In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?QUESTION 1

Laura Mulvey Convention

Throughout the video we used body shots of Hannah. This is sticking to the Laura Mulvey theory of the male gaze as we decided to use close ups to show off the girls figures.

We used this theory at the start of the video to illustrate what style and genre the video is. Straight away we thought this would entice our audience to watch it.

The male gaze is typically used in R&B videos to enhance the features of a woman. We decided to stick with the conventions as it would allow our music video to be more identifiable to the R n B genre.

Close ups

We used a range of close ups throughout our video. This is typical of a R&B music video as it beginnings to create the sense of a relationship between the artist and the audience.

By using close ups we have also stuck to the idea of voyeurism. It would allow the audience to become a part of the music video and feel involved in it. It would also assist the audience in having a connection with the performers in the music video.

Using close ups also adds to the idea across of our music video about women being independent women. This is shown through the strong stance and expression the girls have during the various close ups.

Digipak

The digipak sticks to typical conventions of an R&B digipak. In previous digipaks we looked at in our research we saw that they have very plain backgrounds which enhance the writing that is included on them. Following this research we decided to use a plain background with white writing therefore it would be fitted to the conventions.

In our research we also found that the key images on the digipak are of the artist. We therefore decided to put main pictures of Hannah but also broke conventions as we included pictures of other people featuring in the music video. We did this so that there was also an insight of the album on a whole and what to expect rather than it just being branded by the artist.

Finally we linked the digipak and the music video as the artists are in the same costume. The digipak also sticks to the style of the video. This again is used frequently in R&B songs as it creates a brand identity for the artist which is something we aimed to achieve.

Magazine Advert

Our magazine advert sticks to conventions of a typical music magazine advert which we did our research on. It includes a close up of the artist as the main image. We did this to make the artist instantly recognisable for an audience.

We decided to use the same layout and fonts with our headline and sub heading as the digipak which again helps to create a brand identity. In our tag line we decided to again use the

As well as this the magazine advert is plain which makes the information on it stand out. This is a typical convention of a magazine advert.

Lyrics and visuals

Throughout the video our aim was to include a relationship between the music and the narrative of the video.

The song is about independent women therefore we tried to portray this though a range of motifs we used. Our first one was that the girls were dressed in army print clothing which the audience would connote with strength and power. Also we decided to give Hannah a group of girls which would back her. This links with the lyrics as they are both about girl power and being the dominant gender and by having more than just Hannah this is what we would be showing.

We decided to use this convention as it is a very typical one to use in music videos. It is common for the lyrics to match the visuals and narrative in the music video.

Music and visuals

Whilst we were editing our music video our aim was to match the pace of editing with the pace of the music. An example of this would be at the beginning of the video the music beats are fast which we matched with the cuts from each of the girls used in the music video. Whereas in sections where Hannah is dancing during the slower verses the editing from one shot to the other happens less frequently.

This again is a typical conventions of music videos. It helps to tell the audience what is happening in the video and the emotions the artists are feeling. An example of this is on the slower sections Hannah is trying to seduce the boy, the slow editing would add to this effect.