1. In what way does my media product
use, develop or change forms and
conventions or real media products
EVALUATION TASK !
2. What are media forms & conventions?
Media forms and conventions within a music video are very basic
common features that can be seen within all music videos.
A media Form means the way in which the “media product” exists such
as a music video, digipak and a website.
A convention simply makes it easier for an audience to understand what
they are consuming and link the music/artist to a specific genre. There
are two types of conventions, symbolic and technical. Symbolic
conventions are how the performance is based, the costumes the
artist/band member wear ( is there a specific style, theme or colour?)
And technical conventions are how the music video is filmed for
example the type of editing e.g. rhythmic editing or the lighting used,
natural or artificial.
The main conventions for music videos relate to Camera shots and
angles, Editing, lyric interpretation, extending and making the meaning
of the song stronger.
3. Music video - Camera and Angles
• In my music video we used Close ups to help
promote and iconize the main singer close
ups also help to show each expression and
emotion on the artists face which further
help show the songs emotional meaning and
in my case shows how much the ‘busker’
wants make it big time in the music industry.
• Similarly long shots can be used to establish
a location or a scene in the music video as
well as keeping focus on the main person at
the same time, For example in my music
video we open up with a long shot of Alec
the busker sitting on the streets busking,
within the next few seconds we cut to a
close up of him. These shots are often very
useful as they do not break your attention
away for too long and can have two different
effects at the same time. for example the
close up of the artist singing and then cut to
a long shot of the location, your focus stays
on the artist busking but will also show you
their surrounding area, which further pushes
along the meaning to a song, in my case it
establishes that my artist isn't yet a very well
known singer and he is having to work for it.
4. Music Video – Effects of editing
• Editing is a very important aspect in the
creating of a music video, unless they are all
done in one long shot which can be done. All
the shots taken on the day of the shoot are
cut together to make the final product. In my
music video we used rhythmic editing, cut on
the beat this reflects the structure of the track
from the structure of the editing. We also
used discontinuity editing in our music video
when we used the vertical wipe when it
changes from summer to winter, this edit has
been put their to be purposely noticed, the
costume and lighting emphasizes the change
in scenery. This edit has been done to make it
much more visually interesting.
In a music video many editing techniques can be used in many ways however usually
they rely on effects more so than editing and transitions. In our music video we
wanted to portray our artist as very down to earth, natural and organic. In order to do
this we de saturated all the footage on our music video. This helps the audience
relate to the artist as it makes him seem normal and ordinary just like everyone else,
therefore it make it easier for fans to aspire to be like him.
5. • An example of a famous music video we took
inspiration from which has used the de-saturated tool
is Lorde ‘Royals’. The key in this music video is the ‘flat’
look. Their goal was to give a more natural, authentic
feel to the video. However, this isn't the case if you’re
shooting something involving a stylized action
sequence with a very fast pace, in this case high
contrast and bright colors should be used.
6. Music video – Props and Costumes
We purposely chose our artist to wear casual
clothes, this is purely because he is a busker,
therefore he doesn’t have a lot of money and and
lacks the style the big artists have these days.
However as our artist develops throughout the
music video so does his style therefore we made
him wear a costume which showed he was
becoming more of a successful musician. This is a
aspect to help the audience recognize that he is
growing as a artist, without this convention it
would be much harder for the viewer to catch on
with the story, therefore it would be harder for
them to emotionally connect and relate to the
artist. When doing our research into costumes as
a group we all immediately associated out artist
with Ed Sheeran. He was a busker who made his
way big time into the music industry, his style
developed as he did which helped to show the
narrative of his life.
Our music video is split in two with
two different locations. In the first
location our artist has one main prop
which is a guitar, we see him busking
on the stairs and walking downs a
street holding the guitar. This
convention helps the audience to
understand that not only can he sing,
he can also play a music instrument.
When we move into the pub location
our artist is still using the same guitar,
this shows that as he grows
throughout his journey he is keeping
the same guitar making him look very
stable and down to earth. Within the
pup scene we uses lots of props which
were specific to the season we were
shooting for example in summer all the
extras had to wear summary clothes
and sunglasses, we had flowers and
white wine whereas in winter we
themed this section around Christmas,
everyone wore jackets and hats and I
brought many Christmas decorations
Summer outfits
Winter outfit
7. Music video – set and location
our music video we chose two specific locations, the first was on the streets of Guildford
and the second what inside a pub. The locations suited our narrative very well as they tell
the truth and make our artist look very honest and down to earth, the viewer can easily
relate to these locations as simply most everyone has walked on a street or been inside a
pub with in their life. Similarly the locations we chose represent our artist as a up and
coming artist who is new to the music industry, you can immediately tell that he is a hard
worker who wants to succeed and will do anything to reach his dreams, playing a small gig
in a pub is the first steps towards being successful, therefore his fans feel like they are
traveling on his journey to success with him. Without the location it is hard to establish the
storyline, artists aspirations, needs and as well the genre of the music video.
Another artist who we can
relate our busker to is
‘passenger’ he started busking
on the streets, got recognized
as ‘talent’ and now he
performs in front of thousands
up on a huge stage.
PassengerAlec
8. Music video – lighting
When we shot our scenes outside we used natural lighting to convey Alec as
an artist. Unfortunately when we were shooting the long shots of Alec
busking the sun was beaming through from behind him under the arch
resulting in Alec being very dark. Nevertheless we didn’t think this negatively
effected our video as our artist could be seen as ‘unknown at the beginning,
which he is as he is a new artist and throughout the music video we grow a
connection with him as he becomes more visible. Similarly the sun only had a
problem on the opening long establishing shot, with the help of reflectors on
the close up shots his face was lit up perfectly.
Inside the pub for the
summer scene we allowed
the light from outside to peer
through the windows lighting
up the room, whereas for the
winder scenes we needed the
room to be much darker,
therefore we sellotaped
plastic bags to the outside of
the windows and just used
candles as a source of light.
