Evaluation. Q1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

GenreIzak and myself aimed to conform to the typical conventions of an R&B video and this is evident through the narrative we used. Our song told a story so we thought that it would be suitable to have a visual to depict the situation our artist is singing about. Izak and myself were very much inspired by the concept of Jordin Spark and Chris Browns ‘No Air’ music video and this is where our idea originated from. In Jordin Spark and Chris Browns music video, the narrative is about a couple who are on the verge of a break up that both mutually feel the need to fight for their relationship. This narrative is typical as most R&B music videos consist of a male and female who are in love. However, Izak and myself wanted to take conventions and forms of this narrative and develop the story so that it would be similar to Jordin Spark and Chris Browns music video but so that it would also relate the theme of our song.

Relationship between visuals &

lyricsIn our music video we used intertextual references from Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks music video e.g. the writing on the window at the beginning and the fading techniques of the artist. We pushed these ideas further and developed them by incorporating the titles into our music video by making our artist write the name of the song onto the window to make it more relevant to the song rather than just having a scene of our artist drawing a symbol. Another way in which we developed the narrative was through the fading techniques we used. This technique was used in Jordin Spark and Chris Browns music video at roughly 3.18 where Jordin is laying on her bed and see's Chris brown before he disappears. Izak and myself used this editing technique in our music video but developed it so that is has a purpose. We wanted to there to be a clear association between the fading of our female star and the theme of our music video and ancillary text so by using this intertextual reference from Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks music video and developing it, we have conformed to the narrative of a typical R&B video in terms of the audio relating the visuals.

CameraworkSeeing as the genre of our music video is R&B, we wanted to include various camera shots and angle types that are commonly used in other well known R&B videos such as close ups, extreme close ups, long shots, mid shots, high\low angles, etc. Using these specific camera shots helped us to portray the artist’s melancholic emotions. Most typical R&B videos consist of close ups, mid shots, long shots, etc. to show the audience the stars facial expressions and body language and Izak and myself conformed to the typical camera shots of R&B videos. Within the R&B, genre music, the artist usually sings about things that happen in life, experiences that have happened to them, or things that just happen in modern life. All of our shots are conventional to this genre music as they portray how the artist is feeling. In our video we used various shots such as close ups, mid shots, tracking shots, long shots, etc which are conventional in R&B videos as these shots also show the a full length of the artists style and appearance creating male gaze. Using a combination of mid shots and close ups also makes the background restricted, making our artist the main focus in the music video which is also conventional.

Star PersonaIn terms of the star persona, Izak and myself wanted to conform to the usual expectations of how an artist should be portrayed in R&B music videos so we used some of the typical conventions such as the make up, aesthetical clothing, etc. However, some might say that we challenged the idea of a typical artists star persona as we didn't make our artist wear clothes that would reveal her body, subverting against the idea of male gaze. We also subverted from using some of the typical conventions such as cars, a lot of jewellery, dancers in the video, etc. because our song tells a story which mainly requires the focus of our artist and another actor so using these conventions would be unnecessary and has no relation to the theme of our song.

EditingIt is evident through the editing that we have conformed to the forms and conventions of an R&B video. We used intertextual references from Christina Aguilera’s 'You Lost Me' music video where there are shots of her singing that are being overlapped. Izak and myself thought that this editing technique gave the music video a mysterious ghostly effect and decided to incorporate the idea into our music video as it would be a visual which would relate to the story. We also wanted to conform to the typical pace of an R&B music video and kept the pace of the shots reasonably slow, giving the audience more time to see the performance and facial expressions of our artist. The use of desaturating the colours in our music video help to create and enhance the depressed mood we are trying to depict to the audience. In this case, we subverted to the conventions in an R&B video because R&B music videos tend to have bright colours and objects that stand out so by desaturating the colours in certain parts of the music video, we have went against what we would expect to see in a typical R&B music video.