In our music video we have used images and a narrative that challenge and go against some conventions of other real media products. Our video displays scenes of domestic abuse, violence and intimidation this is a high risk that some media companies would not want to take as it could effect the sales as some music channels would not want to show these scenes and if they did they may only want to show them at certain times which will limit the amount of views and may effect the popularity of the video. However evidence from other videos that are unable to be shown at certain times and do go against conventions with certain scenes, images or language, have proven to be extremely successful. For example video ‘S&M’ by pop sensation Rihanna her video was only allowed to be viewed after nine o’clock and was inaccessible to sights such as youtube without an account to prove that you are over the age of 18 the hype, excitement and curiosity created around this made the video and song very successful and it went to number one the next day. Therefore showing how in some cases in the media world, taking risks and challenge conventions can enforce an exciting and dynamic effect.
Our video genre is grime, during our researching process we looked at many different videos in this genre, and found they all kept a similar gritty down to earth atmosphere. We kept this atmosphere but added a more dramatic edge through our choice of narrative and being able to allow the audience to supply sympathy for the protagonist female character. We felt this then allows broadening of our audience as we still appeal to fans of grime music and wretch 32 himself, we now may entice people who are fans of other genres to see a different and maybe more appealing side to our edgy grime video.
In our video production we have used a variety of different contrasting cutaways and shots instead of keeping a limited amount of scene changes and shots, as we all felt it kept the business and panic within the song alive in the video and suited the narrative of our video. Though in other music videos a limited amount of shots or cutaways to other scenes or even just one simple shot can be very effective in a simplistic way and allows a emotional connection with the audience. This is used in videos such as Jessie jay ‘ who you are’ it does enable all the advantages of using limited amount of shots and only one location, however we felt our diverse use of cutaways, shots and locations fitted and worked well with our song choice.
We have still stuck by the genre of grime as in the gritty atmosphere, camera work, dark lighting, and editing have all been kept similar to other typical grime videos however the dramatic abusive relationship and the innocence and purity challenge the conventions and developing grime videos.
We used a varied amount of transitions in our music video to either fade away, overlay or flash to images that relate to the lyrics of the song which is a generic feature of music videos, also by speeding up and slowing down certain parts of our video to fit with the tempo of the song also being a typical feature of music video as a media product this fitting in with its expectations.
Generally we have used different ways to fit in, challenge and develop conventions of music videos whether being with in our genre or the overall appropriate expectations of all music videos.
EVALUATION QUESTION 2 The main product is based on an overall theme of abuse in a young relationship and how there is always someone who can look out for you, we displayed this through the use of the angel. Throughout the whole project we have used the same gritty style with a large range of effects to create a very atmospheric aura which makes the perspective viewer more engaged in the video and also brings an element of mystery , which makes them intrigued to see what happens in the video as for the posters and CD cover portray this very well.
The CD cover and the poster compliment each other very well, as we use all methods of planning and organization to create our designs which enabled us to gain the maximum amount of detail. Using all aspects of our knowledge to make it eye-catching to the viewer especially the target audience that is the younger generation.
The Angel is the main character in the whole video, so we thought it would be appropriate to make the angel the main focus for the CD and poster. The angel is a constant element throughout the every scene in the video as she is the main performer reciting the chorus.
We Created the CD cover and the poster on Photoshop taking new images of the angel in the studio as well as using screen grabs for the poster from the initial video. We used layering to create a greater depth in the images as well as making it more realistic, we also used blur effects to create an aura around the main focal point. Moreover we also have used special low-key lighting around the angel, which puts her in a spotlight which keys in with are house style. All image have had there contrast and brightness altered to allow the theme to follow thought and made black and white, Apart from the poster which as a blurred layer enable the man and women to show thought as well as the angel so you can see exactly what’s going on.
The poster helps to promote the song and video as we use one of are location from the video for the back ground linking it to the video and also all of the characters which are involved in the video are used on the poster, this draws in the attention of the perspective viewer who many buy the single and will grab there attention of the poster which may also make them want to see what happens in the video, using the different companies at the bottom of the poster who have sponsored the track will also help contribute to the selling of the product as the perspective view can look on those website and listen to the song and download or buy it
Question 3. What did you learn from your audience feedback?
To collect information on our music video we asked a number of academic students and people inside the profession their opinon and asked some precise questions. We found overall a mainly positive response about our overall video.
