Joshua Aristorenas

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

2. THE PURPOSE
• My advanced portfolio required me to create a music video from a music genre of my own
choice. I decided to choose the Rap/Grime genre. I carried out some in depth analysis on my
research into music videos to help further my knowledge and understanding of what is needed
to create and how to produce a music video. This would prepare me for when I need to create
my own music video.
• A music video is a visual presentation which is made to further compliment ‘the song’. These
visuals would usually be accompanied by a narrative, concept or performance or a mixture of
each. Common features of a music video include dancing, fast or slow edits, still or moving
images to interpret the references of the lyrics.
• Through carrying out in depth research of analysing and understanding music videos, it has
built a foundation to help me prepare fore the planning stage of my music video to create my
ancillary products which included a digipak and magazine advert to promote the final music
video were would create.
RESEARCH → PLANNING → PRODUCTION → EVALUATION
• This has taught me the difference between a digipak and music advert. Although they are both
promotional platforms the difference is that the digipak is the album cover and interior design
for the artists product (album) and the magazine advert is to sell the artists image and up
coming events.

3. DOES MY PRODUCT DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS SOF REAL MEDIA PRODUCT?
I believe that my final products do follow the conventions as well as challenging and recreating/utilizing techniques used within real
media products which is seen throughout my music video and ancillary products.
• THEMES - All music videos have specific theme to compliment or help create the type of visual images that the artists represent
within their genre. I chose to create the themes of ‘Ying and Yang’, brotherhood, under the influence. My group and I have
decided on this because we thought it was conventional to the Rap/ Grime genre.
• CHARACTER PRESENTATION – I believe that my characters representation within my music video were portrayed correctly and
conventionally towards the Rap but also the Grime genre so that my artists could appeal to both a mainstream and niche
audience. We chose people that were able to represent the aesthetics of a stereotypical Rap artists as well as characters who
could perform and act similarly to represent brotherhood, under the influence, cool. This helped build the connection between
the artists and audience as they could relate to the concept and relationship shown within my two artist.
• ARTIST REPRESENTATION – My two artists were represented successfully in correlation to our research and planning of similar
existing artists representations This is evident in my music video as both artists are shown being conventional young black
artists who are up and coming, reckless, carefree, cool and flashy.
• LOCATION – The locations used within my music video were very parallel to the main theme we wanted to portray, ‘Ying and
Yang’ as it is the album name and artist representation we wanted to display. We transition from simply two locations where the
backgrounds were plain black and plain white. This would match and further compliment our artists as their costume consists of
artist dressed in all black and the other in all white. The choice of using just two locations made it easier for us to film and even
better to ensure that we would display a contrast of only black and white color scheme with no other colors.
• THEORY – My group and I attempted and we believe succeeded to implement Goodwin’s theory of the use of cinematography to
enhance star image. We also consistently used his idea of lyrics matching visuals and visuals matching the music. Here we would
ensure the lip syncing was perfect and that our edits were in sync with the beat. Hebdige’s theory to have an an active audience
rather than a passive audience. Dyer
• EDITING – For our music video, there was no narrative as it was concept and performance based, so we made sure that editing
would play a big role in making the music video display a more atmosphere and visual. Here we spent the most time on and
learned to implement advanced yet conventional techniques used in existing products to try and gain most marks.

4. ARTIST SIMILAR TO MY IDEA
I found that Lil Durk, Ace Hood, Young Teflon, Yungen, Skrapz are existing artists that are very similar to my artist
in terms of image and artist representation. I analysed each artist in depth in order to develop ideas on the
character representation I wanted to portray to ensure that I was using specific conventions I researched in to my
genre of music videos.
CINEMATOGRAPHY: In the music video there were simply two main shots, close ups and medium shots that we
played around with to show off and highlight our artists costume, body language and facial expressions.
• COSTUME – Due to our ‘ Ying Yang’ theme of the whole music video and album, we used all white urban
clothing for our performer ‘Sweeney’ and all black clothing for ‘MD’ to create a cool look and ‘swag’ amongst
the artist.
• FACIAL EXPRESSIONS – Happy, aggressive, relaxed, lazy like. This helped create a cool and stylish atmosphere
from the artist.
• BODY LANGUAGE –Relaxed, fun, comfortable with other artist to portray a brother/ best friend like
representation.
• PERFORMANCE – Performance based, therefore the lip syncing had to be perfect in which we transitioned this
with a mixture of conventional rap artist performance e.g. gestures, movements, under the influence, dancing.
• RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ARTISTS – We tried to portray a Justin Timberlake and Timberland relationship which
is brotherly like that is always fun and evident within their collaborations and music videos.

