5 Moments of Everyday Self-Loathing That Perfectly Describe Your Life
Evaluation question 1
1. 1. In what ways does your mediaproduct use, developor challenge forms
and conventions of real mediaproducts?
These nine key frames show the end of result of our music video. My group and I have both
tried to challenge the conventions of the alternative hip hop genre (so that we can be
original and surprise our audiences), but we’ve also tried to conform to it so that our
audiences can also be familiar with certain elements of our video. In this evaluation
question I would compare random frames of my music video to already existing videos to
see how different or similar mine is to theirs.
Thisis a frame frommy musicvideoalongsideashotfrom Alternative hiphopartistTylerthe
creator’svideo.The firstconformityof myvideo Irecognise isthe lackof colour.The monochrome
effectisa typical conventionof the alternativehiphopgenre;Ithinkthisisbecause itissimple,yet
effective.Itmakesthe alternative hiphopvideosdifferfromthe restasit doesn’tlose the message
of itsvideotothe businessof colour.Secondlythe monochrome effectcreatesmystery,nottoo
much isgivenaway.Forexample the Tylerthe creatorframe justshowsa dark figure,the mysteryof
it justmakesfanswantto watch the videofurther.Ipersonallythinkthatthe monochrome effect
makesa musicvideostandoutbecause itdiffersfromthe genericcolouredvideo.
2. Thissecondframe certainlyconforms tothe conventionsof the alternative hiphopgenre.Ihave
recognisedthatextreme closeupsare generallyusedtoemphasisethe artist.Andrew Goodwin’s
theoryof close upsof the artist definitelycomesinplayhere.Alternativehiphopartisttendtowant
to focuson one thing,if the close upis notof theirface as a whole,thenit wouldfocusonabody
part such as the lips.It’sa goodway for fansand audiencestolearnthe lyricof a songquicker,but
alsoit createsanonymity.Fansof the alternative hiphopgenre like asurprise,sobynotfully
revealingthe artistthey’re alwaysleftguessing.
One way we challengedthe alternative hiphopgenre isbygivingourartista love interest.
Surprisinglymale artistsof thisgenre don’ttendtouse womenaslove interestsintheirvideos.We
chose to give ourartist a love interestbecausewe feelitwouldkeepouraudience interestedinthey
have a narrative to follow.Althoughourvideoisahybridof narrative andabstract we still feel itis
importantto keepthe audience focused.Ifeelthata flaw withsome alternative hiphopvideosis
that they’re tooabstract andpeople are unable tomake sense of certainelements.Sobyincludinga
love interestinourvideowe feelthatwe are appealingtoa widerrange of people.
There issome conformityisthiskeyframe because of the setting. Ihave foundthatin the
majorityof alternative hiphopvideosIhave watchedideitherinaplainbackdropor setin a
desertedarea,suchas the woodsor forest.Because majorityof the time the message behindthese
3. songsare dark,I feel a desertedareaisa goodplace to show this.It createssome frightandI think
the natural,simple beautyof the sceneryspeaksforitself.There ismystery aboutlocationssuchas
the woodsthat almostenchantsthe audience.Italsodiffersfromthe genericmansionsorvillasused
inthe typical hip hopvideo.
In alternative hiphopgenre Goodwin’stheoryof correlationbetweenlyricsandimage comesinto
play.Many artistsof that genre tendtodo that. Howeverwe challengedthisconvention,we didn’t
try o match any of our lyricswithimages.We wantedtomake our owntwistthroughthisvideo,we
stuck withsome conventionsof the hiphopgenre tofamiliariseouraudience.Alsoartistsof this
genre use obscure anglestodistortcertainsituation.Buteventhoughwe were goingforthatsame
ideawe thoughtitwouldalsobe good if insteadof usingcameraanglestodistortcertainsituations
we use thingslike propsandcostume.Itmakesus a bitdifferentfromthe rest.
Anotherwaywe’ve conformedtothisgenre isouruse of low keylighting. Thisistypicallyused
because the genre isconsidereddarkandslightlymystifying.Anexample of low keylightingis
especiallyevidentinChildishGambino’sframe,the sceneryis hardlynoticeable.We conformedto
the conventionof lowkeylightingbecause itfitinperfectlywithourconceptandthe message of our
song.Furthermore because we wantedtodistortthe fairytaleonAlice InWonderlandusinglow key
lightingwouldhelp withthat.Usuallyfairytalesare lighthearted,playful andpeople associatebright
colourswiththat; howeverwe wantedtomove awayfromthat.Eventhe sceneswe didincolourwe
made sure that the weatherwasdimand dark so we can getthat gloomyeffect.
4. In alternative hiphopmusicvideosthe videoisusuallybasedaroundthe artist,suchasinTylerthe
creator and ChildishGambino’svideos.Howeverwe challengedthisbymakingthe characterof Alice
the mainfocus. It took awaythe verisimilitude of the video(whichiswhatwe wanted) andmade ita
fairytale.Usingthe characterof Alice alsocreateda lotof theatricalityaswe canpush boundaries
because we wantto remove the realismfromourvideo.
In termsof costume we conformedtothe clothesusuallywornbythe artist.It isa casual look,which
isgood as I feel thatfanswouldbe able torelate to artiststhroughthisway.Howeverwe also
challengedcostume asthe secondhalf of ourvideoisa fairytale the costume hastobe more
accurate to the character. Alice isdressestheatricallyasshe isthe protagonistof the video,butalso
it isherfantasyand as the videoisinmonochrome she hasto wearsomethingthatwouldmake her
standout.
Finallythe alternative hiphopgenre isknownforitsabstractideasandconceptsand we certainly
conformedtothat. Althoughwe have anarrative we alsothoughtitwas importanttokeepthe
audience ontheirfeetandexcited.Ouruse of the kaleidoscopeforexample istypical inorder
alternative musicvideos.Itshoesachange indimensionandtime,whichiswhatsome artistsof this
genre like todwell inasitcreatesmore mystery.