Evaluation Question 1

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

The rap video my group has made features a Solo Bristol artist AKA Halo. We have made a music video containing different features and generic conventions. With this music video it should contain similarities to other professional rap videos. We have made three products, a music video, a CD cover with inserts and a magazine ad. Our rap Video contains generic conventions such as a camera angles, camera shots and mise en scene in a nitty gritty kind of urban way.

The genre of the music featured in my music video is Rap. Other music videos in this genre tend to have song lyrics about life, money, cars, sex, girls and alcohol. Our music video has this similarity of the lyrics talking about a life of an urban teenage boy. We did this to follow the typical conventions of a rap video. For example Eminem’s rap videos talk a lot about his life. Another example is the Wu Tang Clan with their song C.R.E.A.M.

Our intentions for the music video was to create and eye catching video that would get the audience/viewers to like it. Instead of our music video being in colour we challenged the normal typical conventions of a rap video. We used the settings to make the video black and white. There is an artist that influenced us to do this. ‘ When the sun goes down’ by jimmy Johnson where his video is fully black and white using car headlights. We did attempt to use the car headlights on my car for our video but we were unable to recover/upload the footage for this. Another Convention we used for our rap video would be the camera angles. Typical conventions for a rap video in the area of camera angles is that they tend to use low angle  shots. Low angle shots are used to make a subject look strong and powerful. They use this in rap videos to make the artist look big and intimidating. We used this feature in our music video as 1 of many shots. Using this feature would give our music video another similarity.

Breaking the fourth wall is very typical in a rap video. It is where the artist looks directly into the camera whilst rapping. This use is essential for engaging with the audience its shows confidence and can be confrontational. This feature is important because it is used in most rap videos. The setting used for our music video is set in bristol at a place known as 'Loyds' in the centre of bristol. We used it as an urban area where there are high buildings in vansinity. I feel this aspect is fairly typical in relation to the rap genre and its conventions. In relation to the rap genre mise en scene is used throughout relating to typical conventions in a rap video. Mise en scene - The clothing in a rap video is usually baggy clothing with caps/hats or Durags are usually worn however some artists have their own clothing line brands so they often wear them to promote their own merchandise. In our rap music video we used similar clothing that was quite dark just like jimmy johnson's mixtape'When the sun goes down'. The clothing was black and white and in order to get the effect we wanted we had to film in black and white as well.  This would compliment each other. We did challenge the conventions, this was to do with the camera angles, we used a range of different shots further than what a typical rap video would use. We used some high angle shots in the footage. It may not be evident in the completed video but it is evident in the filming process/footage. We also used long shots in our music video and lots of close ups showing the artist expressions and emotions. Cuts are a major factor in a rap video.In a typical rap video you would most definitely come across a cut atlas every 3/4 seconds. This is because rap videos do not stay on one particular shot for over 5 seconds, meaning that different shots can be seen in a short space of time. This is evident in our rap video. Cuts generally link to different things going on within a video.

 In a rap video in relation to typical conventions a camera would always be hand held and not on a tripod. In our music video at the start initially we used a tripod but it wasn't the same as a rap video. In order to make it the same as a rap video we had to remove the camcorder from the tripod. Typical conventions relating to our CD cover and inserts. We have produced a CD cover for the back and front also including some steales inside. Our front cover of the CD you will see an enlarged image of our rap artist on the right, this shows who the artist is and what he looks like but also as a way of selling himself as an artist for recognition. The artist name is typically the biggest font of text with the album name bait smaller underneath. The CD cover also includes a logo of iTunes which indicates where it can be purchased.

A barcode is also placed on the back of the CD for scanning purposes when purchasing product. Finally the back of the CD will include other songs/tracks that have been done.

All these points are essential typical things that you would find on a rap CD case. Although we have challenged a convention. We have not included the explicit lyric symbol. We were recommended to use it but being that our lyrics did not have any absurd words we decided not to use it even though most Rap Artists have it regardless.

A CD cover that influenced us was the CD of Nas with his album of Illmatic. Using these conventions allowed  us to be on track for a typical/similar Rap CD case that would appeal to our target audience. 2pac's all eyes on me album also influenced us.


Our magazine advert also includes some typical conventions(generic).


The magazine advert contains relevant information to advertise the artist/album. The magazine page should include information such as..


The Artist name being the biggest piece of text as well as being the most important is the biggest and most bold.

It contains a large image of the artist

Shows you where it is available for download

Links to contact and get more information on the album/cd

 Andrew Goodwin's theories come under this.


His 6 features for music videos


1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routines for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip-Hop).


2. There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. The lyrics represented with images (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).


3. There is a relationship between the Music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music  (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).


4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).


5. The is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.


6. There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).