5. Identifying Conventions CINEMATOGRAPHY
The importance of cinematography is key and essential to a music video due to it being what the audience will
see throughout the whole visual presentation. The cinematography can also determine the success of the
complete music video as when the filming is finally complimented by the editing, the audience will be
visually satisfied and want to watch more. Using different camera shots for each clip would make the video
look professional. I used the conventional shots I analysed within Rap genre music videos to display a clear
artists image and relationship between the two artists to create a ‘star persona’.
In relation to the theme of my music video, medium shots are were used to show my two performers when
they were free flowing and performing together., Close ups were used when they were performing to the
camera to focus on their facial expressions as well as helping compliment the lyrics through lip syncing.
Close ups wre also used to highlight the iconography we implemented within our video, which were
alcohol and smoke to represent marijuana. We transitioned from free moving shots and panning shots to
make the artist the centre of focus. For these reasons I believe that my product uses and develops
conventions to media products.

6. CINEMATOGRAPHY
We researched and planned to use conventional camera shots, sizes and angles
The camera angles in this music video are mainly high or low or shown to be innovative
from the hand held technique of filming, which is a stereotypical filming camera
angle/movement in classical gang music videos in the UK.

7. THEORY ON ARTIST REPRESENTATION
Laura Mulvey - 'Male Gaze'
• We did not plan to use this as we do not have any intention to use females in our
music video.
Richard Dyer - 'Star Image'
• We used this idea for both of our artists. We want to increase the fame and
reputation of both artists therefore we made them look like ‘a star’ by the way
they dress, the way they act and also by the way the camera will move around
them. There will be lots of close-ups and medium close ups to develop this idea.
Andrew Goodwin – ‘8 characteristics of a music video’
• We followed genre characteristics through the MES.
• Intertextual reference perhaps with including the background to one of their lives.
• Close-ups to enhance star motifs.
• Technical elements with lots of fast edits and application of using MES in a unique
way.
• Editing of lyrics on screen will be used to accomplish Goodwin’s idea of lyrics
linking with the visuals.
• Editing to match the pace of the song: we have lots of fast beats, therefore our
editing will match this.

8. Richard Dyer’s ‘Star Image’ Idea
Goodwin: Intertextual
reference
We editing an image of lighting to
the music video when one of our
artists says the lyrics ‘’big sticks we
keep striking lighting like Raiden.
This was to portray reference to a
video game character that the
artist was referring to in his lyrics.
These comparisons display how I have developed and implemented different types
of theory to represent my two artists.

9. MISE EN SCENE
SETTING
• A white room, all black room – These only locations ensured that we would represent and further compliment our Ying Yang
theme we wanted to portray. `These locations also allowed us to portray the conventional Rap music video by the artists simply
performing in front of an all white or black background. This idea is used in many Rap music videos today.
COSTUME
• All White – SWEENY
• All black - MD
• Me and my group thoroughly chose ensure that we only use black clothing for our artist MD and all white clothing for our artist
Sweeny . Artists might change to different attire but same colours during the video to enhance their star image and individual
reputation but they will also contrast each other. This accompanying our ying yang theme would make it clear to the viewers of
what we were trying to portray.
LIGHTING & COLOUR
• Mixture of high-key and low-key lighting. Light and dark colour effects as we are contrasting between the idea of black and
white. High key lighting will also enhance the artists star image through the highlighting of their facial expressions and actions.
• Colour: white and black, depends on who is singing. White colouring to brighten Sweeny’s image when performing and dark
colouring to highlight the MD’s costume. This will display and contrast the 50/50 split we were representing.
BODY LANGUAGE & FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
• For the body language and facial expressions I directed my artists to display the conventional 'cocky' and slouching posture, with
exaggerated facial expressions that rap artist usually do as well as throwing hand gestures to represent their aggressive and
flashy characteristics.
ICONOGRAPHY
• Generally I used the cliched Iconography of drugs and alcohol. Just for professionalism, we used alternatives to represent the
smoke that will portray the idea of marijuana and the drink that will portray the idea of alcohol.

10. LIGHTING & COLOUR
• With the use of lighting and colour within our music video, it enables the
audience clearly understand and naturally analyse the themes in the video as it
enhances and portrays further the emotion that the artist will be portraying.
• My group and I very interested in recreating a black and white concept during
the planning stages as we thought it can help vary and create both a classic or
urban feel towards the artists star image. This black and white theme is an idea
I already had in mind to go along with my idea of a black vs white; one artist
dressed in white and the other dressed in black as well as making my two
performers have contradicting actions within the narrative to portray the idea
of opposites.
Editing a shot to be coloured black and white was also an idea we analysed and
implemented into our music video as it is a mainstream technique used in both
the mainstream and niche industry today. This created a very distinctive and
cool effect that gives the video almost a classy look for our artists who are
stereotypically not expected to be formal or classy.

