The document discusses the conventions and characteristics of the grime genre, including its roots in London's music scene, the performance dominance in videos, and the typical visual aesthetics like costume and storytelling. It highlights how the authors' media products align with grime conventions, such as location choices, artist focus, and editing styles, while also drawing influence from notable grime and hip-hop videos. Furthermore, it details the design elements of their digipak and poster, comparing them to established norms in the genre to enhance authenticity and connectivity with the audience.

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

2. Poster: Digipak:
Music Video:
Our Products:

3. The Grime Genre
• Grime arguably was created as a result of the bassline/uk garage movement in the early
2000’s in London. Back then it was simply MC’s rapping over fast (typically 140bpm) beats
attempting to hype an audience or offend a rival MC. The genre soon built it’s own fanbase,
with avid pirate radio listeners and numerous grime events such as the still popular
“eskidance” held monthly today and Lord of The Mics. MC’s such as Wiley, Kano and Dizzee
Rascal carried over this underground artform into the mainstream a few years later and after
a null period between 2011 and 2014, 2015 was hailed the rebirth year of popular grime. We
saw artists such as Skepta, Stormzy, JME and Lethal Bizzle all make it into the charts with
their grime releases. The grime genre generally appeals to teenage boys (15-21) from the
London area.

4. Conventions of the Grime Genre
• The Grime genre, as mentioned before, originated in London and therefore this is the first
real convention of grime music videos. Most are shot on the streets of London usually in the
estate or area in which the artist grew up, however as the genre progresses we see videos
now often shot in studios at far higher budgets. The next convention of the grime genre we
can see is that the main artist is always in the video and more often than not the focal point
of the video. Grime is a very egotistical genre and videos are normally very performance
dominant. The video is all about the message the rapper wants to convey to the audience
and we see this intimidating style throughout the genre. Another convention of Grime videos
is the over edit, using effects and fast paved cuts in order to build tension and “hype” the
viewer. We see this used in almost all videos throughout the genre.

5. Conventions of the Grime Genre
• Costume is another convention common in the grime genre. We see a relaxed style
throughout the genre, often with artists in Tracksuits or high-end comfortable fashion. These
are to convey to the careless, relaxed nature of the artists performing, a subverted message
of intimidation to their rivals. As a genre, grime does not normally tell stories, it’s simply a
number of clever phrases to “hype” an audience or to offend a rival. With this it’s uncommon
to see a narrative within a grime music video, normally it’s a simple, performance based
message from the artist towards the viewer. Occasionally, grime videos are subject to
voyeuristic elements, in certain videos we can see examples of women in the video,
conveyed in only a sexual nature in what’s called “The Male Gaze”.

6. Generic Conventions of Music Videos
The style and layout of a music video can differ greatly depending on the genre and purpose,
however there are various conventions all videos contain according to the theorist Goodwin.
• Reference to the Artist – Features the artist as a form of self promotion and connection with
the audience.
• A narrative or Performance – Usually a narrative or performance within the video, shot types
vary a lot in most videos however long establishing shots and close ups to focus solely upon
the artist are commonly featured in music videos.
• Editing – used in almost all music videos, very rarely do we see a video shot in one take, and
for that one take to be effective.
• Lighting – key staple in all music videos, it’s involvement changing depending on the budget
and genre of the video.
In the production of our music video we used and displayed a number of conventions of the
grime genre, this allowed us to create a realistic video true to the genre. We were also ale to add
our own creative dimension and fulfil the individuality of the band which alludes to the theory of
Turow, who suggested that media can ‘encourage organisational continuity whilst not necessarily
stifling creative dimension’.

7. How our Video Compares
• London Location – Our video was shot on the
streets and underground of London. We did this
to fit with the grime genre and make our video as
realistic as possible. You can literally take any
grime music video and the location 95% of the
time it will be set on the streets of London.
• The next convention our video was aligned with
was that the artist is the focal point of the video.
This is due to the genre being very chauvinistic
and intimidating. We can compare our video to
Giggs’ video “More Ratatatin”. (2;39)
• We can further compare our video to the genre
with the use of an “over-edit” or the use of
effects in editing. We used black and white and
flashing effects in our video.

