1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
2. What did you learn about what the conventions were of real music
videos? What conventions have you included / not included?
With my music video I followed a narrative with an aspect of performance based as my genre of
music video does follow both styles. Most music videos with a female artist from this genre of music
video tend to follow a narrative that relates to the lyrics. Whilst having a performance which
contributes to the overall atmosphere of the video. An example of this is Ciara ‘Body Party’ where
she is dancing in front of a backdrop as a silhouette then the music stops when she is having a
conversation with future who was her husband at the time. I chose to have a storyline based on a
relationship with the female being the main lead because the song is a female singing about a
male. The storyline I chose is relatable to young people, I interpreted the lyrics as the female being
interested more than the male. Omarion ‘Post to be’ used a white backdrop which had a simplistic
style of video which I also incorporated when my lead female was lip syncing in front of a
backdrop. In R&B music videos the females are usually in minimal clothing, this is a convention
which I avoided as I thought the storyline would grab the audiences attention and I did not want
to make the video sexual as the lyrics could be perceived that way.
3. What did you learn about real music genre conventions and what
genre conventions have you included / not included?
In R&B music videos they are usually very sexual and show women in a very degrading way,
this tends to be mostly in male artists music videos but can be seen in females also. This is
done because it is believed that by objectifying women it will increase sales and revenue
however that is not always the case. I have not included sexualising women in my music
video as it would not contribute to the storyline that I have chosen. As my target audience is
young people I wanted to make it relatable to them and having women with perfect bodies
in videos can make young girls feel insecure because they don’t look like them. My music
video is realistic for a young person to watch and be able to make a connection with the
lead singer. As my video is both narrative and performance I did include a dance routine
which has a parts that could be seen as sexual, however they are both fully clothed and
both look like an average girl. In music videos such as Ciara ‘Promise’ she has a dance
routine also however in her video they are wearing crop tops but still not too revealing.
However videos such as Nicki Minaj Anaconda do show women in a degrading way.
4. What did you learn about real Digipak conventions and what digipak
convention have you included / not included?
In terms of digipaks I looked at Beyoncé which I found her to have a similar style throughout.
She likes her image to be the main focus of the digipak with minimal writing around her. This
supports Goodwin’s theory because he states that the artist should have their image for
promotional purposes. As Beyoncé is a recognised artist an image of her face will grab her
audiences attention if her album is next to others on a shelf. For my digipak I have chosen an
image of the lead singer for the front cover as I believe it is the most attention grabbing. I
have chosen a colour theme which is consistent throughout which Beyoncé has also done
on her album 4 digipak. As my artist is not establish having her face on the front cover will
gain her more recognition. Beyoncé is in front of her name because majority of people know
who she is, I have done the opposite and put the artist name in front in order to get her
name known.
5. What did you learn about real advert conventions and what advert
conventions have you included / not included?
For my digipak advert I research into an artist of the same genre that I am doing. Key
conventions such as the artists name the photo of the artist, the release date and where it will
be available for purchase are all key conventions that have to be on the advert for
promotional purposes and to give the audience the key information they need. For my
digipak advert I included all of the conventions mentioned above as I wanted to ensure that
most conventions were included. The backdrop I used was of clouds which relates to the title
‘Make you feel’, the imagery adds a dreamy effect which can be related to clouds. The
positioning of the artist is off centre and I have used 3 different fonts for the writing which adds
an effect. Rhianna’s loud digipak cover I used as research because she is of the same genre
that I am doing and she incorporated factor which I used for inspiration.
6. How your use of conventions might attract / appeal to an audience?
My use of conventions in my music video were used in order to appeal to a target
audience of young people. The genre of my video is R&B however does not follow the
typical conventions such as having women in minimal clothing, flashy cars, excessive
amounts of jewellery. I casted young people in my video so that my target audience
could relate to them. The locations I used were relatable because young people in
relationships go to a park to hang out. The storyline I chose is about a girl showing more
interest to a guy which my target may have experienced as it is a realistic scenario.
Conventions from my digipak that I included were having the artist on the main cover
which not all artist do, I considered this important as the artist is not well known so it is
important to get her face and name out there. In my advert conventions used were
generic, having the necessary information that the audience would need and keeping
the same colour theme running throughout so it is easy to recognise.
7. Have you adapted any conventions on any of your three products, if
so why?
I have adapted some conventions in order to make my products unique, however I have
still followed some genre conventions so that it is easy to tell what genre my music video is.
For my music video I did not want to objectify women by having them dressing in minimal
clothing so I decided to have the girls dance slightly sexual however be fully clothed. I
wanted to make my video relatable for young people so I did not included any flashy
props such as cars and jewellery as it comes across as showing off. I used realistic locations
that people in a relationship would meet that are of the age group of my target
audience. In terms of my digipak I followed the conventions besides the fact that I
decided to go for a simplistic look and have blank inside as it is for a single I did not want
much writing on it. For my advert I chose a square shape instead of a typical portrait
shape. I thought that this would make my advert stand out and have a different look to it.
