Coursework Evaluation - Part 1

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

I found many various examples, including music video that are produced solely as an art form, for a contemporary example: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi and Bad Romance and for an independent example: Oren Lavie - Her Morning Elegance.

I carried on research of the types of music videos and found "Backwards Action", which was prominent in Coldplay's music video: The Scientist. The overall look of these music videos is quite strange and surreal- not what you'd usually see in a real-life situation. The way it has been used is to engage the audience into the narrative side of the music video, when a story is told backwards, the consequences come first and the reasons come last, giving the audience a reason to watch the video till the very end. This is very good selling point.

This is when I decided that Caspar's music would best suit a Backwards Narrative, complementing the surreal feel to the music and the video.

I also studied another music video but for an entirely different reason. Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" music video was studied by me in order to decipher what stereotypes and representations music videos seemed to have. To back up my study of this video, I also studied 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" music video, which was entirely marketed for the male gaze. Instead of passing on the representations of women into my own product, I used the style of Beyonce's video instead. The simple use of black and white within the music video has purpose to it, and I developed the use of colour and lack of colour within my own product.