GERTRUDA DAMBRAUSKAITE
A2 Media Portfolio
In what ways does your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
My final media product was influenced by Andrew Goodwin and Carol Vernallis.
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The aspects of Goodwin's theory that my music video conforms to is the matching of visuals and the lyrics, it is genre related and uses close ups to create a star image and a brand of my artist.
Genre related imagery:
Shots such as the close ups of my artist playing the guitar and shots of the artist herself in the music video conforms to the singer-songwriter conventions and thus conforms to the music video convention.
Close ups to create a star image:
My music video also conforms to the music video convention with the close ups of the artist which makes her more recognisable to her fans as well as new audience.
Matching visuals and lyrics:
My music video follows the narrative of the artist going out into the world and doing everything she can to make a positive impact on the world. The lyrics reflect that through lyrics such as ''I want to set the sunshine o the sky'' and ''I want to share the happiness and won't let anyone be alone''. In this way my music video conforms to this music video convention.
''When a smile is being shared, share it more''
''Take me to some place real''
With that being said, my music video also challenges some of the conventions presented by Goodwin. For example, Goodwin argues that many music videos involve voyeurism whether it's women in male artists' music videos or female artists themselves. However, for my music videos this convention would not have fitted with the message of the song and the brand of my artist. Another example is that my music video does not use intertextuality. Again, for my music video, intertextuality would not have fitted with the message of the song.
When it comes to the music video conventions presented by Vernallis, my music video follows all of them to some extent.
Narrative:
My music video follows the narrative of the artist going out into the world and trying to make it a better place and spreading happiness. Furthermore, Vernallis argues that the narrative may be disrupted by editing which my music video does and the are shots of the artist performing in a different location, etc.
Editing:
As mentioned before, the use of editing in my music video breaks the continuity as there are shots within my music video that break away from the main narrative.
Camera movement and framing:
My music video uses establishing shots and close ups that Vernallis argues are used in many music videos. For example, the establishing shot at the beginning of my music video that shows the music video's world and master shot of the artist walking. Furthermore, close ups are used in my music video as Vernallis notes that it is a key camera feature within music videos.
Diegesis:
Vernallis argues that diegesis is the world within the music video and how some frames will appear more important than other. For my music video, the frames in which the artist is interacting with other characters are aimed to look the most important, followed by the shots in which she is walking with her colourful umbrella and then the shots where she is performing by her self. The first two sets of shots are the most important as they present the main narrative of the music video.
Music videos that have influenced my own music video.
The main influence on my music video was 'LDN' by Lily Allen. While Lily Allen's music video portrays situatuins from good to bad, my music does the opposite, from bad to good. Although my music videos opposes Lily Allen's, the main idea of the shift in moods, as well as the tracking camera movements, was highly influencial to my music video.
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Overall my music video conforms to most singer-songwriter conventions from casual costume to close ups and shots of the artist playing the guitar which are all see often in singer-songwriter music video.
Didipak and Magazine advertisement
My digipak conforms to the singer-songwriter conventions of having simplistic imagery, close up of the guitar and the artist. The layout of my digipak also conforms to digipak conventions.
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My magazine advertisement also conforms to the singer-songwriter conventions of a simplistic image of the artist and a filter that gives it a more 'vintage' feel. It also conforms to the magazine advert conventions as well as it has the artist's name and the title of the album clearly written on it. It also has the release date and where it will be available. Perhaps the only singer-songwriter convention that my magazine advert challenged was instead of having a close up/mid shot of my artist, it is a long shot.
