Question 1

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My music video ‘I’ll Show You New York’ uses the genre specific conventions of other media products through the mise en scene, costume, props and editing. For example, my artist singer/songwriter Daniel Cope’s genre is acoustic, alternative pop. Therefore, I have included connotations from other band’s music videos of the same genre such as Daniel Cope playing guitar. This is a main signifier in ‘The Plain White T’s’ music video ‘Hey There Delilah’ and ‘James Morrison’s’ ‘Wonderful World’.

James Morrison - 'You Make It Real'

In this music video there is a live performance of the lead singer playing acoustic guitar which is similar to the scenes of Daniel Cope (played by Tom Block) where he is playing the guitar out of the window. It uses a variety of different shots including close ups of the guitar which is also present in my music video, making it a main signifier of the artist. Andrew Goodwin’s theory suggests there are particular aspects present in music videos. One demonstrated through my music video is ‘there is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)’. As the soundtrack is being played, I have edited the guitar playing to be in time with it, which is illustrative as what is seen and heard is connected. This has been included as it is typical of the genre.

Another vital aspect of this genre is costume. I have chosen a checked shirt because it specifically represents the fashion of young people today so is appealing to the mainstream target audience. Similar artists such as the bands ‘Vampire Weekend’, ‘Mumford and Sons’ and ‘Noah and the Whale’ all feature one or more members of the band in a checked shirt who represent their target audience. In my music video the checked shirt is a reflection of the artist’s youth and naivety. The artist wears the shirt in every shot and in the photos on my digipak and magazine advert. This is so audiences identify with the artist and associate the red checked shirt with him as it is a part of his iconic image.

  

In some ways ‘I’ll Show You New York’ challenges typical genre conventions as the music video is laid out in a split-screen format. This is not a stereotypical aspect of the alternative, acoustic pop genre as not many of these music videos include spilt screens. However, audiences will still be able to identify this with some other media products as audiences view media texts intertextually. For example, a music video which features the split screen is Daniel Powter’s music video ‘Bad Day.

Daniel Powter - 'Bad Day'

In this particular music video the split screen merges into one which compares to my music video. In ‘I’ll Show You New York’ the narrative is displayed through one image as it is important and can be understood accordingly.