Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does

your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real
media products?
Billy Clayton

Genre Characteristics
Professor Gunther Kress defines genre as A
kind of text that derives its form from the
structure of a frequently repeated social
occasion, with its characteristic participants
and their purposes. The statement is
suggestive of the concept that aspects of real
media products are derived from the lifestyles
of certain collective groups in society and can
therefore provide audiences with a sense of
belonging, otherwise known as collective
identity. Our music video for Warriors by
Coco & The Butterfields both uses and
develops genre characteristics, with the given
genre of the track being newly formed niche
label Fip Fok; a term used and described by
the band as a sound which combines
traditional folk music with modern
contemporary Hip Hop and Pop music,
skipping to the part where people dance. The
track is up-tempo with a positive and outgoing
vibe that presents the theme of warriors being
unafraid and courageous. This meant that as
a group, we had to accompany it with a music
video that contained appropriate audience
appeal, thus, we came up with the fairytale
treatment.

Genre Characteristics in aspects of mise-enscene

Andrew Goodwin, writing in Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992) contributes his theory towards
genre characteristics, stating Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics, for example, a stage
performance in a metal music video or a dance routine for a pop group. The locations in our music
video uses genre characteristics as the video is predominantly outside, filmed on site of Norwichs
University of East Anglia and the Plantation Garden, a large yet well enclosed Victorian garden that
was used for our Alice in Wonderland scene. These locations, both consisting of vast greenery and
woodland reuse characteristics from the Indie/Alternative genre, reflecting those used in real music
videos such as British Indie band Florence and the Machines Dog Days and Rabbit Heart (2009).
The costume used in the video uses and develops genre characteristics. The combination of modern
contemporary fashion such as Topshop items, red lipstick and a nose ring as well as hair ribbons,
vintage dresses and button up shirts both allowed us to gain audience appeal from our target
audience of 16 20 year old white British females as well as reinforcing the fairytale archetypes
created. Our production therefore challenges Goodwins theory that females are very often portrayed
as sexual objects within music videos as the use of voyeuristic or objectifying camera angles and
costume, often seen in music videos by American pop star Britney Spears has been much avoided,
encouraging the young female audience to opt for a more positive and equal representation to their
gender.

Genre characteristics in aspects of miseen-scene

Props and objects played a significant role in conveying the use of genre characteristics in our
music video. In the introduction, a purple floral teacup has been used accompanied by the label
Drink Me in order to act as the causer of all means in the video. It acts as an intertextual reference
to the original story line of Alice in Wonderland which involves a tea party scene and also targets a
wider audience due to its similarity to the products of popular English designer Cath Kidson who
specialises in bags and stationary of a greatly similar design, provoking a contemporary audience
appeal due to its highly recognisable status.
The use of sweet confectionary such as candy bracelets and colourful lollipops uses genre
characteristics notable in American singer-songwriter Katy Perrys California Girls music video due
to its consistent and predominant theme of candy, reinforcing the utopian setting of our music
video. Artificial roses also become a recurring motif in our music video, seen scattered on the
steps, along the pathways and across the grass in various shots in order to reinforce the fairytale
notion of the video, thus at the same time boosting aesthetic appeal.
The lighting in the video is predominately ambient, with the exception of the Goldilocks scenes
shot inside a kitchen, using the genre characteristics of low budget Indie/Alternative music videos
that rely on the natural lighting supplied, such as Welsh singer-songwriter Marina and the
Diamonds early video for Seventeen.

Narrative Structure

French Anthropologist Claude Levi Strauss stated that Narratives are arranged around the conflict of binary
opposition. Our music video conforms to this statement as the narrative is driven around the concept of reality
and illusion; Danielle arrives in to the garden with a blue tint present, indicating the blurred lines between illusion
and reality, thus reinforcing the power of Danielles imagination. the character uses the teacup as a device of
escapism in order to achieve the utopian journey in the fairytale world. Once all of the alternate personas of the
fairytale world are explored, Danielle returns to the reality of the garden in which she consumed the drink, back
to her original state of grey clothing and braided hair, indicating an explicit use of binary opposition within our
narrative. Our narrative heavily reflects aspects of popular literature, particularly for children, such as the 1958
novel Toms Midnight Garden in which a young boy named Tom moves in with his restrictive Aunt and Uncle
who refuse him time to play outside of their small city flat. This drives him to crave a fun lifestyle, every night
sneaking out of bed when the clock strikes thirteen to escape in to a brightly light garden from the Victorian
period in which he makes new friends. Like Tom, Danielle finds an alternate universe on her very own doorstep
as her own garden takes her on a journey throughout a fairy tale driven world, which like the novel, is heavily
ambiguous and non-existent to the real world outside.
The use of a circular narrative has been applied to our music video as Danielle finds herself drinking the
teacup once again after a reversed montage occurs, indicating to the audience that the protagonist is to find
themselves back where they started. This has been used as it explicitly reveals to the audience that the dream
is unravelling and the character is returning to reality as real dreams do, thus providing a sense of relation
between the character and the audience.The use of reapplying each scene back to back whilst played at a
much faster speed and in reverse uses common motifs of film and television in which the picture has been
manipulated in order to contrast with the current setting scenes. It also reflects the circular narrative in Katy
Perrys Wide Awake music video in which her journey begins and concludes in her dressing room after
entering a dystopian setting. Our music video therefore relies on the narrative structure to anticipate the targeted
audiences approach to the storyline; viewers maintain interest throughout Danielles journey and are further
gripped when the editing indicates that the story has relapsed.

