Evaluation on the ways my media product use, develop/challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Throughout our research and planning of our blogs, we decided as a group to keep to the traditional codes and conventions of the genre of R&B. However there was some aspects that we could not help which naturally was not conventional to the genre.

Conventional to the genre.

Stock characters: Our Artist was of a black ethnicity, this is one of the main conventions in which we found within the genre of R&B. Commonly we found in every single video we had researched the artist was of a black ethnicity. So as a group we chose someone of this ethnicity.

Stock settings: The settings we used are conventional to the genre, we used many settings this was commonly found in all the R&B videos we had researched.  We used 4 settings all together, all brought continuity to the music video.

setting 1

Setting 2

Setting 3

Setting 4

Setting 5

Setting 6

Music: From our audience feedback many comments, was that the song choice was easy to define into the genre of R&B. This commonly could be due to the fact that the main theme within the song was about love; this is again was a common aspect within our research.
Image: Commonly we found throughout our research that clothing was an important aspect in which defined the genre of R&B and additionally connotes traditional conventions within the genre. Such as the 'cool image' and 'wealth', personally I feel that we did this exactly within our poster, digipak and music video. Not only this but our audience feedback also agrees with these opinions. In fact an audience member said that the 'costume used represented the genre well and made it easy to grasp immediately'.
Connotation: The secondary level of communication within this music video is the lyrics. The lyrics describe a story, about how the character is feeling, also it gives opportunity to see what the disruption is all about however, the focus is on the black male character where he reveals his feelings this gives a bias viewpoint (This is also conventional to the genre, as it pushes women lower down the chain in comparison to males). 
Mode of Address: The audience is directly spoken to through the artist and this is presented through close ups and mid shots throughout the music video and additionally at some point the character even points towards the audience as though he is pointing at yourself. We found this in almost every R&B music video that we had researched. The mood and tone is created through the visual image that is presented. The story line will have an impact on the audience as it is a male character revealing his point of view of a double sided situation. This presents the female character to be the 'villain' however when we look deeper into the video and the lyrics the artist is extremely ironic.

The main Artist constantly looks at the camera
Showing direct eye contact to the audience
this then brings them into the song and the emotions.

Narrative: Within this music video Propp's theory could apply as the music hints that the villain is the female due to being 'cheatin' however the theory could not apply due to the video  not having the typical character functions of a hero, princess or villain.  Todorov's theory however could possibly be applied to this music video as we sense a disruption within the song (Especially when we see the two characters arguing . We wonder why he is revealing his feelings, this could be seen as an attempt to fix the disruption we really see the characters facial expression as he is reminiscing, however there are elements to the song in which Todorov's theory does not apply and there is not a new equilibrium reinstated at the end.  

Not conventional to the genre:
Stock characters: Although our main artist is conventional to the genre the female character that we used was not conventional to the genre; however this was not deliberate. It was due to circumstances that this person was used within our music video. As before hand our original girl who we were going to use let us down, and the girl that did the part stepped in a played up to the role. However the use of the white character could be seen as a counter argument to suggest that R&B is becoming more mainstream and the use of a white girl in the video is an attempt to represent this more popular movement of the genre.So all in all, a combination of circumstance for filming as well as a reflection of the genres popularity.
The car that we used within the music video, was not necessarily conventional as it was not 'bling' enough, however the idea around the car is conventional to the genre as in near enough every music video I had researched a fancy car was presented.

As you can see the female character we used was of
a white ethnicity, therefore it is not conventional to the genre of
R&B, however due to circumstances we used this character anyway.
In other ways she was conventional to the genre for example her style and
her irrational behaviour.  

Within our research we found a number of codes in which we have developed within our music video. Our artist, just like Chris Brown in his 'With you' music video and Usher in his 'Climax video'. We see the artists centre of the frame on his own, so a reflection of the artists is portrayed. Additionally the artists give out direct eye contact letting audiences into their identity and music video.  So we deliberately included these aspects within our music video, developing the conventions further.

As you can see there are similarities, the artists are in the centre of the frame and additionally shown to be giving direct eye contact.

The research, additionally has developed our product completely! From closely looking at the R&B artists we were able to define what to include with our music videos.

A Female character.

Our Music video

Chris Brown 'With You'

A car.

Our Music video

Usher 'Climax'

Clothing

Chris Brown 'With you'

Our Music Video

Here are just some examples in which from our research we have developed into our music video.

Although we have developed codes and conventions we have somewhat also challenged them as the genre is developing and changing just like society! The genre as a whole is becoming more mainstream and thus traditional representations are being challenged. An example of this is within Chris Browns video with you, we see white characters who are of a different subculture possibly 'skater'  we see them directly walk past the main artist but the focus is always set back towards the artist as a fast cut is presented. We can however see the distinct difference between the artist and these 'other characters' that are being presented we see this song give us an insight to other genres and subcultures rather than just one representation. 

A white couple is presented, possibly of different subcultures to the main artist.

The genre challenges its traditional stereotypes within this modern society but at the same time anticipates and considers the genres evolution towards the mainstream. The genre needs to go through this transformation in order to re-create a version of reality to represent real life in a modern society.