We did have some negative feedback about our themes and ideas that represented in our music video. Some spectators felt that the domestic scenes were to negative and controversial for a wide audience, however other people thought that it fitted in with today’s pop culture. In today’s industry many artists and music video directors push the social boundaries; therefore we thought this would help us appeal more to our target audience.
When asking about the professional look of our video we had a mixed response, the spectators said that they liked the narrative along side with the performance and thought it was really affective, they also said they thought it made it look like a real music video as it followed certain conventions in a typical music video. Others thought that the camera and lighting let the video down when we used outside location. On the other hand they thought it gave the video a social realism affect, which a lot liked.
Many of the spectators commented on the mise en scene in our video, they thought the use of the symbolic angel was really effective, artistic and a different original idea. They liked how we had her in the studio with the bright lights they thought this looked very professional. Some spectators commented on the narratives costume, saying it might have been more effective if we had used more costume ranges but as we wanted it to be a continued story we decided to use the same costume throughout, many thought this was fine, and worked well. The male character was dressed stereotypical, lots of people commented say they really like that fact we reconsider media.
We also had some specific comments about the acting in our film, many people were surprised at the quality and how well the narrative was represented. A lot of people also commented on the precise lip-syncing. We also has specific comments about our use of transition fades and other editing effects, many said that they thought the fades between shots and the slow motion effects and the black and white filterand the dazed look gaved look we added made the over all vidio look more profetional.
We asked 5 people what their favourite thing was about are music video.
· 1st Person- ‘ I loved the use of the angle , I thought it was really creative and I was impressed with the controversial .’
· 2nd person- ‘I thought the different locations helped bring the music video alive.’
· 3rd person-‘I liked the mise en scene, costume and locations of the video altogether had a brilliant effect.’
· 4th person’ I thought all of the editing effects which were used for example slow motion and transition fades, in the video were really effective.’
· 5th person-‘I like the way that loads of different camera angles were used high and low angled shots were used to show power and status, the cutaway and the shot reverse shot sequence made it look professional.
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Audience Feedback Question 3
How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? (question 4)
We used extremely wide range for our media product through out all stages such as planning, constructing the video, research and evaluation.
Through our research part of the over all process technologies such as different websites came in useful to look up different artists and media styles to compare and analyze for our inspiration. An example of the websites we used is youtube came in to great use when watching music videos to analyze, such when we all came together to watch videos ‘love the way you lie’ by Rihanna and Eminem,’ Fighter’ by Christina Aguliara and ‘Whos laughing now’ by Jessie Jay. This enabled us to see helpful comparisons through different genres and styles of music in terms of music videos and what conventions each genre and style follow, supplying us with information we needed to start planning our music video. We did a great deal of planning and research as we all felt it was essential to have a full understanding of real media products before creating our own, when supplying images to put on the blog and study we used google images to save them from for example when researching costumes and different CD covers being beneficial for our planning. We also used images taken our self of location choices through the use of the cannon digital video camera supplied to us by the college.
When constructing our video the digital Cannon camera was used to film all scenes of the video. We used different techniques when filming such as when aiming for a very focused effect we used the tripod to ensure that the camera was still so that no movement would distract from what was happening in the scene. Another technique was handheld which was used when doing over the shoulder shots looking down on the female creating and intimidating atmosphere we did these shots using hand held as it was easier to get the correct angle we needed. We again used a hand held shot yet with the use of a fig rig when doing a panning shot toward the end of our video this allowed us to have more control over the camera yet still being hand held so still created a busy and shaky effect that we wanted. For the chorus of our video we used the green room suit but however removing the green screen and having a plane black back ground supplying mane focus of the angel who’s costume is white creating a contrast of the two colours and making the character stand out for a more dramatic effect, the lighting we used in the green room was bright white light focusing solely on the angel again enforcing that dramatic effect we needed.
During the editing part of our media production the main software used was ‘Final cut pro’ it was essential is allowed to add great effects to our music video such as contrasting lighting, light ray effect, black and white filter and changing motion from fast to slow. We uploaded clips from filming to final cut pro through the use of ‘Quick time player’ it was a fast and simple way of getting clips from A to B. We took the music for our song from youtube then converting it and adding to our timeline on final cut pro then we found difficulty fitting the music with the clips as we have a certain amount of lip synching in our video, and we also wanted the tempo of the song to fit with the mood and motion in the scene which, as we discovered through our research process, is a convention of most typical music videos. In some scenes we wanted to blur over two scenes over one another helping us to explain certain insinuations in our narrative, for example when the angel’s face is shadowing over the female characters when she is in states of distress we did this by overlaying the two images over two different sectors of our timeline.
