Our music video uses, develops, and challenges conventions of real music videos in several ways: 1) It challenges conventions around editing by including a lack of match on action, which creates a powerful emotional section. 2) It challenges conventions of representation by portraying the male character as blending masculinity and femininity. 3) It challenges structural conventions by blending performance, narrative, and conceptual genres into one cohesive video. 4) Our other media products like the digipak and magazine ad both conform to and challenge conventions through their representation of the artists and use of design elements.

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

2. INTRODUCTION
• In this presentation I will explore my groups usage, development or challenges of
forms and conventions in real media products.
• I will analyse sections of my video and explain whether they conform, develop or
challenge conventions, whilst exploring whether it was done purposefully, if it was
a success and what my contribution was, with my inspiration for doing so.
• I will analyse the music video my group created and my ancillary products too.

3. GENRE CONVENTIONS
• To evaluate the levels of conformity or development of conventions in my music video
I first need to propose the conventions of real media products.
• Performance - quick cuts adding excitement to the video, wide variety of shots,
various and grand locations, emphasis on the performer elevating their status,
background dancers, actors etc.
• Narrative - follow or link to the lyrics, focus is not on the performer/artist, cuts and
narrative follow the pace of the music, fewer locations and often less background
actors/dancers.
• Conceptual - follow a theme or two usually taken from the lyrics or music genre,
intrigue a more niche group of people, editing to the beat of the song is less
important, cuts are of differing lengths, open to interpretation with heavy focus on
mise-en-scene.

4. CONFORMING TO CONVENTIONS
• When editing our video we wanted the cuts to be to the beat of the music which follows the conventions of narrative
and performance videos, the pace of our narrative also followed the pace of the music which is also another
convention. We aimed to follow this convention closely as we believed that it is an important factor in creating a
powerful video, it helps to ‘tie’ the different sections of our video together while also making the video flow and be
easy to watch, therefore allowing the viewer to focus on other aspects of the video.
• We used only one two locations in the music video which conforms to conventions from the narrative genre which
usually uses fewer locations, this was done mainly as a way of speeding up our filming process allowing us to edit
more and hit our deadlines. However we also knew that conforming to this convention would mean that we could
make a clear distinction between narrative, concept and performance.
• Our conceptual and performance sections featured heavy emphasis on mise-en-scene most notably the use of pink
and blue paint, this conforms to the convention that conceptual videos do focus on mise-en-scene but as all of them
contributed to the same theme of sexuality (transgender) it also follows conventions of a conceptual video in that
manner as well.

5. CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS - EDITING
• There was a lack of match on action in
various sections of our music video,
most notably the section in which the
male character is wearing the clown
make-up and acting aggressively inside
the bathroom. This is unconventional in
film-making and most genres inside the
music video industry, it is deemed to be
contradictory to the music video as
many believe that a lack of match on
action is an obstacle toward the flow of
the video. The only genre in which their
may be a lack of match on action is the
conceptual genre but even then this is
very rare and unconventional.
• Elaura and I made the conscious decision
to go against the convention of following
match on action, we knew that it was
unconventional and rarely used however
we believed that when we challenged this
convention it created a powerful,
emotional section which stood above
other sections in our video. We thought
that the lack of match on action created a
somewhat repetitive atmosphere in the
video, and being able to witness the video
more than once also makes those shots
that much more effective and emotional. I
believe that our choice to challenge this
convention was very successful and is
even our media teachers favourite section
of the video.

6. COMPARISON TO REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
• Arcade Fire - We Exist
• Toward the beginning of the video there is also a section
in which the character, played by Andrew Garfield, is
becoming his true self in front of a mirror. In this section
there is a wide variety of shots, close-ups of his face,
close-ups in the mirror and side angle shots, it lasts a
relatively long time however it utilises match on action.
Even though there were many shots in which a lack of
match on action could occur, they used their editing to
avoid this. This only helps to prove that our conscious
decision to go against match on action was
unconventional, we wanted to challenge the conventions
and it was still as successful as the mirror section within
‘We Exist.’

7. CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS - CAMERA
• We challenged conventions to an
extent within our video when it
came to camera work. The
aforementioned conventions of a
performance video included a wide
variety of shots and fast paced
editing, however our performance
section does not follow this
whatsoever. Our performance
section features minimal shots, all of
which are straight on and not
varying in angles, therefore not
elevating the character to a level of
stardom as most performance
videos do.
• I cannot take credit for consciously
challenging this convention, as a
group we wanted to create a
performance section that made the
two characters seem on the same
level, to reinforce the theme of
duality and sexuality. Therefore we
decided to use a series of more
‘plain’ shots and not have fast
editing, we did know that this would
be considered unconventional
however our reasons for creating
the section this way was not to be
unconventional.

