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 confirmation of
beauty.

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 seductive.

Here the artist is

shown with the
backing dancers
faced away, so that
she is the dominant
person on screen.

The rollers in her hair,

shows that she is getting
ready, but also the popular
nature of using rollers:
trend/ convention.

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
bedroom.

The use of inserts

allowed me to
develop the
assumed
conventions of the
pop/ R&B genre,
by giving an
innovative idea.

The artist
appears in
control, but also
happy that she
has the attention
of other men,
suggests she may
be seeking their
approval?

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
audience.

I used younger
people as the inserts,
as well as only girls;
shows my video from
a feminist
standpoint, but can
be questioned as
satisfying the male
gaze?

The dancers
surround the artist,
and dance in support
of whatever she
does, thus she is the
one with power;
contradicting the
second sex (De
Beauvoir).

The artist wears a red

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

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
conventions.

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
black.
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
artist as the object.

The use of dark

garden/ forest is
commonly used in
pop/R&B music
videos, although
these are normally
pitch black. She is the
only one shown in the
light, suggests she is
the one with power.

She takes part in a

dance routine, in
cannon, which was
choreographed to fit
pop/R&B artists I
developed the genre in
the composition.

Conventions of pop/
R&B genre suggest the
artist should be wearing
minimal clothing, where
as I challenge this by
covering the artist in
heavy winter clothing
although this is on trend
hat/ scarf.

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.