In what way does your media product use,

develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media product uses the forms and conventions of real media products in various ways. I was inspired by music videos by Gabrielle

Alpin, Lauren Aquilina and Becky CJ, all of which are of the same genre and style singing as Hannah MacLeod (my artist). In my music

promotional video I have used Hannah’s own original music as a narrative throughout the video. I have challenged normal conventions of music videos by creating a visual understanding of the storyline, which is

shown through Hannah’s acting. I have challenged the convention in Becky CJ – Easy For You and Delilah – Go’s videos because neither of

them tells a story; they simply follow the artist as she sings.

Delilah - Go Becky CJ – Easy For You

In contrast, I have used the convention that is used in ‘Lauren Aquilina – Fools’ and ‘Gabrielle Alpin – Home’ because they follow the singers on a ‘journey’. In my promotional video I also follow Hannah on a journey, however I have further developed this convention by adding ‘flashback’s to the narrative, something which they haven’t got.

Adding ‘flashback’ scenes to my video, which are distinguished by using black and white film, challenges the normal conventions of a music video. I did not see these any other music videos featuring flashbacks whilst researching. By using flashbacks I have allowed the audience to see into Hannah’s thoughts, allowing them to feel like they are connecting with her and to understand why she is feeling the way she is.

I have followed the convention that Delilah used in her video for ‘Go’ and Gabrielle Alpin’s ‘Home’ by using the camera freehandedly and without a

tripod. I did this because it gives the audience a sense of ‘following’ Hannah and makes them feel like they are watching a live performance of

her, which gives another source of interactivity between her and her audience. This also may tempt the audience to go and see Hannah

perform live, which would prove that my music promo video has actually promoted Hannah.

I looked at the length of their music videos 3:47, 4:09, 3:40 and 4:38. Because Hannah’s song, ‘Bigger Than Me’, only lasts 3:10, I had to challenge this convention of having a longer music video because I

thought it may look strange to have silent movie at the beginning or end of the video. Thinking about it now, having silence at the end of the

video (with it still being in flashback mode) would have fitted in with the storyline (child abuse) because the silence could have represented how scared Hannah was when she was hiding from her Dad as a young girl. However, I didn’t want to make the video too long as this is Hannah’s

debut music video and viewers may not have been prepared to watch a longer clip.

I have challenged the conventions of all four of these music promo videos because I have decided to use black and white film for parts of my video. My inspiration for black and white film came from watching ‘Adele – Someone Like You’ because I thought it captured the sad emotions really well. However, I have developed from the style of Adele’s video – I only used black and white film for the ‘flashback’ scenes, then colour for the rest.

Adele – Someone Like You

Hannah MacLeod – Bigger Than Me

At the beginning of my advanced portfolio I looked at Rihanna, Katy Perry and Jessie J’s music videos.

These, and most other music videos in the charts by female singers, all have a

sense of voyeurism and portray the women to be strong, outgoing lively

and sexy. I have challenged this convention by representing Hannah as innocent and vulnerable through body language (e.g. putting her head into

her hands whilst curled up in the corner of a room) and facial

expressions (e.g. extreme close up of her big watery eyes). However, I also represented Hannah as being strong

at times, which develops the convention of Jessie J’s video for ‘Price Tag’. An example of when I portrayed Hannah as being strong in my video is when she is makes eye contact with the camera and sings as though it

comes from her heart. I didn’t think it was at all appropriate to make Hannah

look sexy, as this would have completely contrasted with the theme

of the song.

The digipaks that I researched often featured black and white photographs and images. I decided to go with this convention because I thought that using black and white images would capture more emotion and would link well with the ‘flashback’ scenes of my promo video, giving the audience something to recognize between the two pieces (also my magazine advert).