Along with our music video with had to present example of CD cover, inside and back cover and a poster of how we would advertise this single. We used google images again to supply us with examples of different CD covers from professional artist and analyzed them to see different influences for our own CD cover and poster. After taking pictures to place on our CD cover through use of the digital camera also used images from our actual music video by using screen grabs. We moved on to using ‘Photoshop’ to edit and develop the images.
Through out all processes we were updating and adding information to our blog to display how what we have been doing and how we have moved through each stage. Uploading all images and typed information. With out all these media technologies we would never have been able to supply our video to the standard that it is and would have found the entire process extremely difficult
Comparison of the differences of AS to A2
Throughout the filming this year we as a group have developed our skills greatly, from the first stages of development and storyboards to the use of the hand held camera and the angles which work best for the surrounding. This year we also combined the use of the professional studio cameras as well as the use of hand held cameras. This enhanced are skills in the using the technical equipment.When recording our music video we used the profesional lighting, in the studio, to create maximum effect, whilst we were recording in the studio we used a variety of different cameras to create a more intense effect. we used vision mixing on the tricaster, this created fades and camera angles to enable you to see the action from every angle possible.
We found that this year our skills were much more developed when it came to the use of 'Final Cut Pro' we bacame more comfortable as a result we were able to develop our work nmuch faster and to a better standard t olast year.
The film this year is has to be slightly longer than last year as many songs have a longer duration then the 3 minute limit last year, this effected our filming this year because we when it came to the editing we realised we hadn’t filmed enough footage to put in our music video, in turn this meant we didn’t have enough locations in mind so had to develop our ideas further meaning we made alot of changes throughout the editorial process.
We all found the change between AS and Alevel significantly different in the view that it is more work load. However with knowledge we had already learned from AS we feel we have more general media contexual knowledge and practical media experience to imput, which though added more work we could do it made it easier to fully understand and express our skills and attributes.
Overall we worked much more efficiantly this year and were able to explore a wider use of more professional technology.
Technical Codes
In our music video we used lighting to connote emotions and mood. In the studio performance part of the video, we used bright professional lighting to emphasise the angel and her purity. It also gave a shadow effect adding to the eary nature of the overall theme. In the scene in the bedroom at first we used naturalistic lighting however because of the lack of professional equipment we decided that the black and white overlay to help represent the miserable tone, we also used a Vinete effect which gave a dazed effect to show her confused emotion, it also softened the frame making it look more visually attractive. In the scene where she runs through the part we used completely naturalistic lighting as the night-time helped show her lost emotions and venerability. We also thought it helped show the angel purity as she stood out in bright white in darkness.
The last scene at Salford Quays was in juxtaposing with the rest of the dark effect of the video, it was naturalistic lighting however the cold winter sun hep emphasise the two characters facial expression and also helped the location look more effective as the sunbeam against the metallic buildings look more cold and distant connotations of the male character.
In the opening scene of our music video, in the studio, we used three different cameras to get a variety of shots. We decided upon two different close ups, from different angles and a long shot to show the full costume of the angel. We faded between all three shots throughout the chorus, helping it to look more interesting and capturing the facial expressions at moments of the song or hand gesture adding to the intensity of the song. Inbetween the chorus inserts of the scene that is about to take place cut in; these are over the shoulder shots of the male and female characters. This was to show the facial expressions of both characters so the audience understand their roles. It also shows a conversation takes place.
We opened the domestic scene with an establishing shot/ two shot showing all three characters, this first displays to the audience that the angel is a symbolic presence in the scene. As the male towers over the female we cut to an insert of a fist, this is to add the tension and show his aggression.
Although in the music video we don’t have continuity editing, we wanted some sort of transition fade or effect to keep the storyline. Inbetween the scene, for instance, the bedroom and the scene running through the car park a bright white flash is used as a transition. This is effective because it happens just as violence would take place and it fits in with the lighting of the car park.
