Matthew created a music video for an indie track with a melancholy tone. He edited the black and white video in Adobe Premier to create high contrast between light and shadow and linked the video to the song by showing the singer and instrument. The video challenges mainstream forms by using different effects and cutting between live footage and narrative. Feedback was mostly positive but noted an underdeveloped narrative. Matthew researched bands on YouTube and used Jamendo to find inspiration and information to tailor the video to the band's style.

1. EVALUATIONMatthew Menham

2. My TrackMy video is based around a optimistic indie track about someone who tells another person that they are leaving but not to worry as they will be ok on their own. Although the track’s narrative is positive there is a depressive feel throughout made by the dull Repetitive rhythm. This rhythm has a fast tempo and to make my video I looked at dance videos with similarities to the speed.

3. In what ways does your music video use, develop and/or challenge forms of media products? My music video uses many advanced forms of media products to achieve the effect I desired. I edited the whole video on adobe premier and manipulated the effects to create a high contrast between light and shadow. My video shows an instrument and a singer, linking it to the song strongly. Using black and white develops the video and raising the contrast to tone the shadow to make an old gritty effect.

4. My video challenges forms of media products because it is indie and I wanted to reflect that by applying a range of different effects to make it more unique and not mainstream. I achieved this through the editing of the video which was done in Adobe Premier, I decided to change it to black and white to reflect the melancholy tone of the track. Black and white footage reflects melancholy tone of the track“Clock” transition from live footage to narrative,This goes against the mainstream style of continuityEdited narrative

5. My video uses these forms however by cutting to live footage of my band performing the song, from the narrative and back again, in time with the beat to tie the footage in with the visuals. This is used in many dance videos and is a reoccurring convention throughout my video for stronger emphasis on the track. Transition between live footage and narrative which fades out as the track fades out

6. During my research I enjoyed other videos use of animation mixed with live action footage such as Justice’s D.A.N.C.E . I decided to work the same kind of effect into my video, and is a direct reference to the song and band synchronising the audio and visual elements of the project. I took developed my ideas from Justice’s D.A.N.C.EI used characters on the singer’s t-shirt to Link in the band and song with the visuals

7. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?My DVD digipak links in with my advert to successfully support my music video by using themes throughout my video and ancillary texts. The themes that are continued throughout these texts include the continual use of yellow text in the main product and the advert, and marine life which synchronises the track and ancillary texts. Brand identity is achieved by the use of stak black against bright colour and the choice to control colour in the digipak, for example there is a variation in colour but has a dark background which links in with the advert and reflects the video which has a dark feel throughout.

8. What have you learned from your audience feedback?I have mainly received positive reviews for my work however there are some criticisms regarding an underdeveloped narrative. The concept for the video was well received as shown by my audience feedback. My survey and commentary from my video show my audience identifying the correct genre however they weren’t sure if the video suited the genre. Mainly positive reviewsFrom my audience on YouTube and SurveyMonkeyBecause my narrative wasn’t explained or particularly Relevant it caused some confusion with my audience,I could have developed it by including more meis-en-scene and characters to the narrative.

9. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?To research how other bands portrayed themselves I browsed loads of videos on YouTube and Dailymotion before deciding on how I was going to film my video. I decided to look at British Indie/rock bands like Coldplay and Radiohead as the have particular unique ideas and I was influenced by the level of live action footage shown throughout their videos. Having the band playing the song connects them to the video not as actors but as musicians, and delivers a message of who the band are. Using YouTube I could view videos to take Inspiration from such as Coldplay’s In my place

10. I found my track on the free downloading Jamendo. This site helps put new artist’s material on the market as a sample for both audiences and producers. It really helped me plan my video as it lead me to the band’s MySpace page with background information. Having collected all this information I was able to tailor my video to the band’s unique dark style of indie/rock.After uploading my video I used the comment feature and made a survey on SurveyMonkey, which I published on Facebook. I targeted young people which helped with my evaluation stage as it was real life feedback from fans of the music I was using. These fans feel connected to the music as it is a big part of their lives and it helped that they were critical both positively and negatively.

11. In summery my music video came out to the high standard I was looking for. The editing produced a strong contrast between light and dark which helped strengthen the genre ties between the visuals and track. I have learnt to use many techniques to produce my work and am now familiar with core programmes such as Adobe Premier and Photoshop. I also used the internet to gather research and criticism which has helped shape my understanding of these media texts.OVERALLEND