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

Evaluation 1 - Bartek Wielblad

As a hybrid media product my music video is basically a visual representation with audio. During my research about the genre that I have picked (Hip-Hop) I have came across a theorist called Steve Neale. Neale’s theory basically allowed me to identify what is needed for our music video. This theory showed me what I would have to add to give it its uniqueness but still keeping it in the same genre.Although Neale is not a hip hop expert this theory allowed me to explore more about the genre of hip hop as I was able to apply his theory to gain knowledge about specific music videos.The music video still contains the usual representations of the genre(Hip-Hop) however now it has its uniqueness which is the fact that in our music video we used high key lighting which in hip hop music videos it is very uncommon as majority use dark environments.Therefore making it stand out from all of the other music videos.During the production of our music video, I have studied a variety of music videos in the same genre and tried to apply Neale’s theory to them to prove if the theory is correct and valid.

The theory proved to be correct as every music video that I have studied contained all of the generic conventions that a hip hop music video has but also introduced something new and unique.For example the music video by the artist Rick Ross and his music video Drug Dealers Dream. This music video is a great example of Steve Neale's theory where the generic conventions are visible but also contain a new unique thing, in which Rick Ross had children around him and he was also rapping about money and drugs.Although this is a unique feature it should not have children in it as there are drugs around which therefore means that having drugs around children is not suitable and should not be happening therefore this is not a good idea to have within a music video.The music video is a mix between performance and narrative as Ross is rapping about life,money and drugs whilst performing.However this does further prove that Neale’s theory is correct as this example of a music video had all of the generic conventions and also its unique feature. In our music video we challenged the stereotype of a hip hop genre music video by having a white artist instead of a black person.This links in with David Buckingham’s theory as we are challenging the cultural things within the genre but also keeping it in the same genre.This therefore makes our music video stand out even more.

I used Rick Ross’s music video ‘Drug Dealer’s Dream’ as an inspiration and then applied some of the stuff to our music video for example his clothing choice, we used a white t-shirt with grey tracksuit bottoms and this is to convey to the genre of hip hop. We also used a white rapper as we thought that we can challenge the hip hop stereotype and change things up by having a white rapper to get rid of the stereotype that hip hop is only a black genre.However we decided to use RunDown as the rapper instead of another black person such as Rick Ross as he is a mainstream black rapper and from where RunDown is more audience will be able to relate to him therefore making the target even bigger.

Our music video uses generic conventions from various real media texts as our artist ‘RunDown’ is wearing the typical clothing that you would see in a hip hop music video which is the tracksuit bottoms with a t-shirt and also is shown off very frequently smoking and selling drugs. This is therefore showing the negative lifestyle and therefore conveys to the genre of hip hop.An example of this in real media texts is a song called Trapper of the year by the artist called Nines. This music video contains all of the conventions that are usually in a hip hop music video which is the money,drugs,girls. This music video is showing of the good lifestyle that he achieved from the drug money he gained. However in our music video we decided to challenge this and do the complete opposite and show off the negative lifestyle that our artist has.Lastly I have decided to apply Andrew Goodwin’s theory to my music video therefore near enough all of the shots in the music video were taken to the lyrics and link together.Therefore shots such as the near enough empty alcohol bottles signify the mess in the house as it signifies the empty packaging therefore being messy when the lines ‘I don't give a f**ck if the house a mess’ are sang.

My ancillary texts which were the digipak and the magazine poster have both the same concept which is to promote our music video. The digipak is a well designed promotion tool as it has all of the key information about the artist and his album.During my pre-production I came across a theorist called Stuart Hall and his theory of readings. I have therefore then applied his theory to my ancillary texts to make them more effective and to make sure that the audience get the view that I intended to do which was a dominant reading of the digipak and the magazine poster. We decided to give the audience this reading so that they know that he is having a hard life and is influenced by others around him, however I know that people can have multiple readings which again links in with Hall’s theory where everyone has their own view therefore not everyone will see the digipak and magazine poster the same way as us.

The digipak and magazine poster show off the negative things about the artist for example the weed leaf on the digipak or the smoke around the artist on the magazine poster.My digipak and magzine poster challenge the conventions of real media texts as I have used bright green colours on both my digipak and also the magazine poster and this therefore does not fit in as a generic convention in the hip hop genre as for example 50 Cent’s digipak and magzine poster from his album ‘Die Rich Or Die Tryin’ use red as one of the main colours but it is far more suitable and fits into the genre of hip hop as it has bullet holes around it and also is mixed with colours such as black and this therefore gives it that darker effect in which is then linked back to the hip hop genre, also the expensive looking jewlery that 50 Cent is wearing in his ancillary texts are another way of using the generic conventions to link with a specific genre which in this case it is hip hop.

I have decided to use our artist ‘RunDown’ on the magazine poster as I thought it is a good way of showing the audience something little about the artist. As the artist is standing with his back to the audience is signifies the fact the he is not happy with his life and that he abuses drugs and therefore does not want to show his face to the audience. This helps to get the message across to the audience to tell them that the artist is negative and that he does not care about anything and anyone. By the clothing choice in the magazine poster it gives the audience a little sneak peek of what he wears and what his clothing choice is like which can mean a lot to determine the reading of that person which again links with Stuart Hall’s theory that people can have three different readings (dominant,negotiated and aberrant)

Furthermore my ancillary texts the magazine poster and digipak both use some conventions from real media texts for example the smoke on the magazine poster. This smoke effect on the magazine poster was added so that the audience can see the artist in different ways.For example some people may see that as because he is in smoke he is a drug user and he is living a negative lifestyle which is the exact reading that was meant for this magazine poster. However the digipak contains no smoke but instead load of weed leafs and also drug tools such as a bong, this is used to convey the usage of drugs and to show that the artist is really a hardcore druggy and negative person.This can also be seen in real media texts for example on the magazine poster from Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa from their album called ‘High’ we see the pair of artists smoking with their sides showing to the audience. This is therefore the reason why I got inspired to give my magazine poster a smoke filter to convey the use of drugs by the artist and also by using the weed leaves on the digipak will give the same effect as it is showing off the drugs to the audience.

Our music video had a storyboard which meant that we as a group were more organised and therefore meaning that we could get our product finished quicker.We decided to use YouTube as our primary platform for the music video to be published on.This is because YouTube itself is a very large social media platform therefore this meant that we would have higher audience base. For my poster and the digipak i've decided to use a piece of software called Adobe Photoshop, this program allowed me to create my final product.This software was the best fit as it contains all of the high end features such as all of the different blurs and smoke effects.After uploading the music video to YouTube I then proceeded to use the embed code and embed it to my blog (Blogger). This is the main platform where all of my work is presented.Another thing that we used to promote the music video even more is the creation of our own ancillary texts.These helped us to reach out to a larger audience whilst giving more promotion for the artist and his album and also the record label.