1. Evaluation Question 1
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
By Alisha Kaur

2. While gathering our thoughts and ideas we were going to inherit into
our music video we had to look at previous artists work which we
could use as an influence to enhance the changes and similarities
towards it. This meant that carefully thinking about individual ideas
which we could carefully display in our own music video. To do this,
we decided to follow the trend of pop video, as our genre is also pop
so by following the conventions to the same genre, it would be
recognizable to pop fans and relevant to our target audience. Here are
some of the music videos which influenced our decisions.

3. Marina and the Diamonds – Primadonna
Female pop
artist – Target
audience:
young
females, 16 –
21 year olds.
Feminine,
glamourous
style (Big
hair, pink
lipstick etc.)
Music videos
tend to contain
a
vintage/hipster
theme which
appeals to
females

4. We chose Marina as one of our main
influences for our video as ‘Valley of the
Dolls’ is her song and which we knew
that if we carefully analyzed her style, we
would know what to expect from one of
her videos. Marina’s style is portrayed as
glamorous and feminine; we also noticed
that her video contains the theme of
pink in her location and costume wear.
The hair rollers were Marinas main
synergy in the video which is why we
chose to reproduce the same soft of
image. The closeup shots were also a
key element when we were filming as
the allowed us to capture the emotions
and glamour of the artist. This means
that this video supports Carol Vernallis’
theory of high angeled shots which
allows us to capture the beauty of the
artist.
-Pink hair rollers
- Pink lipstick
- Stuffed animal
- Fairy lights
- Night robe

5. Hair rollers
Props – stuffed
animal
Props – Lights/Lamp
Cosmetic wear
Location – Both bedroom
scenes
Pink pajamas
Theme of pink

6. Little Mix ‘DNA’

7. The idea of the music box intro and end was inspired from Little Mix ‘DNA’ video. Little Mix
are a band which appeal to a similar target audience which is why I thought this would give
something extra to our video; music boxes are usually associated with young girls so by
editing it into video, were more likely to achieve reaching out to our desired audience. Both
of the video’s use graphics to introduce the artists as you can see. By sticking to the pop
genre, were able to interpret these ideas in our own ways. The colors for the video are the
same used in my ancillary work which another reason why it works so well.

8. Rihanna – ‘Loud’ and ‘Only Girl
(In the world)’ influence

9. We were hugely influenced by Rihanna. Rihanna, being one of the biggest pop
stars in the world reflects her individual style – For example using the color red.
Red is probably our main theme in our video which is also used on our ancillary
work. The first picture shows Rihanna posing in a natural setting - large field,
which also similar to the one that we created, but instead our location is by a
canal. Both are kept simple, the idea of the location being simple is to emphasize
the image of the artist – furthermore, the fact that the shots are centered to draw
attention from the audience. The movements of the artist is used to express the
emotion/s of the songs in the music video. The bright colored theme allows us to
enhance the star of the video which reflect on the genre of our song. I used the
theme in my ancillary digipak and advertisement.

12. How this has influenced my
ancillary work
Rihanna’s Loud tour has several promotions of her albums. I have
identified the main elements of her album cover art and
advertisements to influence my own. First of all the bold colors which
are used in mine. ‘Loud’ is Rihanna’s 5 th album and since mine is a
debut album I knew that changes were vital. By differing mine to a
new artist I used a bold font. This contradicts Rihnna’s Loud cover.
One thing that I kept the same was the simplicity of the album. My
album cover photo has the artist face in order to appeal to people and
for audiences to familiarize themselves with the face of the artist. I
used a bold font in a bright coral color – similar to Rihanna’s red. The
idea of red lipstick is to make the artists face stand out. I noticed that
Rihanna doesn’t have her name on the cover and even the ‘Loud title’
appears to be quite sutle – In my case I wanted the artst name to stand
out which is why the scale is a lot larger ‘Dite Dolls’ – the album title.
Since my artist is new I want to promote the original source of the
British artist who was born and raised in London; this is the reason
she is sitting on a stair case – the stair represent the street whilst the
makeup and glamour of the artist and costume represent the pop
sensation. One of the scenes in ‘Only girl in the world’ shows a floral
bed wall – this is also used in her digipak on the cd cover. I used a
similar idea- In my music video there is scene where the artist hold
her floral scarf in the air – I thought this would be a great idea for
synergy to include into my digipak.

13. Locations – The Woods

14. Sia
Taylor Swift
Leona Lewis
Paramore
Katy Perry
Evanescence

15. Why the woods…
As you can see, doing my research I found that a lot of
mainstream artists use the woods for one of their
locations. Woods usually represent being lost, which tell us
that the artist is trying to express their emotions – as this
location usually appears in depressing or heartbreak
songs; for example, Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Behind these hazel
eyes’. Taking into account that ‘Valley of the dolls’ is an
emotional song we thought this is the perfect opportunity
to reflect on the pop genre. Mainstream stars like Leona
Lewis and Taylor Swift use this location in their songs
about heartbreak, which reach out to their target
audiences who are young girls/teenagers.

16. Kelly Clarkson's ‘Behind these hazel eyes’ particularly stood out for me. The
bridal costume use is significant to the meaning of heartbreak in the song
which leaves the audience wondering what happened. Both depressing songs,
the woods tends to enhance the mood of depression which is why I think the
location works so well with the song. a majority of the songs filmed in the
woods lead by strong female artists who are mainly pop or indie

17. Shots and angles
I think it’s safe to say that I did follow the typical structure of shots in
pop video’s. Carol Vernallis' theory suggests that edits appear
frequently in music video’s and the frames have rhythmic base
which means they move in timing with the beats – In this case, my
video supports this.
Another theory associate with mainstream music video’s was Laura
Mulvey’s theory. She expresses her idea on the different gender roles
in music videos and their representations which is split into two
categories - The male gaze and the passive women. Her theory
consists of the idea on contrasting genders, with the male
domination compared to the objectification of women seen as
'objects'. In my case I think that I certainly challenged this in a way.
Due to the intense emotions of the music video, it tends to focus on
the story of the song rather than the sexual reference of the artist.
Furthermore the video expresses the artist gender role by use of
color, props, makeup and dramatic performance – But not to a point
where the camera focuses on the females’ body, so in conclusion my
music video goes again Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze.

19. What I have covered:
• SETTINGS – (WOODS, BEDROOM)
• PROPS – (TEDDY, , MUSIC BOX, HAIR ROLLERS)
• COSTUME – (BRIDAL DRESS, FLORAL SCARF,
PAJAMAS, RED DRESS)
• SHOTS – (HIGH ANGLED, CLOSE-UPS, LAURA
MULVEY’S THEORY, CAROL VERNALIS’ THEORY)
• ANCILLARY – (RIHANNA LOUD, ELECTRA HEART
ALBUMS)