In what ways does your media products

use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real media products?
The pop/ R&B genre has conventions of:
-

Fashionable clothing: The artist wears fashionable, on trend in

mainstream shops, clothing throughout the music video, which will
be desired or noticed by the younger audience. She wears colours of
the R&B genre which fits with Beyoncs style and image; being
silver, gold, red and black. I used royal colours of purple silk, and
this brightness also fit with the pop genre, that the song follows.

Based around love: The artist explains her love story throughout the
song with the lyrics suggesting her boyfriend has continually made
her happier; this is shown in the lyrics and the expression she gives
when singing the lyrics. As the artist is involved in one location with
men (due to feminist standpoint), and in this scene, the artist is
being worshipped by the men in the way they move around her. This
basic storyline thus fits with the conventions.

Following current trends of locations: The artist is shown in locations

where teens/ young adults would also be able to go. For example, an
outside garden and a patterned studio, thus they will be able to
relate to the feelings shown in these locations. However, there are
some locations where the audience may not have access to e.g.
dance studio, although these may be desired by the audience as a
place they would want to go to. I also used the artist getting ready
and dancing which would be normal activities a girl (audience)
would be involved in.

Following current trends of makeup/ dramatic makeup: I focused a

lot of time on the current trends of makeup in order to make the
artist more presentable for a real music video, as well as a way to
target my younger audience. The use of contouring, fake eyelashes
and dark eyes, which are largely focused on by teens currently and
thus would be noticed by the younger audiences. I changed the
makeup for each scene, varying in darkness and glitter in order to fit
the conventions of that location.

Dance type beats and catchy lyrics. Images of dance: For this
convention I spent time in choreographing my own dance routines. I
had two locations where these routines took place, one being the
black background with two backing dancers, and the other being
where multiples of the artist dancing in cannon. In order to fit with
the pop/R&B genre, I used dance moves from a variety of pop and
R&B artists previous live performances and videos, thus the actual
dance moves were not made up, but the sequence they were
completed in was. A dance move which would also be noticed by
Beyonc fans was one which is shown in single ladies, thus a
continuum was shown.

Females dressed seductively to gain attention: The artist wore

seductive colours of red and black, but also tight fitting clothing to
gain attention to the artists figure. It could be argued that this
portrays the artist in the male gaze (Mulvey, 1975), which
contradicts the idea of an independent representation. Thus, the
female is still shown to seek male attention (Greer, 1970) in the way
she dresses.

Development:
I changed a variety of traditional conventions in order to develop the pop
genre. This is in accordance with the ideas of David Buckingham (1993),
who believes that genre is a constant process of negotiation and change
between producer and audience. Although these were not extreme
changes i.e. in the types of clothing I used or the type of dance moves
seen, they still allow the audience to see slight changes in the genre
which they should expect in the future.
My media products use conventions:

The artist is shown

in a tight white
dress, as well as
hair in a half bun
and makeup to be
glittery, this targets
the younger
audience, and can
be suggested as
seeking male

The artist wears

a purple, silk,
dressing gown,
this shows her to
be luxurious and
fit with the R&B
genre she
belongs to, as
well as minimal
clothing to be

Here the artist

is shown with
the backing
dancers faced
away, so that
she is the
dominant

The rollers in her

hair, shows that she
is getting ready, but
also the popular
nature of using
rollers: trend/
The use of a
windowsill
challenges the
traditional
locations used in
pop/R&B genre, as
typically, if the
artist is getting
ready they would
typically be in a

The use of
inserts allowed
me to develop
the assumed
conventions of
the pop/ R&B
genre, by
giving an
innovative

I used younger
people as the
inserts, as well
as only girls;
shows my video
from a feminist
standpoint, but
can be The artist
questioned
as in
appears
satisfying
the but
control,
happy
Thealso
dancers
that
she
has
surround
the
the and
attention
artist,
dance
of otherof
men,
in support
suggests
she
whatever
she
may
be
does, thus she is
their
theseeking
one with
power;
contradicting the
second sex (De

The artist wears

dark makeup to
highlight her eyes.
Given that it was a
close shot, the
makeup trends
were made evident
here, to better
target my
She engages in
drinking activities,
which would be
expected of her
age/ role. The
drink is implied to
be champagne
which fits with the
luxurious

The artist is shown

in on trend/
seductive
clothing: long
black boots and
cross over leotard.
It also fits with the
conventions of the
R&B genre being

The artist wears a

red dress, which
was of the season
and she danced
also within this
scene; following
conventions of
pop genre.

Although, the type

of dance moves
seen, could be
considered as
satisfying the
theory of the male
gaze, or to gain the
attention of the
male audience,
thus portraying the

She takes part in a

dance routine, in
cannon, which was
Conventions of pop/
choreographed to
R&B genre suggest
fit pop/R&B artists
the artist should be
I developed the
The use
of dark
wearing
minimal
genre in the
garden/
forest
clothing,
where
as is
I
composition.
commonly
used
challenge
this by
in pop/R&B
music
covering
the artist
videos,
although
in heavy
winter
these are
clothing
although
pitch
thisnormally
is on trend
hat/
black. She is the
only one shown in
the light,
suggests she is

Overall:
-

I was able to use conventions in the forms of the types of clothing

which I dressed the artist in; especially the subjective nature of this,
and the makeup and hair choices I made.
Further development was evident of these conventions by
choreographing my own dance routines in order to incorporate
dance moves which were recent, but also never seen in that
sequence before, also my addition of inserts which changed the
typical scenes of a music video of the pop/R&B genre.
However, I challenged some conventions in that I used locations
which were not typical of the genre i.e. windowsill, I dressed the
artist in one scene covered up rather than seductively. I successfully
made the artist, a female, appear as the powerful one, rather than
the subject, which is not normally seen in pop videos.