The document discusses conventions in music videos and how the author's music video for Lady Gaga's "Till It Happens to You" adheres to and develops conventions. The author researched conventions like shot types, camera angles, editing, and mise-en-scene. They filmed the video using mostly close-ups and a tripod to convey emotion. They also included sexualized makeup and revealing clothing to portray the song's message about exploitation while conforming to industry demands. Overall, the author felt their video adhered to conventions through its use of techniques like performance, editing, and visual elements.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
I did a lot of research into conventions of real media products before I started creating
my coursework. There are basic typical features that can be seen within all the music
videos, however each different genre will have another set of specific conventions.
Examples of common conventions include close ups of artists and shots change to the
beat to make the music video flow and look effective. I researched into the codes and
conventions of music videos and I have presented my research on my blog under a post
called “conventions of music videos”. I have chosen the genre of Indie-Pop, this genre
has multiple conventions which belong to its genre specifically.
There is three typical styles of music video, these are performance, narrative and cameo,
and however you can have a mixture between the three. Performance is when the music
video consists of the artist performing in the video itself, the artist continuously
performs the song, and there is no narrative. An example of this is ‘Rihanna’s –Stay’
music video, where she performs the whole time and there is no break for narrative.
Narrative music videos follow a story line, there are typically two types of narrative,
these are linear and fragmented. Linear narrative start a story from the beginning and
ends at the end of the song. Fragmented narrative is a narrative that doesn’t follow an
order and appears jumbled and mixed. An example of a linear narrative is ‘Taylor Swifts
– You Belong With me’ and an example of a fragmented narrative is ‘Demi Lovato’s –
Give Your Heart a Break’. Cameo is where the band or artist feature in the narrative,
however they do not preform, they act as a part of the narrative. An example of this is
‘Drake and Rihanna – What’s My Name’. You can have a mixture between the three,
performance and narrative are the typical mixture usually found in music videos. An
example of a mixture of performance and narrative is ‘Katy Perry – Thinking of You’.
There are typical ways that the camera is used in all music videos also, you will typically
see close ups on the artists, extreme close ups of eyes and mouths especially if the artists
are women, wide shots, long shots and mid shots. Typical angles used are eye level, high
angle, bird’s eye and low angle, the angle at which the camera is positioned determines
the shot produced, and then influences how an audience can interpret a situation in a
scene, so this is crucial that each angle is thought about carefully. Editing is the process
that concludes the making of the video, when you edit you cut down all the scenes and
you can add in special effects which add the visual and sometimes the audio. Editing also
includes CGI which is becoming increasingly popular in pop videos, an example of this is

2. ‘Ariana Grande – One Last Time’. Mise en scene for music videos focus on the lighting,
props, costume, hair, makeup, location and colours. The mise en scene will vary
depending on the genre of the music video. Mise en scene is used typically to convey
importance in music videos, and also to represent characters in specific ways which often
add to the narrative. Lighting is often used to light up people in specific ways depending
on how the audience is meant to interpret this person. For example, dimly lit people will
conventionally be portrayed in a negative way.
For my A2 coursework I decided to use Lady Gaga’s song ‘Till it happens to you’, which
falls under the pop genre, therefore I found it fairly easy to stick to the common
conventions found in real media products of this genre. The song and the original music
video highlights major issues with rape and sexual abuse with young teenage girls in
today’s society, especially within colleges and universities. Therefore the message is a
sensitive topic and I feel that performance will be able to capture the message of the song
best.
In terms of camera, the shot types and camera movement where crucial in reflecting the
pain and emotion of the actresses and the song. This is why I decided to use very little
difference in my shots, and film only using a tripod. This is something I debated with
throughout filming, as many of my peers felt that it was to still for a pop music video,
however although Lady Gaga does belong to the pop genre, not all pop songs are happy.
This song has a deeper meaning, and I wanted to show how peoples worlds can be
stopped and brought to a holt by these violent acts. I used various shots, such as
midshots, close ups and extreme closes ups, as well as some small focus pulls and pans.
For my establishing shot I used a midshot of my artist looking to the left running her
hands through her hair. I then slowed this down later when editing it on Adobe
Premiere, as it suited the tone of the music better and also reflects the seriousness and
emotion being portrayed. I used close ups and extreme close ups to show and focus on
the pain being displayed, focusing on the emotions and the lyrics to the song. I feel that
this adheres the forms and conventions of real media products, as it follows the
conventions of using various shot types to give significance to various things including
emotion and the song itself.

