The document discusses how the media product challenges conventions of the indie music genre. It aimed to amplify the lyrics visually rather than illustrate them literally. This was done by focusing more on the performer than other actors, and having the performer lip sync for only a few seconds. Gender roles and feminist views were also portrayed through the protagonist's emotional changes. Camera angles like close-ups were used to focus on contrasting emotions. The white dress of the main character was altered to show a change in her innocent character. Masks were also used with camera angles to convey emotions abstractly without relying on acting ability alone.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the codes and
conventions of real media projects?
Regarding Andrew goodwin’s theory and Rowland Barthes on codes, conventions and
narrative along with our research conclusion my group and I were able to develop our
understanding of the codes and conventions while also considering our genre.
Following the Rowland Barthes theory on narrative our music video heavily embodies some
of these ideas the theory regarding ‘enigma’ is one which is dominated throughout our
video and is really the basis. We use a lot of quick cuts often switching from scene to scene.
Barth claims the that every narrative is interwoven with multiple codes,’ Although we
impose temporal and generic structures onto the polysemy of codes any text is, in fact,
marked by the multiple meanings’. Our story holds back its details in order to increase the
anticipation however even in the end we do not reveal a final revelation but we leave the
audience thinking. We tend not to be unsatisfied by a narrative unless all "loose ends" are
tied; so eventually the target audience will have the urge to come to a conclusion about
what the storyline is really about. You can argue that in this aspect we achieved our goal of
our music video being a marketing tool as we have now slightly pressured our target
audience into watching our music video again.
The representation of women and the feminist view is also highly portrayed in our music
video. Sexism is discrimination based on gender, especially discrimination against women
they are attitudes, conditions, or behaviours that promote stereotyping of social roles based
on gender. Sexism is not just a matter of individual attitudes but is built into many societal
institutions. The term sexism is most often used in relation to discrimination against
women, in the context of patriarchy.
In terms of our music video you could argue we have aspects of gender roles. Gender roles
(or sex roles) are attitudes and activities that a society links to each sex. A culture that
defines males as ambitious and competitive encourages them to seek out positions of
leadership and play team sports. To the extent that females are defined as deferential and
emotional, they are expected to be supportive helpers and quick to show their feelings
Our protagonist has frequent emotional changes in the video. You could say my group and I
played with this interpretation of women within society. It brings allot more criticism to our
music video but as a music video is a marketing tool, ‘all press is good press’. Many artist
also cross the line when it comes to voyeurism and portraying women dominance for
example, Lady gaga, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj.
My group and I decided to challenge the codes and conventions of the indie genre. We did
this because we wanted to apply Andrew good wins theory of there being an obvious
relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or
contradicting the lyrics. We mostly focused on the amplification of the visuals. The words

2. “Aint no sunshine when she’s gone” was the basis for this idea. The intent behind the lyrics
can be interpreted in many different ways and so we wanted to play with the conventions
hopefully creating something more engaging and abstract. The indie genre normally has
fifty percent focus on the artist as well as the actors or protagonist. In our case our artist is
the performer and is throughout the main focus in the performance shots. However she
only has a few seconds throughout were she is out of that role and is lip synching.
This i would say goes against the codes and conventions of the indie genre and therefore
challenges it. For us to achieve amplification I believe this was a necessity, music videos can
illustrate the meaning of lyrics and genre, providing a sometimes over literal set of images.
This is another theory of Andrew goodswin’s and one which we also took into consideration.
We used over literal images some obscure and over the top but this gives it the
remembrance element which is crucial in engaging our audience but also in remembering
the purpose of a music video which is in fact a marketing tool.
The use of the camera angles which are specific to the codes and conventions of music
videos such as the close up, mid shot and long shots. We used close up frequently this was
due the strong emotive narrative. We wanted the audience to understand the atmosphere
we were trying to create along with the emotions our chosen actor was trying to create.
Because of the narrative being a girl ‘losing herself’ being lonely and misunderstood we
needed to heavily focus the camera on the contrasting emotions from the beginning to end.
White is typically contrasted with black or red both colours you could argue have the
connotations of death, fear, blood, danger and so on. My group and I decided to play with
this we decided that our main character should were a white prom like dress this should be
symbolic to her character at the beginning of the music video. Her character at the
beginning of the video was innocent, happy and pure you could also say that white
conotates this. So our idea was to have her wearing this white innocent prom dress, but we
would rough it up a bit making it look spoilt and tainted. By doing this we hoped that the
audience would see visually through the mise-en-scene a change in character. Now with the
dress along with the vivid and wild make up the audience are able to understand the change
in personality and characteristics.
The use of mask as a prop within the mise-en scene was also so we could make use of the
camera angles which as predominately used in music videos. The masks were an abstract
and creatively way of conveying emotions without having to rely solely upon your acting
ability.
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