Evaluation - Question 1

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

Our Music Video:


(you can click on the image to enlarge it)

1) This shot taken from the music video shows a link between the lyrics and visuals because during the chorus, the lyrics "Turn around, cos' I'm right there" are sung. As you can see from the shot, the girls and I are doing our dance routine where we turn around and point as we do this to accompany the lyrics, as demonstrated by our arms being in the air which shows how we are pointing with our fingers.

2) This shot typifies the way our record label would want our band as an established artist to be presented, because it shows Megi dressed  in smart clothes, which challenges the stereotypes of women within the R & B genre who feel that they need to dress quite sexy and seductive in order to appeal to a mass audience, especially their target audience. This shot portrays our band as positive role models because the rest of the girls in the video also wear smart clothing during their individual scenes in their locations which reinforces how you can still dress smart and achieve certain things. Megi is also wearing pink, which is her individual colour that she represents throughout the video and therefore represents the unique colour element of our brand.

3) This shot illustrates how our music video uses genre, because all of the girls are dressed glamorous, which is a generic convention of the R & B genre. Many female R & B artists often dress glamorous, which outfits including sequins and lots of 'bling' accessories to go with their outfit followed by vibrant make-up. The glamorous look is one of the looks we were going for in our music video, as well as the smart look (as mentioned above in still 2) to show the flamboyant sides of the girls and their versatility. The white screen in the background also creates a studio effect which is a typical convention of the R & B genre, where the artists are often dressed in flashy outfits against a white (sometimes vibrant colours too), studio background.

4) This shot is an intertextual reference because it is actually a still photograph incorporated into our video. It serves as a flashback in the video and its purpose is to portray the intimate meeting between the boy and the girl. This is an element we suggested incorporating into our music video because it tells a story which helps to develop the narrative for the audience.

5) This shot demonstrates our use of camera because it shows a close-up of Vanessa singing in her location. The purpose of this shot was to show the intense emotions that Vanessa was feeling towards the boy, Ally who she has strong feelings for. Close-ups are often used to convey emotions so therefore our use of camera here has been used appropriately and accordingly  in relation to the song. It is a vital that we use a variety of shots because it is important to portray the emotions in order to connect to the audience and so that they understand the narrative. This still is also played during an instrumental part of the song in the video so therefore adds emphasis and reinforces the emotional attachment that Vanessa has.

6) This shot demonstrates our use of lighting because it shows that we've added a red wash over the original clip in order to assert the colour red, that Samantha represents throughout the video. We did this in post-production and therefore it shows how we've adapted the features of Adobe Premiere and thus our techniques have developed in the process of this. We added this colour wash because it reinforces the colour scheme that the girls in the video embody and represent.

7) This shot demonstrates our use of mise-en-scene because it shows how we used the microphones as props with the girls in the glamorous scene. This is an element we decided to include as part of our mise-en-scene because it makes the girls look like professional R & B singers and makes the band look authentic. It also shows how the girls are versatile and can also be on stage performers.

8) I've chosen this shot because we got this idea of the school narrative from Britney Spears debut single 'Hit Me Baby One More Time'. This song was a huge success for Britney and sold 500,000 copies of the record on the first day of its release and is therefore known by audiences worldwide. This shows that I've watched this video where we got the idea to to adapt the narrative but adjusted it by adding a twist of our own i.e Britney is bored in her lesson, whereas our girls are bored and switched off because they are thinking about Ally. Therefore, it also shows how our narrative is realistic. Although Britney is wearing school uniform in her video, we decided to let the girls in our video dress smart/casual to portray how they are 6th form students.

9) I've also chosen this shot because I got the idea of showing Megi's eye from Paula Deanda's music video 'Easy'. Paula Deanda is an R & B artist whose music I like. Instantly when we were creating our storyboard, I thought about the opening of Paula's video for 'Easy' as there are different shots shown of Paula through things such as her lips, eyes and jewellery. I suggested that we incorporate this into our video of each girl and a particular element e.g. Vanessa's legs, Megi's eyes, Samantha's ring and my dress. Therefore, this shows that I've watched other music videos which inspired my ideas for our video.