Nicole CampbellIn what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? – This task requires you to compare the outcomes of your research of similar media products with the outcome of your group’s finished production.

Goodwin key music video conventions

Using Your Research Findings – note/ bullet point typical generic conventions

Your Production – Use, Develop or Challenge

Genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)-

In traditional music videos constructed by girl bands, there usually tends to be a choreographed dance routine. This is usually a result of the demands of the record label as the routine allows the target audience to associate certain actions/gestures with the song. This routine reinforces the ideologies suggested by Goodwin. For example, in terms of lyrics and visuals. The girls in the bands that I researched, for example En Vogue, also had costume relations either in terms of colour, design or make-up.

Within our music video, we subverted the idea regarding a choreographed dance routine. This was primarily because we wanted to sell the individual members of the group separately, allowing the target audience to get to know each of the direct members. This increased our audience appeal as individuals with different characteristics are able to identify with at least one of the members from the band. This came about due to watching videos by Destiny’s Child and comparing them to Ruff Diamondz videos. We found a major difference in the selling of the group. Within more established girl groups (Destiny’s Child), there were clear, individual moments in which each one of the members was on screen alone. In our video, an example of when we captured this on screen representation is when each of the members of the band is the only individual present in the shot. Specifically, we see one of our actors, Regina Okeke, singing the lyrics of her solo part.Furthermore, we decided to have moments on screen in which the girls were altogether and wearing similar clothing. This was a result of wanting the girls to be tight as a group and a band that could easily relate to a target audience between14-18. An example of this is when the girls sing the first chorus together which is displayed in our video at approximately 26 seconds.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative,

Out of all the videos I analysed, I found that the visuals either illustrated

Similarly to what I found, within our video we decided to illustrate the lyrics through visuals. Our chosen song is quite upbeat and fun, and therefore we wanted to express this idea throughout.

Nicole Campbellamplifying, contradicting or amplified the lyrics.

As girl groups, this is primarily due to the lyrics being emotional or about fighting (in terms of love or romance) and therefore the lyrics are too meaningful to completely contradict what is seen on screen. An example of this shown on screen is within En Vogue’s ‘Don’t Let Go’. As the group sing the chorus, at 0:43 seconds, the band is seen on screen doing a particular action with their arms in which they clench their fists and then re-open them. This action is displayed when the lyrics of the song ‘don’t let go’ are sung. This typical convention is usually enforced in girl band videos in terms of marketing the artist. Moreover, in this case, the gestures comply and appeal to the typical soul R and B genre which again allows the target audience to associate directly with the track.

Examples of this within our video are seen on screen where one of the actors, Shamilla Simms, raises her hands and arms in a playful way to the lyrics ‘everybody here put your hands above ya’. Moreover, the actions and gestures that the girls are seen doing not only illustrate the lyrics but also add a natural ambience to the video. This can be shown when Sharna Dauley-Hill uses her hands in an action to the lyrics ‘better calm down chill’. We decided to do this to ensure that our target could easily relate to the girls and what was happening on screen.

Nicole Campbell

Relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

 

The relationship between music and visuals was quite subtle in most of the music videos that I analysed but did result in illustrating what was seen on screen. The subtly was very extreme, for example in Destiny’s Child’s video titled ‘Survivor’ the beginning of the music was quite ethereal and this was displayed on screen through the notion of waves moving in the sea.

We decided to use similar conventions to this, as there are times when the music in our chosen song either has very strong beats or almost a prolonging note. Furthermore, we illustrated the connection between music and visuals by, in the prolonging beat, having an individual on screen doing basketball tricks. The basketball tricks go accordingly to the beat of the song. Moreover, there are times where the music has abrupt cuts, lasting no longer than two seconds each. In this time, which is displayed at the beginning of our video, we have a variation of cuts revealing different images and actions. For example, there are a range of close-up shots and medium shots of the individual girls. Even though we used traditional conventions in terms of music and visuals, we only showed the relationship a couple of times. This was because we did not want to focus too much on what our target audience may not initially pick up on. However, saying this, we did not want to challenge the convention completely so thought that is was vital to include the connection once or twice. This is shown through the examples mentioned above; the basketball tricks and the fast cutting rhythm at the beginning of the song.

Demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. (a visual style).

Within girl groups, there are constant demands of the record label especially relating to the amount of close-up shots on screen. In 2/5 of the videos that I analysed, there was no common motif between layers but rather a change of clothing or connection with the audience (for example in terms of editing, a jump cut would occur from the group

In our video, we once again complied with the traditional conventions and have many close up shots of the girls. These shots are seen throughout all of the layers that we have and reveal different expressions, moods and attitudes. This was done in order to allow the target audience to get to know each of the girls individually, and also for the members of the band that we chose to express what they believed the song was about. Luckily, this all came very natural, and the gestures and expressions that the girls are seen doing on screen, not only relate to the meaning of the song but also the specific lyrics of each line.In terms of the difference between layers, we tried to start each one with a close-up of an individual depending on what the music and lyrics were at that particular moment. However, as spoken about previously in the relationship between music and visuals, the beginning of our song opens with many quick beats. Within this

