Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?

Introduction to my production

• The genre of my music video is a blend of folk and indie. Similar to bands such as The 1975 and Bastille, as they all use similar instruments to produce the same spacious and mellow sounds.

Genre Characteristics in Aspects Of Mise-En- Scene

Location:• Goodwin’s Theory revolves around the idea of music

videos generating genre characteristics.

• One way our music video generates genre characteristics is through locations. In many shots we used the flowing river, which emphasises the mystery of the narrative.

• Not only that but we used many isolated areas, where the character would be alone and detached from everything else, which supports the generic conventions or our video, as the entire narrative is predominantly a mystery. A intertextual reference to this convention is Bruce Springsteens- The River, which I found on YouTube, which is similar to our music video in many ways as it shows many isolation shots with a natural setting, much like ours.

Bruce Springsteens- The River, isolated shot expressing many emotions through the effect of the natural processes surrounding him e.g. the river.

Genre Characteristics in Aspects Of Mise-En- Scene

Costume:• The costume for the two characters in our music video was

high market fashion, which fits in with the generic conventions of our music video as it’s the sort of clothing our target market wears, which is younger people around the age of the actors (16-18 year olds especially). The outfits the actors wear aren’t glamourized what so ever, which I think is an accurate representation for a music video of an Folk Indie genre of music.

• In some aspects it does challenge the representation of women through costume, as a lot of the time they are shown in a voyeuristic way, which relates to Goodwin’s Theory. An example of this is Nicki Minaj- Anaconda, which shows her presented in a voyeuristic way, to give men in particular sexual pleasure. This representation has only been created through the revealing costume she has worn. So therefore our video challenges the generic conventions of women in our music video in some aspects.

Genre Characteristics in Aspects Of Mise-En- Scene

Props and Objects:• The main props and objects in our music video is the use of a car, an

ambulance, and a placard. The use of the ambulance especially helps to build tension in the video, leaving the narrative open to interpret. Also the placard can link to the main ideologies of the music video “Betrayal”. Which links to Goodwin’s Theory of lyrics to visuals, as the lyric “betrayal” is used at the time when the placard is shown.

Lighting:• The lighting throughout our whole music video is ambient, mainly our

locations were very open, meaning the sunlight could be more noticeable in our video. Which has a link to Goodwin’s theory of the relationship between lyrics and visuals, the lyrics “The sunlight, It lights up your face” is probably the most relevant to this theory, as many close ups of the actors faces were evidently shown through the help of the sunlight. Therefore in this sense, our music video supports the generic convention of an illustrative music video, as it tells a story.

Genre Characteristics in Aspects Of Mise-En- Scene

Titles:• For the titles and credits we used a very minimalistic font, indicating the

normalness of our music video, and how we have avoided glamourizing our production, as that wouldn’t fit in with the Alternative/Indie/Pop genre which our video represents.

Mise-En-Scene:• Overall, the mise-en-scene in our video strongly relates to Gunther Kress’s

definition of genre that “music videos can give audiences a sense of collective identity”. Which therefore means that the genre characteristics of our music video should be relatable in some way to our target audience which is of the same age as

the characters in our production.

Narrative Structure

• One of the main narratives of my production ‘Summer Song’ was the use of frequent flashbacks, which relates to Strauss’s theory of binary opposites as many of the flashbacks contrast the present, especially in terms of the colour difference which has been made evident through the edit and the use of the black and white effect. • The use of flashbacks also indicates the thoughts of the male protagonist

throughout, as he is constantly experiencing flashbacks of her. Indicating that something may have happened to add more mystery to the narrative. • The flashbacks were also shown through a dip to white effect, which indicates when

a flashback/ past memory was to follow, which allowed for the differentiation in shots to make the flashbacks evident and clear. • This overall narrative suggests mystery throughout, through mainly flashbacks and

the binary opposition between past and present.

Representation• Traditionally the male character is the protagonist in many media texts, and in terms of our video, we

don’t really agree or disagree with that statement. However there are aspects of our music video that suggests that the male protagonist is dominant, through assuming that he has attacked her. However, you could also suggest that the female is the dominant character as she is always in his mind, and controls most of his actions. Similar to Gramsci’s theory of hegemony, as the female character is beginning to take control.

