Our music video challenges some conventions of music videos while following others. We did not include narratives like some theorists suggest but manipulated lyrics to comment on society. We used typical shots like medium close-ups but did not use close-ups or extreme close-ups. We incorporated transitions and editing to match the music but lacked some camera movements. Costumes avoided objectification but locations reinforced the theme. Sound used only non-diegetic elements. While departing from theories of music as shamanism, we showed the artist's experiences through her actions.

1. QUESTION
1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
USE, DEVELOP, OR CHALLENGE FORM AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. WHAT ARE CODES
AND CONVENTIONS?
These are different techniques to construct meaning behind
a music video or specific areas within a music video.
They tend to be split up into 2 main parts:
- Technical
- Symbolic

3. TECHNICAL
This is how the meaning and message is put
across using technical equipment. For example,
this could include camera shots, angles,
movement, sounds, pace, editing and genre.

4. SYMBOLIC
These are the meanings behind what you can see
visually e.g facial expressions, body language,
gestures etc.

5. RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
We analyzed different music videos in the
planning and research stage to help us with
typical conventions of a music video and
features. Whilst doing this we were able to
apply theorists to our work such as Andrew
Goodwin and Sven E. Carlson to see if our
video conforms to these ideas or
challenges them. we wanted to do the
genre of pop for our music video as this
was the genre we knew most about.

6. THEORIST CODES AND
CONVENTIONS – SVEN E.
CARLSSON
Sven E. Carlsson – he used a specific music video
to form this theory which was Cher – Believe. He
believes that the way to analyse music videos was
to break them down into black and white boxes
and then it is all percieved as opposites e.g
trash/art, commerce/creativity,
naturalism/antirealism. He also believes that there
are 2 main categories that music videos fall into
which are performance, where the artist can be
seen singing and dancing, and conceptual, where
the visuals do not portray the artist and focus on
something else.

7. ANDREW GOODWIN
Goodwin intentified 5 key codes in music videos that the
audience look out for:
Thought beats – ‘seeing the sound’ which means look at the
music first then think about the structure of the song.
Narrative and performance – good music videos should have
aspects of both and work hand in hand together.
Star image – story within a story, shows the development of
the artist.
Relation of visual to song – illustrate, amplify, disjuncture.
Technical aspects – relating to camera work, movement,
angels, mise en scene, editing, sound etc.

8. CODES AND
CONVENTIONS
These all vary depending on what the genre is, although we
have identified general conventions of a music video through
the use of analysis which are regarding:
Style
Camera
Editing
Sound
Mise en scene

9. STYLE
This is where the music video just includes
the artist performing in the video, for
example dancing, singing, performing but
could involve some narrative to make it
more interesting to watch and make the
video more appealing depending on who
the audience is. If the video is just
performance based, there may be issues
with drawing attention from the audience
however the mixture of narrative too makes
it more interesting.

10. CAMEO
Cameo is where the people present in the video but it is not the
artist. In our music video, the artist is performing. There is no
narrative but through the use of camera, editing, sound and mise en
scene we tried to make it more interesting. We have gone against
typical styles of a music video as there are some out there that do
have just pure performance and some have a mixture. We have
developed the typical style of a performance video in our own.
Linking into Andrew Goodwin’s theory around narrative and
performance, we have challenged this and he stated that good
videos have a mixture of both, however ours is not a mixture but it
is still interesting as we have manipulated the lyrics of the song to
make it conform to today’s society regarding the consumption of
drugs and alcohol.

11. CAMERA SHOTS
Music videos typically show a range of camera shots to show different things in
different perspectives. We have used and developed the establishing shot in a
variety of areas in our work which we saw in previous music videos by having the
artist at the beginning of the music and throughout which prevented us from
going against typical codes and conventions. We used the wide shot in the video
but didn’t incorporate it as much as a typical music video would have. We used it
once within our video whereas a typical music video would have used it
throughout. We used traditional medium close ups of the artist whilst lip syncing
which is very typical for music videos so that the focal point can be on the artist
whilst they are singing. We also used close ups which are very common and we
are used to show specific facial expressions and how the artist is feeling.
However we did not use any close ups in our music video which challenges the
typical codes and conventions of music videos. We also did not use any extreme
close ups which also challenged the codes and conventions. The reason being
was that this is something that was not seen as necessary to use in our music
video however there were many possible places where the extreme close up and
close up could have been used. we did use long shots within our music video as
it to show the audience the full image of the artist and what she is wearing etc.

