In what ways does your Media Product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of Real Media Products
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| Our Video |
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| Inspiration |
Used: One of the conventions that we new would have to be included in our music video was a guitar. During our research we all realised that the guitar was symbolic to the indie genre and so it became clear that at some point in our video we'd have to include it. While writing up our storyboard it became clear that we would have to include the guitar more frequently than we had planned as it was what the audience seemed to expect of the song. We also had to consider the fact that indie is a genre that is defined by the skill and talent of the artist and this must be portrayed somehow in the video. The guitar (we felt) would be the best way to do this. Our inspiration came from a variety of indie acoustic videos. Overall I found that the guitar is what makes the video more realistic for the audience as they resemble a guitar to the indie music genre. It also helped us to make the artist seem legitimate as
well as talented.
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| Inspiration |
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| Our video |
Our final used convention was the clothing worn by our artist, if we analyse what the indie artists wear it seems that a smart/casual image emerges. We decided to take this trait as not only was it more convenient but it also made the artist again seem more legitimate during the video. The clothing also makes the artist seem more 'up to date and with the times', which allows the audience to relate themselves to the artist. Our inspiration again came from a majority of indie music videos but we also had to research other genres to make sure we weren't making our artist look like he was in a different genre of music. So overall the clothing helped us to add to the realism of our video as he is wearing things that ordinary people have the option of wearing.
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| Inspiration |
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| Our Video |
Developed: Our first developed convention was the POV shot. We first saw this particular shot in action during Calvin Harris' video: I need your love. Although its a completely different genre to indie we felt that it would work well in our video. However in Calvin Harris' video the whole of it uses a POV shot. Another factor of the video was the whole thing was during present day, as if they were filming then and there, we wanted to use this shot as a gateway into our artists past. This is how we developed this shot, we used it at certain points in our song to show some of the artists memories. This technique made the video seem more realistic to the audience as they were watching memories that been recorded by the video camera. It also makes the audience part of the Artists journey as they know more and more about the artists as the video goes on. The POV also allows the audience to see the lost love which is a key convention in the genre. so overall the POV shot has allowed us to build up the story in the video without making it boring or predictable for the audience.
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| Our Video |
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| Inspiration |
Another convention we used and developed is lighting, most of the the lighting in our video uses light from the sun however usually Indie videos have an image of the sun at the beginning; however in our video we use this at the end. This is because we wanted to us it as a metaphor for the artist having a new life. The sunlight represents this and it also suggests he has happier times ahead. We felt this worked well as it allowed the audience to see a glimpse into the future of the artist as well as making it more entertaining as we have also used a different type of shot at the end, low angle shot of the sun. We also had to dim and brighten light at certain parts to emphasise the emotion of the certain part of the song. As well as helping to keep the focus of song on the artists feelings, lighting also helped us to make the picture quality better in some parts of the video as some of the footage was far to bright to use. So overall lighting was vital in helping to portray the artists emotions throughout the video, however we developed the convention as well used some lighting were it would normally not be used.
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| Our Video |
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| Inspiration |
Challenged: One of our challenged conventions was the Overlay, this is where we used an overlap of two shots at the same time. Final cut express was tricky to use at this point as when we got the overlay working it made the people look like ghosts. Then we realised we could use the tree in the middle and use two shots differently on either side. This made the clarity a lot better. We first received inspiration from Olly Murs' video: Dear Darlin. This uses an overlay to reflect the better times for the artist. However we challenged this as we used it to show the artist letting go of the memories he has of his lost love. Overall I think the overlay allowed us to really portray the artists emotions towards the lost love and it also allows us to portray to the audience that he is 'letting go', but in a realistic way.
