IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,

DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

Sophie Blank

What are forms and conventionsWhat is a media form: A form is the overall shape of a media product for example a music video. Any media form will determine the medium used, the length (time or space) of the product and the content. For a music video: ◦ Medium that is used- a music video is made in video or film format◦ Length- 3-5 minutes◦ Content- either a performance, narrative, lip sync, stylistic elementsWhat is a media convention: Conventions are the established features and style of a media form e.g the conventions of a pop video- high key lighting, bright colors, lots of close ups of artist. There are two types of conventions: symbolic and technical ◦ Symbolic: relate to Mise en scene, costume, props, location/setting, color, make up◦ Technical: styles of camera, editing, lighting, sound

TECHNICAL CONVENTIONS

4 real media products ◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8yix8PZKlw - FKA Twigs◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndBeURa_P4o - Brika ◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WewK7ubydKQ - Flo Morrisey ◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvSXQo8040c - Robyn Sherwell

Expressive camera workWe wanted to achieve soft, slow and smooth camera work in our music video so that it supported the movement of the chiffon and represented the gentle and slow track. • Close-ups: This convention was used effectively in FKA

Twigs music video ‘Pendulum’. These were very extreme compared to ours and we thought that it build recognition of the artist and emphasizes on her star image so we used similar shots in ours.

• The close-ups in our music video also put emphasis on the lip synching of the song as it matches the track and as a result the audience will believe that she is really singing to them and creates an intimate relation between the audience and artist.

• The use of 85mm lense enables us to see the details such as the golden makeup (lips and eyes) that are a colour theme represented through out the music video.

The different equipment we used:• Camera dolly track • Crane • Tripod• Camera with 85mm lens and

narrow depth of field

Expressive camera work• The use of 85mm lense enables us to see the details such as the golden makeup (lips and eyes)

that are a colour theme represented through out the music video. 85 mm and lighting work together- lips and eye makeup, shows details on her face, soft texture, supports the star image. We were inspired by FKA Twigs and Brika’s music video- both have very defined makeup and that is because they used the 85 mm or something similar to get that detail in the shot.

• Dolly shots: We used some shots done on the camera dolly to make it our music video visually more interesting as most shots were still. These were also used to introduce the artist. The movement of the image reflected on the movement of the fabric and together mirrored the pace of the track.

• The dolly shots were also effective as they gave depth to our minimalistic set and made it seem bigger than it actually was.

◦ All the videos that were an inspiration and that were the same genre show a slow and smooth camera movement and use of slow motion to support the pace and rhythm of the song.

EditingHere are some of the editing tools we have used: ◦ slow motion ◦  slow editing pace ◦ discontinuity ◦ slow motion ◦ smooth camera movement ◦ natural colors/lighting ◦ artistic shots◦ low saturation used and then color grading to bring out the gold (dress, fabric, makeup on face)◦ contrast between high/low saturation ◦ shows inspiration of beautiful things such as water

EditingThe editing matched the pace of the sing to emphasize the tempo and emotion of the music.Offline editing: ◦ We saw that a lot of discontinuity editing was used in electronic/songwriter videos because it

shows a strong relation between the star image of the artist and the track. This also made the visual and aural elements work well together and made the images match the sound.

◦ Rhythmic editing: We used cross fading in between each cut so that it would support the rhythm of the track. Although the song is slow paced there is still a strong beat that you can hear in the background and we made sure that the editing and rhythm corresponded.

◦ Incorporating a closeup of the artist after a sequence of shots was intentional because we wanted to encourage the star image that we were trying to convey and also put emphasis on the artist and audience relationship as she is directly singing to the camera. long duration close-up in the middle of our video to show the details and to promote her star image.

◦ Slow motion: supports the chiffon flow and the slow track.

Editing Online editing:◦ Cross dissolves, fades, colour grading, opacity layering. ◦ Although the chiffon covered our singer for a lot of the sequences we shot (this was because we used wind

machines), we decided use it as a transition whenever it covered her face and it was quite effective in the end. The chiffon made it blurry we used that effect and added a cross fade to make it as natural as possible.

◦ Cross dissolves were important in our video because they made it look original and highlight that originality in her star image.

◦ Low saturation and color grading- to bring out the gold because we wanted to see the details on the dress, fabric, makeup on face. We thought it was very important for the close up shots to be visually clear and aesthetically pleasing for the audience because the purpose of the video is to show the fluidity of the image through out the song. (closely synched with the song)

◦ Increased the red tones: changed the colour to copper creating a metallic and luxurious colour theme. ◦ Heightening the details was very important because as a final product we wanted to promote an aesthetic

video with unique and original features. These included lines, folds, facial details. With a slow paced video, as audience you focus on the details and it wouldn’t look professional without enhancing those details.