11. SETTING
I used only two locations at most simplicity within my music video. I have done this to boost our
50/50 split idea between the two artist by transitioning from location to location within the
music video.
The locations I used to develop conventions were:
A room with all white background
A room with all black background

12. COSTUME, HAIR & MAKE-UP
(REPRESENTATION: ARTIST)
My artist portrayed popular culture by portraying the ideas such as drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and
being under the influence. They also represent pop culture by performing thin the music video with cheeky
dancing, ‘having fun’ and lip syncing.
‘Star Theory’ Audience and Industry:
I created a commodity out of both my artists with their urban, ghetto and young characteristics that the public
can relate to. They were portrayed together to have a strong brother like relationship, as it would make
young viewers appeal to them as they can relate to having a close friend.
For their costume, they work all white and all black stylish clothing that is trendy in today’s young viewers. Either
all black or all white; my two artists wore jeans, plain designer tee shirt or turtle neck, and a bomber jacket
with an additional gold chain and gold watch on their left wrist which is a conventional ‘swag’ in the Rap
industry.

13. BODY LANGUAGE & FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
• The body language and facial expressions my character shown within my
music video portray to the audience that they convey the conventional
themes of Rap artists in the industry. The body language and facial
expression is essential when try to display clearly what the characters are
feeling. Due to the song being upbeat and the lyrics portraying the idea of
partying and under the influence, my group and I chose to direct our
performers in a way in which they be seen playing around and having a
good time. This was done by cheeky dancing with their facial expressions
being very bright and lit up.
• As the song we chose is originally by two rap artists who aesthetically fit
the stereotypes of a young black rap artist, we decided to make our
performers fit those needs so the audience could identify the similarities
to existing successful artists. Therefore the facial expressions that we also
chose for our artists to perform were aggressive and serious facials to
represent the stereotypical reckless and immature look that rap artists
carry.

14. EDITING
The editing in the music video is an essential stage because it contributes to the overall look,
feel and pace of the music video. Generally, Rap music videos use editing that reflect on the
pace of the song. This would usually be done with flashy edits on beat or even parody
intertextual references linking with the lyrics of the song.
In terms of Goodwin’s theory, the editing of the music video should compliment the pace of
the song and the visuals should match the lyrics as well as the music (instrumental/beat). I
believe our music video clearly accomplished this as the editing of our video matches all the
different beats within the music.
There are many ad lib’s within the song we used so we decided to a duplicate technique which
is a still shot of the same exact frame and location allowing us to implement the same artist
into one shot. So here we had the artist lip syncing the main verses then have the
‘duplicate’ artist lip sync and perform the ad lib behind those verses.

15. SOUND
I created my own music video for ‘Wavey’ By J Spades featuring. Young Teflon.
This song has a very realistically lyrical, youthful and fun feel to it through the
beat and the lyrics. I created a concept heavy that accompanies the
performance of our artists to match the sound. Throughout our music video,
my group and I edited the video to keep a consistent flow of cuts and
transitions landing on beat to the music. Goodwin’s theory suggests that
conventional music videos should have: ‘Lyrics should match the visuals’ and
‘Visuals should match the sound’.
I have followed this theory and discussed how I featured those ideas within my
own music video. This has helped my product to challenge the forms and
conventions of real media products as I have made a product which utilizes but
also alters the same techniques used in existing music videos.

16. GOING BEYOND THE EXPECTATION…
My group and I went above the expectation of
just simply uploading our music video into
one video platform, YouTube. We uploaded
our music video to other applications such as
iTube which is an app that allows you stream
a music video once and then when done, the
viewer can then watch or listen to the music
video portably without internet. By doing
this, it surprisingly reached 100+ views. We
went beyond the expectation as we allowed
our audience to view our product in more
than just one platform.

17. CONCLUSION
I have used and developed the conventions and forms of the Rap genre by carrying out research
and planning stages to help create my music video. In addition to this I have carried out an
analysis into my use of conventional use of Mise En Scene to thoroughly show all the many
different aspects correctly.
The five elements of Mise En Scene is fluently shown within my music video due to me being
able to identify successful techniques used in real media products and then utilizing them
completely into my own ideas and conventional use. I also developed these forms and
conventions by closely analysing and listening to the music closely as it helped me to
understand where to implement the correct conventions to portray the most meaning as
possible. This will appeal to my audience as they will be satisfied with the visuals
accompanying the sound of the complete music video.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the way I carried out all stages to to represent the conventions
and ideas I developed from existing media products to use within my own media product.