Evaluation Question 1 – In what

ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media

products?

By Jonny Smith

Real Music Videos

A shot that shows a link between lyrics

and/ or other music and visuals

This shot is taken from Macklemore& Ryan Lewis‟s

Can‟t Hold Us music video.

In the shot we are shown a man crowd surfing under a

large group of people with everyone's hand in the air.

Whilst this shot is being shown “so we put our hands up

like the ceiling can‟t hold us” is being sung. This shot

shows a clear link between lyrics and visuals presented

to us in the video.

A shot that typifies the way a record company

would want their artist represented.

This shot is taken from James Arthur‟s Recovery music video.

From this long shot we can see the artist is dressed in a fairly

simplistic and normal way with no obvious „bling‟ or eccentric

clothing being worn which can be un conventional for an artist

of this particular genre. From this the artist is presented to us

as a person who has been put into the public eye having had a

complete career change but has still managed to stay grounded

and normal. This idea is again backed up by the simplistic set

in the background representing a low budget music video

showing the audience that he‟s not all about the money and

glamour side of the industry but focuses more on the music. By

the artist being presented to us in this way it can be very

beneficial for himself and the record company because

audiences find it attractive which means they will support him.

A shot that illustrates the use of music

genre

This shot is taken from the Killers Human music video

In this medium shot we are shown all of the band singing and playing their

instruments. From the shot it is clear that they are a band of the indie rock

genre. This is illustrated through a number of different things:

•Clothing – All of the band members are dressed slightly differently but all

have that indie look to them from things such as leather jackets and dark

looking clothing.

•Instruments – In the shot we can see a full drum kit, guitar, bass guitar and

microphone which are all conventional items in an indie rock music video.

•Setting – From watching the music video it is set in what appears to be a

deserted mountainous area which is fairly eccentric and random which can

be typical of an indie rock band.

A shot that shows an intertextual reference

This shot is taken from the music video of Adele‟s „Skyfall‟. The video

uses intertextual referencing throughout the video as the song was

made for the opening of the movie Skyfall. The video is edited and

shown in a way very similar to the typical opening of James Bond

films. In this particular the famous bullet hole where Bond normally

stands in the opening of a film is used to display part of Adele‟s face.

A shot that demonstrates use of camera

This shot is taken from the 1975‟s Chocolate music

video.

The shot shows the four band members back to back

having a spot light shone at them. This shot could

represent how the four band members are all of a

sudden in the public eye (represented by the bright

light) having had a drastic career change. As well as all

this the shot is very visually appealing which adds

variety to the video keeping the audience entertained

and interested.

A shot that demonstrates use of lighting

This shot is taken from Paramore‟s Ignorance music

video

The medium shot shows the lead singer holding a light.

This light appears to be the only source of light in the

video which shows its importance to both the audience

and the band. The lights importance is represented

through the lead singer looking up to it like a godly

figure. By the light being the only source of light it

creates a sense of mystery for the audience due to it

being fairly un conventional.

A shot demonstrating use of mise en

scene

This shot is taken from John Newman‟s Losing Sleep

music video

This shot is presented to us in a dark background with

minimal light. This sets the scene as quite eerie and

mysterious causing the audience to think what will

happen next. The lighting used in the shot seems slightly

distorted which adds to the eerie and mysterious

atmosphere. The artist is dressed quite smartly for the

surroundings he is in which appears to be quite odd

again adding to the mystery of the video.

My Music Video

A shot that shows a link between lyrics and/ or other music and

visuals

This shot is shown to us just as the lyric goes „Brian‟.

This is a clear link between the lyrics and visuals on

screen. This allows the audience to understand who

Brian is making the rest of the music video easier to

follow.

In the music video Brian is supposed to be

represented as a bit of a „douche‟ and his body

language and stance in this shot goes towards

achieving this look.

A shot that typifies the way a record

company would want their artist represented

In this shot we are shown the band performing. This is how the

record company wants their artist represented because it shows

they are a live performing band who do live concerts which is

where record companies create a lot of revenue from. This shot

also shows the band in their element and doing what they do

best which ultimately is what the audience wants.

A shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre

Here we can see a close up of one of the band members

playing the bass and in the background a drum kit. All of

these instruments are typical of an indie rock band helping

establish the genre of the music.

It is conventional for indie rock music videos to show shots

of live band play so we thought it was important to include it

in our music video as well.

A shot that shows an intertextual reference

We decided to display the name of the song in some form at the

beginning of the video. We did this by using alphabet spaghetti to spell

out „Brianstorm‟. It is now conventional for music videos to display the

name of the song at the beginning of the video. An example is the shot

below which is from Coldplay‟s „Paradise‟.

A shot that demonstrates use of camera

For this shot we had Ollie (shown in the picture) hold a tripod

down by his hips with the camera attached at the top to

create a shot similar to a worms eye shot. Due to Ollie (Brian)

being centre of attention in the shot it focuses the audiences

attention on him which is what we wanted due to the video

being all about him and snippets of his life.

I think this shot worked well due to it being slightly different

which ultimately creates variation in the video helping ensure

the audience stays focused and interested.

A shot the demonstrates use of lighting

In this shot the light is coming from the street light in the

background. We moved Brian out of the light so that he is

shown in the dark. This represents his current troubles in life

and darker side to him which relates to what our music video is

about. The use of showing him in darkness also shows his

rebellious side by us seeing him drinking in a „no public access‟

area shown on the sign next to him.

A shot demonstrating use of mise en scene

Here we are shown Brian and another person in a dark and

grungy looking area. The other character standing by the bin

has his hood up and is showing tense and secretive body

language. This encourages the audience to believe that the

character is up to something illegal which he wants to keep

hidden. The idea of illegal activity taking place is again backed

up by the location in which the shot is taken due to its isolation

and lack of other life around.

Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows

you have watched other music videos

Here is a close up shot of a band member plying the bass. It is conventional

in indie rock music videos for you to see close ups of the band playing their

instruments in performance scenes. A good example of a music video which

has this in is Human by the Killers.

For this shot we added a „wavey‟ effect to indicate to the audience that the

character shown on screen may have just taken something. We got this idea

from the music video „Why‟d You Only Call Me You‟re High?‟ by the Arctic

Monkeys who used a similar effect to suggest something.