In what ways does your media

product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real
media products?
Within our music video, we successfully emulated the conventions of R&B and
Soul through a variety of ways. Firstly music videos usually follow three main
music styles Narrative, Conceptual and Performance. Fundamentally, we used two
of out these three music styles to feature within our music video; narrative and
performance. Before we decided which of the three we wanted to use, we first
watched the original music video of our chosen song What is Love by Veronika
Bozeman, and noted that it was purely performance based and despite the fact that the
lyrics of the song were projected amicably through her facial expressions, however
we felt that the message could be reflected better through a narrative sequence,
allowing the audience to relate to the story and lyrics more.
Here, we have the original music of
What is Love. Ive taken a screenshot
to reflect how, despite it only being
performance based the emotion and
narrative is still purely evident through
her performance as seen within this
screenshot as her hands are held to her
head displaying emotions of distress
and sadness for her broken. In this
second screenshot is our own final
production piece where we used
narrative of the broken relationship
between the protagonist and her love

Notably, the performance scenes were considered an immense segment of the final
production simply because it is where we could portray the artists persona the most
and also project the emotional side of the lyrical element of the track. In order to
enhance these emotions and lyrics within the performance we made special use of the
spotlight within our school dance studio as the artist was stood in front of a blank
white wall with the spotlight upon her, the effect of this then transpired darkness
around the spotlight, drawing further attention to her.

When researching
artists who used
individual
performances, I
noticed that female
artist in particular
usually placed
themselves within the middle of the screen to enhance the attention delivered to them;
the effect of this allows the audience to grasp the emotions being evoked by the artist.
I was inspired by Christiana Aguilera as within her music of The Voice Within
although this music video was purely performance based assisted with no narrative;
she still portrayed her emotions immaculately, grasping my attention in the process as
she used a multitude of shots to help emphasise her feelings such as long tracking
shots, mid-shots and close-ups. In my own music video however, we did not establish
ourselves enough to do a lot of tracking shots however we did make use of mid-shots
mainly during the performance scenes.
Within the narrative we added scenes of flashbacks, portrayed through home videos of
when the protagonist i.e. the star persona and her love interest were in their happiest
elements of their relationship along with footage taken within another location in
which they spent enjoying one anothers company e.g. the ice skating rink, these
memorable images were placed to contrast against the performance where it just
features the star persona singing. We decided this was another important element to
insert within our music video as it creates a relationship and a connection between the
star persona and their target audience, allowing the audience to feel they can relate to
the music. We further endeavoured within the exploration of the conventions through
the mise-en-scene. Since our song track is based within the category of the slow toned
R&B and Soul we used neutralised tones in colours which conspire with the lyrics
which are emotional and heartfelt as the artist is basically pouring out their heart to
the audience. One might argue that artists use this to relate to their target audience.
Furthermore, the use of the performance permeates a visual juxtaposition from the
happier scenes including the two lovers and the performance where the star persona is
shown to be distressed and ultimately heartbroken. Additionally, when it came to
sound we both conformed and challenged R&B and Soul conventions as in most
R&B/Soul music videos make use of both non-diagetic and diagetic sound especially
when there is a narrative which includes dialogue. For example we can see this in
existing music videos, Same Girl by R&B artists Usher and R-Kelly where the
beginning of the music video opens with a dialogue before the narrative spirals
revealing how theyre both coincidentally in a relationship with the same girl,
Telephone by Beyonce and Lady Gaga through which the opening scene begins the
narrative off where Lady Gaga is in prison and Beyonce bails her out.