• We do use the generic convention of voyeurism in our music video as the female character wears very distinctive lipstick, which relates to Goodwin’s theory of voyeurism and the notion of looking, as in many media texts the female is looked at in a sexually pleasing way by males, which we use. However we don’t show any other aspects of voyeurism from the females costume. This has an intertextual reference to Echosmith- Come Together, as the female singer is viewed upon by the males in the music video in a voyeuristic way, due to the application of distinctive lipstick, giving her voyeuristic features.

• Representation in our music video is also relevant to Mulvey’s Theory of Male Gaze as women can be viewed by males, females and themselves in voyeuristic and jealous ways. Which supports the generic conventions of a music video and the representation of females. An example of a music video which objectifies a female is Echosmith- Come Together. Also many of Rhianna’s videos involve her being heavily glamourized including red lipstick, to give the male viewers voyeuristic pleasure.

Recurring Motifs

• One of the recurring motifs of my production is the use of numerous river/nature shots, which support the generic conventions of a folk indie music video. It also loosely relates to the title and lyrics of the production “Summer Song” as most of the shots can display the effect of the sun on the water.• Another is the characters wearing the same

costume, which is effective as it allows for the audience to relate to the music video throughout, especially as they are wearing the clothing which is most relevant to our target audience. • Lastly, many of the male shots are overlayed by

either a siren or the female which signifies the importance of developing mystery in our narrative. It also helps to identify the issues which the male protagonist is facing.

Intertextual references

• One of the first references that instantly hit me due to doing a case study on it previously was Leftfield- Afrika Shox, which links to our music video in many ways. It firstly references the potential uneasiness from both the male protagonists, as the sirens on both the police car and the ambulance suggests that the narrative of the story is partly unknown, and it indicates danger/trouble. Even though the genres of the music videos completely oppose each other, they still have similarities in terms of having a vulnerable male protagonist, even though it may not be directly indicated in our video, the flashbacks of the female character suggests doubt and possible stress.

• Another reference is the male protagonist driving in the car, closely relating to Long Road To Ruin by Foo Fighters. Which shows the male protagonist showing his emotions for a girl, similar to our music video. There is a link to Goodwin’s Theory here, as you could suggest that the music and visuals link, as the free flowing music can show the fluent movement of the car quite well. Not only that but the two videos are similar in the way they convey a relationship where something has gone wrong/happened along the way.

• Lastly, another reference which helped us to come up with the idea was one of the opening scenes to the TV series Life On Mars. As it shows a character who may be dead or alive, laying on the floor but with the use of a side shot, leaving the audience slightly confused as to what may have happened. Which is similar to our music video, as the female character may be dead or alive.

Digipak

• For my digipak I decided to support the conventions of a CD case by using the classic 4 panel case. I chose to use the same image for my first panel as it enforced the narrative of the video, which is predominantly betrayal. I only moderately changed the text for the placard but the same message of vulnerability can still be portrayed and expressed.

• For my 2nd and 3rd panel I chose to use a panoramic shot of the female character presumably dead, which signifies the narrative of the story, as that’s the main question in our music video: has the male protagonist killed the female character? It challenges the conventions of a digipak as not many artists use a panoramic shot of the 2nd and 3rd panel.

• For my last panel I used a rule of thirds shot of the male protagonist walking away from the camera. This firstly supports the conventions of a digipak as the rule of thirds shot is frequently used on a back panel to leave space for a track list. Not only that but the pack panel represents isolation for the male protagonist which supports the narrative of the music video.

Magazine Advert

• I used bold white writing to show the artists name and the name of the track, which is a common convention of a magazine advert as it makes it simple for the viewers to recognise the purpose of it.

• I also included a release date which is essential for any magazine advert as it provides the audience with essential information.

• The use of social networking sites was also very important as it suits the target audience of our production (16-19 year olds) meaning the band can be more discoverable online.

• I also used star ratings from reviewers which is a common convention of an advert as it means audiences can identify the sort of music they want to listen to and view, from the types of reviews it receives.

• Lastly, I made a loose reference to Goodwin’s Theory of lyrics and visuals. As “Summer” can relate to the sun beaming down on the male protagonists face and body.