Jerome Blake analyzes how their group's three media projects for a music video, magazine advertisement, and CD packaging utilize and challenge conventions of real media in the R&B and hip-hop genres. The music video draws from conventions like minimal female clothing, tattoos and jewelry for men, and sexualized imagery but aims to challenge typical objectification of women. Elements like lighting, camera angles, editing, and representation of gender draw from examples like "Miss Independent" while updating representations. The analysis considers how conventions were both followed and updated to resonate with audiences.

1. Evaluation task 1 (Jerome Blake)
In what ways does your media product
use, develop, or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?

2. Our media products
• Our three media products are as follows
• A music video
• A magazine advertisement
• And a DigiPak
Our media products fit into the Hip hop and R&B
genre of music and because of this there are unique
codes and conventions that must be followed in
order to make our media product interact with our
targeted audience.

3. Conventions of a music video (R&B)
Men in R&B/Hip-hop Women in R&B/Hip-hop
• Jeans • Minimal clothing
• Tattoos • Hair and make up
• Jewelry • Heels
• Topless (occasionally) • jewelry
R&B/Hip-hop music videos are generically very sexual,
more specifically when it comes to the way women are
represented, this is not always the case as there are several
examples of R&B/ hop-hop music videos that challenge this
convention and are still successful as a music video an
example of this is “Miss Independent” by Ne-you. The
screen shots are from the music video to illustrate what I
am explaining.

4. Different Types of R&B/Hip-hop
representations representations
Women
• Similar to males in the R&B genre, females in R&B also convey their sexuality through their clothing which is very
minimal as mentioned in the previous slide; they also place emphasis on their sexuality through their makeup. R&B
females are usually portrayed as soft goddess type people in their videos, but nowadays there has been a lot of
gender stereotypes being broken in their videos with the females being seen as more powerful than the men for
example Ciara’s “like a boy” video.
Ciara - like a boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CQEvlil68M&ob=av2e
To add to this there is also the typical representation of women in R&B/Hip-hop music videos where women are
represented as disposable objects of desire, which our video challenges.
Men
• R&B videos are usually very sexual and the topless men in the male R&B videos connotes that sense of
sexuality. A majority of R&B videos these days are filmed in grey scale/sepia tone which adds a sensual
tone to the imagery in the video. R&B male stars wear jewellery however not as much as Hip Hop stars do
because although they are trying to depict their wealth, a majority of the video will have close ups on
their bodies and abs.
Trey Songz – Can’t be friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArdBI_F1LKo
• This is also challenged in some hip-hop/R&B videos where the male is fully clothed with minimal jewellery
but in contemporary and stylish clothing examples of this are.
Lupe Fiasco ft. Trey Songz outa my head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3NaVE73lpc
And
Neyo miss independant
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6M5C-oKw9k

5. Clothing (Mise-en-scene)
• Our music video uses the forms and conventions of real
media products in a variety of ways below are some
examples of real media products in comparison to ours
Our media product Real media products
Various aspects of our video were influenced by real media products, for the representation we
wanted “Lupe Fiasco ft. Trey songz outa my head” was a big influence. As it challenged the typical
conventions of R&B/Hip-hop E.g. topless males

6. Setting the mood (lighting )
Our media product Real media products
Notice the similarities between our music video and real music videos, there are various elements that make our
video relate to our target audience and this is using the conventions of hip-hop and R&B in this instance, our
artist wears jewelry and black clothes; the artist in the video “stay Scheming” wears jewellery and black clothing.
Giving our music video a darker feel relating it to the hip-hop genre of music, as hip hop extends from
underground rap which consist of references to, sex, drug abuse, gang culture and violence.

7. special effects (editing)
Our media product Real media products
We used Final Cut pro to edit our video and it allowed us to use “keyer” and
other techniques in order to create colorful backgrounds, vibrant
backgrounds are used in R&B videos occasionally but not so much in
contemporary R&B the reason we used this is because it added depth and
dynamism to our video.
Bring our media product in closer relation to our target audience. Colorful
lighting techniques are used in a variety of videos such as Usher “Yeah ft.
Ludacris” which was a number one hit single for weeks on end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqr_4NCfitM

8. Variety of shots (camera angles)
1
The camera angles we have used are a
worms eye view, low angle shot. In some
performance scenes as shown in image 1
because this is an effective camera angle
used in many hip-hop and R&B videos
The use of camera angles were key to the production of our music video using them
made our product look authentic in particular the scenes where we would change
scenes quickly showing different angles.
We also used over the
shoulder shots as shown in
image 2 and we consistently
used it through out our video
as it allows the audience to
see what's going on from the
perspective of the artist or
supporting actors.

9. On beat editing
In order to intricately relate our media product to our target audience. We cut and placed
our footage over key sections of the song. Not only did this allow for very tight lip syncing
but it allowed us to used different editing techniques, such as cross cuts and continuity
editing. Which is a feature that is apparent in the production of real media products (music
videos)
Look at this examples where cuts are used to match the beat as well as used for lip
syncing, this video was key in terms of influencing how and where we cut and placed our
scenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liZm1im2erU

10. Connotations behind key scenes
This scene is of our actress wearing red
heals and the connotation behind this is
love and sophistication which is a key
concept of the R&B music genre
The cold steel effect along with
the over the shoulder shot
gives the scene a depressing
mood which is the message we
are trying to convey through
our narrative structure this is
done on several music video
e.g. bright sunshine is used to
connote love and happiness

11. Connotations behind key scenes
We used natural lighting in this shot as a bright sunny day between boy and
girl together denotes love and affection in particular when both are smiling at
each other.
This is an example of a real
media product that uses
similar lighting to convey the
same meaning “Lupe Fiasco ft.
Trey songz outa my head”

12. Connotations behind key scenes
We used the camera angle and the dynamic action pose in order to relate to the R&B
music genre where there are very short performance scenes performance scenes are a
must when it comes to R&B music videos. So we decided to use this convention to
bring our media product in closer relation to real media products and our targeted
audience.

