Evaluation (1)

EVALUATION: QUESTION ONEIn what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?TREVYN BELL

MY MEDIA PRODUCTMy media product is a promotional package which consists of a music video and two ancillary products: a magazine advertisement and a digipak design. The two ancillary products were created with the aim of having them support the music video. As a result of this, my promotional package as a whole revolves around the song used in the music video, Dropping Out Of School, by BradSucks, which fits into the musical genre of electronic rock, or electro-rock (a sub-genre of rock). In order to apply codes and conventions to my music video, I had to identify my target audience.My target audience consists of males and females between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five. Other bands and artists who fit into the genre of electro-rock include The Killers and Muse, as electro-rock is a relatively specific sub-genre which mainstream artists sometimes produce individual songs for.

Andrew GoodwinAndrew Goodwin constructed a number of theories on music video codes and conventions which my own video adheres to. For starters, Goodwin stated that with music videos There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (with visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music); I followed this convention by carrying the lyrical theme of the song (which centres around the oppressive nature of the education system) into the visuals of the music video. This is illustrated through the use of mise-en-scene throughout the music video, as all of the locations in the video are notably within educational settings. Additionally, throughout my music video there are some quite literal visual translations of the lyrics, such as stomachs churning, during which the protagonist of my video rushes into a toilet cubicle as if were about to vomit, and Im not going again unless you hold my hand, during which another student refuses the protagonists hand and walks away.

Joan lynch and jon gowLynch (1984) stated that there are three kinds of music video structure: performance, narrative, and concept. Performance videos include dancing and/or lip-synching, and are most commonly associated with rock music, as the videos for which are often taken from live shows. Narrative based videos centre around some sort of story which is told throughout the course of the video. Concept music videos tend to be influenced by experimental film, and are usually somewhat abstract. My music video is predominantly narrative based but also features elements of performance, as the protagonist of my music video dances, thus relating to the idea of rock as a genre. However, through allowing for the emphasis of a narrative throughout my video, I was able to link the lyrics of the song to the visuals presented more efficiently. ~Gow (1992) outlined six different types of music video which are based upon convention. My music video adheres most to the idea of an enhanced performance video, as the protagonists performance (dancing) is complimented by narrative aspects and post-production effects. This was because of the personality of the protagonist, whom I wanted to convey as happy and excited and fun, despite his suppressing surroundings.

representationMy promotional package features relatively narrow representation as the protagonist of my music video is one of only two characters, and he is the only character featured throughout the ancillary products. As a result, my media products offer representation for the characteristics which the lead actor of my music video fits into: white, teenage males. This was unintentional, but also relates to the over-representation of males in media products, and a lack of female representation as a whole. This also relates to how rock music videos tend to feature the artists of the song, which coincidentally supports male over-representation due to the lack of mainstream female artists among producers of rock music. Furthermore, through the use of colour I aimed to represent the school environment as dark and bleak, which is why I used a monochrome effect whenever the protagonist of the video was on a school campus, switching to full colour at the beginning (before he entered his school) and at the end (when he leaves his school building.

colourI aimed to use colour to convey the meaning of the school environment as bleak and oppressive, lacking in diversity and hue through the use of the monochrome effect, which, as explained in the previous slide, features all throughout the video excluding the start and the end, during which the protagonist is outside of his school. Additionally, in the full colour shots the protagonists clothing is clearly bright and colourful, which is a reflection of his personality, showing he does not fit in well with educational settings, juxtaposing him against school. At the beginning and the end of the video, I used a number of colour effects including changing the brightness and contrast, and the colour pass effect in order to emphasis the vibrancy of the colours used in the mise en scene. This worked well to provide a sudden change when the video changed to monochrome. I did not add this effect until after consulting two different focus groups, who liked the monochrome effect overall; however, I did receive some feedback which suggested I added some colour into the video, which explains why I changed the two beginning shots and the end shot. It was not originally my intention to have the majority of the music video play in monochrome; I initially wanted to edit the video using the colour pass effect so that only certain colours (red and/or yellow, the colours of the protagonists jeans and shirt) to provide further binary opposition between the protagonist and his surroundings. However, I found this to be difficult and incredibly inconsistent due to variations in lighting in different locations, which resulted in varying vibrancy regarding the colours of the actors costuming, and some of the locations we filmed in had surroundings of a similar hue to the actors clothes, meaning that more than his clothes were brightened.

COLOUR: ANCILLARY PRODUCTSMy ancillary products were orginally black and white, like the majority of my music video. However, I changed this upon conducting my focus groups, as one of the most common responses regarded how the inclusion of colour might improve my music video. In order to maintain brand identity, I carried the same colours used in my music video through into my ancillary products. Second Draft:Final Artefact:

COLOUR IN MY PROMOTIONAL PACKAGE:

COSTUMINGCostuming was a relatively simple part of the planning process, as I had a clear image of how I wanted my protagonist to dress and appear. I wanted my protagonist to dress brightly, and to emphasise the colours red and yellow: red, symbolising danger and rebellion; yellow, symbolising vibrancy and brightness. However, one unexpected element of costuming came to my protagonist after his actor injured himself, and had to wear a bandage around one of his forearms as a medical requirement. Incorporating this into my music video was generally difficult, as it either required reshooting the entire video or providing an explanation for the break in continuity. In an attempt to make this change seem more natural, all of the shot in which the protagonist is wearing a bandage come one after the other. Additionally, the previous use of intercutting means that the video does no play in a linear fashion, which makes it more excusable. The antagonist of my video is dressed in dark clothing, creating further binary opposition between him and the protagonist. My ancillary products feature the protagonist of my music video wearing the same colours and costume as he did in the music video, which ensures that continuity is maintained throughout the promotional package and allows audiences to identify my media products as related.