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

Originally, for my A2 media coursework, I planned on creating a short film with the theme of a letter travelling across the country from one person to another. However, after researching and analysing some short films and music videos, I decided that the theme of my idea would fit more into the category of a music video, since many music videos I researched had the forms and conventions of short films, for example Lady Gaga's Telephone music video is almost ten minutes long and has the feel of a short film when your watching it.  

I researched many other similar music videos, to find out the forms and conventions of music videos today. Through my research of similar products, I found that the genre of the music video is one of the most influential factors on the style and narrative of the video itself. I found that Indie Rock type music videos usually featured footage of the band itself performing on stage etc. I chose Breakdown by Jack Johnson, a mainly acoustic song which I thought fitted with the theme of my music video perfectly. Through my analysis of similar products, I found the acoustic style music videos, had more of a short film feel to them - with very few references to the band or artist performing if at all. This was something which I included in my music video, which has more of a short film feel, rather than a convential music video with shots of the artist or band performing etc. In this field, I think that my music video challenged the forms and conventions of many music videos we see today as it doesn't include any shots of the band playing instruments etc. 

Another key convention of the music videos which I analysed was that some of them included a key narrative theme following a normal storyline featuring a beginning, middle and end. This was reflected in my music video, which featured a very basic narrative storyline of a letter travelling from one individual to another. However some other music videos which I researched and analysed, such as "The Scientist" by Coldplay featured a very differant narrative style. The Scientist music video is played backwards so that we see the end at the beginning and see how the ending developed through the rest of the video. So in this case, you could say that my music video challenged the forms and conventions of some music videos today such as "The Scientist" by Coldplay, but in other cases it uses the basic conventions of many music videos with a traditional beggining middle and end. I think my music video also challenged the traditional conventions of music videos we see today, by letting the audience decide

However, there are such a wide range of differant music video styles my final media production challenges, uses and develops conventions of real media products.