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

For our A2 practical we came to the decision to produce a music video that followed the genre 'Pop' and followed similar codes and conventions of the girl band 'The Saturdays' using their song 'Work'. To ensure that our music video followed similar conventions of a typical 'Pop' music video we had to do a lot of research into existing media products using sites such as 'Youtube' watching videos of girl bands including Girls Aloud and The Spice Girls.

By using the internet as a main resource to do research into existing media products we found there was certain codes and conventions that we needed to follow to ensure that our music reflected our chosen genre in a effective way. The outfits that the girls wear in the video are quite feminine, girly and slightly revealing which is very common for female bands and artists. They want to have a sex appeal in order to attract a wider audience of both genders. *IMAGES*
Another convention we have followed is having a narrative message reflected in our music video. Just like female bands such as 'The Spice Girls' and 'The Saturdays' we decided to follow this convention and reflect the message 'Girl Power' in our music video through using a variety of different camera shots, angles and locations. In order to reflect this message in our video we included many narrative shots to show the girls as being dominant and in control of their lifes and relationships. By having the girls being reflected as being stronger than the boys it shows they are taunting and teasing them reflecting them as being strong and powerful.

We just a variety of locations in our music video to keep the music video appealing and interesting to watch. The locations we chose were very conventional including using a white backdrop, outside areas, dance studio and props such as outside stairs. We performed the dance rountine scene in the dance studio because the lighting was good and there was a lot of open space to use. For the single shots we used a white backdrop so the girls and there outfits would stand out and be the main attraction. We also used a shot of one of the girls outside on a set of steps that was similar to the original video 'Work'.

There were many conventions that needed to be followed when it came to producing a music video as well as making sure costumes, locations and narrative messages were included. After researching into many existing media products we noticed a similar pattern that they all include a catchy dance rountine. We decided as a group to follow this convention and include a dance rountine in our music video because we felt it made the video more appealing and interesting for our audience to watch. As a group we decided to lay our dance rountine out in a similar formation to 'The Saturdays' dance rountines that they follow in their music videos. By following a similar formation it made the dance rountine look very effective.