Conventions (1A)

Narrative - Goodwin's theory (For)

• Relationship between lyrics and visuals
• Many close ups of the artist
• Demonstration of genre characteristics

Against

• Voyeuristic treatments to the female body
• Textual references to T.V shows or other music videos.

Costume - Stereotypical image of the everyday UK artist.
Mise-en-scene
Editing - Pace change depending on tempo of rap
Location - Urban location 'Skate park'

Essay -

Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by research into real media texts and how your ability to use such research for production developed over time.

Over time I noticed that research into real media texts is very important as it helps me tease out conventions, to inform my own planning.  From this informed position I could decide whether to adhere to or challenge those conventions. I feel like I have increasingly understood the importance of researching conventions in order to produce a professional media product, the evidence of this is the music video I have produced for my advanced media portfolio.

For my foundation portfolio I had to look into thriller conventions particularly at crime and man on the run sub-genres as we aimed to create a hybrid. We made sure that the narrative centers around crime as our camera shots are recreated as police CCTV footage that is being used to solve a committed crime. This was adhering to thriller conventions as crime is a important aspect of thriller conventions which our opening sequence persisted of. I also hinted to the audience that this thriller may lead to a man on the run. I did this by putting my protagonist in a situation where running from the situation he has been placed in is the easiest and best option. This hybrid involves conventions from three different genres 'crime, man on the run and thriller' through the help of my research on media products.

My research into media conventions allowed me to discover a main convention used in thriller films where the antagonist ensnares the protagonist into a really complexed situation to the point that he feels helpless. This is done in my thriller opening when my protagonist character is in trouble with authority even though he is completely innocent. This follows the thriller convention that I have discovered through my research as my protagonist character is forced into a difficult situation, making him feel helpless. While doing my research I discovered that the antagonist and protagonist are both presented as the dark, evil villain or the kind, strong hero. Both of my characters were presented within the thriller opening in stereotypical ways. The antagonist is wearing dark clothing and is shown to have aggressive facial expressions while the protagonist is represented as happy, good willing and bright.