8. How our Video Compares
• Costume – We can directly compare our use of
costume to that used by Stormzy in his video
“shut up”. Both Patson and Stormzy wear an
Adidas tracksuit. It’s a relaxed style conveying a
carelessness and ease in his skill.
• A lot of our artistic inspiration for the video came
from two specific grime videos. Firstly, Novelist
“Bigger Man Sound” – with the shot style and
location and secondly Chip “96 Bars Of Revenge”
with the speed of cuts.
• We can also look to Novelists video “Endz” to
directly compare both our staircase shots. These
two shots are very similar and really convey the
grit of the grime genre.

9. • The main borrowed convention from other genres, specifically the
rap/hip-hop genre, would be our Booth Shots for the hook. We can see
this in the video for Schoolboy Q – Studo. We decided to add booth shots
for the hook in reference to the lyrics “Hype in The Booth” but it is also
befitting of the hip-hop genre as a whole.
Borrowed Conventions

10. Videos We Took Influence From
• Chip – “96 Bars of Revenge”
• As a group we really admired this videos speed
of cuts and simplicity. It was relevant to the
genre, enthralling and simple. It was the basis
for our video.
• Novelist - “Bigger Man Sound”
• This was the video content wise we wanted to
align ourselves with, the shots, style and
location were very fitting with out end product.
• Double S x Shocka – “One Take”
• This video is shot in black and white and we felt
it looked effective. At the start of our video we
also had 30 seconds of natural sounding black
and white clips.

11. Grime/Rap in Digipaks/Posters

12. Analyse Digipak
We included a
page for the lyrics
of the main song
on the album. We
felt this would b
useful for fans and
good addition to
the digipak.
Simple shot of the
railings of the
location. This
image is for the
aesthetic of the
album. We see a
basic pallet of
colors and this
furthers this.
This is the disc placement.
For the background again
we used a picture with a
similar color pallet to
further the aesthetic.
Parental advisory logo to warn
people there may be offensive
language or themes in the
songs. Symmetry with
the other side of
the album.
The artist on
the front cover.
So people can
see him and
know he is
Isaiah Dreads
and this is his
album
Bold text to stand
out and attract
the viewer. The
same font as in
the start of the
video.
Barcode.Tracklist fitting to the shape
of his back. Again in the
same font as the video.
Up-shot of the male
lead, shows power and
adds to the brand we
aim to create with the
digipak.
Front and back shots,
continuity within the
digipak. Aesthetically
pleasing.

13. Compare Digipak To Genre
• We can directly compare the stylistic
elements of the digipak. With the cover
being a front shot and the back being a
shot of his back, this is much like drakes
album “Nothing was the Same”.
• We can compare the colour pallet used in
our digipak to that used on Wiley’s
“Playtime is Over”. Both of these are fairly
dark and are in urban, gritty locations,
alluding to the genre.
• The use of a lyric page in the digipak is also
a key element that can be seen in many
other rap digipaks. For example 50 Cent’s
Album

14. Analyse Poster
Very big urban culture
magazine. Our goal
was to make the
poster a “cover issue”
style to make it seem
completely believable.
Album Title
Artist name and links
to his website so
people know who he
is and know where to
find his music.
Tells people about the
single he’s released, that
its out now and where to
buy it.
Parental advisory logo necessary as there are
explicit themes on the album. Thi s may also act
as a selling point for the people who want to buy
an album for those themes.
Another upshot of the artist,
he’s in a position of power.
Audiences are meant to feel
intimidated by this.
Wearing the same clothes
from the video shoot,
continuity throughout.
These are typical clothes an
artist in the grime genre
would wear.
Same location as the
video. A synergistic
element.
We see the artist looking
away in a carefree
fashion, connoting the
carelessness in his
attitude.

15. Compare Poster To Genre
• We can compare both covers for the
magazine. Very similar both in style and
structure. With the placement of text and the
use a single main artist as the content of the
photo.
• The picture in our poster strongly alludes to
rapper J Coles album “Forrest Hills Drive”. Both
upshots of the main artist sitting on a roof of
some sort. Both are in power positions and
both are in locations relevant to their genre.
• We can compare the use of text in these two
posters. Wretch32 includes his name, album
name, what's featured on the album and puts
a focus on the sale of the album.