Friday 9 December 2011
Friday 2 December 2011
Evaluation
Question One:
Mise en Scene - Location
The other convention that we chose to develop was mise en scene - location. Due to the theme of Alice in Wonderland, which we decided to base our music video on, there was a variety of different locations that was associated with the theme. The reason being as this theme is based upon everything being 'wacky' and 'out of place. Therefore, chosing the location for our tea party, we felt that outside backing onto a row of dark trees would be best for what we were trying to portray. The mise en scene, regarding the props, fitted into the theme and genre perfectly with the top hat, mugs and costume that Alice is wearing.
To compare our video along with another, I chose Sarah Bareilles - 'Love Song' due to choice of video. The reason being as her video is filmed so that it looks like she is placed inside a music box playing the piano. I chose this music video as I felt the link with how the footage is filmed is portrayed in such a way to provide a message. With the song choice, the video is filmed in such a way that it plays with the scale (another factor that is featured heavily within Alice in Wonderland) having the singer and instrument scaled down to appear within a music box.
Challenged conventions
Theme
Motif
To challenge a convention, we decided to created a motif (recurring visual theme) as this would ensure that the narrative was consistent for the viewer. We showed the motif through out our video by using scale, making things appear smaller with the use of the camera angle. We decided to use this as we felt that our song was 'dark' and the video portrayed this, therefore we needed a contrast with some aspects that could be appeared to be more of a 'joke'. However, I felt that the motifs that we included in our video should still be kept to our overall theme of the video. With this in mind, during the editing, we still kept the lighting the same compared to the other scenes and the way that it was filmed. Playing on scale, we used a dolls house to create this. Amelia was positioned inside a dolls house with a high camera angle, to make the appearance of her being smaller than she actually is. I gathered inspiration from Jessie J's music video - 'Price Tag'. The reason being, is that during her video, she uses the same motif with playing on scale, making things appear a lot smaller than they actually are. She also has a more light hearted approach with the childlike simillarites. Another reason why we decided to use this artist as an inspiration and the similar characteristics within our video, as I felt that it created a wider audience. This being as it can be aimed more at children with the props included within the video.
Question Two
Question Three
We gathered audience feedback for our video by handing out questionnaires in a sixth form assembly. The reason being as we could then gather feedback from a range of different people with different music tastes. After collecting the questionnaires back, I found that there were many with comments that I found helpful with helpful suggestions. Both negative and positive comments were taken on board. The majority of positive comments consisted of the theme, location and props, where as the negative comments were based around the performance.
Question Four
I felt that media technologies were very helpful through the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages due variety of products that we used. During the construction stages, a HD camera, along with a tripod, came in handy producing constant steady shots and the ability to zoom in and out with out losing the pixels. Another reason why we used a HD camera was if we felt that a shot had the correct composition for an image to use for the ancillary texts, we could take it 'on the spot.' Final cut express was the software that we used to edit our footage into a music video. With this we were able to alter the colour contrast to make it appear darker, fitting within the theme more. Using the MP3 we were able to overlay the song to our footage to lip sinc the video.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Stayed within convention
Close up
We have used various conventions throughout the planning, researching and creating of our music video. One of the main conventions that we have stuck to is the close/extreme close up's of the artist, due to the fact that it connects the artist to the audience. It does this by allowing the audience to identify themselves with the artist, creating a connection. Sympathy for the way that she is portrayed through the video is created due to her longing of desire and her sense of loneliness in Wonderland. It can also express the lyrics with how the artist feels, by looking directly at the camera with particularly lyrics. Another way that the lyrics can be empathised is the extreme close up's of the artist face in certain parts of the song. The song has an overall feeling of coldness and a sense of alone, this is portrayed through the artists expressions and through her eyes. Her eyes have a glaze over them, showing the coldness, which mimics the lyrics in her actions. I compared our music video with Amy Mcdonald - 'This is the life' due to her continuous close up's and the artist fitting into the indie genre. During the video, Amy's expressions were often made by her eyes, meaning that it was 'cold' and sudden, giving an overall theme of darkness within the video to the audience. In our video, Amelia has similar expressions also. The reason being as our video has the same effect. We used this convention, as I felt that we needed a connection between the audience and the artist. Not only did it build a connection, but it also stayed with in the convention which ultimately made it easier for the audience to gather the overall narrative and the genre which the music video fits in. By keeping to this convention, an overall effect was created which kept the connection between both the audience and the artist. It also showed the artist as herself, rather than the illusion of Alice from Alice in Wonderland (the overall theme of our music video). The close up's meant that the artist's face was framed by the camera, cutting off the mise en scene, costume and props that portrayed wonderland. The angle of the camera was often on the same level as Amelia but off to the side, this gives an overall effect that she is not connecting to the audience in a direct way, she is portraying the narrative of being alone in Wonderland.
