MUSIC VIDEO EVALUATION

Cliona Martin-Brown

I N W H AT WAY S D O E S Y O U R M E D I A P R O D U C T U S E , D E V E L O P O R C H A L L E N G E F O R M S A N D C O N V E N T I O N S O F R E A L M E D I A P R O D U C T S ?

My media product uses many conventions of real music videos / posters and CD digipaks. I used ideas from music videos I have

analysed, such as only having certain lyrics lip synced which is something I liked within 'The Neighbourhood's' music video

'Sweater Weather' which I wrote an essay on. Within that video - Jesse the lead singer - only lip syncs to the most sexual lyrics

which therefore leaves much more of an impact. With this in mind I decided to only use short shots of the lip syncing on the main

chorus emphasising the emotion felt from the singer. My audience are used to the conventions of indie/ alt rock music videos, but

with Royal Blood being slightly more gritty I think my video may be controversial as to what is typically expected due to the fact I

have used more of an Indie feel - using the blue projection over the singer mixed with a narrative of the girl who has cheated on a

partner as well as the selected lip sync shots without any drastic movement - rather than a performance based video which Royal

Blood incorporate into their own videos.

Although, I feel my music video uses the short, fast paced shots well as this is what you expect to see within a rock video as the

frames tend to keep in time with the beat. Therefore I have used and developed a convention and I think my audience will notice

this. Another convention I have used and developed would be from my Digipak. I researched many rock / indie / alt CD covers and

posters - particularly from Royal Blood themselves. From this I learned that my theme would need to be unique and definitely

incorporate the darker side of the music. I chose to photograph the girl within the narrative and her partner whom she has cheated

on to use for my digipak. I asked them specifically to have the stereotypical 'moody rock' look for the photo to truly bring out this

convention.

Therefore I feel that my music video uses stereotypical conventions of this genre, but then also explores more controversial

aspects.

H O W E F F E C T I V E I S T H E C O M B I N AT I O N O F Y O U R M A I N P R O D U C T A N D A N C I L L A R Y

T E X T S ?

I think my use of combining my products together was successful. I used the same

female character from within my video on the front cover and poster and carried out

the theme of nature through all products. The roses and the nature cut in shots fit

together really well and the Indie/Alternative theme from the video is continued onto

my digipak as the images are distorted and have the look of 'melting'. I love the

contrast of the supposedly 'romantic' pink rose with the rather depressed looking

characters in black and white on the digipak products as this really falls into the genre

I was intending.

I'd like to think that Royal Blood themselves would also create a similar digipak and

video to this as they have previously used the nature theme mixed with a subtle darker

undertone. They also have previously mixed narrative with performance and I think my

use of narrative and fast paced quick shots is very much their style.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE FEEDBACK?

From my audience feedback I learned that it is a very key part of video

making. From this I gained knowledge on who my target audience would be

and what they would want from that genre of music. I already had a rough idea

of this as I guessed it would be the same as Royal Blood themselves, but the

feedback just added some clarity to the matter and allowed my video to reach

those targets the best I could.

The feedback from my finished video allowed me to see that I did reach the

targets set for a successful music video in the genre I chose. Although if I was

to improve I would of added the more shots of the female character to really

emphasise the storyline and I would of included the male character on my

digipak into the video.

H O W D I D Y O U U S E N E W M E D I A T E C H N O L O G I E S I N T H E C O N S T R U C T I O N A N D

R E S E A R C H , P L A N N I N G A N D E VA LU AT I O N S TA G E S ?

I used new media technologies in all stages of my coursework. In the construction I used the video editing

software 'Adobe Premier Pro CC' to compile and edit my video. Having previously used a software on the

Mac's which is very similar to this in my AS Media studies I was confident with the basics of using it. I also

used a Canon DSLR camera and tripod to actually film the footage for my music video which was easy for me

as I have used these many times before. For the construction I also used a projector to create the blue

lighting over the singing character of my video.

I used 'Adobe Photoshop' to produce the CD cover and poster. I am very familiar with this software as I have

used it rather a lot in GCSE Media and within my A level Art course.

I also used sites such as 'Prezi' and 'SurveyMonkey' to create some digipak analysis and my questionnaire. I

had previously used SurveyMonkey, but it was my first time using Prezi and it was a very easy, yet enjoyable

process. It added an element of fun to my presentation.

I then used Microsoft office essentials and the internet to create the rest of my research/planning and this

evaluation. Obviously I was very familiar with these.

Finally I used blogger to present my work electronically as a blog. This shows that I am capable of using a

variety of different new media technologies.

CONCLUSION.. .

In conclusion, I feel my products have achieved their purpose. The video demonstrated

appropriate conventions within my selected Indie/Alt/Rock genre and also pushed some

contemporary ideas into light. Also I feel I have demonstrated successful aspects of mise-en-

scene, accurately framing a shot and using sound with images correctly.

My CD Digipak shows conventions of real media products, using photography/ themes and

juxtaposition within the elements of what the roses metaphorically stand for against the moody

young adults - a theme throughout all my products.

My poster also incorporates this with the font and image selection. Also the Photoshop edit of

the two images (roses and characters) merging together through melting is unique and serves

correctly to the style of this genre.

My feedback concludes that my conventions and stereotypes have been met and my video can

be seen as successful to its genre. I am personally pleased with the outcome of my products and

feel I have approached each task set with accuracy.