Evaluation 11. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

What are the forms and conventions of music videos? (Goodwin)How far did you stick to these conventions?

• In order to create our music video, series of research and planning were done in order to understand what we need to include and project for and EDM/House video. The first step was to explore the genre codes and conventions for the genres EDM ( Electronic Dance Music ) and House. As both genres are very similar in terms of conventions and codes it was very easy to use the same sources to identify them. For both genres the typical location for a House/EDM music video included a club setting; a house party; festival; summer holiday location. The costume is normally black or white so that the illuminating coloured lights can stand our onto the clothing. Glow in dark products such as glow sticks, paints , balloons and items of clothing are commonly used to tie into the party/club scenery. Next was to apply the research to the popular music theorists, Andrew Godwin’s theory. Godwin's theory is broken down into 6 key factors and here is how I have applied them to my music video.

The first key factor discusses how music videos show typical genre characteristic. Looking back over our music video various elements of a EDM/house music video can be identified through our clear use of mise-en-scene. For example we decide to incorporate the club like setting by recreating this vibe in the black box. We used the red, blue and green strobe lights within the pitch black room to project the club like vibe and also included glow in the dark balloons to project the ‘ house party’ scenery. We also included various elements of narrative which did not directly make a link to the lyrics however the overall theme of love. Which much like the genre convention of the narrative not making a direct link to the lyrics, we conformed to. Although there are not direct scenes for dance moments, we did film a few mid-shots and long shots of our main artists dancing to the song, along with the narrative ‘ house party’ moment between the girls dancing and throwing balloons.

The second key element to his theory suggests there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visual. Originally as a group, we had discussed to have a narrative based music video, as it is a common convention within this genre to have more of a narrative based video rather than an artist performance. However for this genre performance such as dance is very common. We had originally filmed a whole narrative sequence that was based on a couple ( Ece and Abdenour) going on a date for the first time, where we chose the location to be at the funfair. And also the journey from the night before where Ece has a girls night in with her friends till the events of the date. However after re-evaluating our decisions we had now all agreed that to unlock full potential creativity we should include performance elements from the artists. This way we would be able to build the relationship more between the lyrics and the visuals through performance, rather than the theme of the lyrics and the narrative. The way we helped relate the lyrics to the visuals through lyrics was Osa’s facial expression and dance movement during certain parts of the song to convey the emotions being projected by the male vocalist during parts of the song. The third key factor of this theory discusses how there should be a relationship between the music and the visuals. How this is explored through our own production is the way we decided to edited our various camera shots to the tempo of the song. We did this because for our genre, editing the visuals to the typically fast/ dance like tempo to the EDM/House song is apart of the conventions of making an EDM music video. We did this throughout the whole of our music video carefully listening to the tempo of the song, in order to correctly change the camera shot. We used this style as a form of transition, from one shot to another. We also had the ‘producer’ of the song ( Jess) playing along to the created synth sounds, on her synth pad and electronic drum kit so that her movement matches up to the sound, as if she is playing them live along with the song.

The 4th key factor in his theory suggest the labels demand for close ups of the artist and artist may develop motifs which recur across their work. Although artists within our genre do not normally feature within their music video, as we had included a series of performance elements, it was crucial for us to capture close up’s of Osa performing as we wanted to convey as much emotion from his facial expression to the lyrics. We also did create a motif of ‘ hands’ being the UltraViolet signature symbol, which Osa projects at the end of the song. The hands symbol is also present across both our ancillary products, which we want to use as another identifier for our band.

Goodwin’s 5th element, of having a frequent reference to notion of looking ( screens within screens telescopes ect) and voyeuristic treatment of the female body, for example the various close up’s of her body , specifically chest and lower area, is not applicable to our music video. This is because within our chosen genre it not a main priority to focus on the artists or actors but more the fun and vibrant sounds of the music.However we can apply his final key element of having intertextual references, as we have used various other media texts to inspire some of our narrative clips.

