Part 1 of my A2 Media Studies Evaluation

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

2. How my product uses conventions…
My media product uses some typical conventions of real media products to attract and engage my audience.
Firstly, the story that the lyrics tell is commonly used in film, TV and songs/music videos. The song tells the story of a
songwriter/aspiring music producer who wants to create music but is unable to deal with the initial criticism that he receives.
This prevents him from making music, due to his pessimistic attitude and low mood, until he discovers the Vocaloid voice
synthesiser which he uses to create music. His efforts are thwarted once again however as his personality gets the better of
him and he is discouraged due to more criticism. It is then that Hatsune Miku, a Vocaloid and the singer of the song, reaches
out to him and gives him the courage to keep creating music and reach the fame and acknowledgment he wishes for. This
type of narrative is similar to the popular “Rags to Riches” type storylines, where a character starts with nothing and climbs
to fame and glory despite all odds.
I think the use of this popular convention allows my music video to reach out to a wider audience who have a wider variety
of tastes, increasing the number of people who will enjoy the product.
How my product develops conventions…
I believe that through my music video I have developed the convention of people using their motivation and willpower to
improve themselves and climb higher. Unlike the typical “Rags to Riches” story that I talked about earlier, the protagonist of
my music video relies on the and encouragement and support of Hatsune Miku to motivate himself to reach his goal. This
develops the above convention because it shows that not everyone relies on their own willpower to get through the
problems that they face, but rather their motivation can come from someone or something else.

3. How my product challenges conventions…
As well as using and developing common conventions of media products I also feel that my music video challenges more
conventions than it follows.
Firstly, and most obviously, the song I have used is Japanese but is targeted towards and English-speaking audience. I think
this adds diversity to my product as it includes aspects from a completely different culture, making it new and exciting to
those who watch it and don’t have much experience with Vocaloids and Japanese culture. It isn’t very common to find videos
in Japanese that are targeted towards English-speaking audiences, so I think that this will attract people to my product
because it is different to what is usually seen.
The fact that the song I have used is sang by a computer program rather than an actual singer is another thing that I think
challenges regular conventions of music videos. Vocaloid isn’t very popular in the west, and most people would prefer to
listen to music that is performed by actual people which is understandable, but I think this aspect of my music video will
interest people enough to check out my product. A lot of people who listen to songs that are created using the Vocaloid
program are often turned away due to the very ‘robotic’ or ‘ear grating’ characteristic the vocals usually have, but I think that
my video will persuade people to try listening to Vocaloid and hopefully increase it’s popularity.