Evaluation Question 1) In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop Or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Media Products?

Similarities To Existing Products

Because my music video was an original and no other music video had been created for my chosen song I wasn't actually able to compare it to anything original, so I chose to compare it to other music videos within the same genre that I chose.

Analysis of My Own Music Video

As the music video starts, we see a fade in of a guitar close up being played, the video then changes to a medium close up of the boy playing his guitar. As the music becomes more upbeat and starts to become faster, there is a close up of a boy playing the drums which then tilts up so we can see who it is that is playing the drums. A loud guitar starts to play over the song and we see a medium close up of all the band performing until then we see a close up of the drums being played again. We then go back to seeing all the band perform and then the camera slowly zooms in onto the electric guitar being played as the music again becomes more upbeat. The camera pans up so the audience can see who is playing the guitar to finish with a fast zoom out which then the camera is focused on another electric guitar being played.

The lyrics start to come into the song and this is when we start to see the narrative to the music video. For this part of the music video, it is also shown in black and white to represent the sadness and dullness of the homeless man. It starts with a homeless boy being crouched down outside a row of houses, the camera pans around showing what the area is like. The video then fades to show the same man walking down a street, “trynna find somewhere to stay” is played as the man looks back, showing he is looking for somewhere to stay. The camera then cuts to a shot of the man crouched down again in front of a wall with his hands covering his eyes, this could show how upset he is, the camera slowly zooms in onto his face until we see an extreme close up of the man’s eye’s which appear to be teary to again show how saddened he is to be homeless.

The camera again cuts back to the performance part of the music video showing the full band and is back to normal colour no longer black and white. The camera quickly zooms in onto one of the boys playing the electric guitar and then zooms out again showing the lead singer play her guitar.

The scene changes again back to the narrative and changes to black and white. In this shot we can see him in a bathroom in which he appears to be taking drugs, this shows that he is homeless because of the drug situation or that since he has become homeless he has started taking drugs. The camera shows an over the shoulder shot of the man in the mirror washing his hands and looking at him in the mirror realising what a mess he has got himself into. We are then back to the man walking down a street again to the lyrics of “finding somewhere you’ll fit in, to fill in an empty hole”, so this part of the video again shows the man looking around trying to find somewhere to essentially fit in, this is shown by a handheld tracking shot.

A close up shot of the lead female singer is shown as she performs and plays her guitar. The camera shows zoom ins and close up/extreme close ups of all the band members playing their guitars again as the guitars begin to play a big part in the song.

“Troubled man where you running too?” as this part of the song is being played, a handheld tracking shot of the man’s legs are shown as he is running, therefore here there is a link between lyrics and imagery. We see him an over the shoulder shot again back in the bathroom as he is looking mad at himself into the mirror and realising what he has become. The song then repeats itself with “troubled man where you running too?” with yet another shot of the man running down another street; linking lyrics to imagery. Another shot of him taking drugs in the bathroom again is shown and the camera follows him as he looks up as though he is hurting. We can see alcohol from a plastic, cheap bottle being poured into a cup again, showing his life to have become a mess.

For the end part of the video we see mainly a medium close up of the band performing, with the occasional zoom in/out and extreme close ups. To the end the music video there is an extreme close up of the man’s face until the camera zooms out slowly showing him to be crouched down again similar to the start of the music video and finally the video finishes with a zoom out.

Cinematography used:

• Pan right
• Pan left
• Tracking shot
• Handheld shot
• Zoom in
• Zoom out
• Medium close up
• Extreme close up
• Over the shoulder shot

Editing used:

• Slow motion
• Fade out
• Black and white

Mise-en-scene used:

• Electric guitar x3
• Microphones
• Microphone stands
• Speakers
• Drum kit
• Card
• Bottle
• Sugar (represents cocaine)

Lighting used:

• Dark/gloomy

To get a feel of how realistic my ancillary texts are, I compared them to products that are currently on the market.