Narrative
Another convention that we stuck with throughout our music video was narrative. I felt that this was key, due to the song choice and to make it clear to the audience what was happening throughout the video. The overall narrative that we decided upon was the story of Alice in Wonderland, however, we felt that it would be more interesting if we took the overall story and made it our own. We did this, by allowing Alice to be alone in Wonderland. This automatically set tone for our music video which linked to the lyrics and music. I gathered inspiration from the video ‘Bitter sweet sympathy’ – The Verve, due to the continuous narrative through the music video. I decided to use a narrative as it portrayed our ideas through the video in a clear, concise form. I felt that keeping the video clear to understand was key as the narrative in itself could be quite hard to follow, therefore the narrative was important to portraying the overall video. To create this particular narrative, we filmed a long shot of Amelia walking under a corridor of trees. We came up with this idea through the inspiration of the Verve with the similar footage. The actor in the video was walking down a street, automatically this provides the narrative for the audience, however, I felt that we could still create the same affect but with filming the narrative in a different way. I feel that overall it gives an effect that the audience will always remember and associate our video with. It provides an enjoyment for for the audience in an unusual way of creating a mysterious sense.
Developed Conventions
Lighting
The convention that we developed was the lighting contained within our video. The reason why we developed this convention is to create an overall effect for the video, keeping within the narrative. The theme that we created was a dark and empty Wonderland with only Alice by herself. Therefore, we decided to take up the opportunity of using the lighting to really create the mood for the viewer. With this in mind, we used a wash of blue over certain aspects of footage and lowered the brightness. Whilst researching other music videos and the effects that they used, I looked at the video Miley Cyrus 'When I look at you'. However, with her video, she used colour contraster to edit the lighting to make it look brighter and unrealistic. I took inspiration from this video with how the mood was created here. Even though our colour contrasts are different, with Miley's video being brighter and ours being darker, there is a clear comparison between them both. After showing the video to a wide audience, we got a range of feedback explaining that the lighting was effective as it portrayed the theme in a clear manor.
Close up
We have used various conventions throughout the planning, researching and creating of our music video. One of the main conventions that we have stuck to is the close/extreme close up's of the artist, due to the fact that it connects the artist to the audience. It does this by allowing the audience to identify themselves with the artist, creating a connection. Sympathy for the way that she is portrayed through the video is created due to her longing of desire and her sense of loneliness in Wonderland. It can also express the lyrics with how the artist feels, by looking directly at the camera with particularly lyrics. Another way that the lyrics can be empathised is the extreme close up's of the artist face in certain parts of the song. The song has an overall feeling of coldness and a sense of alone, this is portrayed through the artists expressions and through her eyes. Her eyes have a glaze over them, showing the coldness, which mimics the lyrics in her actions. I compared our music video with Amy Mcdonald - 'This is the life' due to her continuous close up's and the artist fitting into the indie genre. During the video, Amy's expressions were often made by her eyes, meaning that it was 'cold' and sudden, giving an overall theme of darkness within the video to the audience. In our video, Amelia has similar expressions also. The reason being as our video has the same effect. We used this convention, as I felt that we needed a connection between the audience and the artist. Not only did it build a connection, but it also stayed with in the convention which ultimately made it easier for the audience to gather the overall narrative and the genre which the music video fits in. By keeping to this convention, an overall effect was created which kept the connection between both the audience and the artist. It also showed the artist as herself, rather than the illusion of Alice from Alice in Wonderland (the overall theme of our music video). The close up's meant that the artist's face was framed by the camera, cutting off the mise en scene, costume and props that portrayed wonderland. The angle of the camera was often on the same level as Amelia but off to the side, this gives an overall effect that she is not connecting to the audience in a direct way, she is portraying the narrative of being alone in Wonderland.
Narrative
Another convention that we stuck with throughout our music video was narrative. I felt that this was key, due to the song choice and to make it clear to the audience what was happening throughout the video. The overall narrative that we decided upon was the story of Alice in Wonderland, however, we felt that it would be more interesting if we took the overall story and made it our own. We did this, by allowing Alice to be alone in Wonderland. This automatically set tone for our music video which linked to the lyrics and music. I gathered inspiration from the video ‘Bitter sweet sympathy’ – The Verve, due to the continuous narrative through the music video. I decided to use a narrative as it portrayed our ideas through the video in a clear, concise form. I felt that keeping the video clear to understand was key as the narrative in itself could be quite hard to follow, therefore the narrative was important to portraying the overall video. To create this particular narrative, we filmed a long shot of Amelia walking under a corridor of trees. We came up with this idea through the inspiration of the Verve with the similar footage. The actor in the video was walking down a street, automatically this provides the narrative for the audience, however, I felt that we could still create the same affect but with filming the narrative in a different way. I feel that overall it gives an effect that the audience will always remember and associate our video with. It provides an enjoyment for for the audience in an unusual way of creating a mysterious sense.
