The document discusses the setting, characters, editing, narrative, and other elements used in a music video and how they compare to conventions in the genre. The setting on a British beach was both conventional for being similar to other music videos yet unique for using a grittier location. The studio performance setting challenges conventions somewhat. While the attractive female character could be conventional, she was not overly sexualized. The editing and narrative connoting a fun time out are conventional. However, the formal font used challenged conventions by making the video stand out.
2. • The setting that I decided to use is conventional as it followed the
idea of a luxury, travelling, sunny location. This can be seen in
many music videos similar to my genre, for example, in I Need
Your Love by Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris, the camera follows
them to the sunny, luxurious beach very similar to our location. In
my final product, we used the setting of Brighton Beach on a
sunny day, as well as using some colour correction to brighten the
mood. This connotes the messages we set out to play in our final
product of a good vibe, showing a good time. However, I think we
have developed the traditional setting for a music video in our
genre as we used a British beach scene which could be seen as
quite gritty, which connotes the independent value of my song.
Therefore, I think this setting is conventional as it is very similar to
many music videos in our genre, however, we put a bit of our own
twist on it.
3. • In our second setting, we did a performance narrative in
the studio, showing the artist producing the song. This
can be seen throughout the video as a way to cut up the
other narrative and identify the artist’s image. I believe
that this slightly challenges typical music videos for my
genre as the performance narrative is normally in a
setting like a club, where ours is instead in a very
secluded and intimate studio. Overall, I think this is
slightly conventional as it shows a location in which an
artist may perform in, and there are a few music videos
where the artist is performing in a studio.
4. • The characters featured in my production could be
considered conventional, for example, the use of an
attractive, lead, female character could suggest the male
gaze, using a female character to stimulate male
audiences into being drawn into her beauty or in many
cases, sexuality. However, I have challenged this theory
by not overly sexualising my female character and
keeping her fully clothed, unlike the majority of music
videos in my genre. I think this has given a classier and
more respectful feel to the music and the video as a
whole.
5. • The editing I used was conventional in the sense that it
helped create artist image. In the majority of videos I
analysed in my genre, I found that editing was commonly
used to cut to performance aspects of the artist to create
a natural relationship between the artist and the
audience. Whilst editing, I used a lot of cuts to scenes
where the artist was producing/performing the track in the
studio. This creates a conventional looking video as it
looks as if it is like any other video in my genre where the
artist’s image is enforced through editing to cuts of
performance narrative.
6. • I also edited the video to match the audio, making it look
fluent alongside the audio, giving it a conventional and
fluent aesthetic. For example, the sweep up is matched
with the waves coming in to the beach and parts where
toms are hit in the song to create a pre-chorus effect, I
used black flashes on the screen to mimic the sound by
cutting out parts of the video. This created a conventional
looking piece as it fits tightly with the audio, much like
many other music videos I have analysed from my genre.
7. • The narrative I used connotes a clear and distinct view of
having a good time and having a lot of juvenile fun. This
is something seen in many music videos similar to my
genre, for example, Ke$ha’s Blah Blah Blah features her
going on a night out to a club and getting drunk and
going a bit over the top, something considered juvenile
and fun. My narrative shows a couple falling in love and
getting all excited and a bit over the top on a day out e.g.
rolling in the beach and pushing slush puppies in each
others faces. This connotes the same narrative as found
in many other music videos of my genre and creates a
conventional feel to the narrative.
8. • The costumes used are considered modern fashion,
something that all artists want to try and represent
themselves with as it makes them look relatable to and
modern audiences, especially younger audiences,
therefore these types of costumes are conventional as it
will create a positive artist image. These types of
costumes can be seen in videos such as Porter
Robinson’s Lionhearted where he wears skinny jeans
and a coat similar to the artist.
9. • The fonts I used in my production were not conventional,
instead they challenged conventions. Most fonts used in
this genre are fun or wild, but Adobe Caslon Pro is a very
formal and smart font which gave an effective and
professional looking result for my product. I am happy
that I challenged this convention as it made my product
stand out a bit, rather than it looking too generic.