Within our final production, we did not however conform to this technique of a
dialogue to add to our narrative, instead we played the track all throughout the music
video, incorporating a mixture of flashback montages and the performance shots to
enhance the narrative of the fragmented relationship. The idea to create a narrative
based music video was inspired by research and audience feedback as it offers great
understanding of lyrics and the message projected from the song which further allows
the artist to connect to their target audience. The idea to use the narrative to reflect the
lyrics was inspired by R&B artist Beyonces music video irreplacable through which
her aggravation towards her lover is shown through the way she throws him out of
their house, as she sings the lyrics to the left her hand directions and facial
expressions hyperbolise the lyrics. Within my own production visuals were used to
reflect the protagonists pain. For example the lyrics within our track you wont
know till it hits ya is interlinked with the visual of when our protagonist physically
hits her love interest for forwarding his attention to another females assets. Through
this, we incorporated Laura Mulveys theory of the Male Gaze which highlights how
women are physically and sexually objectified through their assets, pleasing the male
audience, notably this use is often a common convention used within R&B genre.

Music videos usually use a variety of camera shots. Through which many of them
include close up shots which in return reflects the spotlight onto the artist and the
emotions they are they trying to reflect to their audience along with long shots and
mid shots that captures and enhances the image of the whole setting. Within our music
video we conformed to the convention of using long shots and mid-shots to capture
the ambience of the setting. One example is during the performance of our artist
where she is stood against a blank wall with the spotlight directed directly against her.
The effect of this permeates the depiction that she is the star of the show, the aim
was to add an element of Richard Dyers Star Theory which the persona of the artist.
Close-up shots of the protagonist were used to represent and create connotations of
her emotional state to add further meaning to the lyrics of What is Love? through
this, the audience will be able to connect more with the artist as she sings, reminiscing
on what was once a happy relationship between her and her love interest, the facial

expressions and consistent wavering of hands also adds as an essential element. We

mirrored this convention with the original What is love? music video by V.
Bozeman. Through which the artist was also singing in front of a blank white
background in her performance, whilst her dress code was just all black another
convention which we conformed to. Since soulful music are known for having neutral
and calming tones which once again is highly effective in the sense that it draws more
attention to the artist.
Notably, the presentation of the mise-en-scene is always an essential convention when
considering a real music video. The mise-en-scene consists of props, dress codes, the
lighting and the how the setting is presented within the frame. Arguably this is an
essential part of the music video just as the narrative portrays a story, so does the
setting. We conformed to this convention through aiming to adhere towards realism
by placing the montage of flashback scenes in the location of a kitchen with cutlery
and real food used as props to enhance the idea of realism. Through realism, the
audience may feel that they can relate to the artist more, this conforms to the use and
gratifications theory where the user uses the piece of media a source of comfort to
potentially help them through a current stage within their lives. In result, the audience
are encouraged to listen to more of the artists single and purchase their album. One of
the problems we went through was the complexity of the lighting since it was
important to get the artist in a position where she would be visibly recognised as the
star particularly against the blank white wall. We had to perform reruns and rehearsals
to make sure the performance harboured the qualities we wanted it to in order to make
those scenes look right and orderly. In order to make sure things within the
performance scenes were up to our perspective, we made sure to inform our artist of
will be included within the narrative, the song and how we would like to reflect and
portrays the lyrics through our scenes. Although we had these elements of preparation,
we did not have a lot of time for rehearsals before the day of the shot, from this we
learned that time management was a highly essential factor when preparing and
constructing a music video. However despite this, there were some factors in which
we were unable to tame ourselves which was when we had to take scenes in public
(ice skating rink) as we wouldnt be able to personally control people walking in
between whenever they pleased we
recognised this as an ethical issue.
Furthermore, lighting is notably an
essential convention within music videos,
through the bright light the ambience is
conveyed as calming in contrast to
harsher and darker colours which
portrays the connotation of moody and
downbeat atmosphere. We conformed to
the convention of making use of the
lighting in order to reflect the message of
the lyrics and to also project a particular mood. Through the manipulation of
chiaroscuro the contrast between darkness and light which thus replicates the
emotions of the singer, this technique was used within the performance shots to
enhance the melancholic emotions. However the colour differs within the flashback
scenes of the home videos which harbour a more naturalistic and calming tone to
allude further to realism.