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

Here is my grid of nine frames from my video that represent some conventional features of music videos. Some of these features include intertextuality, lighting, mise en scene, genre, camerawork and lyrics. I have chosen these frames as I feel they represent my video in the best light as a creative means of exploring 'B Roll' type footage and 'comedic seriousness'.

Above is a variety of frames from a range of music videos. Artists include: Foster The People, The Killers, The Strokes, Public Service Broadcasting, Walk The Moon, Charli XCX, and The 1975. I have chosen these screen grabs because I think they accurately pair with the frames I have chosen from my own video. For example; 

A shot that shows a link between lyrics and/or music and visuals. 

The song I chose to do my video is more spoken word, and didn't particularly have many lyrics, and so one of the few scenes that show a link between lyrics and visuals is the chorus in the shouted word 'Go!'. The talent is seen ready, waiting in anticipation, ready to go. This was taken from the original video of this song and their use of on screen lyrics. 

 Similarly to my video, PSB also use footage of Mission Control centres spread into grids with lyrics popping up on screen. 

Lyrics on screen is a useful device at illustrating music, particularly when the lyric is in time and only on screen when it is read. It enforces itself and ingrains itself in the mind of the audience. 

A shot that typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented.

I feel that this frame typifies the way a record company would want their artist to be represented as it wholesome and pure. It shows the talent, a young boy, dressed in an astronaut costume, surrounded by handmade props, pretending to be in space. It captures the essence of childhood innocence and creativity. 

The frame in my music video and indeed the concept of my video was heavily inspired by Public Service Broadcasting's video for 'Gagarin', which features the band members break-dancing in astronaut costumes in front of space projections. This represents the band as quirky and creative artistes. 

Public Service Broadcasting are famous for their incorporation of teaching into their art. While the video is fun and exciting, humorous at times, the music educates.  

A shot that illustrates how your video uses music genre.

The genre of my song is alternative indie, with elements of electro-pop, and frequent use of synthesizers. To illustrate this genre, I used a variety of modern rock instruments in my video, such as this mixing board. I changed the colour tone to a cool blue to make it appear more futuristic and sci-fi. 

In Walk The Moon's video for 'One Foot' the genre is also alternative indie with elements of electro-pop. Their genre is visualized through cool blue tones and playing of their instruments. Performance elements are common conventions of real media products. 

The large mirrors placed in their desert setting are almost reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey, creating a sci-fi concept and intertextuality.

A shot that shows an intertextual reference.

The intertextual reference in my video was 'Button Moon', a children's TV show from the 80s. 

I chose Button Moon as it would have been a generational hit for the members of the band who wrote the song I used, I thought they would enjoy the reference. 

Button Moon also ties in well with the space theme of my music video, and the 'B Movie' type aesthetic it adopts. 

In Charli XCX's video for 'Boys', her intertextual reference is American Beauty. She reverses gender roles and places a man in the place of Angela in the iconic rose petal scene. This suits the song, which places men in the female gaze, challenging the conventional idea of women being the epitome of hyper-sexuality. 

In real media products, intertextual references are generally used if they have a strong relationship to the video, they are not usually random.

A shot that demonstrates your use of camera.

I think this frame demonstrates my camera skills well. The hand playing the strings of the bass is in a soft shallow focus, and there is enough of the bass in frame that the audience knows what it is, but it's not a boring or empty shot with a lot of negative space. 

The neck of the bass almost points into the next cut, creating a good transition to use in post-production editing. This was inspired by the director Edgar Wright, who uses props, mise en scene and edited transitions to move the audience across the screen. 

Absence of negative space is a common theme in real media products, in this example taken from The Killers' 'Shot at the Night' video, there is no negative space, despite it being a very large shot. There's plenty of empty room, however, the floor reflects light, the chairs are in line with the talent, taking her across a path, the depth of field allows us to focus on the charcater and her journey across the casino. This is an excellent example of well thought out camera work. 

A shot that demonstrates your use of lighting. 

To create blue lighting effects, I used two sheets of blue film wrapped over two blue film lamps. I am incredibly pale anyway, so this helped to stop my skin from being so light reflective and over exposed. 

When using a green screen, lighting is important to avoid unwanted shadows that may hinder the quality of your footage in post-production. I had to ensure my scenes were well lit with minimal shadows. 

The concept of Foster the People's 'Houdini' music video is that the band members have been killed, and their managers have chosen to use people dressed in green morph suits to puppeteer them so they can carry on the music video. 

The lighting used is warm and yellow toned, juxtaposing with the cool blue of the (dead) talent. Lens flares and edited 'sparkles' give the video an overwhelmingly conventional feel, as it is essentially making fun of the desperation of the record industry. 

A shot that demonstrates your use of mise-en-scene. 

I chose a frame that had an absence of alive talent to draw attention to the details of the scenery. 

Staying with the concept of 'B Movie', the fire door is kept visible as a humorous element. There was no way I could make my scene realistically look like space on my budget, and so I went with the idea of using an old art studio and projectors to have fun in. The handmade art projects such as the silver planet, TV helmet, cardboard robot (unpainted) and 'terradog' create a childish sense of innocence that represent what my video is all about. 

The Strokes' 'You Only Live Once' music video incorporates performance elements with a lot of negative space in this frame, enhanced by the fish eye camera lens. 

The video is shot in one room, a chamber that fills with tar, as the song is a metaphor for smoking. In real media products, particularly in indie rock performances, locations are kept minimal, mine takes place across three separate locations. 

Two shots which you feel demonstrate something which shows you have watched other music videos.

I feel that these shots show I have watched other music videos as they demonstrate my recognition of the importance of performance elements in real media products. 

The playing of these instruments in these shots are in 

time and are the correct notes and chords. This took a lot of time and practice as I had to teach my musicians to play by ear as there is no sheet music for the song I used available for purchase. 

In this sense I have shown clear dedication and attention to detail and recognise the importance of synchronization not only in lip syncing and spoken word, but instrumental playing also. 

 These videos are vastly different in the sense that the top example, Walk The Moon, is a feel good song about recovery, and The 1975's frame is metaphor for the power of critics and how art shouldn't be put in a box. Both concepts are popular in real media products, particularly in the indie genre. 

Both videos in these examples include performance elements I 

have demonstrated in my own video. The musicians are playing the corrects notes, chord and beats, in time and sync with the song, creating a more realistic performance that is more enjoyable to watch.