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 p[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 the film and 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 themselves. The character remains conventionally passive as she looks down timidly and pulls her tights down. Furthermore, she also slaps make up on her face 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 to be partially clothed. However, in a sense we also subvert Mulvey theory as a low angle is used when the actress is removing her tights which could represent the man gaze being intrusive and is therefore demeaned and condemned as a result.

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 the other narrative videos according to my research. Most music videos leading protagonists traditionally feature the singer but Pinks Perfect video the singer appears in the video but and actress is telling the story. So the convention in a narrative video is that the singer does not appear in the video but instead an actress tells the story conveyed in their 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 characters 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 and the tory that’s needs to be conveyed through the lyrics.

Camera shots.We carefully planned and practised the camera angles we wanted to use ,aiming to use a range of interesting shots to portray the situation the protagonist is in and the emotions. We used high angle shots of the character in the bath as he commits suicide to represent the loneliness she feels. Like many music videos we used close up and medium shots in order to deliver the characters emotions to the audience. While also using establishing shots in order to set the seven at different locations.

Low angle shot usedWhich converts the male prospective of a scene.

Close up of the characters face conveying emotion.

Street establishing shot.

High angel shot used in the bathroom scene.

Over the shoulder shot.Blurred focus and then a 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 stars the story begins. This is a convention used in music video in order to create suspense. The transition from silence to music also creates an awareness of displaying the past.The cross fade used

StorylineThe storyline of our music video is quiet simple but goes against connection 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 product 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 distortion 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. Therefore, showing how Todorov’s theory is not met in our music video.