In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My music video uses many different forms of conventions throughout the video. The mise en scene is established in the first long shot and close ups and uses the performance aspect of the use of the piano. This establishes the character and after then changes to the use of hand held camera action shots and then leads into many close ups of the piano and of Skye in order to establish the character. I challenged other videos because they mostly all start with the character standing still for example Don’t go by Wretch 32 but I had movement with the use of the keyboard.
The piano shots are done in black and white in order to establish the present day and the coloured parts are what she has been through in the past in order to get over her ex. This establishes her success, which is in black and white which was inspired by the video 'If I were a boy' by Beyoncé. This inspired me because it worked really well and showed the emotion through the use of the black and white. I developed this as most videos don’t use half black and white whereas they use all black and white therefore it meant that it challenged what’s in normal videos.
I was partially inspired by the use of the piano shots by the video Toccatta and Fugue by Myleen Class as she uses a grand piano throughout and she uses the use of simple colours and little happenings in the background as a similar surrounding to mine. I also looked at a variety of Alicia Key's videos and established parts I liked and used them for inspiration such as the fact that she looks up whilst playing as this shows she is an expert whereas in the Myleen class one it looks as if she knows less what she is doing. In my draft I copied the idea of looking down but I redid this as it didn't work as well as it did when she looked up. To challenge Myleen classes video I used the idea of my artist looking up in order to ake her seem more confident. I also challenged it because I used black and white imagery which meant that the keys stood out.
During the storyboarding it was obvious that I wanted to portray the performance part to the video and therefore I made sure that it was a focus throughout the video. The storyboarding process was really important with the fact that I needed to follow it correctly. I decided to challenge the videos that I had seen by having really slow movement and I did this because I wanted it to be a simple video, which fits in with the genre.
Goodwins theory was used throughout, as there is a relationship between the visuals and the lyrics. The use of lip-syncing helps the audience gets a feel for her singing. I felt that I would like to keep Skye being subtle and have slow movement because in many of similar genres of music the character is still and hardly moving and also this fits in with the music and the visuals.
Goodwin suggests that there should be multiple close ups of the artist. There are multiple close ups of Skye as record companies want a lot of close ups of the artist as this increases the popularity. This also meant that the use of male gaze was easier. It also meant that Skye's style was focused on. However I feel it would possibly be better if there was a better use of male gaze involved, as it would mean that Skye could be focused on more. Throughout the video it uses male gaze as Skyes styling was done well which is shown in my feedback pages.
Goodwin suggests that there needs to be Genre related style and iconography present. For this I made sure that Skyes style was shown through the video as the clothing fits the genre in the fact that they are natural clothes and very flowing. The makeup was kept very natural and simple as this fits in with the genre. Skyes character is really natural and quite confident which shows in the way she is singing and the way in which she is playing the Keyboard. The clothing appeals to females, as what she is wearing is very fashionable and popular of the target audience.
I used a field setting as it was inspired by the video Battlefield by Jordin Sparks as she lays in a field which makes her look very natural and also fits in with the genre. I also got the idea of using the in car idea as it made it look very modern.
The use of the iPhone shot shows that Skye is having a conversation with her ex and shows she's upset. She doesn't show her emotions, which shows that she is over him and her confidence is shown within the other shots. The iPhone fits in with the genre as it shows that she is rich and cares about how she looks.
The rural setting was partly inspired by Rihannas song 'Only girl' as she uses lots of elements of field and also the flower was inspired by this video as flowers are seen as a thing of beauty and I wanted it to be a focus to show the natural tone of the video. Taylor swifts use of countryside in her videos also inspired me, however I changed this slightly in order to use more of the male gaze and added a white rose to show innocence. I developed the music video by using only a single flower rather than a load of flowers to make it a focus point.
I used little movement as it is generally used in folk/ slow music genres and it means that it fits in with the music. The narrative throughout the video shows how Skye is alone and been neglected. But after the phone call it shows that Skye is in the car on her own as it shows that she is now in control of her life now she’s in the driving seat.
Throughout my research and planning I found out that in all videos close ups are the main shots throughout, therefore I included many close ups which included the male gaze which is used throughout the video because I found out it is important within the music industry.
The ending of the video is of her performing and showing her ex how strong she is now he’s out of her life. I decided to use the piano because I felt that a lot of music videos focus on just the artist rather than the performance part therefore I used the idea of the piano. It also makes her seem more performance focused then focusing on how she looks. Finally the last shot is the same as the first as it makes it obvious that it is an intro and an outro, which makes the video work together as a whole and make it have some sort of start and finish to it. This also seems like she is presenting her story to the audience, like a narrator.
