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

Pop Genre BackgroundAs a genre, pop music is very diverse due to the borrowing of elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, latin and country therefore the conventions despite having set themes are varied. • an aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology therefore the messages in the music videos are mo generic and relatable to appeal to a wider base. • an emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal "artistic" qualities therefore the videos are more polished and professional. • an emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performance therefore the inclusion of live performance in a video is not a convention in the pop genre.• a tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments therefore the conventions are a well known formula.• much pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-oriented beats or rhythms therefore the videos are often upbeat with narratives or montage footage used to reflect the beat of the music.

Andrew Goodwin’s TheoryAndrew Goodwin is a popular theorist who has analysed the production of music videos and produced a theory which is a basis for a stereotypical music video specifically from the pop genre. The main points in his theory are: • music videos demonstrate genre characteristics • there is a relationship between the visuals, lyrics and music• close up shots of the artist feature• there is usually a reference to being watched or followed • they feature voyeuristic treatment of the female body • there is often inter textual reference to films or TV programme

By becoming familiar with his work I was able to gain a clear understanding on how to construct an accurate music video to represent the pop genre, something which due to Sam Smith’s alternative elements we actually partially challenged. However without knowing the stereotypes I would not know how to develop or challenge them.

Pop Music Video Conventions • CAMERA SHOTS- emphasis of the artist and the location are important therefore

long shots, mid shots and close ups are common.

• EDITING- generally fits the pace of the song therefore stereotypically quicker in pop music videos, jump cuts are also common to mirror the upbeat tempo.

• MISE EN SCENE- the props etc are used to highlight a certain theme in the song or to add visual pleasure for the viewer. The costume is used to again either to reflect the songs themes especially in pop videos which are usually narrative. However in the Pop genre where the artists image is as important as their music, their costume is used to create aspirations for the viewers to copy the artists and the colour scheme is commonly bright to reflect the upbeat atmosphere from the song.

• THE MALE GAZE- Used primarily in female artists video's as they tend to be performance based, close ups and shot/reverse shots are used to convey the women as a sexual desire for male viewers to attract attention for the artist and emphasise the expected aspiration of the female audience again portraying the importance of image in the pop genre.

Research – Music Videos To ensure we had a clear understanding of the pop genre, of which our song and artist align towards, we carried out research into the stereotypical conventions associated with pop music videos and the music. To gain a varied outcome I analysed three different popular artists video’s which helped highlight the recurring themes, techniques and stereotypes. From this I learnt that although all artists follow conventions the ones that they apply rely on their style, something we bared in mind when choosing conventions for our music video to suit Sam Smith. After doing this I then focused my research towards Sam Smith ,our chosen artist, and found he is more on the alternative pop spectrum therefore the common conventions of pop may need to be developed or challenged to accurately represent his image and previous work as we felt it was important when creating our music video to keep it authentic to the artist.

Sam Smith’s Music Video Conventions STAY WITH ME• Performance element features with the inclusion of a choir.• Lip syncing throughout• Dark clothing to reflect his emotions • Features Sam Smith throughout • No narrative structure

I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE • Narrative based on message of the song • Contrasting lighting (high key and low key) to highlight the protagonist (female, high

key) and antagonist (male, low key)• Performance element breaks up narrative with Sam Smith singing • Voyeuristic treatment of the female and male body

There is a big contrast between the two music videos which has enabled Sam Smith to include a variety of conventions from the pop genre shows making him a diverse artist. I think our music video is more similar to ‘I’m Not The Only One’ than ‘Stay With Me’ because it has a strong narrative.

Our Conventions Used Developed Challenged

Narrative Male gaze Intertextual references to TV/Film

Binary opposites Gender roles/ Character stereotypes

Dance

Cinematography Classic narrative structure: equilibrium + disequilibrium

Performance element

Lyric + visual match Colouring Lip syncing

Mise en scene Upbeat+ energetic

Editing Voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Why we used them?Convention Why

Narrative We chose to have a narrative story because our audience research suggested it was the most popular option and the after analysing the lyrics a clear narrative was apparent. Narratives are popular in the music industry because they allow the artists to convey the message of the song and connect to their audience and these reasons also suited our song choice and artist so we have a romantic narrative.

Lyric+ visual match

Having a clear narrative in our video meant it was important to have a match between the lyrics and visuals to create a meaningful message. We also ensured we had the match in all of our ancillary products because it clearly conveys to a consumer what the artist message is and their image. Due to the importance of image in the pop genre this is a common convention.

Editing We matched our editing to the pace to the video because it helped to create the poignant and reflective message of our narrative.

Mise en scene- props

Props are used to highlight a certain theme in the song or to add visual pleasure for the viewer. We conveyed this through the use of the lipstick as it suggests our female character is vain and masking her feelings. The car was used to show the audience our male protagonists desire to escape.

Why we developed them?Convention Why

Male Gaze Male Gaze is popular in the pop genre as it emphasises the importance of image however due to Sam Smiths alternative pop music we wanted to alter the common convention. Throughout the video Jeff's sole attention is focused on Zoe; this is clearly evident when he is seen to be gazing at her out of the bedroom window unbeknown to her. However we develop this convention as our use of the gaze is subjective when you apply it to the audiences perspective as the central character in our video is Jeff therefore the viewer focuses their attention on Jeff more than Zoe. This is further emphasised by our deliberate choice to make the male character attractive which again appeals to our audience.

Gender roles

Stereotypically the female is the emotionally vulnerable character and the male is more guarded and seemingly unaffected. However due to song being sung and written from a males perspective we wanted to alter the gender roles so our male character is isolated and vulnerable whilst our female is seemingly unaffected by the breakup.

