Our music video was created to conform to previous conventions from aspects of media in order to find the appropriate target audience for our final product. In order to achieve this we researched various bands and artists in which their music videos were based on either narrative or performance which is in relation to theorist Andrew Goodwin, whose ideas remained our centre of focus throughout. After researching existing products we were able to analyse various codes and conventions and through planning and production we were able to challenge and develop these aspects.

• We chose to comply to the narrative theme for our music video as the film ‘Mean Girls’ (2004) was the central focus of our music video. This is why we chose to have more of a narrative based theme for our music video. This would therefore allow us to emphasise this through the visuals as well as being enhanced and reflective through the lyrics. When researching Lily Allen’s music videos we noticed that one convention highlighted use the use of the storytelling narrative. We identified that not only Lily Allen’s videos, but music videos within the same genre there usually isn't a live audience or a choreographed dance number. However within the video for ‘Hard Out Here’ which is the song we are doing for our final product there are elements of dance in there which is used to portray the underlying meaning of the song. Nevertheless we agreed as a group to have more of a storytelling aspect in relation to our music video.

‘Mean Girls’ is based on a girl who is portrayed as ‘quirky’ experiencing the social pressures within the modern society. She is feeling overshadowed by three girls who are stereotypically labelled as the ‘popular girls’. The use of bright colours was a main convention that influenced our music video and the genre of the artists music.

• At the beginning of ‘Hard Out Here’ the artist is portrayed wearing all black clothing in order to reflect the mysterious element that contributes to her character, however we have contrasted within our music video as at the beginning of the video there is a split screen which portrays the two girls who have different lifestyles wearing a range of colours that completely contrast each others but still enables the audience to understand who is labelled as ‘popular’ and ‘quirky’. We utilised this convention in order to attract our target audience which was mainly female, as well as make our video believable in how it is relevant in today’s society.

Andrew Goodwin’s theory explains how within the majority of music videos there is a relationship between the music and the visuals with either the music amplifying or contradicting the music. Lightening and colour also helps contribute to the music video and helps create emphasis on significant parts of the song to create dramatic effects and engages the audience further.

• In relation to our music video there are elements of narrative and performance within ‘Hard Out Here’ which proved to be a popular aspect. This song was the appropriate choice in doing this due to the lyrical content, for example “sometimes its hard to find the words to say” This enables us the opportunity to portray the characters in our video to be deep in thought which illustrates the amplification of the lyrics. We found this theory to be the central focus of our music video as not only does his theory enable the lyrics to be further enhanced but it also allowed the narrative to be conveyed to the audience as well as understanding and embracing the message.

The location we used in out music video portray a high level of similarity to the locations of the artist, Lily Allen and her music videos. We analysed the video ‘Hard Out Here’ and we saw how different scenes were shot into specific locations that fit in well with the lyrics. The location we used included a house in which we see the contrasting lifestyles of two protagonists.

• For example this particular scene is established at the beginning of our video and we identify that there is a striking difference as the girl on the left who is portrayed as ‘quirky’, her bedroom is viewed as quite plain in opposition to the girl on the right who is portrayed as being the stereotypical ‘popular’ character whose bedroom is highlighted in various shades of pink which presents an underlying connotation of being sweet and innocent which juxtaposes her attitude in the music video.

We also utilised the location of a school environment which portrays the pressures of young adolescents to fit in with the norm. This is made evident when the ‘quirky’ girl is wondering the halls and we see the antagonists walking down the opposite direction and the audience can identify from their appearance the type of characters that they are. We found this to be very effective as this specific environment can be applied to real life situations that still happen today.

• Editing plays an important role when it comes to the post production of our music video as it determines the look and feel of the product. Within our music video we utilised a range of editing techniques ranging from continuity, transitions, pace and rhythm and shot duration.

At the beginning of the music video a ‘split screen’ is established. The reasoning behind this was that we thought this effect will enable the audience to help capture more than one character. This technique also complimented well with our video narrative as we chose to have our narrative based on the main protagonist experiencing the social pressures of being a girl in a high school environment. This technique in my opinion made our video a lot more effective as I feel that utilising this convention enables the audience to analyse the different perspectives of these two characters and the different lifestyles they lead.

Another technique we reinforced was the use of close ups on various characters within the video. For example in one of the scenes where the three antagonists are walking down the corridor and immediately stop in synch and a close up follows and portrays their facial expression as being stereotypical superior high school students.

In our music video the actors are wearing costumes which represented as quite simple as the use of costume reflects each character's personality. For example we see the girl who is portrayed as 'quirky' is wearing clothes which are really dull in colour which is used to suggest that she is quite insecure over her appearance. This contrasts to the three other girls who are dressed a lot better, which portrays connotations of popularity within that particular environment.

• Conventionally our use of costume represents the stereotypical representation of girls within the adolescent stage. The importance of costume is important in any music video following a narrative structure and in particular when it came to analysing Lily Allen’s music videos the characters involved wear vibrant colours within her videos mainly because her music is usually cheerful and happy so this reflects within the costumes portrayed.

Overall these conventions we found to be very effective for our final product. All of these features contributed to making our music video a success. We feel that as a group our message was conveyed in a suitable way through the narrative portrayed. During the pre- production stage we were not familiar with how we were going to utilise these conventions to our advantage but as we developed in our understanding we managed to create a successful final product.