Final Evaluation Question 1 A Level Media Coursework

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

2. Genre characteristics in aspects of mise-en-scene:
• Gunther Kress defines genre as ‘a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a frequently repeated social
occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes’ This has implications with audiences feeling a sense
of belonging to a specific group, therefore music videos can give audiences a sense of collective identity.
• The genre of ‘When Were Kids’ is quite ambiguous because the style of music is original, however I would perhaps
consider it to come under the genre of ‘Indie Pop’
• The track is upbeat, likewise with other indie pop artists such as of monsters and men, Bastille and Passenger.
• The majority of locations we used were outside, this is because as a child, outside is where you would spend most of
the time and the song focuses on wanting to be a kid again and escape from the responsibilities of becoming an adult
and whilst growing up, most individuals would prefer to be away from home as they are growing up, hence using the
outdoors. Other artists/bands of the same genre, such as Bastille have used the outdoors in their music video, for
instance, in their music video ‘Pompeii’ uses mostly outside locations.
• The use of location and costume highlights aspects of Britain, such as the high street shops, going to café s and the
landscape view of Norwich from Mousehold. The music video represents contemporary Britain as optimistic and open
much like the idealised representation of London in Richard Curtis’ films such as “Four Weddings and a Funeral” Curtis;
romantic comedies and “Friends” also focus on relationships and their ups and downs. Our music video represents the
conventions of romantic comedies and sit coms.
• Additionally, the costumes used throughout my music video were high street fashion. This something the target
audience (Youth/young adolescences) can identify with in contemporary society – high street fashion is a part of pop
culture. Also, a prop used was a smart phone (iPhone) which is another part of pop culture since technology as
developed; the target audience would have grown up in a world with technology.
Section 1: Music Video -

3. Image from ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral:

4. High Street Fashion:
Outdoor Locations:

5. Narrative Structure
• In the edit I used a montage narrative structure to effect an emotional response to emphasise
the theme of nostalgia.
• I also used Goodwin’s theory of media language be emphasising the relationship between the
lyrics and the visuals, and the music and the visuals. For instance, the lyrics used are ‘when we
were kids’ and the visuals show Jill and Joel playing at the park, enhancing the idea of them
wanting to be a child again.
• I used quick cut editing to achieve this narrative, as the track used had a fast tempo, therefore it
was an efficient way of illustrating many of Jill and Joel ‘s(the actors) memories they had
together, because it allowed us to include a variety of footage and as the cinematographer, I was
able to explore many camera shots/angles for each shot. The action in my music video is
synchronised with the beat. (Goodwin)
• Likewise, in the original theme tune of TV Drama – Friends; the visuals and also the lyrics. This
TV show inspired our ideas about what to include in the music video, such as relaxing at a café.
This relates to Katie Wales belief that ‘genre is an intertextual concept.’
• This music video is very structured and controlled by memory.

6. • Many music videos use flashbacks, this is a convention I used in my own production. A
flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current
point the story has reached. However, most movies and television imply flashbacks by
blurring images or using dull saturation colours such as black and white or a sepia tone. I
challenged this convention as my music video is black and white to begin with which is
displaying the present and then I used a fade to go into the flashbacks of Jill and Joel’s
memories – this is all very colourful, but at the end it returns to the same black and
white shot. This could be seen as a circular narrative.
• Although I have challenged this convention, I have still have used the convention of
contrasting colouration between real time and events which happened in the past.
• I used a black and white tone for the present because I wanted to show that the two
actors are very distant now and do not have the same relationship as they did previously,
which comes across as upsetting. In contrast, I used colour to show the memories
because bright colours can represent happiness and it is evident in the video, the two
actors had a strong friendship and were very comfortable around one another.
• However, the music video is very ambiguous, the audience are able to come with their
own interpretation of what has happened between Jill and Joel.

7. Present Time
Moment from the flashback of memories
My Music Video:
TV Show – American Horror Story:
Part of flashback
Present Time

8. Representation
• we used the conventions of sit coms like Friends where there is an equal distribution of screen time for male
and female characters. We also avoided hyper sexualised representation of females which is a convention of
pop videos such as Katy Perry’s ‘California Girls’
• This is also used in ‘Echosmith – Come Together’ – the leading female wears red lipstick and many close ups of
her face are used. Voyeurism and the use of close ups in music videos again refers to Goodwin.
• In comparison, our music video does not hyper sexualise either gender, both are respected. In this music video,
youth/young adolescences are represented as happy, emotional, active, adventurous and hedonistic. Both
genders are represented fairly equally, but perhaps Joel comes across as more active in the sense of playing on
more of the equipment at the park. Thus, this challenges the idea of binary opposition between genders.
(Strauss)
• The notion of hedonism in our music video doesn’t appear to be a serious issue – it just shows youth wanting
to do things for fun/their own pleasure and escape from their responsibilities of becoming an adult; they feel
that they are growing up too fast and would rather return to their childish ways. This could link with Blumler
and Katz theory in relation to diversion.
• However, hedonism comes across as negative in most music videos such as Charli XCX’s music video ‘Doing it’
feat Rita Ora. For example, the way they are enjoying themselves is through being sexualised.

