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

Title and lyricsWe kept the title of the song for our music video which was ‘You Make Me’ by Avicii as the lyrics of this song continuously refer to the title. The lyrics tell a story about how the female character makes the male character and it’s written from the male’s point of view. We do go against the conventions as our character doesn’t interact with a female, unlike the original video. It was because this song title was chosen by the artist and his production company Universal and we didn’t want to change this as it is songs such as You Make Me that made Avicii the success he is today. ‘You Make Me’ is also repeated throughout the chorus of the song so our viewers wouldn’t understand if the title was different.

GenreThe genre of our music video is in the dance/house genre. The opening of our music video shows Dave walking up a set of stairs located in Southend, wearing a jacket, skinny jeans and Nike trainers. This fits the codes and conventions of a video in the dance genre as what he’s wearing is very trendy and fashionable. Dance music is also seen as very trendy and fashionable today, therefore people involved in this genre of music are seen wearing similar clothing to Dave. It then quickly skips to Dave in Camden, London, wearing different yet fashionable clothes. Camden is home to a popular venue called ‘The Roundhouse’ which hosts many dance music gigs. People will see these aspects of our music video and instantly be able to know that it’s a video for a song in the dance genre without even listening to it.

Camerawork and editing

There is a lot of camerawork and editing used in our video to fit and go against the codes and conventions of a dance genre music video. Camerawork was one of the most important factors, due to the fact that we had to use our iPhone to record our video which is a low quality camera. This instantly put us at a disadvantage compared to groups with professional cameras. We used a lot of different shots in our music video that helped to portray Dave’s character and personality, such as close ups, mid shots and long shots. The close up of Dave with smoke leaving his mouth suggests that he’s new to the scene and willing to break the rules which agrees with the codes and conventions of this genre. When editing the music video we used the Pinnacle software that was available to us in school. We found that this software took a while to get used to; however once you’re familiar with it it’s simple. The only disadvantage we found with this software is that we thought it was quite limited and transitions were restricted, however this didn’t cause any problems as our group are all beginners when it comes to editing. The simpler it was, the better it was for us.

CostumesThe use of costumes of our music video can be closely linked to the conventions of a real media product as they are fashionable and popular. In the genre of House music videos characters are often seen wearing t-shirts, jeans and trainers much like David in the music video. Through brainstorms and research we found that the clothing we wear being aged around 17-18 fits the conventions of the genre. As all members of the group listen to this genre of music this did indicate to use that there would be similarities of our lifestyle and clothing that would fit to the genres traits. Upon this, this proved to use that it would be easy to produce various realistic outfits that fit the norms of the genre with ease, allowing more flexibility within costumes and no need to buy outfits. This flexibility shows that this was the right genre for us to carry out as we as a group were able to easily use clothes fitting for the genre. This was rewarding for us as a group as it enabled us not to worry about fitting to the convention and spend more time thinking of locations and camera angles

PropsProps, unlike costumes are much hard to relate to within the circumstances. Due to a much smaller budget it is difficult to compare to the props of real conventional media products such as DJ decks. As no one in the group owns a professional set it is very difficult to relate to this which is one of the most common ways to show the artist as a different singer normally sings the lyrics. We decided not to involve the actual artist as we feel it to make a mockery of the artist and would not look as professional. The focus is on one character which we feel is more effective. Developing on the ideas of the conventions an abstract focus seemed the best route to follow as it enabled much more flexibility to the filming and locations. As the theme is abstract the props used are therefore going to be abstract and do not have any major importance inside a narrative as they are completely random. Things such as a Pele football shirt and a boat have no reference within the genre norms but the ideals within the genre follow. Overall we didn’t use that many props in the locations and spent most of our efforts finding the right locations and shots to use. The random, exciting and fun feeling is a major part of the house genre, as it is mainly around the age group of 13-25 people of this age will do impulsive and exciting things, if a music video includes these things then it will be enjoyable for this target market.

Character introduction and roles

How characters are introduced in our music video follows the conventions of the genre. This is because characters from real videos and our singer focus on the same theme, through enjoyment and youth. Relating so much to the genre enabled us much like the use of costumes to understand how the characters should act in this genre of music. It can still show that the introduction of characters is slightly different to that of other songs in the genre as characters are often seen singing without involvement of the story or abstract theme inside the music video. This is because of a budget and time to enable a detailed looking video. We chose to focus the video on one character as inside the video there were dependency issues. One single character would be easier and more efficient to use. This is because all the focus would be on this one character, enabling us not having to perfect more than one character and allowing us to perfect just one. So, when watching the video it may divert away from the norms of the genre through the role of the character but the presentation of the character does use the conventions.

Settings and locations

The setting and locations much like the props develop the ideas of the genre as they are closely linked within the genre but may not be found in similar music videos. As mentioned before with the props it is hard to relate certain aspects of the video to similar trends of the genre due to time, money and resources. The focus and mise on scene of the actual video and locations does fit inside the norms of the genre. As the focus of our video is on having fun the locations chosen fit the purpose. London, as one of the locations is vibrant and exciting; it is iconic land mark and was very easy to get to where we live. It also has many good looking shots and London is a very exciting place so fits within the genre, especially as we went to a shisha bar which is a very modern thing to do and enabled us some very good shots and edits to use. The other locations are also very random and are enjoyable to watch as there is so much diversity inside the music video. As we made sure to get enough shots within each location we were able to make quick edits between each location and keep the audience excited and wanting to watch more. With the furthest location only an hour away it was easy for us to go and film.

Story/toneThe story/tone of the music video uses the norms of the conventions in real media products as locations jump from Southend straight to Camden town, abstract videos inside genre often jump between several different locations and this is shown throughout the music video. This was important to understand. When filming, we made sure to film much more footage than the year 12 task as we needed more footage when following the story of the gene norms. Without as much footage it would be much harder to create a tone which remains quick paced and exciting.

DigipakAs a group we decided to stick with the genres codes and conventions when creating our album cover. We used an unusual font for the cover however we all agreed on it because we thought it gave off a sense of happiness and joy which is very a very important factor for the codes and conventions of this genre. We used a range of bright colours for the lettering as when we handed out questionnaires asking what people expect from a dance music album cover, they wanted it to be simple yet bright and vibrant.