In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

• It has become a trend in the last few years for an artist to have their name and the name of the song displayed either at the start of the song or right at the end, especially with big stars such as Beyonce and Lady Gaga. They do this because any music video from a big star becomes a must-see experience, so branding it in this way only raises their star level even higher. I decided to copy this trend because I wanted my artist to become as recognizable as those names, plus delaying the actual video in order to show this info only helps to raise excitement even higher. It makes the star of my video seem as important as the people at the top of the charts right now, therefore adding a trend to the brand, where people think they need to purchase the song and watch the video if they want to keep up with the latest trends.

• It is typical of most music videos, but especially pop, electronic and R&B videos, to feature extreme closeups of the star. This is because using the star to sell the record is easily one of the most successful techniques, and not only does it sell more records but it also helps to raise the star profile of the artist, meaning that high sales are more likely in the future. However, this shot also challenges the convention of a music video, as it is obvious the model is wearing little makeup, and has pale skin. This goes against the current trend which dictates that everyone on show must be the ultimate ideal for that gender, which in this case would mean that the model should have tanned skin and more makeup on to highlight her best features. I decided to go against this because not only was it not really a part of the character to want to look her best, but because I wanted to make my video stand out in the way it represented beauty ideals.

• Through the use of visual effects throughout the video, my product develops the current forms and conventions of a music video. The current trend for pop (and all of the genres that are popular at the moment, like electronica and dance) is to keep the video natural and simple. However, a few years ago there was a stage where effects such as the one from my video (top left) were wildly popular. I decided to use them in my video because they help to entertain the viewer and keep their eyes on the video, meaning that they listen to more of the song and are therefore more likely to purchase it. However, I then developed this idea further and used more abstract effects, like the swirl effect (above right). This style of effect is much less popular in music videos because it normally either hides or actually takes away from the image level for the star, as their features are stretched out of shape. I decided to use it in brief sections because it helps to shock the viewer, and then they have to watch the video again to see what happens, which means both more video views and more chances to sell the song.

• This shot challenges most music video conventions as the most popular music videos of the moment make their star look as attractive as possible, and create an image that can run through their careers. I decided to include this shot in my music video because one of the best ways to get a music video to be widely seen is to include the shock factor, and having the star of the video smeared in red and black paint and looking straight into the camera will disorientate the viewer and make them watch it again.

• These 3 shots show how my product develops the conventions of a music video through the use of filters. It is becoming increasingly popular to have black and white scenes within a video, recent examples including ‘Drunk In Love’ by Beyonce, and ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ by Rita Ora. A monochrome filter is one of the most flattering, as it helps to make the skin glow on screen whilst most imperfections are naturally hidden by the lack of colour, so I decided to include the use of a monochrome filter in my video. However, I then took it one step further and included several other filters, including the Sepia tone and the Glow Diffuse tone. As these types of filters are less popular in modern videos seeing them pop up on the screen will help to keep the viewers eyes on the video, creating more views for the product.

• This shows how my product develops certain conventions of music videos to make my video stand out from the market. Most modern music videos feature a fade transition between two shots, but it normally transitions very quickly. I decided to use a fade in my video, but this time stretch it out over a longer period of time in order to create the effect above. By creating an overlap between the two final shots, the viewer can see the connection between the two seemingly separate images, as if the character is walking away into the future to become the character with paint on her face. This helps to give some understanding to my video, which means people will watch it repeatedly to find more subtle connections between shots.

• During my production, I realized how similar my ideas for my music video were to popular music videos from the 90’s, specifically for dance videos. An example is ‘What Is Love?’ by Haddaway, which features lots of reversed footage and extreme closeups. These are two of the key features within my video, and seeing as this video is seen as one of the defining videos of the 90’s, I’m pleased that this connection exists within my work.

• When making my music video, I tried to keep as many similarities out of my mind as possible in order to stop myself from copying any existing work without realizing it. However, the two real media products I used to inspire me were the film ‘Black Swan’ by Darren Aronofsky, and the music video to ‘One’ by Sky Ferreira (images above). Black Swan is one of my favourite films because of the way it uses editing to shock and entice the viewer, a thought I was inspired by during production of my music video. The video to ‘One’ has more similarities to my product than I first realized, because the use of shots such as the extreme closeup and the mirroring effect used throughout the video match my own video. However, I have developed past this idea because whereas the video to ‘One’ has no connection between the different images, I’ve put more thought into my video and the way that the images add together to create one overarching plot.

• My product develops the conventions of magazine advert through the use of colour picking and the mirroring effect. My inspiration for the advert was the one by Delilah for her album ‘From The Roots Up’ (above right) because I thought it was one of the most professional and visually stunning adverts available right now. However, there were a few things about it I didn’t like, so I decided to develop the ideas used within that advert to try and make my product stand above it. The main negative I had about the professional advert was the way they’d just faded the image to black in the bottom section of the advert, as I don’t think it fits in with the rest of the advert. I developed this by mirroring my image so the bottom section of the advert was filled, and then cutting out the bottom of the model’s face and replacing it with more fur from the hood in order to create a solid background. I’m very happy with the result this gave me, as you’re still able to read the writing on this bottom section, however I feel it looks much more professional than just one solid colour that you see throughout the majority of modern magazine adverts. I decided to use the same colour scheme throughout my advert as this is what all of the successful professional adverts do, and it helps to create an overall branding for the product which helps it become more instantly recognizable.

• When creating my front cover of the digipak, I had no real influence over my decisions, only knowing that I wanted to create an image that would stand out from most of the boring covers that are mass-produced at the moment. However, I soon realized that my idea was taking inspiration from the cover for the ‘Born This Way’ album by Lady Gaga, specifically with the use of the colour picking technique in order to make the red facepaint stand out. This is similar to the red lipstick on the professional cover, although I have developed the idea further to make my cover stand out more from the crowd.

• The back cover of my digipak develops ideas shown in the back cover for ‘Matangi’ by M.I.A, in the way that the image is edited to make it stand out. M.I.A.’s back cover makes her almost unrecognizable, something I didn’t want to exactly copy for my own product, so I zoomed in on the picture and edited the red facepaint to make it blue, which I feel creates a very interesting image. I also changed the ideas of the professional cover because I didn’t like the black sidebar on the side of her cover, so I made sure any writing on my cover was in a plain section of the image in order for there to be no need for a sidebar in my product.