evaluation question 1

1. IN WHATWAYS DOESYOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?
Andrew Goldman

3. The opening shot of my music video is a basic establishing
shot, which gives the audience a clear indication as to the
starting location of the video.This particular shot decision
is an example where I have used conventions of real
media products, as narrative music video’s often have
such a shot in order to give context as to why a character
would be in such a location. Such examples of this
technique include narrative videos such as “TGIF” by Katy
Perry as seen below.The black and white nature of the
shot also establishes the tone of the start of the video as
black and white in music videos generally represents dank
and derelict places, showcased in the Hozier music video
for “Take MeTo Church”.

4. This shot furthers that of the first shot in establishing the
location.This also helps in introducing us to the character
and how the location pertains to him. By having the focus on
this shot on the graffiti wall, I am able to show the
underground slum-like location, which enables me to show
why the character looks so gloomy.This is emphasised by the
fact that the protagonist is in the background, out of focus
and the camera does not follow him.This challenges many
conventions of music videos as they often feature the
protagonist fully in focus for the majority of shots, as seen in
videos like “The Scientist” from Coldplay. But in order to
show my characters isolation, I wanted a single shot to show
him in this unspectacular manner. However it is a similarly
seen technique occasionally, such as in Blur’s “Parklife” video
where graffiti is shown at the forefront of the shot as
opposed to the artist.

5. In order to convey the idea that there was a better place just
ahead for the protagonist, I used the props of posters on the
wall in order to get the protagonists attention and inform
him of this. By using the lyrics of the song on these posters it
showed the significance of the songs lyrics and the
enticement for the protagonist to follow them.This again
challenges forms and conventions in music videos as
narrative based videos do not often portray the songs lyrics
in physical form, merely imply them with on screen actions.
However it is an old school technique, as shown by one of the
first music videos of Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick
Blues”. But because this technique is rarely seen in the
Traditional Pop genre, I think of it as me challenging forms by
having physical lyrics in prop form appearing in a narrative
video.

6. One example of my editing that is of note was the
transition from the black and white underpass
setting to the colour ofTimes Square, NewYork
City.To create the illusion of one movement being
used in one shot, I had my protagonist walk directly
into the camera in the first follow shot of the
sequence and walk away in the second. By placing
the two directly overlapping I was able to create
the illusion of him walking directly intoTimes
Square in the same movement. I was also able to
show binary opposites with the inclusion of a quiet
overpass setting, opposed next to a busy NewYork
strip as well as the fact he is initially alone and then
around hundreds of people.
This develops music video forms as many
transitions occur in a similar fashion to create
illusions of moving. A similar technique was used in
Fatboy Slim’s 1999 music video of “Right Here,
Right Now” in order to show the theory of
evolution, various incarnations would be followed
on a tracking shot changing species.

7. My music video is predominantly narrative, with
parts that could be contributed to the conceptual
tag.This establishing shot for example
represents the narrative of the music video, as it
relates to the location in which the character
finds himself and as part of his journey. It is
necessary in setting location for the particular
scene which is used to forward the narrative.This
is an often seen convention in narrative videos
which I have used, an example is the song “Alive”
by Jinx which shows a similar shot style for the
new narrative setting.

8. This shot represents the stage of telling the story as
it clearly features two characters exchanging
dialogue, the preceding shot establishes this by
having the protagonist shown looking at these
events.Therefore this gives relevance to the events
on screen and naturally assume the role of
storytelling. By having a two shot with nothing else
of note in frame, it gives primary focus to the
actions of the two characters which in turn is the
focus of the protagonist.The added presence of my
prop gun added sudden attention to the shot and
therefore marked the moment as an important one.
This technique develops conventional music video
forms of storytelling as it presents a standard
indication that something is happening, then the
use of the prop gun completely changes the
complexity and tone of the story and how its told.
Similar attention taking techniques in music videos
can be seen in Fountains ofWayne’s video for
“Stacey’s Mom” where the protagonists attention is
taken away by the appearance of the mother, taking
the audiences attention too.

9. The traditional pop genre has been defined as
“almost dreamlike” by a Q Magazine article
which this shot represents.The way the lyrics
define “Downtown” do have connotations of
a dream like place which fits the genre. As
such I liked the idea of including this type of
shot in my video to connote the dreamlike
nature of the song and ultimately genre. By
using this blur effect, I was able to suggest
the idea that the character was not fully in
the naturalistic realms of the video.This is a
form of music videos that I have challenged,
because usually with such examples of
dreams in videos, elaborate effects and sets
are used. Ab example includes the music
video for “Style” byTaylor Swift where this is
suggested by the white sheet like effect over
her face to connote dream. However mine is
a more practical and simplistic version in
order to get the point across quickly and to
represent the genre in a practical manner.

10. The artist of “Downtown”, Petula Clark, is not
particularly represented in my music video. Due to the
narrative approach featuring a male protagonist and no
lip sync, it makes the artist purely a feature of the song
rather than the video.Then again, with her almost
narrating the actions of the protagonist with actions
such as “You may find somebody kind to help and
understand you” being sung during the shooting scene it
represents Clark as almost demonic as her sweet
sounding words are juxtaposed by the on screen action.
This reflects on my protagonists realisation that
“Downtown” is some parallel to normal life and so when
he is on theTop of the Rock (as shown in the picture) his
reaction of shock is warranted, as the strange events
sung by Clark have landed him on top of this skyscraper.
This representation of the artist is one that I have
challenged from music video conventions as usually the
artist’s lyrics are used to positively impact the character’s
lives, for example the “Take On Me” by A-ha video sees a
male protagonist help the female protagonist by giving
her love.

11. Special effects were not a prevalent feature in my
music video, however on one occasion it was
necessary to include.To portray the shooting in a
realistic way, I first experimented with using a blood
splatter effect to coincide with the muzzle flash of the
gun.While this worked well it became too graphic for
the video and was too explicit.As such I created an
effect where I could communicate the shooting in a
non-graphic manner. I kept the muzzle flash of the
gun to show the gun being fired and paired this
alongside a black and white saturation. Also I used a
two frame shot to match each beat of Clark singing
“Downtown”, one shot for “Down” and another for
“town”. I did this because the sudden black and white
connotes dark themes and essentially death, like the
colour in the victim’s life had gone.This effect
develops forms of music videos with the convention
of death, it is similar to that of a body found in 2Pac’s
song “Brenda’s Got A Baby” which features a black
and white setting, however mine develops it by
featuring a two frame killing along with the muzzle
effect.