Saturday 23 April 2011

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Lyrics:

The lyrics match the visuals to an extent. One of the lyrics is how the girl is 'travelling endlessly' and in the video that is what she is doing walking round the woods what looks like in circles in all these different places. The lyrics are about going somewhere on your own and walking, wanting to escape which is what she is doing in the video she is alone. One of the lyrics is 'The ones we trusted the most pushed us away' which I have interpreted in the video because there is a black and white shot, indicating a time change into the past, and the two friends are arguing. This displays how she has fallen out with her friends and perhaps a reason as to why she ran away.
I matched the lyric 'I'm just one of those ghosts travelling endlessly' with the character writing them down on the page because it represents how she feels and as if it is a diary. Therefore I have linked the song with visuals. This matches typical forms and conventions of music videos because in Andrew Goodwins theory of pop promos he talks about the fact there is a relationship between visuals and lyrics which I believe I have achieved.
Furthermore it also matches the 'Hey Ya' video I researched because in that the lyrics match the visuals to an extent and then in 'Aint No Other Man' the other video I researched the lyrics do not particularly match therefore my video is challenging a real media product.

Music:

In my pop promo the music and visuals do not completely match. For example there is no instrument playing in the video nor is there miming or dancing. There is no miming because it is very difficult getting the timing right between the actual singing and the miming. The song is a slow ballad so there would not particularly be any dancing and you could argue that the scenery matches the sad slow song because the setting is in the woods where it is dark and spooky, for example the tunnel is haunting and the song itself is.
As my video does not really match music and visuals it is challenging the forms and conventions of real media products. I did not think having her playing a guitar or another instrument was necessary because it was all about escaping from where she lives with nothing. Andrew Goodwin said that like the lyrics and visuals, the music and visuals also link to each other which indicates how I have challenged this because only some of the setting matches the music. In both 'Hey Ya' and ' Aint No Other Man' the videos I analysed, the music matches the visuals because there is dancing, miming and instrument playing in both therefore again my video is challenging these real media products which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing here.

Genre:

The genre of the song is a slow rock ballad and the video is set in the woods. My pop promo matches Andrew Goodwin's theory of pop promos here because he says that in music videos for ballads there is a storyline. I have created a storyline because the girl has ran away from home and feels lonely and has flashbacks of bad memories with a friend. This is similar to a Paramore song 'The only exception' which I analysed as part of my research. In that there is also a storyline in which the girl realises that love can exist. I have taken my idea from Paramore's other slow ballad because I think it was good to have a storyline otherwise the video would be very boring as the person would just have to sit there miming or playing an instrument because they would not be able to dance or move fast because of the genre of music. Here therefore my video is similar to the forms and conventions of real media products.

Camerawork:

In Andrew Goodwin's theory he says that there is close ups of the main singer because that is basically what these videos are selling. I have done this because the actor is one of only two characters and the storyline focuses on her. Throughout she is in all the shots so if this video was released then she would be the main focus and the viewers would remember her. As said in Goodwin's theory it creates an intimacy because we, the viewers, can see how lonely she is and how she is feeling better than anyone else. Furthermore there is a flow of images because she stays in the woods throughout and it looks like she is just walking to the next part. The only parts that cut away are the flashback when her and her friend argue and the bit with the words on the paper in the water to display how she feels.
In my video I use all different kinds of shots, medium shots, long shots and closeups. There is shots that include the scenery in the background and shots where the camera has been tilted upwards to see the argument between the friends and there are some still shots of the character standing in a field. In camerawork I have developed forms and conventions of real media products and used them in my own way therefore my video is similar to them but stands on it own.

Editing:

When editing my video I have just made all the shots flow well together and added some effects. I have made the flashback black and white. This is similar to real media products because when there is a flash back or forward the audience will automatically know because the visuals are different to usual. The second edit was the ghosting effect when she is running and then I made it blurry on another shot when she runs. Both of these were done to reflect the mood, this is also something done by real media products as thunder or rain will be added in to reflect the characters mood. I made is blurry and ghost-like because in her mind she is confused and lonely.
My video matches Goodwin's theory because he says that female artists such as Dido and Adele who sing songs like 'Misguided Ghosts', usually love ballads, have a slow pace in their music videos that establish mood. Despite Paramore typically being a rock song in terms of the song I have used it is more like an Adele or Dido song and I think my editing and its pace does match the mood and can appeal to wide audience because it is more about the song and lyrics than the visuals or fashion. Here therefore my pop promo matches the conventions and forms of existing media products.

Intertextuality:

In my pop promo I have not used intertextuality. I may have thought of some ideas from Paramore's video 'The only exception' but there is not direct references or much similarity. I have not included intertextuality because I did not think it was necessary as this song is about the lyrics and music rather than using other people's ideas. Another factor is money, as big music video productions have lots of money they can afford
to reference movies and TV and other pop promos through their sets or costumes. I have therefore challenged forms and conventions of real media products because I have not included intertextuality.
Goodwin in his theory says 'very frequently there is intertextual references' which indicates that it happens alot but I have not done this therefore again displaying how I have challenged the conventions of media products.

Ancillary Tasks:

In my ancillary tasks I have very much so stuck to the forms and conventions of real media products. In my research I looked at another album cover by Paramore and one by Avril Lavigne both of which are similar genres. They use dark colours and both have an image of the band. This is typical of rock music genre CD covers. I have included the colours black and red and an image from the music video itself, something that the ones I researched did not do but this is not massively challenging the forms of real media products. The back cover includes the titles of all the songs and a barcode and another image, all typical of existing album covers. I have put the bands name and all the information on the front of the CD too something that is necessary and was on all of the CDs I had researched.
Furthermore in the poster research I learnt that you put all of the tour dates, the name of the band and a picture of the band. This is also something I stuck to and again used the same colours as the CD cover and CD itself. I also learnt in the research of products that it is good to have continuity in all your different products so that they can all be related to the one artist instead of everything being in different colours and fonts and looking messy.
Overall in my ancillary tasks I have stuck to the forms and conventions of real media products.

No comments:

Post a Comment