Evaluation- question 1

https://prezi.com/view/8qr1soEtA9HojAHaTII9/

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• Whilst planning our music video, we looked at the main conventions of our chosen genre. As our chosen genre is pop, we carried out finding information around this topic, such as generic conventions. These included, bright colours, high key lighting, normally an upbeat and positive narrative and many close ups of the artist. Therefore, throughout the music video, we included these elements to make the video as realistic as possible. For example, having a party narrative, it is youthful and includes the bright colours from the LED lights. This gives the video the element of a positive narrative and includes the range of colours throughout.
• Goodwins theory was also considered when it came to planning the content of our video, we included some of the theories to challenge the conventions of a real music video. This is because the theory is based upon what is commonly seen in professional music videos. For example, we are using the statement ‘the lyrics have a relationship to the visuals’ throughout our video. This is evident when the lyrics state, ‘gonna come crash the party’, as Amber storms through the door into the party and others give her a dirty look. We have challenged this by including it into the narrative as well as making it clear in the lyrics, as this then leads to her meeting the boy and leaving the party. Another example of the lyrics matching the visuals, is ‘falling down the stairs’ as Amber and her friend literally fall down the stairs. Actions like this make it interesting for the audience as they will understand the lyrics more, and it also uses conventions of real music videos. Comparing to real music videos using this Goodwins theory would be, Dua Lipa New Rules. This is clear when the lyrics state ‘don’t pick up the phone’ and ‘don’t let him in’, as the main artist is literally being stopped by her friends to not answer the phone and not coming through the door. This makes the lyrics clearer to the audience and reflects what the narrative entails.
• We also used the theory ‘The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist’. We develop this by including close ups of our main artist throughout the video, such as when she is looking at the boy she met at the party. We decided to incorporate this theory as it is seen widely within real music videos, such as in Katy Perrys Roar. She is presented as an attractive female throughout as she has many close ups showing her beauty. This links to the male gaze theory, which was written by Laura Mulvey and is the idea that female is presented to be looked at by a male for her beauty. Therefore we also included this idea by having lower shots of the artist and the close ups also reflects this.
• Overall, our music video includes many generic and normal conventions of a real music video as it has a wide enough range to be similar to a real music video.