Oliver Kelsey A2 Media

Q. In what ways does your media product use, develop and challenge the forms and conventions of other media products?

Our music video challenges, conforms to and develops conventions of other media products. We have done this through using different shots types, representing characters in ways which both conform to and challenge the typical stereotypes of real media music videos and many other ways.

Our product conforms to the conventions of real media products as it follows Goodwin's theory of a music video as we conform to the idea of illustration as the music is shown through visuals along with the lyrics through visuals. I researched many different products to see the way in which the music and lyrics were shown through visuals and found that most of the time the lyrics and visuals matched the music and therefore we should apply the idea of illustration to our video. I saw this through looking at the music video of the Muse song 'Uprising' ,the video for 'leave before the lights come on' by the Arctic Monkeys along with Imagine Dragons 'radioactive'. I analysed both the lyrics and the video to see how they matched and therefore to see what to do for our video. Our video conforms to this convention therefore as most of the time the music and lyrics are shown through visuals. This is evident as when you hear the lyric "and it goes off" which is suggestive of an argument we see the male character shouting at the female character thus demonstrating this argument which the lyrics denoted would happen. This therefore is showing the lyrics through visuals and in turn conforms to the conventions of previous videos.

We also shown music through visuals as the beat often matches the cuts in the song. This is most evident in the train scene as the bridge of the song plays and it is faster paced than the rest of the song so therefore we used quicker cuts to depict the scene as the camera cuts quickly between a close up of the boyfriend character's face, feet, the establishing high angle shot of the whole train platform and the band. The cuts match the beat of the song as they like the music are fast paced.

The fact that we used both a performance narrative and a character narrative conforms to the convention of the genre as it is typically seen in music videos within the genre such as the video for the song Mr Brightside by the Killers. The mise en scene of the band is also conventional as they were casual clothing which is usually coloured black or other dark colours along with this high key lighting is on the members of the band as they perform the live performance. Also the mise en scene of the video conform to the conventions as this dark coloured clothing theme is also continued during the narrative with the boyfriend and girlfriend in it as Alex's character wears dark clothes throughout most of the video.

The representation of the characters is conventional for the most part as we demonstrate the male character as conforming to the stereotypes of a male character in media. This is seen as we represent the male character as aggressive, this is evident when the lyric "and it goes off is heard" as the male is shown in shallow focus in the background a close up of the mannequin and he is shouting at it trying to get its attention. This is a stereotype associated with male characters in media and is one which we conformed to in our video.
The male character does however challenge the conventions of a typical male character as he is demonstrated as being caring, this is seen in the flashback to the kitchen as we see him through a low angle shot and high key lighting to reinforce the happiness of the scene; he hugs the mannequin and kisses it on the cheek thus demonstrating how he has affection towards it. Being caring is usually a stereotype associated with female characters and not male characters in the media but we have challenged this by having the male character show affection towards the 'female character.'

Also the conventions of an alternative rock music video as the lyrics through visuals arn't always shown and therefore the theory of illustration isn't always demonstrated as at at the end of the song you hear the lyric "all argumentative" but on screen and image of the two characters making up with each other is shown. This demonstrates how most of the time we shown music through visuals but not all of the time and therefore we are challenging the conventions as the lyrics are not always shown through the visuals and therefore we have gone against the grain of a typical alternative rock video in this was.

We also challenge the conventions of an alternative rock video through not always showing music through visuals as when the guitar solo begins the song speed is still fast but we show longer lasting shots of the boyfriend in the back of the car and this demonstrates how music through visuals isn't demonstrated in our video as if it was then we would of used much faster cuts at this part of the video so that the music would match up to the visuals that are displayed on the screen.

Another way in which we challenged the conventions is by how we started narrative as most often in music videos in the genre they actually begin with disruption and then an equilibrium is found and then the narrative progresses from there. This is evident in "Mr Brightside's" and "leave before the lights come on" as both of these video's begin with disjuncture. In our video however we do begin with an equlibrium as a mid shot shows the two characters sat on the sofa together and they are enjoying watching what is on the T.V. Along with this we used high key lighting to reinforce the idea that the characters are happy.

In terms of developing the conventions of alternative rock videos we have done this through the opening scene and the mise en scene. Both of these things demonstrated the connection between the band and the audience and is something that is prominent in the genre but not in the videos. The opening scene demonstrates this as it is raw footage of the band getting prepared to play the song and you can hear the instruments being played as the band are warming up. This give the audience some actual insight into what the band are like in person and therefore creates a connection between the band and the audience which is often not seen in many videos. We have also subtly used the mise en scene to create another link as the lead singer and the mannequin in the video are wearing the same glasses. This demonstrated the connection between the band and the audience as it is depicting Dyer's star theory as the audience attempt to replicate the band because they find similarity with them and their music. This applies to Dyers idea of Hegemony as it suggests that the audience find an affiliation with the band and therefore will demonstrate this by the way they dress/act.