QUESTION 1 – IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR

MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE

FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS.

My media product works 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.

The music video follows 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.

The characters in my 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.

The narrative is one 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.

According to Halls encoding 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.

Finally is how the 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.

Opening establishing shots are 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.