The document discusses the conventions of music videos in the house genre and how the student's music video project adheres to and develops these conventions. Specifically, it discusses how the video uses close-ups, long shots, and establishing shots of the artist to promote them, as is typical in house music videos. It also adheres to conventions regarding costume, lighting, settings, and fast-paced editing to match the upbeat music. Iconography like stereos and watches are used to further the narrative and represent themes of dance and friendship common in the genre.

2. Q1) In what ways does your
media product use, develop of
challenge forms and conventions
of real media products?

3. » The advanced portfolio brief was to produce a music video with ancillary
products. A music video is a short production which lasts for
approximately 2 -5 minutes. The purpose of a music video is to promote
the artist/ band in their style of music, which attracts people with the
same style of music and a targeted audience.
» The traditional reason for a music video is also for promotional purposes
which is a marketing device for the record label to sell their music. This is
why music videos need to keep a consistency of engagement and
entertainment so to the audience would buy a single or album.
» Most music videos should portray the genre that it comes from, therefore
music video production can vary, but what music videos have in similar is
that they are all either narrative, performance or a concept based.
All music video vary on how they use micro elements as again, this is
conventional to the genre. The micro elements are :
» Cinematography
» Mise En Scene
» Editing
» Sound

4. » To ensure my group and I were following conventions, we looked at
different videos of the ‘House’ genre to see what type of
cinematography was used a lot and then we tried to use this within
our own work.
» We found that CU’s and LS’s were used a lot for artist
representation and that lots of establishing shots and long shots
also set up the scenes. This is something we used and developed as
seen below:
» Goodwin stated that CP’s were needed to star image motifs and
Dyer stated that star image could be developed my using CU’s and
LS’s to see the artist in full. The ‘House’ genre also uses this.

5. » My music video follows the conventions of the ‘House’ genre by the movement and size of
the camera shot. The camera work that we are using is simple but effective. For example we
use various closes ups, mid shots and long shots to show the image of the artist and making
him appear to the audience as a care free person. This is effective because the audience
would be able to see the body language and facial expression of the artist. We also use long
shots to show when the characters are dancing to hard routines and close ups were also
used here.
We analysed the music video by Disclosure –
‘White noise’ and we wanted to use a similar
structure showing the audience the dancing.
Close up of the feet dancing to show
the audience the dance moves.
Long shot to portray an image for
the dancers dancing to hard routine.

6. The Mise En Scene in a music
videos is very important as it
portrays the artist in a particular
way. The Mise En scene can also
establish what genre the music
video is and the artist’s style. This
is something as a group we
thought long and hard about.
Our artist wears:
-A hoody
-Casual T-Shirt
-Black trousers
-Trainers
The costumes in music videos should be conventional to
the genre that the artist belongs to, not only to represent
the genre but also the style that the artist wants to
portray. For example, the costume that my artist wears in
the music video shows that he is calm, smooth and an
urban hippy. We can compare this type of costume to the
‘House’ genre and the ‘Pop’ because in these genres they
tend to wear clothing which can be quite casual to reflect
the audience.

7. The costume that the younger characters
are wearing in the music video is school
uniform, what this demonstrates that the
characters are very young and new to a
hobbies which they like which is dance.
Costume should be conventional to the
genre the artist belongs to. This will not
only represent the genre but it can a
give and portray a style to the fan base.
As our theme is dancing in the video, our
older characters wear clothing which
more related to the dancing theme. This
makes them look casual, care-free and
hipster.
We also think our intended target
audience would dress like our characters.

8. In the music video, high key lighting was used so that the artist could
be noticed in the various settings and also so that he can be seen as
the centre of attention. This also helped to represent his facial
expressions and body language which were smart, sexy and cool,
making the song meaningful to him and further show escapism to the
audience.
When the dancing occurs, we use natural lighting to emphasise the
nature of dance being part of someone’s life. This is something that
was influenced by ‘Run DMC’ and we wanted to use this convention.

9. » When we see the urban locations, we used a range of high and low key
lighting. This was to develop conventions of real media products as we felt
a lot of low key lighting was used in ‘House’ music videos to show the
location.
Lighting was influenced by the
Gnarles Barkley’s video ‘Crazy’
where a lot of white was used. We
liked this idea even though it is of
a different genre because it made
the video stand out so we wanted
to develop it.

10. I believe that all the settings we use for our music video are convention
of the ‘House’ genre, therefore we use conventions of real media
products.
» A plan white wall so the audience can see the artist clearly as he is
positioned in the centre, making him the centre of attention and
making his costume, body language and facial expression stand out
to the audience.
» Urban location for the dancer characters to have a battle in and
making it conventional to the ‘House’ genre with its gritty location.
» Dance Studio showing the narration of the younger dancers and the
older ones practising what brings them together. Reflective of genre
too.

11. Iconography
» From our research, I believe that the use of iconography also uses and
»
»
develops forms and conventions of real media products.
We use a stereo as it represents the theme of dance, I feel is conventional to the house
genre. This was influenced by ‘Run DMC` music video It`s Like That. The Stereo in the music
video plays a role in the narration of the music video which is base on dance and starts off a
battle.
We also used watches to show the friendship of our characters. The indicates a
bond/friendship between our characters going from the younger age to an older age. This
was influenced by ‘Rudimental’s video ‘Not giving in’ because it shows a relationship
between two brothers and their characteristics

12. » The body language and facial expressions that is shown in my
music video from our artist reflects the ‘House’ genre as the
artist is perceived as laid back and cool. He looks smart, sexy
and casual all at the same time and this can be read from his
body language and facial expression. I looked at artists like
‘Example’ to help me with my artists body language and facial
expression to make sure I was following conventions of real
media products.
• The dancers body language and facial expressions are
very energetic,. This shows that the characters are
spirited and lively to their dance moves, We used the
video of Run DMC It`s Like That to help us with this
representation of the theme of the music video.

13. Goodwin's stated that the pace of the editing should be in time with the
beats in the song. We used and developed this with our editing.
Within my music video, there is a lot of cross cuts between the fast paced
shots of the artist and dancers to make it conventional to the ‘House’ genre.
We also fast paced editing and also used effective jump cuts as the beat of
the song is fast and we thought this would entertain the audience.
An example of the jump cuts used effectively is when the camera scans
through the graffiti underpass. We used this to reflect the concept idea of
the video.
We used a lot of editing transitions on the artist when he is performing to
represent him in a stylish way. This is something I developed from the ‘House’
genre as usually there is not much emphasis on the artist.

14. This song is very upbeat but and has a rhythmic,
repetitive beat to it.
The sound is very fast paced and there are lots of
beats evident in the song. This made the editing a
tough and challenging process.
To help with this I researched into similar ‘House’
and dancing theme videos to get ideas from.
Disclosure –White Noise that’ followed a similar
theme such as the dance scenes and we noticed
that the editing had to be really fast to match the
sound.
As the sound is quite repetitive, we use aspects of
repetition within our music video, mainly with the
artist and location.