Nicole Campbellperforming to an audience and then switch to a more intimate shot of the girls.) However, in the other 3 videos, a common motif was identified. For example, in ‘Don’t Cha’ by The Pussycat Dolls the motif at the beginning of every layer was a form of technology (specifically lights or camera). From a marketing point of view, this convention is presented on screen to allow each of the individual members of the group to associate with particular characteristics that members of the target audience will have. For example, facial expressions that are presented by the use of close up shots differ between Kelly Roland, Beyonce Knowles and Michelle Williams even though the underlying gestures and meaning (in this case survival) is the same. Similarly to this, as the songs researched are typical of the RnB

section, we use many distinctive close-up shots of the girls. Furthermore, the close-up shots we used are primarily of each of the individual girls. This again reinforces the aspect of our video that allows our audience to discover knowledge about each of the girls individually. Therefore, this means that we complied with the conventions regarding the demands of the record label.

Nicole Campbellgenre, the individual moments on screen also allow the artists to try and connect to a wider target audience. An example of this is in ‘Don’t Cha’ by The Pussycat Dolls at 2 minutes 51 seconds. This is when a series of individual shots of the band members are identified on screen. As this song was the groups first single, the focus on individual members was vital to try to appeal to an audience that was as big as possible.

Nicole Campbell

Notions of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

From analysing videos, I found that there did tend to be a notion of looking, but was very hard to identify. For example, in ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child there was a shot in which the girls where on a boat in the middle of the ocean. This shot was firstly displayed through a long shot, but then switched to a birds-eye view. This birds-eye view shot was not static like many other shots, but almost got further and further away from the girls. This displayed the image on screen as if the audience were almost filming the band. In terms of voyeuristic treatment of the female body, this occurred dramatically throughout all of the videos that I analysed. There were times specifically where the girls would be in minimal clothing and there were extreme close-ups of the girl’s bodies.

We decided to develop the idea regarding the notion of looking in our video. This was because there are times throughout the video where the girls are playing with the camera (for example pushing it out of the way.) It could be argued that we both subverted and complied with this convention. We complied with it in terms of using the camera to present moments on screen that do not seem natural to us as the audience. This is shown through the change between layers, where we jump from one of the band members pushing the camera, and then jump to another band member bringing the camera in. However, the notion of looking is subverted due to us not traditionally using the meaning of it in terms of looking through a camera, glass etc.When identifying voyeuristic treatment within our video, we decided to challenge this convention completely. This was because the ambiance that our girl group gives off is primarily about fun, having a good time and the connection that they have as a group. This meant that if we complied with voyeuristic treatment of the female body, it would have completely contradicted the meaning of the song and the vibe that the girls give off.

Intertextual reference (to Within the videos that I We decided to comply with the majority, and therefore placed no

Nicole Campbellfilms, TV programmes, other music videos etc.).

analysed, there was no reference to other aspects of the media (such as film) in four out of five. The only reference to a film was in En Vogue’s video ‘Don’t Let Go’. This was because the song was part of the soundtrack to the film ‘Set it Off’.

intertextual reference within our video. This was primarily a result of not wanting to defer away from the meaning of our song and the emotion/attitudes that our girls expressed.

Technical DirectionsArtist/bands / actor’s positioning, movements, gestures, pose and mode of address etc.

As previously mentioned in Goodwin’s relationship between lyrics and visuals, there times in all the videos that I analysed in which gestures or actions are used to illustrate the lyrics. For example, in ‘Waterfalls’ by TLC the band members display a hand gesture that almost reaches out to the audiences but this is drawn back into their bodies. This action is presented on screen with the lyrics ‘she can’t touch’. In terms of positioning, the girls were either all together, usually for the chorus, or separate (for individual lyrical parts).

We complied with both of these conventions as we thought it was very important to create the right image on screen. There are lyrics in our song, for example, ‘Yeah we bubble in the club’ in which the girls are seen to reveal imitations of dancing. The positioning of our actors was also used in a similar way to what I found when analysing other videos. For example, the first chorus in our song is presented on screen with all the girls together and then splits off to individual shots of them.

Nicole CampbellEditing directions(Match cuts, jump cut, reverse shots – cutting rthymn etc.)

I found that there were many different layers within videos constructed by girl groups. These layers were resembled in terms of abrupt jump cuts in which the location, setting, mise en scene and clothing of the girls tended to change. At 0:36 seconds in ‘Waterfalls’ by TLC, a jump cut is used to switch from a layer revealing an urban American street to the band members performing on water. The cutting rhythm varied between the videos, depending on the tempo of the song. If the song was quite up beat, the cutting rhythm tended to be faster than if the song had a slow tempo.

We use a lot of jump cuts throughout our video, again complying with the conventions of mainstream music videos. As our song is quite up beat, there are a huge variety of jump cuts that occur about every 4 seconds. As previously mentioned, the cutting rhythm is particularly fast at the beginning of our chosen track in which a series of jump cuts have been edited in. This makes the video flow accordingly to the tempo of the song.