Evaluation 1

Evaluation 1

• 1.
  Evaluation 1) In whatways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• 2.
  Genre characteristics inaspects of mise-en-scene: • Gunther Kress defines genre as ‘a kind of text that derives its form from the structure of a frequently repeated social occasion, with its characteristic participants and their purposes’ This has implications with audiences feeling a sense of belonging to a specific group, therefore music videos can give audiences a sense of collective identity. • The genre of ‘When Were Kids’ is quite ambiguous because the style of music is original, however I would perhaps consider it to come under the genre of ‘Indie Pop’ • The track is upbeat, likewise with other indie pop artists such as of monsters and men, Bastille and Passenger. • The majority of locations we used were outside, this is because as a child, outside is where you would spend most of the time and the song focuses on wanting to be a kid again and escape from the responsibilities of becoming an adult and whilst growing up, most individuals would prefer to be away from home as they are growing up, hence using the outdoors. Other artists/bands of the same genre, such as Bastille have used the outdoors in their music video, for instance, in their music video ‘Pompeii’ uses mostly outside locations. • The use of location and costume highlights aspects of Britain, such as the high street shops, going to café s and the landscape view of Norwich from Mousehold. It represents Britain as a lovely place to be. • Additionally, the costumes used throughout my music video were high street fashion. This something the target audience (Youth/young adolescences) can identify with in contemporary society – high street fashion is a part of pop culture. Also, a prop used was a smart phone (iPhone) which is another part of pop culture since technology as developed; the target audience would have grown up in a world with technology. Section 1: Music Video -
• 3.
  High Street Fashion: OutdoorLocations:
• 4.
  Narrative Structure • Ourmusic video used a montage narrative. Montages are often edited to the beat, for example there is a relationship between the music and the visuals. I used quick cut editing to achieve this narrative, as the track used had a fast tempo, therefore it was an efficient way of illustrating many of Jill and Joel ‘s(the actors) memories they had together, because it allowed us to include a variety of footage and as the cinematographer, I was able to explore many camera shots/angles for each shot. The action in my music video is synchronised with the beat. (Goodwin). Likewise, in the original/theme tune of TV Drama – Friends; the visuals and also the lyrics. This TV show inspired our ideas about what to include in the music video, such as relaxing at a café. This relates to Katie Wales belief that ‘genre is an intertextual concept.’ • Goodwins’s theory ‘there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals’ can be applied to my music video. For instance, the lyrics used are ‘when we were kids’ and the visuals show Jill and Joel playing at the park, enhancing the idea of them wanting to be a child again. • This music video is very structured and controlled by memory.
• 5.
  • Many musicvideos use flashbacks, this is a convention I used in my own production. A flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. However, most movies and television imply flashbacks by blurring images or using dull saturation colours such as black and white or a sepia tone. I challenged this convention as my music video is black and white to begin with which is displaying the present and then I used a fade to go into the flashbacks of Jill and Joel’s memories – this is all very colourful, but at the end it returns to the same black and white shot. This could be seen as a circular narrative. • I used a black and white tone for the present because I wanted to show that the two actors are very distant now and do not have the same relationship as they did previously, which comes across as upsetting. In contrast, I used colour to show the memories because bright colours can represent happiness and it is evident in the video, the two actors had a strong friendship and were very comfortable around one another. • However, the music video is very ambiguous, the audience are able to come with their own interpretation of what has happened between Jill and Joel.
• 6.
  • ‘Friends’ originaltheme tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-HbHCcK58 Present Time Moment from the flashback of memories
• 7.
  Representation • Our musicvideo challenges the conventional representation of gender , especially females. For instance, most music videos portray the males as dominant and the females as submissive. This is demonstrated in Eminem’s ‘Love the way you lie’ feat Rihanna. A lot of fighting occurs in this music video between the male and female, but when this happens, he declares his dominance straight back. Half way through the fighting, they start to kiss which suggests the male has the power and control over how he treats the women – he uses her as an object, this could be because she is an attractive female emphasised by her make up. For instance, her use of her lipstick. This connotes Voyeurism . • This is also used in ‘Echosmith – Come Together’ – the leading female wears red lipstick and many close ups of her face are used. Voyeurism and the use of close ups in music videos again refers to Goodwin. • In comparison, our music video does not hyper sexualise either gender, both are respected. In this music video, youth/young adolescences are represented as happy, emotional, active, adventurous and hedonistic. Both genders are represented fairly equally, but perhaps Joel comes across as more active in the sense of playing on more of the equipment at the park. Thus, this challenges the idea of binary opposition between genders. (Strauss) • The notion of hedonism in our music video doesn’t appear to be a serious issue – it just shows youth wanting to do things for fun/their own pleasure and escape from their responsibilities of becoming an adult; they feel that they are growing up too fast and would rather return to their childish ways. This could link with Blumler and Katz theory in relation to diversion. • However, hedonism comes across as negative in most music videos such as Charli XCX’s music video ‘Doing it’ feat Rita Ora. For example, the way they are enjoying themselves is through being sexualised.
