This is Question 1 of my A2 Media Evaluation

1. Question 1:
In what way does your media
product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?

2. Introduction
For my advanced Media Portfolio project this year we decided to do the music video task.
We had to create a music video to any song of our choice. Alongside this we had to
complete two ancillary tasks to accompany the main project. For this we decided to
complete a CD insert, including the front and back cover of the album and a band website.
When deciding on a song, we as a group wanted to go for a very up beat, fast paced song but
at the same time wanted to follow on from our preliminary task song choice which was from
the 1970’s era. After many suggestions and much deliberation we decided on ‘Stuck in the
Middle With You’ by Stealers Wheels. We felt this up beat folk, pop song was an image we
could capture and hopefully recreate well. We also felt we had a wide spectrum of ideas that
we could pick and choose from such as performance based ideas, a narrative and even some
intertextual references. Therefore this was the obvious choice for our group.

3. Music Video: Intertextuality
When it came to the narrative of our music video we decided we wanted to do something which we thought
was quite clever and challenged the typical conventions associated with a music video. We looked into our
song choice and we recognised that it featured on the 1992 hit film Reservoir Dogs. So as a group we came
up with the idea to essentially parody a parody, in a sense we would include our own version of the
Reservoir Dogs scene where one of the characters is tortured to the song and actually has his ear cut off with
a cutthroat razor. Instead we decided we would give off the initial impression to the audience that we are
going to cut someone's ear off but instead we would simply shave him. By doing this we believe it is very
unique and challenges typical conventions associated with music videos as we are incorporating several
forms of intertextual references in our film. This is because our narrative is referring to the movie Reservoir
Dogs, but our performance based scenes are recreating a version of Stealers Wheels original video.
To make sure that people who hadn’t necessarily seen the film Reservoir Dogs, for example some of our
younger audiences, we decided to actually feature one of our characters watching the iconic scene in the
music video. We believed this would draw the audiences attention to the intertextual references we were
making in our music video.
When it comes to actually watching our music video some of the audience will simply be passive and watch
it for the entertainment purpose. However some will be active and even research around it, watch the
Reservoir Dogs scene and the Stealers Wheels music video and look at how well we captured our
intertextual references.
We thought it was essential as soon as we realised that Reservoir Dogs used this song in the film, that we
had to make some sort of intertextual reference to it. However we didn’t initially plan on basing the whole
video around that whole concept. But I believe when looking back the intertextuality between the Reservoir
Dogs narrative scenes and Stealers Wheels performance style scenes, it was very effective and successful.

4. Music Video: Editing/Effects
The general concept and purpose of a music video is to essentially entertain and keep the
attention of the viewing audience. Therefore when it came to the editing and effects in our
music video we decided to go for a fast paced, quick cuts and sharp transitions concept, to
keep our audience hooked on what they were watching throughout.
When it came to the cuts from one scene to another, such as band shots to narrative, we
kept them very fast and swift as we felt it packed more into the experience. This however
challenges the original video created by Stealers Wheels. In their original video they kept
to quite a slow paced video, with various shots of the band and the odd lyric to video
match, such as when they say: “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right”. This didn’t
exactly match up to their upbeat song and we decided we wanted to do the song justice
and match the video with the songs tempo. Therefore we challenged the conventions of the
original videos pace and tempo involved when it came to cuts In the video.
As there are both band performances and a narrative featured in our music video, we had
to get the correct balance of this and not feature one more frequently than the other. So to
prevent this we decided to go from one band shot to one narrative and so on. We believe
by doing this it allowed us to stretch the two parts of the music video out and keep the
audience hooked. This is a common editing technique used in existing media products, as
getting the correct balance is essential In keeping the audience’s attention. Showing in
some cases we followed typical conventions of existing media products.

5. Music video: Editing/Effects
One piece of editing we used to make a scene in the music video stand out, was in the shaving scene. For
this we used a lot of fast paced cuts to show different angles of the shave and make it look like a long
period of time happened in a couple of seconds (effectively a time lapse). We felt like this was an
effective editing technique that is used in a lot of music videos, films etc. to show a long period of time
passing in a short period of time and because our song only lasts a couple of minutes, we needed to
capture this scene in the shortest possible time.
One effect that took a large proportion of time to perfect was the motion tracking at the very start of our
music video. To do this particular effect/ piece of editing we had to zoom in on the radio and actually
freeze frame it and this is when we motion tracked. The radio was actually turned off when we filmed,
however we later edited it and found a font for the radio so it looked it like it was turned on. The writing
went from right to left across the screen, as if it would on any normal radio. We thought to give ourselves
that extra bit of mise-en-scene and link better with our ancillary tasks, we had the writing say ‘Stuck in
the Middle With You – The Bike Locks’. We thought by having our band name on the radio, instead of
Stealers Wheels, it was more effective and actually drew the audiences attention the editing we had done
there.
Another key effect that we used was to put different filters on top of the different clips. For the Reservoir
Dogs clips we decided to drop a filter on that made it darker and stand out from the other clips. We felt by
doing this it drew the audiences attention to the narrative we were trying to display. We also thought that
it made the camera quality slightly grainy and added to the era we were trying to capture and develop on
the original scene from Reservoir Dogs. We also decided to put a filter on our performance element of the
music video. We did this because in these parts we had a lot of lights that changed colour to sound, we felt
by adding this filter it drew attention to the work that had gone into the mise-en-scene of our performance
section and got the most out of the lighting we used. We thought this idea of filters for different sections
of our music video, challenged what existing media products do, this is because they tend to use one filter
throughout the whole video, however by us using two different filters for the different sections, it makes
each individual section stand out.

