-Evaluation-

In what ways does you media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Me and Lizzie found most of our inspiration from Fifth Harmony and their video to BOSS. We did not want to replicate the video, however we used similar conventions of their video (due to them having the same target audience as us). Here are some comparisons of similar shots, effects and transitions to Fifth Harmony's BOSS due to them being our main inspiration.

 

These shots are similar because they are group shots and the group are facing the same directions; with their back to the camera and facing the camera. These group shots follow conventions because our video shows long shots of the entire group representing them as a group i.e. of friends which is something I wanted True Blue to be portrayed as, this convention is found in artists such as Fifth Harmony, The Saturdays and Little Mix. 

We used a connection between the lyrics and the images (from Andrew Goodwin's music video theory). We used one of our group members doing a specific dance to match the words 'Volvo'. Fifth Harmony also used this shot, however we went against conventions and over lapped this shot with another shot (the sparklers video). I really like the effect of the dark background against the sparklers and think they look really effective together. 

Me and Lizzie also used a connection between the image and lyrics with our confident signs, this is the part of the song where the lyrics spell out the word confident, we used this idea from Fifth Harmony's video, however we used different lighting and angles (we used two different angles; one from the right and one from the left), this was to add quality to the shots to make them stand out and look unique from the Fifth Harmony video.

The comparison of these two shots show an individual shot (one person shot) of someone putting their finger to their mouth representing the 'shh' sound in the song. We used this idea from Fifth Harmony's video however they showed every group member doing this move separately using fast pace cuts but we showed a mid shot of an one individual followed by a group shot of all the girls turning around. My research into real artist music videos and products of a similar target audience really helped me and Lizzie when producing our music video, this was because we were given ideas for our music video, the amount of research we did mean't that we were not directly imitating videos, but we were using artist ideas and making them unique for our video using different editing and camera techniques. 

Props

Our research and planning helped us to find good prop ideas that follow conventions of pop/ dance music of a similar genre/ with a similar target audience. We really wanted to use fun/ bright and colourful props and therefore used balloons, sparklers etc. These are some examples of how our prop use follows conventions of music videos:

Balloons/ projecting colours

Ariana Grande used balloons in her video 'The Way'. This was similar to our music video, this prop follows conventions because it represents aspects such as bright colours, fun and things associated with a good time, which are areas that match our target audience. However Ariana used more whites/ baby pink colours in her videos and we used more blues, pinks, reds and neon props.










Money/ Dollars

In our music video we wanted to use props that emphasised money/ dollars due to the narrative of the song being based around earning money i.e 'Boss' and 'Purse so heavy'. As you can see, Marina And The Diamonds used dollars in her video for 'Oh No' and she also wore a money dress. By adding dollars to our video we have followed conventions because the props link to the narrative and also match with our target audience.



Neon/ glow sticks

In our first initial planning ideas me and Lizzie already knew we wanted our video to be bright and include neon colours and props. Therefore we used neon glow sticks, these props are similar to those used in The Saturday's video. This follows conventions because it represents fun and a 'party' theme which is how we wanted True Blue to be portrayed. Andrew Goodwin suggests that music videos create a certain atmosphere and tone, we created this by using bright and colourful props to create a fun and happy atmosphere to our video.











Glitter and Bright colours


In Kesha's videos she uses bright colours and glitter similar to ours, however we used bright colours in the background/ lighting of our video and also used props such as glitter. These props emphasis fun, bright and eye catching colours which are common conventions found in other music videos of a similar genre to ours (Andrew Goodwin suggest this).













Sparklers 

This gif is taken from Paramore's video' Still into you'. Even they are a different genre of music to our chosen song, this song is upbeat, used bright colours and represented a fun feel similar to our video. We also used sparklers and different editing effects e.g. slow motion during sparkler scenes following conventions of this type of fun, upbeat music video. We also used the slow motion editing tool when the music slowed down and changed a little.











Costume and Makeup

We followed conventions of costume and makeup of other music videos by incorporating a colour theme. Due to True Blue being a girl group we used shots of them in same colour outfits (black outfits) similar to Fifth Harmony's Boss video. This represents the girls as similar and as 'True Blue' because it makes a bold statement and can come across as powerful.

We also used white outfits (to go with the red, white and blue theme) in individual shots, this follows conventions because the white colours stand out against the dark backgrounds/ lighting drawing more attention to the artist rather than the location which is something we initially planned to do.

We also incorporated a shot from our auditions, this was due to Raya wearing the colour white, suiting with the theme. In addition her dancing/ choreography was really good and therefore followed the conventions of this genre music due it suiting the dance/ pop theme. The audition scene also created another location/ different lighting.

We also used an ongoing theme within the costumes, incorporating the American flag and red, white and blue mise en scene.








Their clothing follows conventions because in individual shots they are wearing more personal/ individual clothing that follows the theme of the video, this represents them as individuals in a group, this convention is found in other girl groups such as Little Mix and The Saturdays. Therefore we followed conventions in relation to mise en scene.

As you can see Katy Perry wore a similar outfit to one of the girls in our video, her music is in a similar genre of ours (dance/ pop music) and therefore we have followed conventions by incorporating the American flag in the music video following the narrative of the song. Andrew Goodwin states that music videos use a link between their lyrics and visuals, which is what we did by creating this theme.










In this image (taken from the photo's taken on filming days) all the girls are wearing red, white and blue/ denim. This shows synergy across all of our products because these outfits and colours where worn in the music video and also in the ancillary product (tour poster). This follows conventions because many artists such as Fifth Harmony always show a connection between their products using aspects of mise en scene i.e. costume and props.

Neon make-up and glitter

We also used a mixture of dark and light/ bright clothing. Costume changes are a common convention of music video's because it represents variety and fun, the clothing also differs between certain locations, for example when we are in the dance studio with a white/ plain background we used bright colours and pattern but when using flashing lighting effects with used plain blacks and whites so that the artists can always be seen and stand out.

