Evaluation - Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge the forms and conventions of real media texts?

Forms and conventions used:

We used Andrew Goodwin's framework in sticking with the key features he listed, so our video could be distinguished as a music video. His theory comes from his book on the rise of MTV, 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992). Although 17 years is a long time ago in terms of music video, these features are still commonly seen in almost all music videos, so sticking to these guidelines was a good idea. The guidelines he used include:

• There should be a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (with visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics) - This guideline is clearly met in our music video, for example during the lyrics 'so come back to my room and we can watch a movie, and my passion for you will go right straight through me' the visuals on screen are Cosmo and Mel sitting on a sofa staring at the tv, signifying they are watching a movie. In this segment, the visuals illustrate the lyrics.

• There should be a relationship between the music and the visuals (again visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the music) - Our video doesn't have too much in terms of music and visuals, its a very lyric based music video. Correlations between the music and the visuals usually comes in videos of rock bands, as the focus is also on the instrumentals, the skills of the guitarists/drummers for example. Since the portrayal of Cosmo Jarvis is as a solo artist, there is nothing but a comedy use of instruments, where he plays the 'acoustic bridge' whilst sat on the toilet. This convention as mentioned is more suited to bands with instruments, so although there is one glimmer of this in our video, it isn't a necessity for our video.

• Particular music genres may have their own music video style and iconography (such as live stage performance in heavy rock) - Cosmo Jarvis' genre of music is alternative. However, the alternative genre doesn't have its own music video style and iconography, so we had free creative reign to do what we wanted with our video, and that was great. Our video style had some similar shots to 'Bittersweet Symphony' by The Verve, as mentioned earlier in the blog, and this band is also a little alternative, although you could also argue they are an indie act.

• There will be a demand on the part of the record company for a lot of close-ups of the main artist or vocalist. - This requirement was met, with many close-ups of Cosmo. We also did this because it would be his first released song hypothetically, so it was important for the viewers to see what he looked like, so they could try and identify with him.

These are the conventions we use that stick to the Goodwin theory. A much followed theory, we decided to try and stick to the main principles.

In terms of developing ideas we looked at the video features included in the aforementioned 'Bittersweet Symphony' and also Taio Cruz's 'Come On Girl'. Mentioned frequently previously on the blog we wanted to further develop the idea of being followed walking down the street and other locations, not just one location whilst walking like the two mentioned music videos.

We also worked to develop Cosmo Jarvis' video style. His editing is basic and fairly amateurish, like our own, however he does show some skills such as colour adjustments and split screening. We thought we'd go a step further and go one level ahead, as shown with our very quick edit which was rhythmic (in time with the music).