6. Music Video: Roles and Characters
When considering different roles and characters in our music video we almost had to divide it into two
sections: the performance roles and the characters in our intertextual reference to Reservoir Dogs.
We decided in the Reservoir Dogs section that we would have the two key characters that can be found in the
original clip from the film. The antagonist which is Michael Madsen, who cutting the ear off and the
protagonist who is the cop, which is the character getting his ear cut off. So we decided to keep this as close to
the original as we could, we would dress our two characters in as similar clothing. So the protagonist was
dressed in a white shirt with a bowtie, as seen in the original clip, however we switched out the tie for a
bowtie. Our antagonist was dressed in all black, which is the colour of the cop uniform in the original scene,
this was as close as we could come, as we did not have access to an American cop uniform. We wanted to
have a joke with these two characters as it was obviously a parody of Reservoir Dogs, however we also
wanted to recreate it to the point the audience could understand our intertextual reference to the original media
product. So therefore we incorporated similar dancing to the original scene, props such as the cut throat razor
and the protagonist is seen to be struggling, as seen in the original product. By incorporating these characters
we feel like we have developed on the original characters but also challenged the original characters, this is
because we have had a joke with them, as well as telling the narrative of the scene.
When it came to the performance element of our music video we wanted to represent a real band and
incorporate all the instruments that we could identify, being used in the song: acoustic guitar, base, drums and
electric guitar. So therefore we decided we would have four characters, all playing one instrument each. We
decided to comply to conventions of real media products by having the narrative scenes played by band
members, however we put what we though was a unique twist, that challenges conventions of other music
videos by making the two band members who were in the narrative stay in the same clothes. We thought this
was a funny twist and played on the parody element that little bit more, as they stayed in the Reservoir Dogs
clothes throughout, playing on the intertextual references that little bit more.

7. Music Video: Location
When it came to the location of our music video we had to think about how we could capture all aspect, such as narrative and
performance. We decided that we mainly wanted to focus on our narrative side a find/ use a similar location as seen in the Reservoir
Dogs scene, therefore adding to our intertextual reference.
We managed to narrow it down to two choices, a barn setting at Stubbing Court Wingerworth or an abandoned warehouse in Sheffield
city centre. Obviously we went for the abandoned warehouse setting and this came through out of complete chance as one of our group
knows someone that had a gig there, who gave us contact information of the person who owned it and thankfully they agree to let us
shoot there. The warehouse was a perfect location to capture the Reservoir Dogs scenes as it completely played on the parody we were
attempting to create and looked very similar to the setting in the original scene, therefore adding to our mise-en-scene.
We also decided to film a large proportion of the performance based aspect in the warehouse, we did this because we felt it helped the
audience make more of link between the two aspects of our video: narrative and performance. The warehouse is also used regularly for
gigs and therefore already had a stage/ space cleared, ready for us to use, along with a lot of equipment we were allowed to use, which
we would not have access to if we chose to film somewhere else. We noticed that in a lot of existing music videos it is not common to
film a large proportion in one location and therefore we felt we challenged the usual conventions of media products.
In some parts of our performance side we decided to get some shots outside of the warehouse and get some more natural shots. For this
we used a classic mini cooper and got some shots inside and outside of the car. This was used because we felt the car fit In with our
genre and era and also it combined well with our ancillary tasks. We also used the Stubbing Court area in Wingerworth to get some
more scenic shots and also on of our group members house. We felt by incorporating these more natural shots it bought into the theory
of the active audience, who want to see more of the band in everyday life and what goes on. This is a common feature in many existing
products so we decided to follow this convention.

8. Music Video: Location

9. Music Video: Camera Angles
In our music video we used a variety of different camera shots and angles. One particular
shot we used was a wide angled shot, this was used to capture the entire of the band, whilst
performing with all the instruments. We did this because this is a shot that is used frequently
in music videos to show that the band is actually playing the instruments and allows the
audience to establish who is in the band and who does what in the band.
Another key shot used was the extreme close ups of the guitar. This was used because we
wanted to show one of us playing the lead guitar solo in the middle of the song. We also
wanted to create that match on action feel, where what the audience was hearing, is what
they were seeing. We also thought it wouldn’t be a very convincing music video unless the
audience actually thought we were playing the instruments, luckily with in the group there
was two of us who could play guitar so we learnt the different riffs and chords to make it
convincing to the audience. We believe this adhered to the usual conventions of similar
music videos because the bands are actually performing in their music videos and playing
the instruments correctly.
Also in our music video we used various panning/ tracking shots, we did this in the
Reservoir Dogs/ narrative scenes. In particular, we did this in the scenes where one of our
characters was dancing and moving. We did this because this similar technique was actually
used in the original Reservoir Dogs scene and we thought if we captured a similar shot and
similar dancing, it would help our audience follow the intertextual references that little bit
easier. Obviously this is developing on top of an already existing piece of media, in
particular a film, which is where this particular technique is generally used. But it can also
be noticeable in existing music videos, who also go for the narrative concept like us.