1. In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products.
Music video
2. Introduction
The song we chose was titled ‘Talk it out” and after analysing the lyrics we found the
emotion of love was indicated and that there was a sense of underlying conflict implied by
the title itself. We decided to apply it to two friends, whom are having problems which is
given a metaphorical presence in the form of our aptly named ‘Blackcoat’ figure, which
alludes to mystery and represents a physical barrier standing between the two friends.
The Video follows a linear format and is seen from the view of multiple characters, we did
this to inform the viewer that only one character can see blackcoat showing how the
problems between the relationship are coming from the overshadowed character.
We feel our storyline followed a less typical pattern as the friendship did not
reunite for a happy ending.
3. Artist
Among almost every music video we analysed from varying genre it
was common to see that the artists features somewhere in the video
but is not necessarily part of the narrative.
Research revealed that by having the artists appear in the video, the
song could be used as form of promotion for the artist's entire music
range not just the single, this makes an artist more popular and
perhaps more sellable as they are more well known and their
audience can identify with them.
Inspiration was taken from Oasis’ Supersonic where the artists are
stood singing against a wall with the attention drawn to them through
clothing, we decided to mimic this however the wall we used directly
related to our narrative, through the two girls and the rabbit which has
connotations of desire, indicating the desire to maintain their
friendship
4. Video intro
Previous to production and post production, we
examined Katy Perry’s Roar video which inspired our
intro, with its bold colours, cartoon comic effect
immediately catching our eye. Although the Roar intro is
far more complex and focused on the words, our idea
was to show the wall from the video as the backdrop as
it subtly navigates towards the narrative of the video
before it starts and have the title simply be layered over
the top to pull attention away, however the colour was
linked using the colour picker in iMovie, to inform the
aundcne of a link between the backdrop and the title.
5. Deep and Shallow focus
I was unsure of what deep and shallow was at first, so
after doing research I learned how to use it effectively
and the correct settings I had to change in order to
create the right effect these were aperture, ISO, and F-
points which refers to focal point (distance in focus
from lens). After finding how to use it, I then applied it to
my video in order to add a more sensitive and focused
appearance to my video as it forces the audience to
identify with the foreground such as the image below, it
also generates an alternate viewing experience as
opposed to flat imagery, this is commonly in indie music
videos.
6. Shots and angles
Throughout the research stages of my coursework, it was essential I learnt
various shot types and angles in order to to add atmosphere and mood to my
video. The images to the right highlight a few different shots and angles I used,
such as, a long shot, a medium two shot and high angle long shot. We also
cleverly used a mirror to capture the character's facial expression whilst
maintaining a backward position, this helped as it meant we could film the next
shot without breaking the 180 degree rule.
A high angle was used to showcase the the first time we see ‘black coat’ and
emily together, a high angle shot was used as AS taught me that this puts the
audience on a higher level and gives the characters the impression that they
are small and implies they are of less power. We wanted the high angle to
partner with the idea emily has personal issues.
7. Conclusion
In summary, the video we created was similar to the plan we had created and
covered all the areas we wanted to. In addition we managed to include
conventions commonly seen in Indie and music videos in general which
contributed to the aesthetic and enabled us to produce something close to what
we had planned. Furthermore, we feel the storyline, moods and visuals all are
similar to those of successful music videos and are very relatable to the audience.
