TASK 1 In what ways do your media products use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Overall I would say that our music video generally conforms to the forms and conventions of music videos that come out of similar genres as ‘Let You Go’. In terms of shot choices, we really went for what seemed appropriate and it just so happened that we felt little need to challenge the general forms and conventions of real media products.

Our choice of Mise en Scene went to identify particular groups of people (i.e. the youths and the ‘suits’) in relation to what typically identifies that particular group to an audience and was therefore conventional due to the fact that the forms and conventions are exactly what makes these groups identifiable in this instance.

Editing primarily focussed on fast pace straight cuts in order to create a sense of energy and excitement throughout both the performance and the narrative elements. Therefore it is fair to say that we used the forms and conventions of editing found in most media products in this area.

This shot is an example of how we have chosen to stick to the typical music video conventions in terms of our representations of youth culture. The drum and bass genre as a whole generally depicts youth culture as rebellious, fun loving and powerful in that they won’t be stopped by what society says is appropriate. The bottle of wine (in context with the powerful stance of the youthful character) is just one classic representation of the ways in which most modern youths enjoy themselves. This appeals to our target audience due to the fact that they are the same fun loving, rebellious youths that we represent in a good light (at least to this target audience).

            Shots such as this aim to be accurate in terms of how our target audience would like to view themselves and conventional props, combined with conventional camerawork and editing support the image that we wish to get across and that they want to see.

This is an example of a typical continuity shot. These shots are used in most music videos that involve any kind of extensive narrative, such as ours. We used these because by having them we were able to give a fast pace, yet clearly understandable sense of movement and progress within the narrative element of the video. Without the presence of continuity shots, it would have been difficult for us to present movement of both people and objects in a way that didn’t confuse the viewer. The main reason that continuity shots are conventional in almost all videos is because any action that changes the position of characters or props or even changes in set can move together with fluidity, making the video more enjoyable, as well as appearing more professional to watch.

Therefore in this instance, we not only heavily conformed to the conventions of our particular genre of music video, or even of music videos in general, but to the editing conventions of film as a whole.

This shot is just one example of the many conventional shot choices that we felt gave the most overall aesthetically pleasing appearance to our music video. This particular shot is known as a ‘two shot’ and allows us to focus on the action of the drummer, while still keeping the sense that the whole band are playing as one with the presence of the DJ in the background. This was particularly important to our video as our target audience (rebellious and music loving youth culture) arguably place great significance on the creation of good music and the intensity of live performance with real bands playing together.

            It could perhaps be argued that we have ‘adapted’ typical media conventions with shots such as this due to the fact that the action, i.e. the focus of the shot is taking place within a cage and the camera is filming the action from the outside with the wire not in focus in order to give the shot a more full and aesthetically pleasing appearance for our target audience who will largely appreciate the urban and ‘hardcore’ feel that this gives to the video, paralleling the star image of our band.

This shot can be interpreted as an example of the way in which ‘the tables have turned’ during the course of the videos narrative, in that the youths who were symbolically ‘caged’ by the oppressive older generation have now physically caged them. This turn of events, with particular regard to the visual impact that it has, appeals conventionally to our target audience because it is essentially a representational empowerment of their position and potential ability to make what they want of ‘their’ society. So to that end it can be seen that this shot conforms to the generic conventions of the ‘drum and bass’ genre.

Also, the use of brighter colours as well as more smoke is used in order to visually show the intensity of the events rising until the climax at the very end. I would say that this is a conventional use of lighting for a music video of any genre.

   This handheld overhead shot is conventional in the sense that it allowed us to show almost the entirety of the DJs equipment, which for this genre of music is of great significance to our target audience. The overhead shot is reasonably widely used in drum and bass videos; however this is often in order to show an audience within a live situation, it is therefore arguable that we have adapted this common convention in order to suit our video to both our storyboard and what our target audience would find entertaining to see.

Much emphasis is placed on the role of the DJ throughout the music video due to the fact that the decks can be seen as the key instrument/ tool for creating music of this genre. Also, it can be argued that this is the most relatable piece of equipment to the widest area of our target audience.

Much of the video is set in urban themed locations. Firstly, this is because the star image of SMAK is supposed to be ‘real’, urban and ‘grimy’, and subsequently this is the kind of image that our target audience would be attracted to. This kind of stylistic choice and image is typical of and therefore conforms to the majority of music and many of the music videos within this genre, however we felt that there was little need to adapt too far or challenge this convention as a result of the fact that the image fits so well with the music and the target audience for this is easily marketable.

Shots such as this contrast with the rather ordinary shots of the older generation following them to show how the youths are far better suited and equipped to deal with the streets, a concept that has been conventional for a very long time.  

Our digipak cover is perhaps the most conventional element of this project.
The album cover is very stylistically similar to (but by no means identical) to that of ‘chase and status’, (the real artists of ‘let you go’). In order to conform to the traditional urban and ‘underground’ image of both the artist and the track, we decided to present a cage fighter, with particular emphasis on the wraps due to the fact that this is a sport that is widely controversial and relates to our target audiences sense of danger and rebellion.

SMAK is hypothetically signed to ‘badsketa records’ who are a record label specialising in both underground and drum and bass music. As well as this, the album cover conforms to traditional media conventions for this genre, this can be seen by researching other drum and bass music.