Evaluation : Question One

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

My final media product of ‘Leaving’ (music video, digipak and magazine advert/poster) both challenges and develops on certain genre characteristics of the R&B genre.

In Regard to a music video, a key feature of the R&B genre

would involve more of a narrative aspect to the video, and further, this visual narrative should link in and relate to the lyrics. I have used this convention within my video of ‘Leaving’, as although it is quite strongly a performance based video, it also includes quite a bit of a narrative aspect. The narrative consists of the protagonist becoming frustrated and tired with their own relationship with an unseen boyfriend character; this is shown through the use of the main character finding wine bottles (hinting at alcoholism) and ‘call cards’ (suggesting that the partner is cheating) and also through the use of the protagonist shouting at the camera – as if they are shouting at another person. This links in directly with some of the lyrics such as ‘it’s too late, it’s too late, too many mistakes’, as alcoholism and cheating are two things that are considered morally wrong and difficult to make up for – thus easy to link in with the lyrics and be considered as ‘mistakes’. Furthermore, these themes also link in with other conventions that are typical of the R&B genre such as (in the case of a female artist) using a negative reflection of males as a device in reflecting their feelings. This convention is strongly apparent in my music video as themes that I have included portray a very obvious negative reflection of men. A prime example of this convention also being used in the videos of famous R&B artists can be seen in Beyonces video for ‘If I Were a Boy’.

Another convention which I included in my music video involves the setting – typically, many R&B videos are set within recording studios, beaches or tropical islands as a way of establishing the wealth of the artist. However, this is usually with male R&B artists whose music focuses on money and women, and so many female artists whose music stereotypically focus on being in love or heartbroken set their music videos within the home as a way of depicting a domestic relationship either growing or falling apart. This convention is what lead me to setting my Music video of ‘Leaving’ in a home setting, as the song focuses on the falling apart of a relationship and so it would be more conventional and personal to film in a home setting, thus getting a closer insight to the narrative and feelings involved in the lyrics.

Usually In R&B music videos, women wear very little clothing and show their stomach for the majority of the video, this is because women are used as voyeurs and are subject to the male gaze; as to male fans they are seen as objects of desire. However, I have challenged this convention in my music video through the mise-en-scene, as I have styled and dressed my actress in sensible clothes that do not show too much skin, but also draw attention to her because of their bright colours (the purple dress) thus evoking confidence and a sense of personality. I challenged the ‘male gaze’ convention as a way of  manipulating the audience into focussing more on the music, and seeing  the artist as more empowered, drawing attention to her talent rather than the ‘superficiality’ which is shown in most R&B music videos.

Another convention which I have challenged within my music video is the presence of a man; as typically in music videos (not just in R&B) when it comes to music that focuses on the breaking down of a relationship – especially of a female artist - there is the inclusion of a male character in the video so that the audience can put a face to the cause of the heartache that the protagonist is enduring. I challenged this convention as not including a male character in my music video created a thought-provoking ambiguity about the target of the songs’ lyrics, and in turn, brought more attention to the personal struggle of the protagonist, and that the music is more about her own feelings than the male involved.

When it came to my Digipak (both my advert and CD case) I tried to stick to the conventions of the R&B genre as closely as possible, which entailed using quite a lot of close up shots and emotional images, which drew a lot of attention to the artist and the personal feel of the music. For the front cover of my digipak I used a close up image of the actress in order to establish her as the artist and create an artist identity. This is in conjunction with the conventions of the R&B genre as it highlights the importance of personal appearance and identity. Similarly for my advert, I used a full image of my actress as the main focus of the advert to create the same effect.