In what ways do your
media products use,
develop or challenge
Maria Litichevskaya
forms and
conventions of real
media products?
Use of Performance
We have chosen this form to introduce the
artist to the audience. I believe that genre
of the song suits the performer completely
so it is curtail not to hide the identity to
make a video fulfilled. Moreover, this
helped us to create a marketable star
image which we used for our website and
digipak cover. According to Dyer, the star
image is made up of a range of meanings,
which are attractive to the target audience.
Since we focus on stylistic elements, the
star image allow us to attract the target
audience which prioritize these kind of
things.
Azealia Banks video 1991 is a good
illustration to the above point. Her video
clearly demonstrates the genre and
attitude. The use of performance highlights
her as a main stylistic feature and makes
Use of
Symbolic/Thematic
Materials
Choosing the right symbolic materials is very
important form, because they portray the
meaning of the video. To embrace our
concept of control we chose to use black
fabrics in order to make the audience feel
like they are trapped. These materials
contrast the star image, making the
character look more powerful and dominant
The same concept was seen in Nicole
Sherzingers song whatever you like.
Instead of fabrics, she used a box that made
an illusion of control over her.
In both scenes, not only symbolic materials
helped to convey the message but to adhere
to the genre (hip-hop, which is naturally
aggressive) and style of the video (using
black colors and fabrics wrapped around the
Artistic Camerawork
Probably, the most important convention of a
successful music video is a professional
camerawork. We experimented with it and the
shot of the left illustrates one of the bird point of
view shots that goes down. This makes the
camera to be able to draw the audience in,
making them a part of a video. Moreover, it
gives a clue about the concept of dominance
and control. In fact, the camerawork reflects the
fast pace and dynamic rhythms of the video by
moving fact and making small cuts.
I believe that in her song G.U.Y, Lady Gaga
aims for control and power as well and lyrics tell
us that I'm gonna wear the tie, want the
power to leave you. I'm aimin' for full control of
this love The camerawork here makes the
same movement as in our video to engage the
audience. We can understand the target
audience are women so this idea of women are
Importance of Artist CU
The importance such convention as artists
close-up plays a huge role in marketing of a
music video. First of all, the face makes the
star image remarkable and recognizable,
which helps to promote the artist and his\her
work. Therefore, a distinct identity can be
created. Secondly, when you use a close up,
the artist appears closer to you which makes
an illusion of proximate conversation
between consumers and the performer. We
had lots of closeups on purpose to make a
marketable star image based on elements
like youthfulness, creativity, beauty and
originality.
Many performers do the same, e.g. Azealia
Banks on the left, because her face is her
calling card, so her music, appearance and
style make a distinct star image.
Costumes and Props
In our music video the major emphasis is
made on costumes. Our aim was to make it
visually appeal to the audience. We used
designer clothes that very much contributed
to the style of the video.
If we take Beyonce as an example, we can
see that she uses a great variety of costumes
in her clips but the concept is the same
throughout all of them sexy, attractive,
tender young women.
Whereas, our concept is a complete opposite
powerful, dominant etc the idea to use
costumes to support the star image is the
same.
Taking Negus work on synthetic and organic
ideology of creativity, we can say that
although Beyonce seems to have a organic
approach (naturalistic), emphasizing her
talent, she still makes an accent on
Conspicuous use of
lighting
We used beams of light (top photo)
and flashing bright lights (middle
photo) to have an immediate public
attention. These helped us to create a
special atmosphere that were needed
for a scene. The lighting is linked to a
club and dancing movement which is
adheres to the concept.
The bottom photo is a scene from
LMFAOs music video. They used
bright light to have a party theme to
make the video more dynamic.
This means the we used lighting in
the same way that real music
products do.
Digipack
In terms of a digipack, our work
reinforces to the real media product in
terms of using forms and conventions.
Thus we have chosen emphasize the role
of stylistic elements making the digipack
black and putting materials to the front.
Moreover, the artistic camerawork can
be seen in the inside picture.
As an example, we chose a dig pack of
Angel Haze. Similarly, the close up on
the cove is presented in order to sell the
image. Moreover, in this case, gold is
used as stylistic element to adhere to
the artists star image.
Website
When making a website we
conventions such as lighting so as
you can notice it is mostly black
and white. Moreover, symbolic
conventions such as costumes are
present as well. That was done to
adhere to the star image.
As an example of real media
product we used the website of
Rita Ora. Her style is similar to
ours so we highlighted the same
things colour is very important
because it represents the style so
the color palette remains constant
throughout all the pages. The
same with lighting with important
things being lit.
