Evaluation Question 1

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

With my music video what I have attempted to acheive is an omage to modern day music video's however making a few alterations that I feel make my video stand out from the rest. There are many iconic conventions that I feel my music video consists of - such as fast pace cutting sequences, a lead singer and an interwoven storyline. I wanted my video to have an 'Adele-like' appeal, therefore I tried to create unique and delicate shots, have faint visual effects incoporated into the composition of the footage and try to emphasise and merge my footage around the soft, fragile lyrics. The constant cutting in my video I felt was a crucial aspect to its overall visual impact. With my first attmept at editing my music video shots were far too long and boring for the viewer, this is because I wanted to create a gentle nature to my video but this however did not work out. Therefore on my second attempt I cut the footage to the beat during the changing instrumental section at the beginning and this instantly altered the aesthetic appeal of my video, whilst making it much more modern-day mainstream. However one way in which I have tried to challenge conventions is through the cuts inbetween each shot - from my general research at the start of my project I realised that most videos consisted of a sharp, crisp cut to the next shot, but what I wanted to do is to exaggerate these transitions and make them much more intergrated into the creative design of my video. Therefore I experimented with certain dissolve effects in Final Cut Pro and one cut which I absolutely love and think is very unique is one that I acutally created by accident.

The two shots seem to overlap each other and create this unusual fade out effect, which I think makes a boring, average cut and turns it into a strong focal point and area of visual interest. Another way that I feel my music video challenges the general conventions of modern day music videos is the fact that I chose an Adele song. Her music is so unique and intricate that it is completely separate from other artists and therefore her music video's reflect this. One way that I was able to make sure that my video consisted of the authenticity that I wanted was by looking into many different Adele music video's with which the one that made the strongest impact upon me was the video for the hugely popular song 'Someone Like You'. This video is so simple that it is brilliant, the use of a single shot throughout the entire footage instantly separates it from other mainstream videos and entices the viewer to watch it again and again. What I have attempted to do in my video is portray the footage but in an artistic perspective, therefore I have used many visual effects - the most common being RGB balance which alters the colour composition of the shot. I feel that trying to portray my video in an artistic way makes it more visually interesting and stand out because it seems to be more personal and unique then a boring, generic video.

A major influence upon my music video is a recent release from Christina Perri - 'A Thousand Years' in which we mainly see her singing into the camera with a simple background of faint candles and dark lighting. This for me emphasised the fact that my video does not need to have exciting effects or vivid bursts of colour to make it interesting - it just needs to connect with the audience, especially as my song choice is quite sombre and emotional. This video also reminded me that my video is a way to enhance the artist and highlight her singing ability, whereas today I feel music videos are simple produced to create speculation about an artist. The music indsutry has become too focussed upon trying to acheive top of the charts and global albums sales, whereas Adele and other artists like this I feel are trying to bring back what music is really about - and that is what I am trying to acheive with my video.

I feel that my blog also follows the generic conventions of many other blogs on the internet as I have clearly shown my progression throughout the enitre project. I began with my research into a wide variety of music videos and have looked at specific video's that relate to the genre of music that my video relates to. Then the rest of my blog has been focused upon the construction of my product (looking into more openings, experimentation on Final cut pro, shooting my film footage and editing my film to create my final product). Overall My blog is very similar to other blogs as it involves text and factual information however it is broken up with other media such as films from youtube and pictures from the internet and photos which I had taken myself.

Editing part 4

Within the first general sequence of my video I had an issue with the beginning minute of the footage because as the shots were not cut to the natural beat of the song this therefore created some discrepancy of the shots making the video seem slightly awkward. Therefore I have gone back and created a new sequence and have now fully cut the first section to the beat and I feel this has given my video a much more professional appeal and by doing this it has created an area of interest because the beat is not constant therefore there are some shots that are longer than otherwise - and this irregular cutting constantly maintains the viewer's attention whilst making the footage seem more aesthetically pleasing.

Editing part 3

I have now applied the next sequence of footage into my music video - which mainly consists of urban, London footage. I was easily able to merge this well into the rest of my video however what I have attempted to do is create a vivid contrast between the two environments that my video is set in - the urban metropolitan cityscape of London which I am portraying in a vibrant and exciting manner by emphasising the certain tones of colour such as the redness of a London bus. Whereas in contrast I want to make the countryside seem less appealing and more solemn with using heavy shadowing and darker tones of colour to suggest her mannerisms within each environment (the city is interesting and full of life whereas the rural location is more isolated and depressive). I have tried to achieve this visual difference by using the RGB balance control on Final Cut Pro and altered the colour percentages within each frame therefore effecting the colour composition of my footage. This I feel has made a positive impact upon my video as it has created a strong visual segmentation between the two different aspects of the video whilst still allowing me to maintain the delicate nature of the footage.

Alteration in Location

When I was initially planning my music video I intended to have most of the footage set in rural countryside, to therefore provide a vivid contrast against the urban and dynamic appeal of the city environment. However whilst editing my video I feel that it is too 'top heavy' with field footage as it seems to become repetitive and boring, so therefore I want to attempt to balance this out with more London footage - specifically movement shots of the public such as passers by and traffic within London.

Editing Part 2

For the main duration of editing I have been focussing upon trying to create an artisitic portrayal of my female artist, therefore in every single shot I have used a variety of visual effects to try and enhance her natural femininity. A common effect that I liked using was called 'Bad Film' which seemed to soften the entire footage with giving the shots a blurry effect  and also reducing the vibrancy of the colours - therefore providing many connotations of delicacy and gentleness. I also tried a similar effect called 'Bad TV' however this was not as successful because I felt that it distorted the footage too much by having a large band running throughout the shots which contradicted what I want to achieve - the effect was too harsh for what the footage is trying to represent. The effect 'Colour correction' I have used in every single shots because it allowed me to alter the composition of my shots with very little effort however it did produce dramatic results - for example one of the shots towards the beginning of the video I simply added an orange hue to the shot which emphasised the femininity of the female singer. However my only concern is that with the transitions in my video I have constantly used the 'additive dissolve' which I feel has become too obvious and not as effective because I have used it so much.

Editing part 1

For the past few weeks I have been working on my music video and have so far edited and cut nearly three minutes of the footage. What I have been focussing upon is trying to put an artistic twist upon the actual footage as I feel this will provide strong links back to the delicate nature of the song. The best effect which I found that achieved this was called 'bad film' which simply made the footage slightly blurry and also made it visually 'softer' with the dulling down of harsh tones and softening of the outlines within the shots. What I have attempted to portray throughout my video is the constant clash between city and rural life therefore that is why I am intertwining opposite shots to constantly keep the viewer's attention and also to really emphasise the difference between the two. Whilst I was editing I accidentally overlapped two shots and it produced an interesting video transition which I use as a predominant cutting effect throughout my video.