Representation of Youth
This Is England is a social realist film directed by Shane Meadows and released in 2006. It follows a 12year-old boy named Shaun who comes from a working class background and struggles to find
acceptance at school before joining a gang of skinheads with extremist political views and devour in
white supremacy. The representation of youth in this product is therefore largely negative; youths are
sculpted as restless and rebellious, causing mass destruction to the neighbourhood whilst racially
threatening individuals and embodying a deeply sadistic nature. Because of this mediated
representation, the idea that young people truly fit this stereotype has impacted various generations
and consumers, thus we see this notion repeated in several productions such as the E4 drama Skins
and the BBC drama White Girl, another social realist genre production which makes use of untrained
actors, unglamorous locations and narrates the ordinary lives of people living in contemporary Britain.
In our music video, we felt it were necessary to represent youth in a very contrasting way, one we
believe is more accurate to real life teenagers of today that doesnt manipulate or victimize, but rather
expresses and explores. Danielles escapism can be interpreted as a formula of young people
searching for happiness and entertainment in day-to-day life; as a group, we believe that teenagers
such as ourselves are mistaken for having much more socially hectic lifestyles than we truly possess,
thus the music video discusses many youths desire for freedom and creativity whilst encouraging
viewers to either relate to the representations shown or from an adults perspective, familiarise and
refresh them from previously harsh outlooks on youth in the media, particularly notable in British artist
Plan Bs music video for Ill Manors in which scenes from the 2011 London Riot are rein acted. Thus,
our music video, unlike Shane Meadows use of the social realist genre, attempts to develop the genre
of magical realise as a form of shaping ones identity, instead reflective of productions such as the 2006
release Pans Labyrinth (Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw ) which follows a
girls imagination in to her own mythical world as a form of escapism from the lack of stimulation in her
real life, just as our own music video presents with Danielles spontaneous imagination.

Print Productions
For my print productions piece, I have used the conventions of a classical 4-panel layout associated with
contemporary CD packaging. I have done so in order to take the niche genre of CoCo and the Butterfields
and provide them with a taste of popular radio and music channel based releases, connoting a true album
experience that contrasts with the bands collection of smaller scale EP releases. I have also made use of 4
panels to clearly and directly reference the music video for Warriors which familiarises the targeted audience
with the DigiPak and sets a theme for the course of the album. All 4 panels follow the consistent theme of
Danielle embodying the Red Riding Hood persona. I felt this were appropriate as the costume for this persona
appears most appealing to the targeted audience of 16 20 year old white British females with interests in
contemporary fashion and festival orientated music. This is due to the simplicity of the red hood, the use of
lipstick and Danielles long, blonde hair and nose ring.
The saturation of colours in the photographs which have been altered during the editing process creates a
strong contrast to the bare trees and grey sky behind Danielle, reinforcing a sense of Britishness to each
panel. A black logo reading CoCo and the Butterfields Warriors in a circular design has been placed on
Danielles red-hood-covered shoulder on the first panel in order to appear bold and significant, making it clear
to the targeted audience what they are buying. The same logo, this time coloured with a red background has
been used on the fourth panel in order to once again appear significant against the green bushes. The use of
the actresses red lipstick also conforms to Goodwins theory that focus on the performers lips is a generic
convention of media products such as music videos, however, the usage simply explicates the character as
Red Riding Hood as well as maintaining modern contemporary audience appeal, instead of objectifying the
female performer. I have made use of bold text titles coloured in white on the back panel in order to grab the
focus of the buyer as well as creating an even composure of text dominating one side of the image whilst
Danielle occupies the other.

Magazine Advert
I have used typical conventions of real magazine adverts for album releases within my advert. A
new close up image of Danielle surrounded by bare trees shot at a low angle has been used and
contains a white text box across the bottom of the poster with the name of the band and title of the
track on it above the release date. The font has been centralised in order to maintain a symmetrical
aesthetic appeal and create an equal focus between the image and the institutional information on
the poster, much like the promotional for American singer-songwriter Sky Ferreiras promotional
poster for One. I have also considered that the supposed target audience are very likely to be
frequent social media users, thus a small Facebook and Twitter icon are placed besides one
another on the right of the advert, accompanying the official website of the band in order to gain
public recognition and provoke further knowledge of the band to the viewer. On the opposite side, I
have placed the web address for exclusively Indie music magazine NME in order to generate hype
from the audience who suspect that the magazine has reviewed the group and is contributing to
the marketing of this fresh new group. It was important to ensure that web addresses and social
media icons remained very small and much less significant in comparison to the name of the band
and album as I did not intent for these to dominate the advert, contradicting the purpose to
promote the release.