Throughout the video we used different make-up effects such as glittery eye liner and neon paints (with various patterns painted on the face) in scenes where the lighting is dark. We also used red lipstick colours during scenes where the group were wearing red, white and blue outfits. By having different types of make-up in our music video and across our ancillary products follows conventions of music videos because it represents our artists as bold and fun for example in Little Mix and Kesha videos, they tend to use bold/ creative make-up.

Variety of shots/ angles

To make sure we created an effective video, me and Lizzie used as many different shots as possible for example extreme close ups, long shots, one person shots, 2 person shots etc. These types of shots follow conventions of music videos;

As shown in this image of Fifth Harmony's video to Boss, they used lots of one person shots (miming and also dancing). This is something we followed as a convention, we tried to use a wide variety of individual and also group shots. This convention shows each individual artist, due to us creating a girl group it enabled us to include a wide range of different shots. 

 

Similar to groups such as The Saturdays, we used group shots from different angles and in different locations. The Saturday's also used dance routines in their videos similar to our video. The fact that we have group shots follows media conventions of music videos because it represents our artists, the long shots enable the audience to see the full outfits and look of our artists and therefore understand them better.

 

We also used extreme close-ups of miming shots, for example when the word 'boss' comes up in the song, we have used a extreme close up of a group member miming this. this follows conventions of music video's because it lets the audience focus on the meaning behind the song, similar to Marina And The Diamonds video to Hollywood. 

On the other hand, me and Lizzie also challenged conventions of music videos using two person shots as shown above. Two person shots are not commonly found in group music videos, we challenged this convention because we want our audience to see all the members of our group not just all together, but with each other representing 'friendship' which is something we wanted to aim at our target audience. 

Editing/ transitions

Me and Lizzie used editing transitions such as wipes and swipes across the screen, we did not use this transition too much, however in some areas we found this looked effective and is similar to the likes of Fifth Harmony's editing used for their video Boss. We also made it so the transition did not wipe across the entire screen, so it shows a split screen. This is a common convention of music videos because it shows two different shots from different angles representing variety. 

We challenged conventions by using transitions/ effects that show to images over lapping each other giving off a dissolving effect. We also used editing tools to reverse some shots, speed them up and slow them down. In this gif, we reversed the video and also overlapped group and individual dancing scenes, we found that all these colours looked really effective together and even though these effects are not always a common convention of pop/ dance videos, we think it looks effective and unique.

We found some of our inspiration for dissolving/ fading editing transitions from Kesha's video as shown in this image. I really like how the two images look on top of each other and therefore we went on to incorporate this in our video where their was light and dark lighting so both shots stand out.













Lighting

We followed conventions in relation to lighting due to the use of bright, dark and neon lighting effects similar to Ariana's video and Little Mix's. The convention of bright lighting represents fun and pop/ dance which suits our target audience and also the genre of music our chosen song is in.

We were able to use the lights in the drama room, this lighting effects added coloured lighting and also normal/ bright lighting, I think this lighting looked really effective in our video and even though in some shots it is very dark, we purposely challenged conventions, this was due to the fact our artists where dressed in bright clothing to draw more attention to them.
Location

When researching and planning our locations, we struggled to come up with places that would look effective for our video, therefore we chose a studio based video, with outside locations in some areas of the video, this follows conventions because it shows a range of different locations in the video as used in videos such as Demi Lovato's made in the USA AND Little Mix. We used a dance drama studio, a drama room and also our local park (capstone). Instead of our location being the main focus, we focused more on the props, costume and lighting effects due to the lack of location options, I think that overall this worked out well and conformed to common conventions of dance/ pop music videos. 

Challenging Conventions

I also have other examples of how we challenged conventions and improvised with minimal options, for example in this shot (filmed outside) we had little lighting options and therefore used our flash touches on our phones, this made the artists stand out and also provided another lighting effect for our video. I think the minimal lighting looks effective and unique. 

As you can see the bright/ white clothing really stands out in comparison to the dark lighting. 

Me and lizzie also made the concious decision to use a focus pull in our music video, this shot shows Phoebe singing 'Boss, Michelle Obama'. I really like the effect of this camera work and even though not many focus pulls are used in music videos we felt as if it suited our video and looked effective. 

In addition, in some shots the camera focused on props, for example in the low angle shot of the group dancing, the camera focuses on the props not the artists. I like this effect because it represents the artists as fun by relating them to the props (balloons).

We found a similar low angle shot to this one in Ariana Grande's music video 'Focus' however they are focusing on the dancers in this shot not a prop.

We also challenged conventions by using tilted camera angle shots, however these shots also moved angles during filming, we overlapped shots like this with miming shots and found that it looked really bold and eye catching.




Finally, our ending shot to the video shows the group throwing up the dollars and walking away, we decided to end the music video on a long shot of the girls to show them as a group, and even though some videos such as Little Mix and The Saturday's may use closer shots to finish their video, we preferred to use the long shot.


Ancillary Products 

As shown on this mind map of similar conventions, we have followed conventions by using bright, bold fonts, images and a good professional layout, for example we found most of our inspiration from this album covers/ products because we felt as if they suited our target audience the most due to the bright colours and images emphasising the fun/ pop genre of music. However we also challenged conventions by using the individual signatures, this has not been used on any album covers before, we challenged this convention because we wanted to portray the artists as individuals but also a group, in addition it also incorporates a written font theme/ more personal (to the artists) type of album cover. 

This mind map states out conventions followed in our tour poster for example the font, colour scheme and layout. The image used also follows conventions due to it being bold, eye catching and also using clothing that matches the colour theme of the poster and other products.