IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Elena Procopio

Intro

I will be answering the question on common features of real media products used in our project using conventions identified by Carol Vernallis and Andrew Goodwin.

Goodwin•Link between music and images

•There is a clear link through the cuts of shots in sync with the rhythm of the music. This keeps the audience interest as the visuals and music are being delivered to them on the same beat.

Vampire weekend: A PunkThis music video also makes clear use of this convention, using the sped up, ‘toy town’ effect to make the actions of each band member change when the beat of the music does.

Vernallis• The video is a visual response to the music

and lyrics• Cuts to the rhythm and literal responses to the

lyrics, such as Scarlett smiling on “yeah you make me smile”. This helps the continuity of the music video and also maintains the audience’s understanding of the messages and lyrics of the song. It also helps to illustrate to the audience the character’s feelings on the other character.

Paloma Faith: New YorkThis music video uses the convention very literally in illustrating the artist’s messages within the song. As Paloma begins singing the line “It was New York, New York”, the setting behind begins to change, with a transition to visuals of New York city as she sings about it.

Goodwin• Voyeurism is present in many music videos,

especially in the treatment of females, but also in systems of looking. Some examples are screens within screens, cameras, mirrors etc.

• This shot is incredibly voyeuristic in terms of the couple. The viewer witnesses a private moment where the male character attempts to kiss the female. This is unnatural for the viewer as in a real life circumstance, we would turn away from witnessing this situation, however through our voyeuristic editing, the audience are permitted to watching it.

Florence and the Machine: Rabbit HeartFlorence and the machine’s music video also uses the idea of voyeurism. It is very clear the audience should be feeling that they shouldn’t be watching through the framing of the characters behind the food, as if we are hiding. We witness the couple in a private moment and also, later on, another man being turned down by the female character. This is a very similar idea to the one we have incorporated in our music video.

Goodwin• Record companies will demand a lot

of close-ups of their star/performers.• We used around 3 different types of close up

shots in order to keep familiarity of the artist . It also helps continuity of the video visuals creating a master shot which is returned to most throughout the video.

• The shots we used also to create Scarlett’s star persona. For example, in this image, the light is shining onto the side of Scarlett’s face, glamorising her and representing her as a graceful, elegant character.

Lana Del Ray: Born to DieThis music video uses this convention very strongly throughout the song. The shot I have used to demonstrate this is the master shot of the video, which is returned to many times during the montage of different shots and scenes. It also makes the viewer very familiar with the face of the star, to increase popularity of the artist and promotion of future albums/ products.Lana Del Ray is also portrayed in a similar way to our character, with the setting, lighting and costume all portraying and representing her as glamorous, elegant , sophisticated, with the throne like prop

Goodwin• There are likely to be intertextual

references to other music videos, TV shows, books, movies, games etc.

• We incorporated these ideas in the post production stages throughout our ancillary tasks (the digipak and magazine advert). We used the themes of the film Juno in our products, the text and themes of being a teenager.

• The references to the film also link to the intertextual use of a Hollywood convention in our music video. In every flashback or memory shot we used the conventional black and white or sepia effect, that signifies to the audience clearly what the shot is representing.

Marina and the Diamonds: Prima DonnaThis video and product surrounding the star incorporate the common feature of intertextuality. The star and song lyrics show a strong theme of being a ‘prima donna girl’ taking the look and ideas of Madonna. Marina sings about the older star in her song and also copies her look.

Vernallis• There is not necessarily a

balance between narrative and performance

• Our music video is very conventional to the indie pop genre, using a strong performing section, with the narrative appearing less. This shows the video as more of an opportunity to portray the artist, rather than give messages of the song through a narrative and characters.

Regina Spektor: EetThis music video revolves almost entirely on the performance of the artist. Long, moving shots are used to keep the audience’s interest on the performance and actions Regina makes, rather than depending on a narrative to explain the song.

Performing shots:

Vernallis• The video may pose questions

that it doesn’t actually answer.• For example, in our video, there is an on-

going narrative which appears between some performing scenes of a couple. Although the lyrics give the message ‘I barely love you too’ from the females point of view, we never actually gave a clear message to the viewer as to what actually happens to the couple by the end of the narrative which could relate to a question that the audience want answered.

One of the final shots of the couple.

Ellie Goulding: Anything could happenThis video is conventional in raising a lot of questions through the montage/ random order of shots. The viewer is likely to ask why the star is washed up on a beach or why she or the male character are bleeding. However, towards the end of the song, we see a car crash, where the circumstances are explained and the viewer gains understanding of what is happening in the video.

VernallisWhen it comes to shot types,

extremes are very common.Throughout our video and digipaks, we

used many close up shots of the character, to portray clearly how we wanted her to be represented and also to familiarise the audience with her face. However, in the digipak, we also use longer shots and stray slightly from the convention of other products. However, the character can still be seen clearly and it allowed us to portray more of her character and presence through these shots.

Kate Nash: Made of Bricks On this indie pop album cover, a

contrast of a convention is seen, where on the front cover a close up image of the artist has not been used. However this fits with another convention of indie pop, which is to not fit with convention and be individual and diverse. It fits in well with the ideas and themes of our digipak as it represents a childlike and girly album, with a glamorous, young artist being portrayed on the cover.

Vernallis• Something drives the video

forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.

• In our music video, the narrative was important in driving the narrative forward, however we also used other features to carry the viewer through the song and maintain constant interest, such as the song lyrics and artist’s performance.

“Stop these games, you got me feeling like I'm so insane. You know I'd tell you but I feel restrained”.

The Vaccines: WetsuitThis music video uses a very interesting effect to drive the narrative forward. Instead of a narrative they use short clips and mostly photos to portray a festival scene with thousands of different people. Due to the quick cuts and diverse shots, the video is driven along easily, keeping the audience’s interest through the range of images.

Conclusion

Using the conventions identified by Goodwin and Vernallis, I can conclude that our music video, digipak and magazine advert all use and develop conventions of real media products and especially conventions within the indie pop genre. We also used some features which could be seen as challenging conventions, however most of these represent the common feature within the indie pop genre of not conforming to all conventions.