8. COMPARISON TO REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
• Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know
• This performance based video is all filmed in one location,
some form of studio, however the artists go through
doors in the centre of the studio in order to change the
colour scheme of the video. The use of one location is
common within performance video’s for pop
groups/bands therefore showing how our performance
section follows conventions in the fact we also only used
one location. However it also aids in proving that our use
of limited shots, and slow editing is unconventional. This
video has sweeping and tracking shots, aerial shots along
side quick cuts to enhance the pace of the music and
promote the personalities of the artists. This
contradiction with our video goes some way to show the
unconventional manner of my video.

9. CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS - REPRESENTATION
• It is quite clear to see through our video how we challenged the
conventional representation of gender, masculinity and femininity. The
narrative itself is what provides most of this representation, and mise-en-
scene is also imperative in this representation. The male character is
represented as much more feminine than in real media products, his desire
to use make-up, how he sees a female in the mirror and the pink paint that
runs down him all go toward presenting him as feminine. However he is
also somewhat presented as a blend of masculinity and femininity, the
explosion of anger, the blue paint and the shots which show his masculine
body all go to show how he is this in-between stage of femininity and
masculinity. This representation is unconventional within the media,
possibly as transgender and LGBT+ issues are very sensitive topics, and
many still do not understand these people. Usually males are represented
as masculine figures, and often within music videos are shown with women
surrounding them in little clothing, almost as if the man has ownership or
control over them. So not only is the male character in our piece
represented as a blend of masculinity and femininity but the video also goes
someway to showing equality between male and female genders, this is due
to the mise-en-scene and narrative attempting to show the male character
as also being the female character and vice-versa.

10. COMPARISON TO REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS
• 50 Cent – Big Rich Town
• Although this music video is performance based only
it still goes some way in showing how our
representation of gender is unconventional. 50 Cent
himself is elevated using camera work, mise-en-
scene and editing, with many shots featuring him at
the centre of the frame being surrounded by women
in revealing clothing. He also wears lots of jewellery
and expensive clothing, all of which have specific
connotations to overly masculine traits.

11. CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS - STRUCTURE
• Most music videos can easily be identified and placed in one of the genre’s such as
performance, narrative or conceptual. As music video’s have become more artistic and
appreciated for their artistic value, they have often crossed genre’s with videos featuring
performance and narrative, narrative and concept etc. Hence the convention now seems
to be that music videos feature a maximum of two of these genres.
• In our video we strongly believe that we have crossed the boundaries of these three
genre’s and blended them into one video. Admittedly there is a heavier presence of
narrative then the other two genre’s however our video includes a variety of conceptual
shots, littered throughout the narrative section, and there is also two large performance
sections. This hybridity within our music video can be considered unconventional as
mixing more than two genre’s is rarely done. We made a conscious decision in our
planning stage to challenge this convention but also to challenge ourselves, we wanted to
be proud of what we created therefore planned a video in which we would need to create
three different sections, each of a different genre. I think this decision to challenge this
structural convention worked very well and made our video incredibly moving and
powerful, it helped to create links between representation and narrative, the cuts from
section to section were also smooth and ‘natural’ therefore not making the video seem
disjointed.

12. DIGIPAK
• My digipak follows the conventions of most real digipaks as it follows
key themes and creates synergy across the products by utilising the
same colour scheme, style and representation.
• It follows conventions as it features multiple photos of the
artists/characters which is expected on any digipak, especially a digipak
for a genre such as indie rock.
• Another way in which it follows conventions is that the song list is on
the back of the digipak, meaning when it is packaged properly the
buyer will be able to see this list by turning the product over, not
having to search for it. This is one of the more essential conventions to
follow as, if it was done in another manner, the buyer may get
frustrated and decide not to buy the product as they cannot find the
song list.

13. DIGIPAK
• It’s representation of the artists is unconventional however,
as discussed before, using photos of the artists is
conventional however the photos I chose present an
unconventional representation. Usually these photos are
meant to promote the personality of the artists and
emphasise their status, making them seem ‘godly.’ However
the bland expressions, the dark lighting and shadows do not
promote their personality or status, in fact it makes them
seem quite bland, which is very unconventional but I think it
is effective as it relates well to our video and its themes
whilst also fitting the genre of indie rock where the focus is
upon music not the artist.

14. MAGAZINE ADVERT
• As with the digipak, the magazine advert follows conventions as it features the artists/characters
however, similarly, these photos do not promote their status or personality, so once again these
photos are both conventional and unconventional.
• The advert follows conventions due to some of the other features such as the “OUT NOW”
section which all magazine adverts feature, otherwise it is pretty much useless promotion as the
reader will not know where to find the album.
• The rating, and the comment made by a popular, well established music paper is also a
conventional feature of a magazine advert, as it needs to present a believable ‘argument’ as to
why the reader should buy or listen to the album.
• The advert is somewhat unconventional due to its colour scheme, it follows the video and
digipak in terms of colour scheme therefore creating synergy which is conventional, however
the large amounts of ‘blank’/black space is what makes it slightly unconventional. Most real
adverts are full, and packed full of colour, photos and detail, leaving a very small amount of
background, however mine has quite a lot. I did this on purpose and I think it is very successful
as it emphasises the rest of the adverts features, the features which are most important to
advert. It does not confuse the reader by being over complicated.