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

In order to create an effective final product of a music video, magazine advert and digipak we had to recognise conventions used in the appropriate genre of our choice so we could then decide which conventions we would apply, develop and challenge within our advanced portfolio.

 

For our project/advanced portfolio, we were required to select a local artist, preferably unsigned and willing to work closely with us during the course of the year. We contacted someone we instantly thought of that would be reliable and effective being Elliot Warren also known as ‘Filterz’, who agreed to work with us over the entirety project. His style heavily revolves around the British hip-hop genre and we were keen to reflect this in our work. For the main task of making a music video, after listening to a few of his tracks, we chose his track named ‘My messed up brain’. We opted to attempt the song in a performance-based video to showcase his rapping skills. In order to understand further conventions of the British hip-hop music genre, we were required to study a variety of existing media texts that relate to the subject focusing on twenty existing music videos that have been produced by successful artists within the genre in the past. By choosing British hip-hop we created a challenge for ourselves as it is a niche genre so to begin with I began researching just hip-hop videos including American hip-hop artists such as Eminem and Beyoncé.

 

The mise en scene of the music video pays homage to the British hip hop genre in a number of individual ways. Notably, our group chose to follow themes used by artists such as the Dizraeli specifically used for effect in their music videos. One way, in which our mise en scene ideas were influenced by the four owls was in the costume, for example in their video for ‘Never Mind’ the lead singer is wearing casual clothing including a sweatshirt and jeans. This was effective because it allows the audience to view the celebrities as normal people and can then relate to them which is an example of the uses and gratifications theory- personal identity suggesting the audience find pleasure in being able to relate to public figures. Another convention we applied to our final music video, after analysing the music video for ‘Never Mind’ were the settings. Dizraeli chose two main settings which were an urban area and a rural area. We found this effective as it meant the settings could appeal to a bigger audience as people form the city and form rural areas could both relate to the surroundings. However this was a convention that Dizraeli challenge as it is very rarely seen in any other British hip hop music video which makes our choice in using the same technique a challenge to the stereotypical conventions of our genre. One aspect of British hip hop that is common is the use of organic and natural mise en scene which we saw in this music video setting and therefore tried to create in our own production. Once the overall setting was decided upon we had to see which locations would be effective/ were effective in real media texts. As our video is performance based we found inspiration in the music video for Balkan Beasts music video for ‘Gypsy Hill’ where they were located in a room full of musical equipment which created a relaxed atmosphere and was able to show the ability and skill of the band. Thanks to significant involvement of our artist we were able to use his own studio in a room similar to the one seen in ‘Gypsy Hill’ for our location so that we could display his musical equipment and performance skill. The lighting was mostly natural lighting but with an added filter to create a grainier image with slight low key lighting to apply to the typical conventions of real media texts we researched such as Plan B’s video for ‘She Said’. Location is key in creating an atmosphere in british hip hop videos in comparison to pop music videos where location is used to enhance the meaning of lyrics and to create exaggerated and dramatic settings.One convention we found common within the hip hop music videos we research was that the artist would have a substantial number of companions/ crew members within the video, for example in the music video for JME’S ‘Test Me’ he shared screen time with a large amount of his friends which typically represented him as popular and tough as he clearly had people who supported him. However we chose not to show this representation in our music video because the song is about our chosen artist, Elliot, battling his demons in his head on his own and struggling therefore we had to show him as vulnerable and lonely which is challenging the stereotypical representation of hip hop artist being strong and unbreakable.

 

The conventions of the British hip hop genre we followed were not limited to just the mise en scene. We also designed to replicate the camerawork shown in existing British hip hop music videos, specifically in the performance aspects of the video. The extreme close ups of the musical instruments are heavily influenced by music videos from bands such as Gypsy Hill and Bad Science, with the repeated display of these objects and the artists playing showing their ability to play them. Throughout our video there was a mixture of a use of handheld and tripod camerawork in the segments. The effect of using hand held camerawork is that it makes it seem natural and improvised, giving an ‘organic’ effect to these scenes whereas the effect we achieved from using a tripod for some of the scenes was that the steadiness, meant the audience were able to concentrate of the performance element to the video instead of any distortion that is created during hand held camerawork. In addition to this, many of the shots were taken from a low angle or a neutral middle ground. This gave another layer of meaning to the lyrics which are about Elliot being in pain as low angle shots represent the artist as vulnerable and weak, uncommon in performance music videos of this genre which tend to attempt representing the artist as strong and in control. We were able to get substantial footage of the Elliot Warren and we able identify him as the main ‘image’ of the band in support of the ideas put forward in Richard Dyer’s Star Theory, which discusses the various ways stars present themselves in the media and various media texts.

 

The editing process also allowed us to experiment in challenging and applying with other existing British hip hop conventions. For example many of the 20 real media texts we researched edited in a band logo in the opening moments of the music video. This form of intertextuality is common among music videos in general, but is often seen in the British hip hop genre as a way of branding an artists’ work. JME is an example of an artist who does this to make it clear to the audience who the significant person is (himself). Furthermore, we chose not to apply to the typical convention as we wanted the artist performance to speak for itself and we decided to brand him by him signing the clear frame over the camera and spray painting his tag on the wall to continue showing skill and aspect of a hip hop artist’s life to the audience.