3. I originally wanted to film in black and white in against a black background, with my
model performing the song, whilst multiple hands are pulling and grabbing at her,
smearing her makeup and pulling her hair as she cries. However, when I started to film
this, I felt like the hands were too distracting and that it was actually taking away from
the meaning of the song and the simpleness of the music video. In terms of mise-en-
scene, there isn’t a set of conventions for music videos, and the pop genre, as it really
depends on the theme of the music video. However, professional makeup and costume
are essential in order to make the music video look as aesthetically pleasing as possible
for the consumers. An element of Goodwin’s theory which fit perfectly with the message
of my song is the idea that due to the high demands of the music industry, there is often
a strong need or demand for lots of close ups which sexualise female. I have conformed
to this element as the whole song is about the exploitation and sexual abuse of females,
and for me to portray this I have to show the protagonists in a sexualised way. I used
three actresses in my music video, and they are all very different in looks, using makeup
was a way of showing the different personalities and emotions of the actresses at
different times during the video. I used bright red and dark lipstick to sexualise the girl’s
lips, as this is a common convention of the pop genre. I also used this as a prop, as later
on in the music video, one of the girls smudges it across her face, and this adds to the
overall look and makes the music video look more professional. I kept costume simple,
with each of the three girls wearing black tops of some sort, I wanted to keep everything
as stripped back as possible so it didn’t distract from the real meaning. However, the
clothing is still revealing, and the makeup is still sexualising the girls, showing that they
are still vulnerable and delicate, however they are highly sexualised which is typically
pleasing to the male viewer. In regards to editing the music video, often editors will use
jump cuts and fades for their transitions. I used mostly cross fades as it adds a softer
touch to the transition. I edited all of my footage on Adobe Premiere. I also added some
small focus pulls and zooms to the footage when focusing on specific parts of the song to
highlight the importance of the lyrics. I decided to keep all of the footage in colour, as
when I was editing I felt that with all the makeup the emotion and editing looked better
that way.
Most real music videos will most always have some king of narrative that adheres to the
song, however I decided I didn’t want to use narrative as my concept, I wanted to use
performance. Although I decided to use performance as my main concept, you can still
see a small storyline coming through, as it is clear that there has been some sort of pain

4. inflicted on these girls. Overall, I felt that the best way to portray the song was through
performance, as that way you can really feel the emotion.
Overall, I feel that my music video adhered to and developed the forms and conventions
of real music videos.
Typically digipaks tend to have a large eye catching picture on the front, often an image
of the artist, if not a picture of the artist then an image which has a relation to the songs
listed. The song or album is always found on the front panel along with the artists name
or the band name. On the back panel is typically a track list if it is an album, the record
label, a barcode, the artists name again and album artwork along with extra information.
Inside of the digipak you usually find other artwork which relates to the artwork shown
on the outside covers, along with the CD itself. Often there is an additional side pack,
which possibly features more artwork, extra information about the songs personal
messages from the artist and song lyrics. As the song was realised for a film called ‘The
Hunting Ground’, it is not part of an album and was only ever realised as a single,
meaning for my Digipak it will just be a digipak for a single rather than an album. On the
front panel of the digipak you can see an of the model featured in the music video, curled
up against a wall in black and white, her clothes are ripped open and she is crying, with
words written all over, such as ‘believe me’. Underneath her is the title of the song ‘Till It
Happens to You’ and then underneath that in bigger writing is ‘Lady GaGa’. On the back
panel, you can see another picture similar to the one featured on the front of the artist
laying on the floor with her back to the camera curled up in a ball, with the same ripped
clothes and messy hair. Above her, you can see the name of the artist along with the song
name, in the bottom corners there is additional information and a barcode. Here I have
conformed to having my main artist as my eye catching image, and I have also
conformed to having the name of the song and artists name displayed, along with
conforming by having the barcode and additional information being displayed. However,
I have decided that although I will have another image inside of my digipak, there will be
no little pack with any additional information, personal messages or song lyrics. I have
decided to do this as I feel that the song is a very serious subject and that it doesn’t need
to have any personal messages or song lyrics to get its importance and message across.
Similarly to digipaks, music album adverts need to display the name of the artist or band
along with the album name or single. I wanted to carry through the same theme from my
digipack and music video through to the music video advert. Another important aspect is

5. the release date, this is so the audience and potential purchasers know when it is
available to purchase. There are also often reviews or ratings from known companies,
such as Q Magazine, however all of these ratings will be positive. Usually, the advert will
include popular singles that have been released, or songs that feature other popular
artists to attract potential listeners. Sometimes music adverts will display places where
you can buy the product, such as places like HMV or Amazon, additionally they usually
display the formats that the videos will be realised on, such as CD, Vinyl, and Download.
Websites addresses and record label information are also typically included somewhere
small at the bottom of the advert. Similarly to my digipak have the same image on the
advert, however the image will appear larger, I will also have my artists name and song
title displayed in the same font, so there is an easy link between the two conforming to
conventions. I will also have ratings and reviews, along with product formats, release
dates and artists website address included on my advert.