Developed Conventions
Lighting
The convention that we developed was the lighting contained within our video. The reason why we developed this convention is to create an overall effect for the video, keeping within the narrative. The theme that we created was a dark and empty Wonderland with only Alice by herself. Therefore, we decided to take up the opportunity of using the lighting to really create the mood for the viewer. With this in mind, we used a wash of blue over certain aspects of footage and lowered the brightness. Whilst researching other music videos and the effects that they used, I looked at the video Miley Cyrus 'When I look at you'. However, with her video, she used colour contraster to edit the lighting to make it look brighter and unrealistic. I took inspiration from this video with how the mood was created here. Even though our colour contrasts are different, with Miley's video being brighter and ours being darker, there is a clear comparison between them both. After showing the video to a wide audience, we got a range of feedback explaining that the lighting was effective as it portrayed the theme in a clear manor.
Mise en Scene - Location
The other convention that we chose to develop was mise en scene - location. Due to the theme of Alice in Wonderland, which we decided to base our music video on, there was a variety of different locations that was associated with the theme. The reason being as this theme is based upon everything being 'wacky' and 'out of place. Therefore, chosing the location for our tea party, we felt that outside backing onto a row of dark trees would be best for what we were trying to portray. The mise en scene, regarding the props, fitted into the theme and genre perfectly with the top hat, mugs and costume that Alice is wearing.
To compare our video along with another, I chose Sarah Bareilles - 'Love Song' due to choice of video. The reason being as her video is filmed so that it looks like she is placed inside a music box playing the piano. I chose this music video as I felt the link with how the footage is filmed is portrayed in such a way to provide a message. With the song choice, the video is filmed in such a way that it plays with the scale (another factor that is featured heavily within Alice in Wonderland) having the singer and instrument scaled down to appear within a music box.
Challenged conventions
One of the conventions that we challenged was in fact the theme chosen for our music video. After listening to the song, we felt that it should in fact have a fairy tale narrative due to the lyrics. However, the song had a slower rhythm, therefore the narrative could not be a child like fairy tale, it had to appear darker. With this in mind, we came up with Alice in Wonderland. The reason being, is that there could be many interpretations of how to take the original fairy tale and turn it into something your own. Another video that also uses the convention of theme with using a fairy tale as well was Payton Rae - 'Not your Cinderella'. With the song title, it instantly provides connotations of a fairytale, therefore, I felt that our own music video could relate to ours. Payton Rae's video was based upon the original story of Cinderella, using all the icons, including the carriage and glass slipper. In our music video, we used the glass bottle that is associated with Alice in Wonderland saying 'Drink me'. With this prop, I felt that it showed instantly to the audience what we were trying to portray within our video.
Motif
To challenge a convention, we decided to created a motif (recurring visual theme) as this would ensure that the narrative was consistent for the viewer. We showed the motif through out our video by using scale, making things appear smaller with the use of the camera angle. We decided to use this as we felt that our song was 'dark' and the video portrayed this, therefore we needed a contrast with some aspects that could be appeared to be more of a 'joke'. However, I felt that the motifs that we included in our video should still be kept to our overall theme of the video. With this in mind, during the editing, we still kept the lighting the same compared to the other scenes and the way that it was filmed. Playing on scale, we used a dolls house to create this. Amelia was positioned inside a dolls house with a high camera angle, to make the appearance of her being smaller than she actually is. I gathered inspiration from Jessie J's music video - 'Price Tag'. The reason being, is that during her video, she uses the same motif with playing on scale, making things appear a lot smaller than they actually are. She also has a more light hearted approach with the childlike simillarites. Another reason why we decided to use this artist as an inspiration and the similar characteristics within our video, as I felt that it created a wider audience. This being as it can be aimed more at children with the props included within the video.
Question Two
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Question Three
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
We gathered audience feedback for our video by handing out questionnaires in a sixth form assembly. The reason being as we could then gather feedback from a range of different people with different music tastes. After collecting the questionnaires back, I found that there were many with comments that I found helpful with helpful suggestions. Both negative and positive comments were taken on board. The majority of positive comments consisted of the theme, location and props, where as the negative comments were based around the performance.
Question Four
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
During the research and planning stages, I used particular online applications to help me gather a greater understanding for the genre and the certain elements that are required to produce a authentic video. These applications consisted of: Facebook - to keep updated with other members of my group and actress as well as getting audience feedback; Blogger - to keep all my coursework on a website that would organise all my important information and Prezi - Endless whiteboard to note our spider diagrams on, just to name a few. I felt that all these online applications were a great help to organising my research and planning.
For my evaluation, again I used the same online applications as the research and planning for the same uses too. The reason being as it keeps all my important information up to date and organised. To gather audience feedback, a questionnaire was handed into other members of our school to collect their important comments and suggestions. Overall, I felt that all the media technologies worked well with all the elements that was required to plan and create a music video.
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