1. Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
My music video uses forms and conventions of real media platforms, because I’ve ensured to look at the
four key areas (camera, editing, sound and mis-en-scene) of music video and apply it to mine. Firstly our
genre is RnB/Hip Hop so therefore we looked existing music videos in that field, however we had to
narrow it down to just looking at just one artist (Rihanna) as we were using her song to make our music
video and also help us construct our digipack and magazine advert.
When thinking about our product in reference to conventions, we must first look at the theories such as
Goodwin’s. He said that:
Music videos show characteristics in relation to genre (conventions)
The genre we chose to do was RnB and the conventions that we used to
represent this was the way the dressed our artists. However, this is a love
song we decided to keep the costumes simple so that it suites the video.
Looking at existing media products on the artist that we portrayed in the video
(Future) I realised in one of his love songs (No matter what) he wore
something quite simple which we took and incorporated into our own music
video. (A use of hand gestures to express feelings towards the person they are
singing to).
There is a relationship between the music and the visuals
In our music video we ensured that the visuals were aligned together with the
music so that could video flow well. For example when the male artist sings
the chorus the camera is on him and when it’s the female’s part to sing the
camera is also on her.
There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
In the video we had to make sure that the visuals matched the lyrics in the song by ensuring that
when we filmed the lip synching had to be on the same level as the song. If our footage were not
in synch with the lyrics it would not have a realistic affect on the overall video.
Camera:
When making our own music video we ensured to use variety of shots especially close
ups and mid shots. Artists tend to use close up shots to create a relationship with their
audience so there for we applied that to our music video with the female artist. By
doing this allowed the audience to see the connection the artist had with the male
artist that is featured in the music video. This close up shot shows her looking out
whilst the sun sets, which was the purpose and implies that she reminiscing/thinking about her lover.
Another example of the shot we used in our video was a long shot to show the
surrounding of where the artist is. This is also shot at a high angle. It denotes her
staring out across the lake however it implies that she is alone and reminiscing.
We chose to use a low angle to present her and imply that she is alone.
We ensured to use a lot of movement, such as panning using a handheld camera rather than keeping it
on the tripod. When filming close up shots we made sure we kept the camera on the tripod to be sure
that there would not be any movements that would affect the footage. There were different types of

2. shots used to ensure that we had a variety of angles of the artist. We used a lot of mid shots and long
shots to show the audience the surrounding and outfit of the artist.
With the featured artist (Future) we mainly used mid shots and long shots because he weren’t really the
artist we wanted the audience to focus on, however we did want him appear as much as he could in the
video. Using a mid-shot allows the audience to focus on the artists’ costume/hair or
makeup, which are the reasons why we chose to use it mainly on the male artist.
Long shots are used to show of the environment of which the artist is in and also to
show their whole costume. We used a long of both artists together to show the good
times they’ve had and where (location). When the male performer (artist) is lip
singing in the studio we had him looking straight at the camera, I got this idea from
“Future- No matter what” this allows the audience to sympathise with the artist.
Editing:
The beat of our chosen song was quiet slow so therefore we did not need a fast cutting rate. However at
the beginning we chose to have a fast cutting rate for the party scene because it needed to look more up
beat from the rest of the song. In between these fast cuts we can see people dancing in a dark space and
implies that they are having fun/enjoying themselves. We made sure that the images were in synch with
the music for example the lip synching had to match the lyrics to ensure that it looked correct as a
finished product. The images flowed well with the song and there was a correlation between them which
made more like existing music videos. From looking at the existing media products we chose to use in our
case studies, we spotted that in some of them a story was being told and others had jump cuts meaning
that the shots weren’t in order. We decided to go with telling a story. We followed TODOROVS theory. At
the beginning which is the equilibrium we had the two artists arguing which implies that something has
happened hence why they are arguing. With this we chose to have non-diegetic sound which was the
intro of the song itself. We decided not to have our video in chronological order so that it makes it more
pleasing to watch for the audience without them knowing what would happen next.
We also had some colour correction to our moving images to black and white to portray
memory/flashback. Having seen this on an existing music video which we used in our case study we chose
to put in ours as they are both love songs.
Whilst editing our footage we decided that we were going to change some footage to black and white
(BARTHES action codes, codes that easily recognised by the audience such black and white to connote the
past), reasons being because we wanted to connote the past (showing the artist together as a couple and
how they used to be before everything else happened). At the beginning of the music we chose to use a
prologue and we did this by including a different footage from the actual music video to show the
reasons why we structured our footage in that particular way. In the prologue we had some fast flicking
effects and a fast cutting rate as it was a party footage with upbeat music. The flicking effect made the
footage look more upbeat and fun, we used this to show the male artist (Future) flirting with another
female at the party which straight after that we see him again arguing with his girlfriend (the female
artist- Rihanna). We included a few fades when the next shot changed to the black and white footage
which created a smooth and realistic affect. Having looked at existing products in our chosen genre I
noticed that fades were usually used to reflect back which worked well in our video. In between some
shots we did not use any fades, instead we just put them together to create a cut shot (a jump from one
footage to the other) we did this so that there can be a change in the way the audience see the video.
Sound:

3. In my group we chose to do a music video which meant that we only had non-diegetic sound. We made
sure that the moving images were in synch with the moving images so that it could look realistic. We
used non-diegetic sound for the prologue too because the diegetic sound that was used within that that
footage was too low and we were unable to shoot again so therefore we chose to mute the footage
sound and place the sound over it. We had to trim and cut the sound to where we wanted it to start and
finish. For the prologue we included a fade at the end because there was also a fade included to the
footage and they both worked out well. This was a transition to go into the next shot.
Mis-en-scene:
As of with the locations, makeup and costume we chose to keep them simple. Reasons behind this is
because the song we chose to use for our video wouldn’t match with extravagent things which then
means it wont look realistsic. Another reason why we kept our look simple is because our artists didnt
really have the sort of things real artists showed us in their videos such as big chains, cars etc. So we
worked well with what we had and what we could access. We also wanted it to be relatable rather than
aspirational so that the audience can feel a connection with the artists.
Our locations were: the shopping centre (Westfield), the park/lake, studio, the streets. We chose to film
in the shopping mall because the lyrics includes “shopping” which is sung by the female artist. We made
the realtions between the two that’s why we used the mall. It also looked natural which is the look we
wanted to produce. The second location which was the park was used whilst filming the female artist to
portray that innocent and soft look. Whilst filming we realised the sun was setting which we was
advantage we took. We had a close shot of her face while the sun was shining on her face to create a soft
look. Her make up was also simple which looked really natural on the camera.
The props we used in this music video were the red cups in the prologue (the party scene). Having looked
at existing products (T-pain- up down) we saw that red cups are used during parties and its also an
american thing. And because our artists are american we chose to have them in our video. We tried to
create a link bewtween an existing media aproduct to our music video.
(T-pain- up down)
(Rihanna ft Future- Love Song)