Colour grading before and after

◦ Cross fading/dissolve:Rihanna’s video ‘What Now’ was a good example for us to use for cross fading it also made a visual connection between both different shots. It’s also original and not many artist use it. We decided to use this technique to enhance the relationship between the dancer and singer and connect them visually. The use of chiffon is also really effective as it melts in between the shots. We really liked the different effects used in Rihanna’s video as they were unique.

Lighting◦ artificial lighting on the sides of the set◦ diva light (triangle), soft lighting ◦ the light catches the details of the set to fit

the track ◦ You can see the similarity in our music

video and FKA twigs’s music video, the artificial lighting is used effectively to make it natural as possible although it is shot in a studio. We are able to see natural shots where the lighting really helps the audience determine what kind of music video genre we are trying to portray.

◦ On the other hand, if you compare our music video to Flo Morrisey’s video which is shot in the nature and there is no artificial lighting.

◦ We wanted the studio to be quite dark but gently lit to connote the softness of the song and also for the light to catch the details on Simy’s face (make up) and dress.

◦ Although, some of them are shot at a location and others in a studio all of them show very soft lighting. 

◦ You could argue that all the videos have an element of natural light and a natural setting surrounding them.

Symbolic use of color◦ We specifically chose to use dark colors (black and

gold) because we thought it was quite a truthful song and had a strong meaning and therefore this juxtaposes most pop songs as they use a lot of bright colors and there isn’t a lot of meaning behind the music video. Our music video is moody and elegantly dramatic and the color that we used for the chiffon (gold and black) and for the dress (gold) really fit in with the song and movement.

◦ In our music video and the other music videos we analyzed, the colors used are very simple and natural or even black and white. Because we only chose to shoot our music video in a studio, the color scheme doesn’t vary compared to Brika’s video for example. We originally had different sets so the colors scheme would have been different through out the video because we wanted to use a ink drops in water as background and edit Simy lip synching on top of the ink.

◦ Brika’s video- different elements (different color themes)

SYMBOLIC CONVENTIONS

Stylised set

◦ The song we chose is from a singer-songwriter and electronic music artist but it has a natural touch and elegant feel and therefore we wanted to incorporate that idea into the set.

◦ The use of gold and black connote the themes of elegance and luxury. We didn’t want to have any extravagant colours because we thought that would be more of a pop music video.

◦ We wanted to set our music video in a studio because we believed that if we used a black backdrop with some fabric hanged across the set would focus more on the artist instead of using actual locations like the two music videos that we saw above. We thought shooting in the nature like Flo Morrisey’s video would look aesthetically beautiful and would support our theme but then the audience could temporarily focus on the background and not the artist. We analyzed: 2 naturalistic videos set outside, 2 shot in a studio to decide which one would be mos suitable for our genre. fake location, stylized- luxurious and elegant

◦ Flo Morrisey’s ‘pages of gold: we really like the integration of black and gold as it gave an expensive and elegant look. The repetition of the black and gold created a motif that was constant through out the video and we thought was effective as it reminded the audience of the artist’s star image.

◦ We wanted our music video to look elegant and of high quality. This is why we used the transparent light chiffon is aesthetically beautiful to watch. We made some research of magazine shots and fashion shoots that inspired us to magazine photo-shoots, linked to fashion images

◦ We used fabric because it gives a surrealistic aspect and dreamlike quality. It also supports that idea that it looks like a magazine photo-shoot as fabric is not a common material and it stylistic and fashionable.

CostumesWe decided to use this gold chiffon pieces along with a flowy dresss made out of the same material to suggest elegance and supports the electronic genre that we were trying to convey. If we compare it to Brika’s video, although she has 3 different elements in her music video, we were inspired by the fabric moving swiftly and how it really supports the pace of the song that we chose.

DIGIPACK

Lana del Rey was an artist who inspired us for the digipak as you can see the image used for the front cover is quite striking and this is what we tried to aim for. However, the pictures shot outside in a garden do not fit with our style because we want the audience to focus on her image and not be distracted by the background.

We really liked FKA twigs Digi pack because it was really simple and that was our aim in the video to make it simple and beautiful to watch. You can see the similarities of her digipack and our where we didn’t want to use a font that was too different. The only thing that was very different from this image used for the front cover was very different from the one we used and we decided to change the image completely as we thought FKA Twigs was a it too abstract and edgy and it would not support our idea. We really liked Ellie Goulding's digipack especially the font and layout of the product. The image then again is very striking and would be the kind of image we wanted to use.

WEBSITE

• I was inspired by the Yuna website because I thought the simplicity of it was what we were aiming for for our video and our website. The Pastel colors are a bit too colorful but calm.

• I liked the fact that when you open the website the first thing that comes up is the most recent music video and we wanted to do that for our website as well. The gallery is quite varied but still portrays the same style of artist through out.

• I also liked the FKA Twigs website. Although they changed the layout recently, we used their old layout at first where you have a button for the menu bar in each corner of the page and then a striking image of the artist in the middle.