b

1. Question 1
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products
Toby Matthews

2. The song five to one by the doors, much like other psychedelic rock songs of
the same ilk, have a very dark feel to them. This is apparent through the audio;
the heavy drums, overdriven guitar and screaming vocals. My task was to
capture this sense of menace in the video.
One of the common conventions of rock n roll songs is reference to drugs and
alcohol, so I created a surreal scene that demonstrates the effects of a
hangover on our protagonist. I superimposed a video of an angry monkey onto
his head to symbolise a headache, and a washing machine on his stomach to
show how he’s feeling sick with all the alcohol sloshing round in him…

3. …To achieve this, I used Adobe
After Effects.
For the example of the
monkey, I first tracked the
motion of Faegan’s face (1a,
1b) so that whatever I put on
top would appear to be stuck
onto his head. I then masked
out a rough shape around the
monkey (2) so we could only
see its face, and attached that
to the track I just created.
When all these layers are
composited, it creates the
illusion that his head is being
peeled back to reveal the
workings inside (3).
(1a)
(1b) (2)
(3)

4. During research, I discovered that rock videos of the 1960s and 70s were filmed
ubiquitously on 16 or 32mm film, in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Modern music videos often opt
for a more filmic 16:9 ratio, but 4:3 was the universal video format of the 20th century.
So I decided to film my video in this ratio too. When shooting, I taped off the sides of
my LCD monitor so that I could compose my footage with this new ratio in mind. Then
in post-production I overlaid some real 16mm film stock to create a genuine grainy
feel.
Some examples
of the use of 4:3
in Doors music
videos
16:9 aspect ratio 4:3 aspect ratio

5. The lead singer and lyricist of the Doors, Jim Morrison, references other art
forms such as poetry in his lyrics. For example, he changed the words “Jack be
nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over The candlestick” to “Words dissemble,
Words be quick, Words resemble Walking sticks” in his poem ‘An American
Prayer’. In Five to One, he is possibly referring to the Dylan Thomas poem
‘Warp’: “Five into one, the one made of five into one, early Suns distorted to
late”.
So, I decided to develop this convention and make my own visual reference to
another art form in my music video. I chose to create a character based off
the artist Peter Blake’s painting “Self Portrait with Badges”. Blake was a
prominent Pop artist in the 60s, who tried to capture the zeitgeist of the time
in his work, much in the same way that Jim Morrison did, so he seemed a
fitting cultural reference. On the next slide is a comparison of the painting
and the character in my music video:

7. To further relate my video to the psychedelic rock era, I researched big cultural events from the year that “Five to
One” was released; 1968. So for the picket mob I found photographs of signs in riots, protests and other music
videos from the same time.
“Subterranean Homesick Blues” – Bob Dylan, 1965
Supermarket Pickets, New Jersey, 1968
Campaign rally for Richard Nixon, 1968
“Striking farmworkers and supporters begin a national boycott of California table grapes”, 1968

8. "Yellow Peril Supports Black Power," in which Asian men hold protest signs in support of
black activist Huey Newton, 1968

9. Lastly I challenged the typical conventions of psychedelic rock music
videos by creating something experimental and original that I hadn’t
seen done before. I decided to create an interesting transition
between two shots; a physical alternative to a cross-fade. I initially
did a cross-fade between the two shots in Adobe Premiere Pro, then
printed out all 29 frames of it individually (1). I then began painting
into each frame with increasing detail and movement (2,3). Once I
had painted them all (4) I scanned in each one and put them into
Premiere Pro to create an animation. The result was a morphing
transition between the shots, with every 29 frames a painting (5).
(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5)

10. Key editing moments in my music video
The following are a selection of examples of effective and considered
editing I used in my film. I learned the techniques and conventions of
these edits from research however they don’t just apply to music
videos
…

11. Cutting to the eye
In this first example I cut between two shots that share similar compositional features;
the horizontal strip depicted by the red line. Because they both share this feature in the
exact same position, our eyes don’t have to move across the frame to find the new focal
point, making the cut less obvious and jarring.
1 2

12. This second example uses colour to ease the change of location through the cut.
The light on the water (1) turns red as the camera loses focus (2). I then cut to
the next shot where it was also red and blurry (3) and pulled back into focus, to
complete the transition (4).
1 2 3 4

13. Cutting to the beat
From my research, I discovered that music videos often employ the
technique of cutting to the beat. This is when you perform cuts to match the
rhythm of the song. This is an effective technique of linking the visual and
aural elements of the music video to create a more impactful piece. It also is
used to maintain momentum in a film, and can be used to play with and
emphasise the pace of a video.
Here is a screenshot of the video track in my timeline, showing the length of each video clip. The regular duration of each clip
demonstrates how I have cut to the beat of the song, in order to drive the impetus of the film. As pictured, the clips get
shorter the further along the timeline they get, showing how I have increased the pace while maintaining the rhythm.

14. Match cuts
1 2 3 4
“A match cut is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which objects
in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots metaphorically.”
From research I discovered about the technique of match cutting. I used it in my music video as a
conceptual, quite surreal way of changing location rapidly. Because the two shots in a match cut
are visually similar, it reduces the abruptness of the cut and as in the above quote, moves forward
the action. The match cut allows the audience to fill in the gaps themselves, and quickly progress
the narrative. Pictured left is a famous example of a match cut in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space
Odyssey”. I have followed the same convention that he used in this film, which was released in
1968 – the same year as “Five to One”.
2001: A Space Odyssey

15. Narrative and Star Image
One of the most consistent features of Psychedelic Rock music videos that I noticed through research
was their conceptual nature, as pictured on the left from the video for “Strawberry Fields Forever”. I
tried to capture this surreal vibe in my music video; making it very conceptual and non-linear, while still
maintaining a clear narrative. To do so, I made the hair cutting scene a focal point, referencing it
throughout. This works as a tool to demonstrate a time frame; before and after the crazy night, and lets
the audience know when certain events are taking place. Without this I feel the narrative would have
been lost and the non-linear aspect decontextualised.
In the music videos I watched of the Doors, the star image of Jim Morrison is constructed as a stone-
faced frontman. This could suggest that he’s troubled, pensive or moody for example, and allows the
audience to project their own interpretation onto him.
I followed this convention when directing Faegan to create the same effect. This was particularly
effective when put in contrast with the scene where the insanity and torment inside his head is exposed
and we see extreme manifestations of fear and angst.
“Strawberry Fields Forever”, 1967
Jim Morrison