A2 Media Evaluation

1. In What ways does your Media Product use, Develop or
Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?
A convention, simply defined as ‘a way in which something is usually done’ is
a significant part of the production and planning stage when creating
a product medium, or at least they must be considered and
analytically analyzed first. The reason being for this is, is that
audiences feel extremely confident and appreciate conventions
throughout all kinds of media platforms, although each media
platform may differ, for example music genre
conventions will be different to film and video
game conventions. This is due to different
target audiences; each media platform will
attract different types of audiences, for example
the film industry will not be looking at the same
conventions as the music industry, because audiences
want different things from each platform. Otherwise there
would be no point of having different types of media
platforms, as they would all blur into one.
A list of typical music genres that I looked at:
• Alternative Music
• Blues
• Classical Music
• Country Music
• Dance Music
• Easy Listening
• Electronic Music
• European Music (Folk / Pop)
• Hip Hop / Rap
• Indie Pop
• Inspirational (incl. Gospel)
• Asian Pop (J-Pop, K-pop)
• Jazz
• Latin Music
• New Age
• Opera
• Pop (Popular music)
• R&B / Soul
• Reggae
• Rock
• Singer / Songwriter (Inc.; Folk)
• World Music / Beats

2. After researching a variety of music videos and songs I narrowed down my
choice of genre to; indie, singer-songwriter, pop and dance. I chose these
both because they represent my own taste and preference in music, but also
because after researching YouTube videos for each genre these were the
four that I felt had strong conventions, and clearly defined.
I then chose to look further in to indie and singer-songwriter. Although I love
indie conventions, and the unique, almost ‘trippy’ editing, I felt that realistically
to achieve a successful music video with similar conventions wouldn’t
advertise my skills as well as another genre might. Therefore I chose to study
and research singer-songwriters like Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard, George Ezra
and Sam Smith.
Having researched multiple music videos I focused on the main conventions
of these artists, for example the frequent occurrence of the
guitar, casual clothes, natural lighting, alongside natural
environments and settings.
The narrative is also extremely similar throughout the videos,
and if not then they still evoke melancholy and cause the
audience to feel empathetic to the artist.
George Ezra is a more current artist and appropriate for
‘contemporary media’.
His most current and well-known song is “Budapest”, however
I wanted to take advantage using an album track that hasn’t
been released as a single. This gave me the opportunity to be
put my own take on it, without comparison of an original
George Ezra music video.
In my music video I used generic conventions to engage the
audience’s by creating a sense of familiarity.
Misé en scene and representation is extremely important to think about and
develop when executing a music video; therefore I used it to my advantage by
making it a focus point throughout. The clothes that are worn, evoking indie,
singer-songwriter connections, to the natural lighting and settings used, for
example no strobe lights, or busy places. The locations are sparse, allowing
the video to become all about ‘his own’ feelings, no one else is relevant, but
just George and his melancholy. The props that were used also very
conventional, for example
the guitar, and the photo
album. Nearly all singer-
songwriter’s, if not all of
them use or at some stage
have performed with a
guitar, proving that this
familiar link will be
aesthetic for audiences;
connecting them to the
music video. Genre plays
a role in the relationship
between audience and the
producer so it is extremely

3. important to approach the conventions thoroughly.
For my digi-pack and poster I also used a variety shots to evaluate body
language and facial expressions, for example whether George is looking away
or at the camera. Having looked at multiple posters and digi-packs from both
George Ezra and other artists use multiple techniques and shots, therefore I
incorporated this into both my secondary products, using a variety of shots.
This is also stimulating for audiences as although a sense of familiarity is
important, audiences also crave originality.
However in this digital age, the genre of singer-songwriter’s
has transformed closer to the genre of ‘POP’, meaning
‘popular’.
For example Ed Sheeran’s new album is less
conventional of singer-songwriter, and closer to the
conventions of pop. For example in his new video,
“thinking out loud” there are scenes of dancing, the setting is high
profile and important, making him seem part of a dance routine rather than the
focus point, disconnecting him as the artist from the audience. The song itself
and video is less personal, leading towards the genre of dance and pop. The
lack of conventional props and clothes also enforce this idea of a hybrid genre
emerging, the two genres working hand in
hand to create a different effect on audiences.
The choice of clothes is more formal, again
making the aesthetics of the video the focus
point, not the narrative, gradually taking away
the familiarity of singer-songwriter techniques.
This also opens up a bigger range of markets
for Ed Sheeran to work with, as he can attract
and connect with both target audiences.
Although Ed Sheeran and other artists closely
linked to
him chose to adjust and reform
closely to the genre of POP, due
to high success rates, I wanted

4. to form more closely to another genre.
Due to audience feedback, I wanted my music video to share some
connotations of indie representations, for example in my video I used an indie,
almost hipster blanket for George to lie on. I also used clothing that could
represent both genres, however leading
more towards the more average clothing,
which is generic of singer-songwriter. The
story line could also be read as indie, as it
is very typical ‘love-story’ for this genre.
However I didn’t adjust too much to the
genre, as I wanted the main genre to be
typically dinger-songwriter.