9. • According to Mulvey, mainstream Hollywood film "coded the erotic into
language of the dominant patriarchal order" Mulvey indicates that this
coding is, in the essence, the establishment of the "male gaze“.
• Naturally constructed, the male gaze refers to the act of viewing women as
objects, of adopting the role of spectator, but metaphorically, it refers to
way of thinking about and acting within society. Consequently, the
negative and inaccurate sexualised representation of women in this video
(‘Doing it’) will this reinforce misogynists attitudes that women are
toys/playthings and candy, therefore untalented.
• we used the stereotype of young people being represented as hedonistic
but without the conventional negative aspects of binge drinking, sex and
drugs which are a focus in TV Drama ‘Skins’ – an influence to my music
video.

10. • Katy Perry – California Girls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4
• Images from music video:
• Skins – Rave Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC6zFBji_vQ
• Images from this clip:

11. Images indicating pleasure from my own production:

12. Section 2: Print Productions -
• For my digipak, I used the popular convention of having 4 panels as this is what most
bands/artists including indie pop artists use.
• The convention that real digipaks have are similar colour/tones across all the panels. I developed
this generic concept and chose to use colour for the front panel and middle panels, but black and
white on the back.
• The front panel is Joel giving Jill a piggy back. I liked this image for the front panel because it
conveys that they are happy and comfortable in each others company and has a beautiful view in
the distance. I increased the brightness in this image to emphasise their blissful friendship. Most
text on indie pop albums are large and white, therefore I used a white text. However, I developed
the text by placing it in the bottom corner rather than across the top. I considered the image to
be the main focus rather than the text as it is usually the image that grabs an audiences attention.
They will look at the image and then the artist. However, I made the artists name bigger than the
track to promote him as an artist rather than just this particular song. The conventions I used on
this panel were an image, the artists name and a track title.
Digipak

13. • For the middle panels, I used close ups of the main female and male that are actual
images in the music video.
• I decided to use a black and white image for the back panel of the actors walking towards
each other but their faces are hidden. I like this idea as it shows another mood to the
narrative that is involved within the music video. I think this makes it more interesting as
it is mainly a happy video, but as the audience looks at the back panel, it will make them
wonder what's happened, intriguing them to watch the music video. Further emphasising
the ambiguity within the music video. Thus, I challenged the idea of using the same
colours/tone in every image.
• The convention of the back panel is to have a track list in the centre that appear in a
downwards column, however I developed the idea of a track list being placed like this and
instead placed the list of songs by AnxiousAlibi across the bottom in a row. Although, I
used the generic convention of not using numbers for the tracks.
• The use of a barcode on the back panel is a convention used to indicate the product as a
real media text to tell the consumer that this is a product rather than an advertisement.
• Additionally, I used institutional information, such as the production company, I called
mine ‘YouthProductions’ as the track is relatable to this specific target audience – young
teenagers quickly becoming adults and wanting be a child again when they had no
worries.
• The conventions I used on the back panel were a track list, bar code and institutional
information.

14. My Front Panel Imagine Dragons Front Panel Kodaline Front Panel
My Back Panel Bastille Back PanelImagine Dragons Back Panel

15. Magazine Advert
• The image used shows Jill and Joel are smiling/laughing and look happy and
comfortable to be around each other which illustrates a strong friendship.
Also, again it has the scenery of Norwich in the background enhancing the
Britishness of the music video.
• The font I used is quite simple, but it is still fun. I chose to make it simple, so
an audience can understand what it says, but fun too as the music video
mostly uses positive visuals.
• Furthermore, I used the conventions of revealing the release date, where it
would be available (iTunes) in this case, stars – to give a rating and also a
Facebook url to promote the artist ‘AnxiousAlibi’ Dates are a convention used
in advertisements.
• I believed iTunes to be an appropriate place to advertise the artist/track. This
is because it is another part of pop culture; this is something people tend to
use most likely every day whether it is on their mac book /laptop or their
iPhone. Additionally, most young people use social media including Facebook,
so this will encourage them to search the link given.
• In advertisement for an event based around the TV show friends, images of
each character has been used, a date has been included and there is a
background image of New York, Manhattan were the programme is based.
Similarly, in my advertisement I have involved both of the performers, as well
as the location used in my music video. This allows the audience to identify
with the performers and the location of the image.
• Using a positive image, a social media link, mentioning iTunes and the star
ratings all contribute towards marketing the music video.