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

2. I feel that our music video from the stages of research and planning
up until our completed product both challenges and develop the
conventions that are used in real media products today. I believe that
because our product does not meet all the conventions of today, we
are able to show a sense of creativity and with aspects of
uniqueness; our product is more likely to stand out for the rest.
We studied a media theorist Andrew Goodwin and according to him
there are 7 key aspects, the audience should look for when analysing
a music video.
- A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals
- A relationship between the music and the visuals
- Genre characteristics
- Star image – close up of artist
- Voyeurism
- Intersexual references to other media texts.

3. Before creating our own music video, we looked at several different
music videos from different artists in order to see the typical codes
and conventions used within our genre of Pop/RnB/Soul, so that we
were able the then apply these or challenge them when creating our
own product. I will be focussing on our music video and comparing it
to Conor Maynard’s music video, ‘Can’t Say No’. As well as
mentioning other comparable artists

4. Unlike typical music videos, our video does not show Leyton’s face
until 0:41 seconds in. This is because we wanted to make him look
important as well as looking mysterious. This type of feature creates
tension within the music video and makes the audience want to watch
on and find out who he is and why he isn’t showing his face. This
slightly challenged the codes and conventions as typical music videos
usually open to the artist on screen showing who they are. We wanted
to make Leyton look more mature and successful so there is a shot of
him getting out of a BMW and walking towards the balcony where he
looks towards the City of London. There is a similar shot in Chris
Brown’s video forever where you see him jumping out of a fancy sports
car which makes him look glamorous and attract women.

5. The establishing shot of Conor Maynard’s video was at his house,
singing through his mic. Where there is a tracking movement to show
his room, this goes well with the beat of his song. Whereas Leyton’s
establishing shot was at a skate park. These two songs are similar to
each other as They both have scenes in which graffiti is portrayed.
This was an urban sort of look that we were trying to convey, to show
how Leyton had grown beyond that stage and become a better
person. Our artists main target audience would be from the ages of
12 – 15 as he comes across as very feminine friendly like Conor,
where his lyrics are about girls and how there are so many, he just
‘can’t say no’. As both artists have started from a young age, I feel
they can relate to each other as they are making progress.

6. Within the performance element, we showed Leyton sitting at the
skate park singing his lyrics on screen. We decided to chose this
location as it gives off an urban look, which Leyton has escaped from
as he does not wish to be a ‘hood rat’, he wants to make something
of himself. The locations of a house and skate park fit in well with the
codes and conventions as many music videos have similar locations
with graffiti on walls making it look urban. Leyton’s costume, and
lyrics give off that he does not belong to this category of people and
just wants to do his own thing. The storyline of our music video is
quite typical in the sense that several artists had a rough past and
they strive to be almost perfect by writing a song about it and how
they have achieved this success. However throughout the music
video, this can be portrayed in different ways and although we
followed some codes and conventions, we also tried to challenge
them and see what we could make of it.

7. In the narrative element, we decided to greyscale the shots. This is
because we wanted to differentiate this to the performance element,
as the narrative was meant to show Leyton’s childhood past. I think
this fits in well with the codes and conventions of a typical music
video as it is an element used to portray someone's past. For
example Neyo – Mad. This whole video is shot in greyscale as it is a
song about Neyo’s past. The fact that Leyton was pressurised to do
several things, made him stronger emotionally and physically. This
can be shown through our music video where he is trying to fight
back with his stepdad but fails and gets forced to work harder. With
the use of black and white shots, we can distinguish Leyton’s past to
his present and how he has achieved success through all the ‘blood,
sweat and tears’.

8. The costume worn in Conor’s video is a plain black and red hoodie,
white shirt and jeans. The camera then shows a shot of his feet
where we can see his purple Nike trainers. This is casual clothing so
that he can relate to the audience better. Within the genre of
Pop/Soul/RnB, the artist usually wears casual labelled clothes to
make them look good to the opposing sex and relate to the same sex
in ways where they can either look up to them for fashion sense or
have the same style. Leyton on the other hand is wearing smart
clothes in his video. He has two costumes; in the narrative element
he is wearing casual tracksuits and a t-shirt. But the performance
element shows him wearing smart clothes, making him stand out
from his haters who are wearing jeans and hoodies and making
himself look like the better person. His clothing also portrays success
and wealth. Showing that he is the better person for being so humble
in what he does, never showing anger.

9. Overall, after using Goodwin’s theory as an pointer of music videos, it
is clear that our music video meets a majority of codes and
conventions of real media products that are commonly found in that
specific genre of Pop/RnB/Soul for example Leyton getting out of the
car which is a main convention used which also suit the demands
needed by any particular song to make the artist look important.
However as well as this, we also challenged some conventions such
as Leyton’s clothing was not something pop artists would wear
making him stand out and look different, but at the same time he
looked appealing.