1. In what ways does
your media product
use, develop or
challenge forms
and conventions of
real media
products?

2. • It has become a trend in the last few years for an artist to have their name and the
name of the song displayed either at the start of the song or right at the end,
especially with big stars such as Beyonce and Lady Gaga. They do this because any
music video from a big star becomes a must-see experience, so branding it in this
way only raises their star level even higher. I decided to copy this trend because I
wanted my artist to become as recognizable as those names, plus delaying the
actual video in order to show this info only helps to raise excitement even higher. It
makes the star of my video seem as important as the people at the top of the
charts right now, therefore adding a trend to the brand, where people think they
need to purchase the song and watch the video if they want to keep up with the
latest trends.

3. • It is typical of most music videos, but especially pop, electronic and R&B videos, to
feature extreme closeups of the star. This is because using the star to sell the
record is easily one of the most successful techniques, and not only does it sell
more records but it also helps to raise the star profile of the artist, meaning that
high sales are more likely in the future. However, this shot also challenges the
convention of a music video, as it is obvious the model is wearing little makeup,
and has pale skin. This goes against the current trend which dictates that everyone
on show must be the ultimate ideal for that gender, which in this case would mean
that the model should have tanned skin and more makeup on to highlight her best
features. I decided to go against this because not only was it not really a part of the
character to want to look her best, but because I wanted to make my video stand
out in the way it represented beauty ideals.

4. • Through the use of visual effects throughout the video, my product develops the current
forms and conventions of a music video. The current trend for pop (and all of the genres that
are popular at the moment, like electronica and dance) is to keep the video natural and
simple. However, a few years ago there was a stage where effects such as the one from my
video (top left) were wildly popular. I decided to use them in my video because they help to
entertain the viewer and keep their eyes on the video, meaning that they listen to more of
the song and are therefore more likely to purchase it. However, I then developed this idea
further and used more abstract effects, like the swirl effect (above right). This style of effect
is much less popular in music videos because it normally either hides or actually takes away
from the image level for the star, as their features are stretched out of shape. I decided to
use it in brief sections because it helps to shock the viewer, and then they have to watch the
video again to see what happens, which means both more video views and more chances to
sell the song.

5. • This shot challenges most music video conventions as the
most popular music videos of the moment make their star
look as attractive as possible, and create an image that can
run through their careers. I decided to include this shot in my
music video because one of the best ways to get a music
video to be widely seen is to include the shock factor, and
having the star of the video smeared in red and black paint
and looking straight into the camera will disorientate the
viewer and make them watch it again.

6. • These 3 shots show how my product develops the conventions of a music video
through the use of filters. It is becoming increasingly popular to have black and
white scenes within a video, recent examples including ‘Drunk In Love’ by Beyonce,
and ‘I Will Never Let You Down’ by Rita Ora. A monochrome filter is one of the most
flattering, as it helps to make the skin glow on screen whilst most imperfections are
naturally hidden by the lack of colour, so I decided to include the use of a
monochrome filter in my video. However, I then took it one step further and
included several other filters, including the Sepia tone and the Glow Diffuse tone.
As these types of filters are less popular in modern videos seeing them pop up on
the screen will help to keep the viewers eyes on the video, creating more views for
the product.

7. • This shows how my product develops certain conventions of music videos
to make my video stand out from the market. Most modern music videos
feature a fade transition between two shots, but it normally transitions very
quickly. I decided to use a fade in my video, but this time stretch it out over
a longer period of time in order to create the effect above. By creating an
overlap between the two final shots, the viewer can see the connection
between the two seemingly separate images, as if the character is walking
away into the future to become the character with paint on her face. This
helps to give some understanding to my video, which means people will
watch it repeatedly to find more subtle connections between shots.

8. • During my production, I realized how similar my ideas
for my music video were to popular music videos from
the 90’s, specifically for dance videos. An example is
‘What Is Love?’ by Haddaway, which features lots of
reversed footage and extreme closeups. These are two
of the key features within my video, and seeing as this
video is seen as one of the defining videos of the 90’s,
I’m pleased that this connection exists within my work.

9. • When making my music video, I tried to keep as many similarities out of my mind
as possible in order to stop myself from copying any existing work without realizing
it. However, the two real media products I used to inspire me were the film ‘Black
Swan’ by Darren Aronofsky, and the music video to ‘One’ by Sky Ferreira (images
above). Black Swan is one of my favourite films because of the way it uses editing
to shock and entice the viewer, a thought I was inspired by during production of my
music video. The video to ‘One’ has more similarities to my product than I first
realized, because the use of shots such as the extreme closeup and the mirroring
effect used throughout the video match my own video. However, I have developed
past this idea because whereas the video to ‘One’ has no connection between the
different images, I’ve put more thought into my video and the way that the images
add together to create one overarching plot.

10. • My product develops the conventions of magazine advert through the use of colour picking and the mirroring
effect. My inspiration for the advert was the one by Delilah for her album ‘From The Roots Up’ (above right)
because I thought it was one of the most professional and visually stunning adverts available right now.
However, there were a few things about it I didn’t like, so I decided to develop the ideas used within that advert
to try and make my product stand above it. The main negative I had about the professional advert was the way
they’d just faded the image to black in the bottom section of the advert, as I don’t think it fits in with the rest of
the advert. I developed this by mirroring my image so the bottom section of the advert was filled, and then
cutting out the bottom of the model’s face and replacing it with more fur from the hood in order to create a
solid background. I’m very happy with the result this gave me, as you’re still able to read the writing on this
bottom section, however I feel it looks much more professional than just one solid colour that you see
throughout the majority of modern magazine adverts. I decided to use the same colour scheme throughout my
advert as this is what all of the successful professional adverts do, and it helps to create an overall branding for
the product which helps it become more instantly recognizable.

11. • When creating my front cover of the digipak, I had no real
influence over my decisions, only knowing that I wanted to create
an image that would stand out from most of the boring covers that
are mass-produced at the moment. However, I soon realized that
my idea was taking inspiration from the cover for the ‘Born This
Way’ album by Lady Gaga, specifically with the use of the colour
picking technique in order to make the red facepaint stand out.
This is similar to the red lipstick on the professional cover,
although I have developed the idea further to make my cover
stand out more from the crowd.

12. • The back cover of my digipak develops ideas shown in the back
cover for ‘Matangi’ by M.I.A, in the way that the image is edited to
make it stand out. M.I.A.’s back cover makes her almost
unrecognizable, something I didn’t want to exactly copy for my
own product, so I zoomed in on the picture and edited the red
facepaint to make it blue, which I feel creates a very interesting
image. I also changed the ideas of the professional cover because I
didn’t like the black sidebar on the side of her cover, so I made
sure any writing on my cover was in a plain section of the image in
order for there to be no need for a sidebar in my product.