Question 1 - Music Video Evaluation

1. Question 1 – In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
Robert Groom

2. • Narrative Structure – Our main theme throughout the music video album covers was a break down in love. We aimed to
create a story throughout our brand which shows how love can easily go from good to bad very quickly. The story
embedded within this video and album covers had a message of heartbreak, and its overall message was not to take things
for granted as they could soon disappear. We achieved this with a variety of different techniques. For example using the
same shot twice but with the couple in the first one, then just our male lead in the second one. This emphasises the
separation between the two and also gives a clear image of what has happened. To continue within the story we do no
feature any obvious reason as in to why the featured couple have broken apart. This leaves the audience with a question
in their mind as in to why the relationship ended. This could be for a large amount of reasons but it will never been truly
known by our audience. Allowing the mind to wonder in this way creates a reason for the people to think about the video
rather than having the answers obvious and handed straight too them. The use of the different flashbacks throughout the
music video shows that the male lead character is thinking about the times when the relationship was good. This cutting
technique was applied many times throughout the video and creates the main foundation for the story. A continuing trend
throughout the video was the couple holding hands or standing side by side. This familiar positioning is relatable for most
an allows a large majority of the audience to relate with the music video. This reoccurring trend was purposely done to
create the overall sense of love and compassion. Then by using the singular shots this breaks down that sense and takes
the audience on an emotional journey as the tone of the video changes. The idyllic locations which used to film in as well
was used when showing the positive times in the relationship and then reused to show that the male lead was still upset
over the break-up. Visiting the locations that the couple had once been to before shows that he misses her and this is
obvious too see. The locations which were once a happy place for the couple now represent a much more darker feeling
as even being in those locations provoke thoughts of regrets and anger.

3. • Mise-en-scene /locations – The locations we picked were suppose to represent happiness even in times of darkness. The
male lead visits the forest and the beach in which him and his ex-lover had visited. To then show him again in said
locations showed how he was upset over the break up. We picked the locations carefully but had plenty of stunning places
to choose from living in Norfolk. We wanted the couple shots to not only show the happiness of the pair but also have the
setting have an overall sense of brightness and content. Using Sheringham Park was key to giving the music video its
feeling of love. The background is not the main focus but the bright colours and scenery add a sense of ecstasy.
• Costumes – We carefully hand pick what clothing our characters would be wearing. We wanted them to wear slightly
different styles to represent how the differences did not make a difference to the love in which is felt between the couple.
However the males clothes are slightly more dull in colour to represent his personal misery of the break-up whereas the
female lead wore more bight clothing to express that the break-up has not had to big of an impact. Listening to the lyrics
we see the break-up from the male point of view and we see that it is him trying to let go. We do not hear about the girl’s
perspective therefore we picked the clothes accordingly to the way we feel the characters would act if they were real and
how they would have reacted to the break-up.
• Characters – The characters body language was key throughout the music video. We can see quite clearly at the start the
relaxed nature that the characters are acting in. Their body movements are free and untainted. But that soon changes with
the argument scene where the body language stiffens up and becomes more sporadic. The actors performed well in this
sense as we can see just from the visuals the relationship is slowing breaking down. The anger in which both characters
show as well hints that this is not the first falling out they have had and their body language is key to inferring that this
break down has been a long time coing.

4. • Props and Lighting – Although the music video has an overall sense of sadness the visuals remain quite bright throughout.
This was done to represent hope. By listening to the lyrics we understood that the singer was sad about the situation they
were in but not completely hopeless about their future. By making the couple visually fall apart but keeping the overall
brightness the same we achieved this sense of sadness along with a sense of faith. Lighting was also a key point in the
performance shots. We wanted 100 percent of the focus to be on our singer and nothing in the background. This again
represents the idea that the singer is the one going through the break-up. Lighting was key in our music video and bright,
day time lighting was helpful in creating the sense and mood we wanted.
• Camerawork and composition- We used a lot of mid to long range shots when creating this music video. These shots were
also particularly used when filming the couple shots. We wanted wide shots but with not to emphasise on the
background, the couple as to be the main focus. We wanted people to appreciate the creation of the shots passively whilst
also following the developing story between the couple. Most of our shots were simplistic and this was done to match our
simple story. However there was other parts to the shots that you had to look harder at to understand and this also
matched the story as there was many underlying messages that were there for the audience to discover. When composing
the shots we wanted to keep the couple or the male lead out of the centre of the shots and used the rule of thirds to
achieve a more professional look on the eye. Also using different focus and depths of field again took the focus away from
the background and into the couple. The background shots were to be appreciated but either passively or for a very small
amount of time, we wanted the majority of the audiences attention to be based on the developing story.
• Editing- When editing we worked with the already vibrant colour we had to use a slight colour grading to achieve the
effects that we wanted. We also used a lot of cross cuts or fades to show that the male lead was visiting the same places
he had been previously with his girlfriend. This technique was successful as it showed the direct link between the two
shots rather than leaving the audience to guess or try and remember if the shots were the same. As the songs pace
increased the editing followed suit. This starts to develop the story quicker but also shows the continuing attitude and
feelings towards the relationship..

5. Goodwin’s Theory
• Our music video does have a direct link to this theory as the lyrics and
the visuals are attached.