrics.
- A relationship between the music and the
visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or
contradicting the music.
- Genre-related style and iconography present.
- Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist.
- Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially
in relation to females.
- Inter-textual references to other media texts
may be present.

4. -A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the
visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics.
Though out my video, there are a few
example of times where the lyrics link to
the visuals. This is most apparent in the
“raise it up” extreme close ups, and the
miming of the lyrics.
However other examples (shown right)
include “I look around but I can’t find
you, if only I could see your face” here
my actress is seen look around for an
unknown person.
This aspect makes my video quite
conventional as similar to professional
videos, there are numerous aspects
where it amplifies the lyrics. However in
“I look around, but I can’t
my video I chose not to use any scenes
that contradict the lyrics. If I was to do
find you, if only I could see
the video again, I could add elements
to my video that contradict.
your face”

5. -A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals
illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music.
At the beginning of the video the music is
quite fast paced, to mirror this idea, I used
quick cuts between the stop motion
images, this added to the up tempo music.
Making the video seem fairly conventional.
However as the video continues, the music
becomes much slower paced, and because of this I chose to use longer
shots, this also meant that in certain parts of the video, the story was better
conveyed as the shots weren't continually changing to new locations.
The music is also conveyed through the
visuals in a literal sense, when there on no
lyrics and only instruments, this is most
apparent at the beginning of the video
where a piano is playing, and so here I had
a small close up clip of some one playing the
piano.

6. -Genre-related style and iconography present.
I chose to use an indie/pop song for my music video. Through my research, I
found conventions of pop video to be things such as; happy up beat story,
dancing singing from the artist/band and bright colours. I took this into
consideration when making my video, however the artist who sung my song
(Florence and the Machine) is quite unconventional, and didn't overly follow
social and music norms, below are some stills or her video to ‘Raise it up’
compared to mine.
In terms of convention my video follows of the genre, my video is quite light and
uses fairly bright colours. The artist is generally seen to be happy and smiling .
However conventions I chose not to follow were a strong storyline throughout the
video, this was because when I asked my target market for advice they said
they didn't think the story was overly important, and that they’d rather see the
artist singing the song. Also many of my market hadn’t taken notice of previous
stories in videos and a few said they didn’t even know they portrayed stories!

7. -Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist
Unlike the original video, there were very few close ups of the artists face,
making aspects of my video quite unconventional as record labels usually
demand this. However there are numerous close up of my artist but these
are all similar angles and in similar locations. I did this so that more of the
artist could be seen in different shots and scene. There are quite a few
extreme close up of my artists lips this suggests that I’m confident people
will know who my artist is without seeing many close up shots.

8. -Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to
females.
Voyeurism: “the practice of obtaining sexual gratification by looking at sexual
objects or acts, especially secretively.
I chose not to use voyeurism in my music video for a number of reasons. One
being the fact my artist would not have been comfortable trying to portray a
sexual look and also the lyrics and the song its self wouldn't have suited a more
sexual appeal as it does in some music videos. The original video was set in
‘fantasy 50’s’ and so this wouldn't be appropriate anyway.

9. -Inter-textual references to other media texts may be present.
One convention my product strongly uses is that the video links to all the other
products. I did this so that there was a continuous style to my products and that
they can easily be recognised by the public, creating an image for my artist. My
product link together as the image used on the CD cover and poster were all set
in the scene that the main of the video was. This is very conventional and
common of pop artists as it creates a brand and image for them.

10. My poster follows many conventions of a typical
pop poster. It has a medium close of the artist,
this is typical of a music poster as the artist needs
to be easily recognised from a distance.
The artist also has eye contact with the camera,
this is also quite conventional as it makes a
direct, strong contact with the audience.
Also when researching what went on a poster, I
found many existing products to only have the
artists name. I chose to add a little more to the
poster as if it would be seen in shops/bus stop
etc rather than a home wall.
Similar to the poster, the CD cover uses an image
where there is strong eye contact, this again straight
away creates a connection with the audience.
Unlike the poster the image is a close up, this still sticks
with conventions as the artist can easily be
recognised, also it dominates the cover.

11. As already mentioned in
relation to Andrew Goodwin
theory, there are strong links
between my video and my
ancillary products.
This is in the sense that the
images were taken in the
same location as the video
was shot.
Also the artist is in the same clothes and hair style,
meaning that it has a continuous house style.
If I was to do the products again I would maybe use more
angles and poses from the artist as
although the images are similar the
expressions and positions look much the
same.

12. When creating my products, target audience feedback was essential in order to
consistently improve my products to a professional standard. Ultimately, it would
be my audience that would buy the product and so they have a strong idea of
what they would like to see on the cover and poster especially. The main
changes I made from my target feedback were, initially the font change. The
audience felt that the font they initially chose as their favourite didn’t fit in with
the overall product and so chose to change it to the second favourite font from
the original vote. This was quite a major change, as changing the font involves
changing it on all products, so it has a continuous house style.
Following the evaluation I will post my audiences final feedback.

13. For the majority of my research into music videos I used ‘Youtube’ as this had
the widest range and had everything I needed in term of videos. However
when researching at school I needed to use ‘Yahoo music’ as ‘Youtube’ was
filtered. Yahoo gave a good selection on videos, but didn't always have what
I was looking for available. Once I found the videos I inserted them onto my
blog using ‘Blogger’.
In terms of album covers/posters ‘Google images’ is the obvious choice, it
generally had no limitations, and had everything needed. I also used google
to search for the song lyrics.
At this stage no technical programme was needed.

14. When planning my products, I mainly
used powerpoint and fireworks to create
mock ups and basic design idea. I also
used a colour scheme generator so that I
could use colours that complimented
each other well on my products.
For my video, I drew out the story board
by hand, so no technologies were
needed. However it turned out that I
didn't need my story board as my original
idea didn't go to plan

15. In the construction of my video I used pinnacle and window live movie
maker to create it. This involved learning skills in programmes I hadn’t used
before for example how to edit timings and effects of clips.
To make my ancillary products I used Macromedia Fireworks and Adobe
Photoshop. I have used these before in my studies particularly in my AS
magazine cover. Using these were quite simple however certain skills were
developed, such as blending and fading in images.

16. My main evaluation was done using this powerpoint. However also to
evaluate my products, I filmed my audience response and feedback of my
products which will be posted as a follow up to this.