• 8.
  • According toMulvey, mainstream Hollywood film "coded the erotic into language of the dominant patriarchal order" Mulvey indicates that this coding is, in the essence, the establishment of the "male gaze“. • Naturally constructed, the male gaze refers to the act of viewing women as objects, of adopting the role of spectator, but metaphorically, it refers to way of thinking about and acting within society. Consequently, the negative and inaccurate sexualised representation of women in this video (‘Doing it’) will this reinforce misogynists attitudes that women are toys/playthings and candy, therefore untalented. • TV Drama ‘Skins’ explores the topic of hedonism, this is an inter-textual reference that had an influence on our music video, but skins is more focused on the idea of binge drinking and taking drugs and raving for pleasure. • Therefore we have developed the theme of hedonism by illustrating other respected ways of behaving for pleasure. For instance, driving to come across as adventurous or going to a gig.
• 9.
  • Eminem ft.Rihanna – love the way you lie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U • Images from the music video: • Skins – Rave Party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC6zFBji_vQ • Images from this clip:
• 10.
  Images indicating pleasurefrom my own production:
• 11.
  Section 2: PrintProductions - • For my digipak, I used the popular convention of having 4 panels as this is what most bands/artists including indie pop artists use. • However, most packages have a similar colour/tone across all the panels. I developed this generic concept and chose to use colour for the front panel and middle panels, but black and white on the back. • The front panel is Joel giving Jill a piggy back. I liked this image for the front panel because it conveys that they are happy and comfortable in each others company and has a beautiful view in the distance. I increased the brightness in this image to emphasise their blissful friendship. Most text on indie pop albums are large and white, therefore I used a white text. However, I developed the text by placing it in the bottom corner rather than across the top. I considered the image to be the main focus rather than the text as it is usually the image that grabs an audiences attention. They will look at the image and then the artist. However, I made the artists name bigger than the track to promote him as an artist rather than just this particular song. Digipak
• 12.
  • For themiddle panels, I used close ups of the main female and male that are actual images in the music video. • I decided to use a black and white image for the back panel of the actors walking towards each other but their faces are hidden. I like this idea as it shows another mood to the narrative that is involved within the music video. I think this makes it more interesting as it is mainly a happy video, but as the audience looks at the back panel, it will make them wonder what's happened, intriguing them to watch the music video. Further emphasising the ambiguity within the music video. Thus, I challenged the idea of using the same colours/tone in every image. • Most back panels have a track list in the centre that appear in a downwards column, however I developed the idea of a track list being placed like this and instead placed the list of songs by AnxiousAlibi across the bottom in a row. Although, I used the generic convention of not using numbers for the tracks. • The use of a barcode on the back panel is a convention used to indicate the product as a real media text to tell the consumer that this is a product rather than an advertisement. • Additionally, I used institutional information, such as the production company, I called mine ‘YouthProductions’ as the track is relatable to this specific target audience – young teenagers quickly becoming adults and wanting be a child again when they had no worries.
• 13.
  My Front PanelImagine Dragons Front Panel Kodaline Front Panel My Back Panel Bastille Back PanelImagine Dragons Back Panel
• 14.
  Magazine Advert • Theimage used shows Jill and Joel are smiling/laughing and look happy and comfortable to be around each other which illustrates a strong friendship. Also, again it has the scenery of Norwich in the background enhancing the Britishness of the music video. • The font I used is quite simple, but it is still fun. I chose to make it simple, so an audience can understand what it says, but fun too as the music video mostly uses positive visuals. • Choosing an image of both the male and female, challenges the idea of males being dominant and women rarely seen in advertisements. If women are seen in advertisements in the music industry, it is usually demonstrated in a disparaging way, such as in an advertisment for Nicki Minajs song ‘Anaconda’ but both Jill and Joel appear as happy and innocent. • Furthermore, I used the conventions of revealing the release date, where it would be available (iTunes) in this case, stars – to give a rating and also a Facebook url to promote the artist ‘AnxiousAlibi’ • I believed iTunes to be an appropriate place to advertise the artist/track. This is because it is another part of pop culture; this is something people tend to use most likely every day whether it is on their mac book /laptop or their iPhone. Additionally, most young people use social media including Facebook, so this will encourage them to search the link given.