12. CAMERA ANGLES
In our music video we used a eye level angle to show what
the artist can see from her point of view which looks
professional as it not only adds effect to the video but also
makes it look natural to the audience as if they are there in
the video too. A low angle shot was also another conventions
of music videos but we did not use it therefore we challenged
the typical codes and conventions of music video. These are
normally shown in pop/dance songs and are very popular in
those type of videos. We did follow the codes and
conventions of music videos by using high angle shots in
our video when she is on the bench looking down, this adds
effect as the audience feels as though they are looking down
on her and she is literally lower which adds to the
atmosphere of the video.

13. CAMERA WORK -
THEORIST
Goodwin identified a convention known as ‘technical aspects
which means that he suggested that music is tied together by
different camera angles, shots and movements. We have
followed these conventions as we used a range of these
aspects however we did not use a lot of movement as only
incorporated one camera movement which is panning. If we
were to re-do this music video, we would add a lot more
camera movement to make it look a lot more professional.
Our teacher also told us that we could have included
different camera shots of the artist lip synching which shows
our work is not as tied together as it should have been,
therefore we have challenged goodwin’s theory.

14. EDITING
We followed typical codes and conventions by adding transition
between our shows after receiving some feedback from our
teachers who advised us to use more. Transition is a very
common thing used in music videos although they are not
overused. We used 5 transitions in our music video as we were
advised not to overuse them and only use them where we felt
was appropriate and to add effect. We also used slow motion
and fast motion as this is not as common but still conforms to
the typical codes and conventions of music videos. We used
this technique in the street scene to speed up the cars and
enforce the idea of the artist being stuck in a fast pace urban
city life style. We also matched the pace of the editing to the
pace of the song so that when the beat of the song would
change, the visuals would change too along with the beat. For
example, where the artist kicks the grass in the video, she does
this just as the beat changes and the artist starts singing.

15. SOUND
Sound is normally in two sections which are
diegetic and non diegetic. Most of our sound was
non diegetic as we only used the song as our
sound in the video, as we muted all the rest of the
sound that was apart of the filming process
therefore we do not have any diegetic in our music
video. We did not have any dialogue in our music
video meaning that we have used just non diegetic
sound that was added onto the video in the editing
process.

16. MISE EN SCENE
The costume of our artist is dressed appropriately and refrains
from any inappropriate or provocative attire which challenges
the typical codes and conventions of music videos as normally
women in media are objectified and wear revealing clothes for a
mans gaze. The lighting in our video is very bright and creates a
happy atmosphere despite the depressing song lyrics. We used
a lot of natural lighting and also bright lights from the fun fayre
at night time to add the effect of the urban city lifestyle. The
makeup and hair in our video is very typical to look like a young
girl in today’s day and age as she looks very girly and preppy
and innocent. We didn’t include very many props, only a lollipop
that the artist is consuming to show a ‘don’t care’ attitude
through her facial expressions and conforms to our idea of her
being careless and happy. We used a few different locations as
were limited to them but we used settings such as fun fayres
and busy roads to enforce the idea our music video was trying
to portray.

17. LINK TO THEORISTS
We have challenged the theory by Andrew Goodwin known
as electronic shamanism as we have refrained from
presenting our artist as a shaman. However this theory could
be seen as biased as he came up with this idea by looking at
just one music video when there are thousands of existing
music videos. However we did follow the convention of
thought beats as although our music video doesn’t have a
narrative, it is the result of what the artist in the video is
experiencing as a young person and she shows that
throughout - ‘songs can be seen as stories and the artist is a
story teller.’