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

real media products?

How are conventions met according to theorists?

Laura Mulvey states that narrative films use women in order to provide pleasurable visual experiences for men. The narrative film structure is said to be shown through a masculine gaze. The woman is said to be the object of the reifying gaze, not the bearer of it. Mulvey further states that film and music videos are ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between the active dominant male and the passive female. The determining male gaze projects his fantasy on the female figure which has been styled accordingly.

Laura Mulvey’s theory of conventional narrative videos is applied in our music video as our actress is objectified in the prostitution scenes in order to simulate how her male client views her and how worthless the character would view herself. The character remains conventionally passive as she looks down and timidly pulls her tights down. Furthermore, she also heavily applies make up which is shown from an over the shoulder shot which represents masculine eyes watching her ‘doll herself up’; there are also pan shots used of the protagonists legs as she walks and alluringly appears to be in the bath partially clothed. However, in a sense on a superficial level it could be seen that we have subverted Mulvey’s theory as a low angle shot is used when the actress is removing her tights ;which could represent the ‘male gaze’ being intrusive and perverse therefore demeaning and condemning the ‘male gaze.’ However, by removing her clothes and using her sexuality to gain a sense of power Mulvey's theory is proven correct as the female character is complying to male desires in order to claim any power which in itself is demeaning therefore making the protagonist subordinate to the ‘male gaze’.

Low angle shot of character removing her tights.

High angle of actress partially clothed in the suicide scene.

Shot panning downwards. Close up shot of the girls leg as the bath is being run.

Close up shot of the protagonist applying makeup.

Characters

We have one protagonist in our video which is a convention in used in narrative music videos according to my research. Most music videos leading protagonists traditionally feature the singer. Moreover, in Pink’s Perfect video the singer briefly appears in the video but an actress is telling the story. In addition, in Ed Sheeran’s A-team video the singer does not appear in the video instead the actress is telling the story. Therefore, the convention in a narrative video is that the singer does not appear in the video but instead a main character tells the story conveyed by the songs lyrics.

Mid shot of opening to the street scene.

Filming in Black and White.

We filmed our entire music video in black and white in order to symbolically convey the character’s misery and depression. However, the trend is that videos are generally filmed in colour. Moreover, our research shows that some videos do film in black and white in order to symbolically capture the mod created by the song in order to visually convey the story that’s described in the songs lyrics.

Camera shots.We carefully planned and practised the camera angles and shots we wanted to use; we were aiming to use a range of interesting shots to portray the protagonists emotions and various situations that she is in. We used high angle shots of the character in the bath as he commits suicide in order to represent the loneliness she feels. Like many music videos we used close up and medium shots in order to deliver the character’s emotions to the audience. While also using establishing shots in order to set the scene at different locations.

Low angle shot usedwhich conveys the male prospective of a scene.

Close up of the character’s face conveying emotion.

Street establishing shot.

High angle shot used in the bathroom scene.

Over the shoulder shot.Blurred focus and then a focused mid- close up of the actress’ hand holding the necklace.

Editing.We used a jump cut at the beginning of the film because at the beginning of the music video there is complete silence and as soon as the music begins the establishing shot .This is a convention used in music videos in order to create suspense. The transition from silence to music also creates an awareness of displaying the past. The opacity used presents an extreme close up of the character drowning as there is a shot beneath that shows the character drowning as a mid-shot. The opacity effect is generically used in music videos in order to create a sense of disorientation and discomfort. In the last shot the screen cross fades out which is a technique used in music videos that creates suspense and releases tension from a final scene that has reached a dramatic climax.

A jump cut is abruptly used from the opening scene where there is silence to the establishing shot where the music then immediately begins.

Opacity is used to convey the suicide in the final scene.

Cross fade is used that gradually darkens the music video into a black screen indicating the ending of the music video.

StorylineThe storyline of our music video is quiet simple but goes against convention as the story begins with the character’s demise with the remaining of the story depicting the past and portraying to the audience what led the character to take her own life. Therefore, this makes this storyline more complex and goes against the views of some theorists. Todorov believes that narratives are structured in five stages beginning with the state of the plot and ending in the reinstatement of everything. This immediately shows how our music video challenges the theory. Since the character takes her own life there is not reinstatement or happy ending; where problems are resolved. Todorov further argues that the three middle stages involve disruption of the plot. Recognition of this disruption and then an attempt tot repair this. However, in our music video the disruption is there throughout and does not seem to go away instead the problems worsen for the protagonist; as she commits suicide. Therefore, showing how Todorov’s theory is not met in our music video.