We used cut a ways to build the tension, in one scene we cut away to a extreme close up of a fist helping the editing become more fast paced fitting the song . in our editing process we wanted to make the video more interesting and more conventional to a music video therefore we added sow motion and speed up, we did this to add a more dramatic effect and to symbolize the emotions in our music video. In the domestic scene in our video we used a reverse motion when she is thrown as it cuts better to the beat this way and is more visual.
In our music video we wanted to represent a domestic relationship as an interpretation of our song lyrics, we wanted it to be controversial as we felt this took on today’s current/modern take on pushing the boundaries in music videos for instance we took inspiration from Rihanna as in many videos she’s pushed the boundaries creating more publicity surrounding her up and coming album. In our music video we wanted to be quite metaphoric and symbolic in our choice of character in the way our themes are represented.
Our storyline was about a threatening relationship where the girl in the relationship tried to run away , we used different locations to symbolise her feelings. We used a deserted car park to portray her loneliness, we used exterior shots of the car park to show her desperation and isolation. We used the park because we saw the overbearing trees made her look venerable and fragile, the darkness also helped add to her vulnerability. When we went to Salford quays we thought this location was good as it was visually attractive it also fitted the modern style of music.
Another part of our mise en scene that we carefully thought out was costume. When planning out what we wanted our angel to represent visually we wanted her to look very pure and demure; therefore we used white as it is a colour that connotates purity. However we wanted to give her a graphic edge, so we used white, feather like eyelashes as we thought this gave her a mysteriously creepy appearance helping us to represent her angelic yet spooky persona.
We wanted the main female character to be dressed in a way that connoted her venerability; therefore we have her in a pyjama top and shorts as this makes her look innocent and it also expresses her desperation. We used over exaggerated, over the top make up displaying her tears as we thought it was a convention of a music video.
We wanted our main male character to represent a stereotype of a typical abusive partner; therefore we used a modern dress sense of the R’n’B, we used a ‘snapback’ and dark clothing to represent his twisted and intimidating personality. In the media young black males are represented in a negative light so we decided to use this stereotype to our advantage.
When considering how we could represent our narrative through our mise en scene, we thought carefully about how through performance we could display our ideas. As a result of this we had many discussions and meeting on how we could display our narrative we wanted Rhys (abusive man) to act extremely intimidating and aggressive, we wanted the female to be the complete opposite and seem very innocent and vulnerable. Another part of the performance aspect we used was the studio; we had the angel lip syncing as this is a typical music video convention.
Overall we used mise en scene; our choice of locations, our costume, our performance to represent our different themes, ideas and narratives in our music video we feel we did this well and put a lot of thought into it.
Our storyline was about a threatening relationship where the girl in the relationship tried to run away , we used different locations to symbolise her feelings. We used a deserted car park to portray her loneliness, we used exterior shots of the car park to show her desperation and isolation. We used the park because we saw the overbearing trees made her look venerable and fragile, the darkness also helped add to her vulnerability. When we went to Salford quays we thought this location was good as it was visually attractive it also fitted the modern style of music.
Another part of our mise en scene that we carefully thought out was costume. When planning out what we wanted our angel to represent visually we wanted her to look very pure and demure; therefore we used white as it is a colour that connotates purity. However we wanted to give her a graphic edge, so we used white, feather like eyelashes as we thought this gave her a mysteriously creepy appearance helping us to represent her angelic yet spooky persona.
We wanted the main female character to be dressed in a way that connoted her venerability; therefore we have her in a pyjama top and shorts as this makes her look innocent and it also expresses her desperation. We used over exaggerated, over the top make up displaying her tears as we thought it was a convention of a music video.
We wanted our main male character to represent a stereotype of a typical abusive partner; therefore we used a modern dress sense of the R’n’B, we used a ‘snapback’ and dark clothing to represent his twisted and intimidating personality. In the media young black males are represented in a negative light so we decided to use this stereotype to our advantage.
When considering how we could represent our narrative through our mise en scene, we thought carefully about how through performance we could display our ideas. As a result of this we had many discussions and meeting on how we could display our narrative we wanted Rhys (abusive man) to act extremely intimidating and aggressive, we wanted the female to be the complete opposite and seem very innocent and vulnerable. Another part of the performance aspect we used was the studio; we had the angel lip syncing as this is a typical music video convention.
Overall we used mise en scene; our choice of locations, our costume, our performance to represent our different themes, ideas and narratives in our music video we feel we did this well and put a lot of thought into it.
