We studied various pop videos and analysed them using Keith Negus' list of conventions. We used ourselves some of these and subverted some of them too. The Negus conventions are:
• The explicit and unashamed promotion of the artist’s “image” (aesthetic/generic/ideological) as a specific product with a brand identity, ready for mass consumption
• The featuring of the artist (almost without exception)
• A wide and extensive use of shot types, camera angles and movement
• Repetition of reoccuring thematic elements and generically specific iconography (one key element often being dominant and providing the skeletal structure for the promo)
• A possible narrative structure
• A possible performance element
• The flexibility to disregard Realism!
• Shots cut tightly to the beat of the track
• Use of special effects (lighting, annimation, CGIs, in-camera effects)
• A carefully constructed Mise en Scene appropriate to the content and tone of the track
• High impact instantly
A form and convention of a real media product is a type of conformity found within multiple similar media products, something that is a common occurrence within similar media products. We were encouraged when creating our media products to use, develop and challenge real media forms and conventions. In my media products, my thriller and my pop video we attempted to do as such. We were instructed to watch thrillers and pop videos in order to gain inspiration for our own pieces. We attempted to use, develop and challenge some of the forms and conventions displayed in these real life media products within ours in order to form an easier comparison between our product and real life media products and to help establish where we have used, developed or challenged certain forms and conventions present within these media products.
Within our thriller, a main media product in which we gained inspiration for forms and conventions was the film 15 Minutes. The film 15 minutes starts with two thuggish looking criminals, suggested to be from Eastern Europe or Russia. We imitated the convention for two thuggish eastern European men as the antagonists within our thriller as well as the fact that the men display little intelligence and brutish behavior. Another thriller convention we imitated was the convention of having an attractive and vulnerable girl as the victim. Specific examples of films where the victim is a vulnerable attractive girl are plentiful. Many modern B list horror films use this convention; a few examples include horror and thriller films A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and Friday the 13th. We subverted the convention of the victim also being the protagonist however in our production and we challenged usual media forms by making it uncertain for the audience which party they were supposed to be siding with. We made the female character face away from the camera while being tortured in order for the audience to not relate to her but instead emphasize with the brutish torturers who displayed emotion in accordance to their actions. One moment in which one of the torturers displays a relatable emotion is when he grimaces at an incident to do with the torture. This challenges normal forms and conventions of the thugs being without emotion and sympathy.
During our music video again, we attempted to imitate, use, develop challenge and subvert various forms, conventions and stereotypes found in real media products and general common generic conventions found within music videos. A particular example of a real life media product we imitated is the video to Justice’s song ‘Stress’. The video consist of a gang of hooded youths roaming around town causing general disruption. We imitated this in our video, using the characters to cause destruction around a scrap yard. We changed the idea around by adding two gangs in conflict and setting it in a scrap yard. We followed the convention of music videos to have a performer intertwined with narrative within our video. We also followed the convention of music videos to not always have to follow realism. We followed conventions of promoting the artists imagery and brand identity with the shots of the DJ and allowed the form of instant and constant impact so as when people are flicking through the channels they are instantly drawn to the high tempo of the song. We yet again followed the music video convention of displaying similar recurring themes throughout the product in order to establish the mise en scene but while doing that, we challenged the convention of a linear story line as we displayed some shots (a flame on the burning car) close to the beginning of the video. This helped gave the feel of a disorganized and destructive setting. The shots were cut tightly following the beat of the track, another common music video convention to help the flow and rhythm of the song and video run. These all are conventions and forms used in real media products.
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