As I study Btec Music and also take a keen interests into music I had already been previously knowledge about various genres of music and have watched various style music videos in my normal daily life. However In order to come up with ideas for my own EdM/House music video and to make sure that my product would be produced as professionally and creative as possible, I decided to watch and analyse and be inspired by various music videos from within the genres I will be creating from.

One video that had originally inspired my liking for an all narrative based music video was Disclouser's 'Latch'. The music video explores the lustful and love themed lyrics through creating a narrative where various couples are shown interpreting the meaning of the song. This reflects to our music video on how we allowed are narrative not to interpret the lyrics directly but more interpret the meaning and how concluded the original writer of the song 'Shift K3y' was trying to relay through the song.

Another music video that has inspired me is ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ by Calvin Harris. I was influenced on the way they had used filters over their actress to also tie into the illuminating colours theme. This can be seen reflected within my own music video through the variety coloured strobe lights reflecting onto Osa and Jess, causing them to either appear blue, green or red. As the genre’s music video is typically set in either a club or festival like environment, the director of ‘How Deep Is Your Love’ also choose to include this as one of their locations. However as we could not get a club venue or attend one as we are all not of legal age, we decide to improvise and re-create this setting within the black box by using colorful strobe lights. I altered the lights by making they flash or blink depending on what the tempo of the song was, this also re created the club vibe as Osa danced and moved his hands to look like he was dancing within a ‘ rave’.

Another music video that had insisted me was Rihanna's 'We Found Love'. Within the music video Rihanna plays both parts in the narrative and performance. This helped ease my skeptical thoughts of us subverting from common convention of having a full narrative music video to mixing both performance and narrative together. I was inspired by the way she was able to naturally intertwine both narrative and performance to an extent that the whole flow of the visuals linked. This can be seen in outer music video as for certain lyrics of the song or tempo change is where we were able to smoothly transition from performance to narrative. I liked how her performance was not her simply performing to the camera on a stage or with a mic, but in the natural setting of where her narrative was being played out as well. A way we re-created this was by having Osa and Jess in 3 natural public setting, where they could perform the lyrics on a personal intimate level much like Rihanna does in her bedroom. I was also insipid by her using relating images such as clouds to portray the emotions of the lyrics and the meaning. This can be seen in our music video where we have used TV static projected over Osa, along with the start countdown. Although these things do not reflect the lyrics and meaning of the song as such, we used these to relate to the edgy and illuminating vibe that is commonly used in EDM/House songs.

• Other genres outside EDM/House have helped inspired ideas for the music video, specifically the narrative. The genes Pop and R&B have been main inspirations narrative wise as both genres of music are mainly focus on creating videos based around love and relationships, as that is commonly the theme of the lyrics.

• One video that has inspired me as been Ciara and Bow Wow's 'Like you‘ music video. Within the music video their narrative follows the two artists in different relationships, however lusting after each other. To establish and build this connection during the narrative, both artists were seen doing the same actions getting ready to go out on their individual dates, before they finally meet in the elevator. We were inspired by the editing techniques of this shot that we created our own version of this with Abdenour and Ece. This allowed us to have some fun with their getting ready scenes as we made the clips of them getting ready mirror each other. This also builds a instant connection between the two and establishes to the audience that they may later come together for an intimate moment.

• Another video that has inspired element of our music video was Arianna Grande's ' The Way'. Within the music she created a ‘party’ vibe by including a shot within a room full of balloons. As our genre also includes a location such as a house party, we infused the balloons idea to our performance scenes.

• The final video that had also inspired scenes within our music video was Ja Rule and Ashanti’s music video to their song ‘Mesmerize’. The video inspired out idea for the fun fair element. As it projected the stereotypical ‘ love theme’ of our lyrics as going to the funfair is a atypical first date location. We also used the idea of the Funfair as it intertwined with our illuminating, bright colour theme as all the rides and attractions have various coloured lighting projecting from them.