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


From researching into music videos of different genres I found aspects of the videos similar to the style I wanted to create. I have used inspiration from the music videos I analysed - such as Telephone by Lady Gaga for the editing techniques, transitions and jumps.
 Within my music video I used a lot of jump cuts to create the effect that my main character is almost supernatual fitting with her character.

The screenshots shown to the left display one particular jump cut I used at the beginning of my music video. I chose to make her sit up quite unnaturally fast, not only to fit with the pace of the music but, to give this impression that being a robot she is superhuman. As this is the introduction to the video I wanted to give the audience the initial impression that she is not just a girl, even though we cannot see anything visually different or unusual about her.

I also took ideas of referencing to superhero style films as The Hoosiers did in their video Goodbye Mr A; but I chose to reference to a recent comic book-based film - Scott Pilgrim Vs The World - as I thought it connected more with my target audience; teenagers, who have probably seen this film. 

 

I do think, however, that I have challenged the format of a music video by choosing NOT to include the band and to have a solely narrative based music video. I also feel that in doing this I have developed the idea of how a music video is perceived, as the messages portrayed in the video and the narrative I have chosen are just one way the lyrics can be interpreted. I have chosen this particular plot line for my music video as I think it is one of the most accessible to my target audience.

It is important that when creating a media product, you ensure that the social groups used are represented accurately - as these usually link to the target audience the product is aimed at. Within my music video I have tried to make my main character the sort of girl who is seen as different to everyone else. I wanted her to represent the 'outcast' amongst social groups who doesn't care what people think of the way she dresses. She challenges dominant ideology, part of the Implied Behavioural Normalcy within Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - people naturally feel a need to belong in a social group and my robot character challenges this by being her own person and not seeming to need to fit in.
The music video I made fits into the Indie genre - stereotypically the people who are associated with listening to Indie music, dress in a certain way and have certain characteristics to that set genre - this goes for all genres of music, that there is a stereotypical audience to each genre. They are seen as people that go out of their way to listen to obscure bands, dressing in skinny jeans and plaid shirts (Very similar to that of the band who's music video I am creating).

The image below shows a stereotypical representation of the dress sense of Indie music audience members.

The boys are very feminine in their looks and the girls have a very "retro" style reminiscent of the sixties style shown in the image below.

The costume I put my character in, mainly related to her character (grey with a silver necklace which are metallic colours alongside the robot head prop) to show to the audience what she represents - how they read the meaning of her character is up to them as these messages conveyed in music videos can be interpreted in different ways.
I have however tried to keep her look quite rough, and the use of the Doctor Marten style boots that are very "trendy" lately, really fit with the idea that the Indie audience have a very retro/"niche" style.