13. Connotations behind key scenes
Not only did we edit to the
beat but we also edited to the
lyrics as well we done several
things such as add text to
physically display the words of
the song in key places we feel
this was one of our more
creative techniques we used in
order to have a closer
relationship with the genre we
also used abstract footage in
places such as the sky when
the song makes reference to it.

14. Representation of women in our video
• Our representation of women challenges the forms and conventions of Hip-Hop
and R&B music videos by having a fetishtic representation of our female actress
we have done so by use of the clothing she wears in comparison to real media
products which portray their women in a voyeuristic was.
• Laura muvleys male gaze was key to the representation of women in our music
video and a key influence in inspiring us to challenge this convention. As Laura
Mulvey’s theory brings to attention the negative representation of women in the
media generally being given a voyeuristic representation which is degrading, so we
decided to challenge this representation and this theory made it apparent to us
the ways in which women are portrayed in real contemporary media products

15. Andrew Goodwin
• Andrew Goodwin identifies 5 key aspects of music videos that audiences should look for which are.
• Thought beats-seeing the sound
• Narrative and performance
• The star image
• Relation of visuals to song
• Technical aspects of music video.
Andrew Goodwin's theory on music videos was key to the construction of our music videos.
His theory made me consciously aware of the elements that had to be included in my music video for it to be successful.
Taking his theory into account we cut and pasted the footage not only
to match the beat of the song but the lyrics as well for instance in our
song the lyric “thoughts take me to when we were close” there is an
extreme close up of male actor 1 and female actress holding hands.

16. Andrew Goodwin
• We also had to take into consideration the star image of the artists in the original
song, common is a laid back person, who raps and is typical of the rap/hip-hop genre.
• Will-I-Am is more out going and daring with his dress sense which is why male actor 2 (me)
was in more stylized clothing to fit the star image of will I am.
As you can see from the two
images there is a clear
contrast in representation
between both male actors.

17. Andrew Goodwin
• Narrative structure and performance are key
and clear to see thoughout the entire of our
music video these elements are the spine of
the video and without them our video would
not be as successful as it is as it adds context
and meaning to the song.

18. Our DigiPak
The key and apparent use
of Red in our DigiPak is to
connote love. Love is a key
theme in Hip-hop and R&B
so we used images that we
had to depict upon that
theme.
As you can see the similarities
between our media product
and a real media product, but
our DigiPak is uniquely styled
to represent our target
audience and music genre

19. Our DigiPak front cover
Our media product
Our DigiPak front cover in terms of
design style is influenced by “the
album cover for “Lupe Fiasco outa
my head” the silhouette of the
women with a pink outer glow
signifies lust and love as the
concept behind the song is wanting
her (female Actress) the two
images of both male actor is simply
to show the combination of hip-
hop and R&B notice the facial
Real media product expression of the two artists and
he star contrast between them
showing to unique representations.
Note the similarities between
our media product and a real
media product

20. Our DigiPak DigiPak
Inside panel 1 Back Front
The structure of real media products in
comparison to our media product shows a distinct
relationship but continuing a unique twist
allowing for more promotional material so we
have used and developed upon the conventions of
real media products

21. Our magazine advert
Real media product
Our media product

22. Our magazine advert
Our magazine advert has several
feature that make it work as a media
product for example have he album
cover on the design is a feature used
in real media products
Other key features such
as having real music
logos feature in the
design are key for
making the design look
authentic.
The color scheme of the
design relates directly to
the DigiPak therefore
having the same

23. Conclusion (music video)
How we used conventions
• So in conclusion we have used the conventions of real media products when creating ours by using key
themes of the genre, such as.
• urbanization (using urban backgrounds)
• By using clothing hat connoted meaning which signifies the genre e.g. Jewelry (the Mise- en-scene)
• By having a variety of scenes representing the artist in different clothing and angles (Camera angles )
• Using a variety of special effects e.g. using the keyer to have different backgrounds (editing)
• Adding special filter effects such as, Crisp contrast and cold steel to make key scenes from our video look
similar to real media products (lighting)
How we challenged conventions
• Having our Actress completely covered in clothing representing her in a Fetishtic way in term of her facial
expressions body language and dress since.
• We also challenged the male representation to by not having our R&B actor (male actor 2- Jay –S) not take
off his top, there for de sexualizing the music video making the viewer pay more attention to the narrative
structure of the video rather that nudity which is seen in many hip-hop and R&B videos
• These are some examples of sexualized Hip-hop and R&B videos.
• 50 cent ft. Olivia candy shop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRcnnId15BA
• Ciara ft 50 cent can leave e’m alone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnL9Ju7oSvU

24. Conclusion (DigiPak)
Our DigiPak used conventions of real media products in terms of its.
• Structure: gatefold structure follows conventions of real media
products, additional panels develops that convention to allow for
more promotional material to be contained in the DigiPak.
• Imagry: couple togather denotes love, facial expressions of
artist represent two genres of music, silhouette of women connotes
love and lust (R&B/Hip-hop)
• Colour: red connotes love (R&B) black connotes sopistication
(R&B) black and red connotes power (hip-hop)

25. Conclusion (magazine advert)
• Our DigiPak uses conventions of real media products in
terms of its color scheme and typographic style being
the same as the DigiPak showing that they are linked as
a media package; this also has a direct ink with the
theme of love that is apparent in R&B/hip hop music.
• The use of real music logos such as hmv and iTunes
helps to make the advert look authentic as well as
helping to promote the artist and the song, making the
audience know how to access the song and the various
ways they can access it.