Here I have compared my front cover of the digipak to a band in which is within a similar genre to my band (rock), I felt by comparing the same genre this would make me realise if I had produced it correctly. As you can see, both front covers are very similar, both including the bands name, song title and a picture of the band; simple. 

For my single advertisement I compared it to Florence + The Machine Lungs advert. This is actually where I got my inspiration from to create my advert also. So as you can see I have labelled parts of the advertisement that are the same for example they both include the artist name, picture of artist, release date, website and the song/album title. I think this is really good that my advertisement conforms to current adverts already out there as it makes it look more realistic. 

For my back cover I compared it to Arctic Monkeys 'Suck It And See' album, I again chose this because it was a similar genre to my band. As you can see again the conventions are exactly the same, both including the bands name, a track list, record label, a barcode and extra information. I chose to associate my band with the Rough Trade record label because once I had researched this company, it seemed they had taken on a lot of rock bands therefore I believed my band would fit in perfectly. For some extra information I just stated where the track was made, the details about the record label and also the bands website (which I have made up) so listeners are able to get to know the band more.

Conventions of a Music Video

Conventions of a Music Advert

Conventions of a Digipak

Conventions of Alternative Rock

I decided to follow a narrative/performance structure for my music video which relates to Sven Carlsson’s theory when he suggested that music videos fall into two different groups; performance and conceptual. When a music video mostly shows an artist singing or dancing, this would be known as a performance clip. Although when the clip shows something else during its duration often with artistic ambitions, it is a conceptual clip. I believe my music video falls into the category of a performance clip as half of the video is shown as the band performing with their instruments or singing.

As stated in my textual analysis I created for my music video, there are a few links between lyrics and imagery for example; “trynna find somewhere to stay” the camera shows the man looking around for somewhere to stay, “finding somewhere you’ll fit in, to fill in an empty hole” again similar to the other example he is again looking for somewhere to fit in and finally “troubled man where you running too?” we see a shot of the man running down a street which again links lyrics to imagery. 

Theories That Apply

Tessa Perkins

Tessa Perkins created the 'stereotype theory'. A stereotype is an idea that is adopted about specific types of individuals/groups of people. Although the thoughts may not always reflect actual reality. Perkins identifies 5 such assumptions;

• Stereotypes are not always negatives
• They are not always about minority groups or the less powerful
• They can be held about one's own group
• They are not rigid or unchanging
• They are not always false

This theory applies to my music video as I do believe that I have conformed to the rock genre via the use of dark colours, mise-en-scene (electric guitars, drum kits etc.) and also the use of costume too for the band members as I made them wear darker clothes, no bright colours as you don't tend to see rock people wearing lighter colours.

Sven Carlsson
Sven Carlsson's theory is that binary oppositions drive the narration of the music video forward e.g. black and white theme. Also that there are two main types of music video' performance and conceptual. Performance clips where the video mainly shows an artist singing/dancing. Conceptual clips are where something else is shown during the song's duration which may have symbolism or an artistic meaning.

There are three types of performance clip; song performance, dance performance and instrumental performance. For conceptual, the audience watchin something beyond the artist that aims to have artistic ambitions.

In my music video there is performance and also narrative shown. Performance as we see the band members lip syncing and also playing their instruments when it is the instrumental parts. Also narrative as we see the homeless man going through his homeless journey by living on the streets, taking drugs and alcohol.

Tim O'Sullivan Theory

O'Sullivan's theory suggests that all media texts tell us some kind of story. Through careful mediation, media texts offer a way of telling stories about ourselves - not usually our own personal stories, but the story of us as a culture or set of cultures. Narrative theory sets out to show that we experience when we 'read' a story is to understand a particular set of constructions, or conventions, and that it is important to be aware of how these constructions are put together.

In my music video, you can see that there is some kind of story shown when the homeless man is looking for places to stay and taking the alcohol and drugs because of how his life has become. Also this could relate to some people they may have been through the same happenings as what happened in my music video which could make it personal to some people.