Assessment: Our group ideas

How far do your group ideas for the music video conform to convention? You should include a discussion of the following codes and conventions :-

• Setting
• Characters
• Narrative structure
• Mis en scene
• Iconography

As a group we decided to base our music video on the genre of R&B song. Our group watched several music videos and we decided to conform to most of the conventions that we found.

When looking at the setting we found that most of the videos we watched and appear to be set in everyday settings for example in a video i analysed Chris Browns 'With You' he is walking in a public on the streets and then he gets on a bus which we all know a bus is a public transport this will able our target audience relate to the artist and be familiarised with the settings. Due to most R&B videos the settings are everyday and simple settings we have decided to conform to this convention because it will be easy to find familiar settings.

Characters in the music video tends to follow Propp's characters theory. There are eight characters that show up in any media and those characters are as follows...

• The hero
• The princess
• The helper
• The villain
• The donor
• The false hero
• The dispatcher
• The father

Propps character theory is represented in Rihannas 'Unfaithful' video. As it is shown in the video Rihanna is cheating with a man, so the man in which she is cheating on her boyfriend with is the villain. She is a princess as she needs help and rescue in making a decision on which man to be with. Her actual boyfriend is the hero. We will follow this convention depending on what song choice we pick and if that song is suitable to create propps characters theory.

Todorovs narrative theory can be applied through out the majority of the music videos that we have watched. There are five stages to a narrative. A state of equilibrium, a disruption, a realisation of the disruption, an attempt to repair the damage and the last stage the new equilibrium. Our group established that this is represented in Ne-Yo's music video 'Mad'. The equilibrium appears to be when the couple are arguing because it is normal for them two to argue, the disruption is when he gets run over and dies, the realisation of the disruption is the funeral when the woman is crying and grieving. The attempt to repair it is her grieving while the ghost of the male protagonist is watching her and the new equilibrium is when she walks away a symbol that she has let go and moved on which has enabled him to move on, this is presented when he disappears. We have agreed to use Todorovs narrative theory in order for it to appeal to our target audience as effectively as we can.

Female artists in R&B music videos always appear to be wearing modern clothing but at the same time revealing, this is symbolic as in R&B videos women always appear to be dressed seductive, this represents women as being sex symbols. If we use a female artist we will conform to this convention but we could face set backs as it will be difficult to find some one who will be willing to wear revealing clothes. However it differs from female to male as the males in music videos seem to be dressed in casual, street clothing for example Chris Browns video 'With You' he wears sneakers, T-shirt and a hoody, wearing the hood up reinforces stereotypes as young males wearing these types of clothing. My group has decided to find a male willing to wear similar costume as it will be similar to what they wear themselves.

High key lighting is used in all of the music videos that our group have watched, we believe this is used to create verisimilatude. We would like to conform to this convention but it may be difficult because we won't have the equipment to create high key lighting, so we will try our best but just use the best lighting we can create. The props that are used in the videos are everyday props such as public transport, cars and mobile phones. Mobile phones will be easy to gain access to as most of us will have them and also using mobile phones will relate to our target audience as they will familiarise with them.

Teachers comments

Explanation

(7) A solid response, showing good understanding of the task and you link ideas well to your creative ideas. Make sure you go into more detail. Good use of theory.

Analysis

(7) Good use of examples showing a really good understanding of the assessment objective providing evidence of good understanding.

Argument

(4) Excellent use of terms

18/25 B-