The student created a music video for the song "Pieces" by Stone Sour, which did not previously have a music video. To make the video realistic, the student analyzed Stone Sour's music videos, particularly "Hesitate", borrowing compositional frames and the depiction of smashing a memory against a wall. The student also drew from Parkway Drive's unconventional surfing-themed "Karma" video, filming outdoors rather than indoors and using a warm filter to convey a feeling of contentment rather than darkness. By both conforming to and challenging conventions of the heavy rock genre, the student aimed to create a unique video that still felt like a real media product.

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

2. For my main media product, I created a music
video for the song “Pieces” by a band called
Stone Sour. I chose this song because it
doesn’t have its own music video so I could
start from scratch. I looked into the music
genre for inspiration among different artists
and the main artists that influenced my media
product were Stone Sour and Parkway Drive,
a band in the heavy metal sub-genre,
metalcore.

3. As Stone Sour is the band that I am using for my
media product, I thought it was a good idea to
look at a few of their music videos so that I could
use the conventions of the videos to make mine
more realistic. I found one video that I really liked
the look of and used it in my work.

4. “Hesitate” is the song that I have taken most of my inspiration from. I especially
admired the computer generated images, unfortunately I do not have the knowledge
or equipment to create something like they did with the fire, so I only took the
composition of the frames. Here you can see that I have used the conventions of the
song and woven them into my video. The first set of two frames, show the actors
hitting a wall. Still one is from “Hesitate” and shows the actor punching a photo frame,
I have interpreted that he is trying to shatter a memory. I have taken that and used it
by having my actor punch the wall where him and his previous partner had written
their initials. This shows that the situation was out of any control in both videos.

5. Stills 3&4 show us what the narrative of the music video is based around. The photo frame is
spinning in air across the burning room, this brings emotion to the character and he just pushes it
aside. I felt that this was a major turning point in the music video and had to use it in my own video
as dismissing the woman gives the character power over what is to come. Frames 4&5 show the
characters in an open position. Holding their arms wide open let the audience in, it keeps them
interested because the characters are not in closed positions and are keeping a relationship with
the audience. I really liked this shot from the music video because the flames in the background are
giving a bit of flare on the camera, signifying the power in his position. I also used a flare effect on
my own video. Frame 7 shows the character to be in a fairly natural position, the character seems
to be comfortable in the situation by having his arms down by his side. I have used this position
most of the time when the character is singing, like he is at his most comfortable when singing, this
signifies the move from turning point to the better life.

6. I have used different conventions of a real media
product in my own from a Stone Sour video to
create the illusion that my video has also come
from Stone Sour. But when watching other music
video’s, I felt I needed to challenged the normal
conventions of a music video. Parkway Drive’s
music video “Karma” inspired me to do so.

7. These stills are taken from an unconventional music video for a metal sub-genre song. The music is
quite heavy and would expect a fairly dark and meaningful music video; instead we are given a video
that is filmed on an Australian beach and the members of the band start surfboarding with their
instruments. The video has a humorous element because it is very unexpected and doesn’t conform
to the conventional expectations. In the first still, we see the band together on a beach performing.
A performance clip is very often used for this genre because the performance itself is quite
impressive. The rest of the stills are of the band surfing and messing around with their instruments
in the sea, the singer is still singing whilst sitting on a surf board, but there is no way the rest of the
band would be able to play in the sea. We see that by the last frame as the guitarist throws his
guitar into the sea and plays air guitar, this shows the humorous element. I have interpreted this as
the band taking a stand against conformity of a serious/dark music video for the genre and have
created a light feel. I really admired them for this video because it has told me that not all videos
have to be conventional.

8. “Karma” inspired me to do something different with my video as I was not able to get a band
together to film. Heavy rock/metal videos are often filmed indoors and have a depressing tone.
The tone of my video is quite uplifting, because the narrative isn’t a sad one but it may be
interpreted that way. The character is looking forward to starting his new life. My media product
does not conform to the conventions of my genre, as shown by each frame, my video is outside
and the filter I have used gives a warm glow which gives a feeling of contentment. In frame 5, my
character is at the beach. The beach is seen as a tranquil place, somewhere people go to relax,
this does not match my genre but I feel it works quite well. Frame 6 shows my character lying
down on the grass singing. The position with his arms behind his head show him in a relaxed
position, once again, representing how comfortable he is when singing and enjoying the move into
his new life. In frame 2, my character is running toward the beach(his new life). In heavy
rock/metal music videos, the characters are often static with little movement during a narrative
clip. By having my character constantly moving, this shows the significance of the narrative.
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9. There have been two main influences on my media product
which help me to use and develop forms and conventions of
real media but they also help me to challenge it. I feel that the
balance between conforming and challenging conventions helps
my product to mimic a real media product and also pushes it to
be unique without being tacky. Having a different narrative will
keep an audience interested because they would not often see
a heavy rock music video without there being a lot of
performance clips within the narrative. Performance clips can
be repetitive which is why I haven’t created a performance
based music video. My music video is repetitive in some ways
without being too noticeable and boring. The way I have
created my music video, by developing and challenging real
media products, has helped mine to appear as a real media
product itself.

10. There have been two main influences on my media product
which help me to use and develop forms and conventions of
real media but they also help me to challenge it. I feel that the
balance between conforming and challenging conventions helps
my product to mimic a real media product and also pushes it to
be unique without being tacky. Having a different narrative will
keep an audience interested because they would not often see
a heavy rock music video without there being a lot of
performance clips within the narrative. Performance clips can
be repetitive which is why I haven’t created a performance
based music video. My music video is repetitive in some ways
without being too noticeable and boring. The way I have
created my music video, by developing and challenging real
media products, has helped mine to appear as a real media
product itself.