Voyeuristic treatment of the female body

Despite our subjective featuring of the male gaze, our female character is never explicitly shown. We avoided including the voyeuristic treatment of the female as our narrative is more focused on the males desire for the females love and attention and not her body. However we did feature our male character topless therefore it could be argued that again we reversed the stereotypical gender roles by subtly sexualising our male however this was more unintentional than deliberate.

Why we challenged them?Convention Why

Lip Syncing Often featuring in pop music videos we decided to not include this in our music video because we felt it is a medium that has been overdone and if included in our narrative may distract from our emotive narrative.

Dance/ Performance element

The pace of song would not be appropriate for the inclusion of our song. It would also look very out of place in our narrative and is not authentic to the style of Sam Smith as he has never featured dance in any of his videos. Although he has included a choir in his music video for our chosen song ‘Stay With Me’ we wanted to solely have a fictional video.

Voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Despite our subjective featuring of the male gaze, our female character is never explicitly shown. We avoided including the voyeuristic treatment of the female as our narrative is more focused on the males desire for the females love and attention and not her body and we feel it is quite a sexist convention of the pop genre the we all don’t agree with.

Colouring We kept it quite dull to suit with the sadness of the song however we challenged the colouring within the flashback shots by adding more colourful as they highlight the happy times in their relationship.

Pop Genre Ancillary Conventions Magazine Advertisements Digi Packs Reviews- they are influential to an consumer and make the album look more in demand. Information- necessary information such as background info, artists name, release date, artists name etc.. Social Media- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram all incredibly important in connecting the artist to their fans and have played a major part in the success of artists recently. Images- often of the artists and visually interesting to ensure the audience remembers the advertisement and is familiar with the artist. Text- font size is subjective depending on the information however needs to be readable and clear by choosing an appropriate font, size and colour. The choice of vocabulary is also important as it has to be excite an audience and make the product seem appealing.

Colour Scheme- reflects the mood of the album and the artistImages- main promoters of the product therefore have be visually interesting and accurately represent the artist, their message and style. Often of the artist in the pop genre as image is very important. Logos of record labels and barcodes are also included which are critical. QR Codes are being increasingly prominent with the development of digitalisations. Information- track list, album&artist name, acknowledgments and basic background information. Relevance to the genre- continuity of genre style with both music and Digi pack so the audience can easily identity the brand identity

Research – Ancillary ProductsI employed similar research techniques when looking into album art from the pop genre to gain a broad picture on the stereotypical features. Studying Sam Smiths own album art was crucial because it extended my knowledge on the way he liked to portray himself and his style of music which is necessary knowledge if we were to reflect him accurately. His single art is very creative and expressive which the theme of vibrant paint splashes, whilst his album front an back covers are very simplistic featuring a sombre black and white picture of Sam Smith. The two combined present him to be a creative and reflective individual that focuses more on his music than his image, a trait which is not conventional to the pop genre. However you could argue his single covers are suited to the pop genre s the colour scheme is upbeat. Along with Sam Smith I also researched a similar artist: Ed Sheeran whose album art also has a simplistic yet vibrant theme with a picture of Ed Sheeran and a bright orange background again portraying the idea that his music is more important than his media image. I also looked at Disclosure as I liked their ‘face’ album art. As Sam Smith is a relatively new artist the amount of magazine articles about him were limited however the ones I did find showed his to be in reflective poses with a dull colour scheme again showing his sombre emotions which featured consistently in his music.

Sam Smith’s Ancillary Product Conventions

Our Conventions Used Developed Challenged

Images – Still Shots Social Media Relevance to the genre

Information: Release Date, Artist Name, Track list, Record Label

Colouring Reviews

Text

For both of our ancillary products we decided not to use either screen shots from our music videos or photos of actors because we couldn’t find suitable shots that we liked that would represent the style we wanted to create. Therefore we used photos of Sam Smith which we have manipulated to create the right mood for the album and advert which has a created a professional finish.

Why we used them?Convention Why

Images – Still Shots We chose to use images of the artist to be the central focus of both the ancillary products because it promotes his image to the consumer and image is very important in the pop genre. However the simplistic photos are simplistic to avoid them overpowering the music being promoted. The images we chose to use are ones where he looks reflective and isolated so the continuity o our narrative is evident which emphasises Sam Smiths brand identity. We have manipulated the photos by adding colour to make them more visually interesting and also layered photos over each other to create a creative yet simplistic finish something that Sam Smith is known for being.

Text We have altered the font of the text depending on the content and its importance so the audience is shown the relevant information which is key for advertising a product and done in the pop genre. By using contrasting text colours and a sensible font the information is clear for the audience.

Information We have included all the suitable information on our products as otherwise the promotion would not be successful.

Why we developed them?Convention Why

Social Media We haven’t included a hashtag on our ancillary products however we have added a QR code which when scanned directly links to our music video on YouTube.

Colouring We have used a black and white colour scheme for both of our ancillary products as it is authentic to Sam Smith however not to the pop genre. In order to till meet the convention we have added colour to our Digi pack taking inspiration from Disclosures album art by outlining the face which allows the product to not look too plain and presents him to not be 1 dimensional. The colour we have used is a dark yellow so it is still quite subdued.

Relevance to the genre

We have ensured there is a strong link between both of our products to emphasise Sam Smiths brand identity however due to him being more alternative than main stream pop music is not solely representative of the stereotypical pop genre.

Why we challenged them? Convention Why

Reviews We have not included reviews on either of our products are we didn’t feel like they were necessary to the marketing of him as an artist.

Lyric Booklet We have not included a booklet in our Digi Pack as it would increase the cost of the product and his songs are not lyrically complex. However often pop artists do include lyrical booklets.