Question 1 Evaluation

Question 1 Evaluation

• 1.
  QUESTION 1 –IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS.
• 2.
  My media productworks well when compared and contrasted to other media products of the same genre and style, not only does it develop and challenge different forms and conventions of real media products, it also takes inspiration and uses certain aspects from other texts, the first being the title of the music video. The name of the song ‘Hey Brother’ and the Artist Avicii, matches the narrative of the music video as it focuses on two brothers with major differences when it comes to relationships, one brother abusing the girl physically and mentally, and the other brother trying to save her giving the narrative fairy tale like conventions making the video a pastiche to that approach, the lyrics that are used in the song are also parallel with the action on screen, this is commonly used on music videos within the pop genre. The song can also be classed as a mainstream song at the moment, meaning that it should follow similar conventions.
• 3.
  The music videofollows Nick Lacey’s repertoire of elements, the setting of the music video is a suburban environment, this being common in the pop genre, the house, the secluded hill all follow conventions of the romance approach that this music video uses. The settings are consistent with what the spectator would expect from feature film for example, the mise en scene uses aspects from film narratives which is used quite frequently in the creation of music videos of any genre such as the pathetic fallacy when it begins to rain in the suburban area, this creates a juxtaposition between the mood and the setting, which in some ways challenges conventional approaches to music videos as the spectators wouldn’t expect this. The scene where the good brother is sat on the hill to think about the events that just happened develops what is expected, I used this as a way to make use Neale’s mental machinery as the record labels have seen that the audience respond well to this and they have used it in a lot of pop music videos following a romance approach.
• 4.
  The characters inmy media product follow Propp’s character roles, the Hero, the villain and the princess needing to be saved, the spectators expect this so it doesn’t challenge the original conventions too much as the video still needed to appeal to the intended audience. Binary oppositions are clear in this music video between good and evil, the protagonist wearing bright clothing compared to the antagonist wearing dark; this is shown with the use of medium and close ups to show the tension between the two, and to also show the contrast between colours of clothing.
• 5.
  The narrative isone of the main areas of the music video that challenges original conventions; the central topic being domestic abuse and because the type of video is narrative/elliptical, the video follows a very strong topic that could affect people in different ways, so this was used to make it stand out from other media products of the same genre, all of the characters in the narrative are portrayed initially as equal, there is no clear antagonist, it is then with the use of camera angles such as medium shots of the two brothers two show their oppositions and the close ups of the girls reaction to the good brother, that we see how the narrative is going to unfold, this makes use of Todorov’s 5 part narrative, begins in a state of equilibrium, disruption, notice of the disruption, attempt to resolve the disruption and return to the equilibrium, even though the end could be argued as a disruption, the narrative shares similarities to music videos by artists such as Olly Murs which this video took inspiration from. The disruption leaves the audience with an enigma leaving them to make their own interpretation of what just happened, following Barthes hermeneutic code.
• 6.
  According to Hallsencoding and decoding theory, the themes of domestic abuse are implied, they have been encoded into the text so the audience can decode them however they want, however the topic of domestic abuse that has been encoded into the narrative almost follows the hypodermic model as there is only one view that social problem, which in some ways challenges conventional encoded topics and connotations, the character types and their roles which are features of the genre make the audience interpret them in a particular way. Leotards grand narratives have also been encoded into this media text as feminism, so according to the music video there is no death of the grand narratives.
• 7.
  Finally is howthe use of camera work and special effects uses, develops or challenges conventions of real media products. Like most surreal, elliptical areas of music videos, this music video uses high contrast to give the impression of a dreamlike state that the spectators may not understand the first time, but when re- watching the music video they would understand the use of this effect, a lens flare has also been used on the opening shot to give the video an upbeat mood and show the spectators that this is currently in a state of equilibrium.
• 8.
  Opening establishing shotsare commonly used in music videos to set the scene for the target audience; we developed this by adding effect to set the mood. The camera work throughout is quite stereotypical of the pop genre, especially in main stream songs, there is a lot of close ups and medium shots during Todorov’s state of equilibrium to show that the woman is trapped and to create a sense of isolation for the characters, and when the disruption happens long shots appear to show the freedom of the hero and the princess, it only returns back to medium shots when the two brothers are in shot creating a sense of sibling rivalry which is sometimes used in the romance. Low angle shots also show power and heroism of the good brother. In conclusion I believe that this music video uses and develops conventions of real media texts more that it challenges conventions with the odd exception of the narrative following a powerful topic, the narrative structure, character types are all used and developed from other texts.