Final Post

This is my final post and I would like to say how much I have enjoyed this course, I can definitely say Media is my favourite subject. Hope you enjoy my work and my groups music video.

This blog is now closed.

Evaluation Question One

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Part 1)

The still shots on the left is of our music video but the still shots on the right hand side are of other artists music videos which we were inspired by.
Above are nine still shots from our music video and other artists music videos that we have been inspired from. (Click the image to enlarge)


1. Taylor Swifts video for 'Belong With Me' inspired our narrative and our location as it is set in the female protagonist bedroom, we decided that we wanted our artist to be getting ready and she would be performing in her bedroom. We felt that the audience would be able to connect with the artist because the pop genre is targeted at a young female audience and they are able to relate to the narrative. From watching Taylor Swifts video we realised that the artist performing in her bedroom gained a comical feel and it is also shows social realism.


2. The second frame is from Kate Nash- 'Foundations', the video uses an editing technique called stop motion which we felt would suit our music video. The director in 'Foundations' used stop motion to portray the unstable relationship between the couple. However, in our music video we used stop motion editing to show the fickle minds of teenagers which is presented by the different nail polish colours.



3. Shot three is from B.O.B ft Hayley Williams - 'Airplanes', the use of the projector inspired us to create a similar background for our music video. In 'Airplanes' there are moving sequences of stars which reflects the lyrics well "Can we pretend that airplanes in the night skies are like shooting stars". We used a combination of still and moving images on our projector, though in 'Airplanes' they only used moving images. In our music video we liked that the audience could create different interpretations by the use of the projector such as the purple fields could represent freedom and growing up through the blossoming of the flowers.



4. Our music video is similar to Alexis Jordan- 'Good Girl', as they are both performance base music videos. Also, both music videos use the same backgrounds such as the artist performing in front of a black and a white background which makes the video seem more sophisticated. There is fast pace editing in our music video and in the 'Good Girl' music video, through the fast pace editing we were able to change the artists make up and her clothes which is often seen in music videos from the pop genre.




5. In Alexandra Burkes music video 'The Silence' the narrative and performance is set so that Alexandra Burke seems like she is in a photo shoot, we felt that this made the audience connect with the artist as they feel like they are at the photo shoot. In our music video we wanted the audience to connect with the artist by the flashing lights on the artist in the mid shot and the extreme close up shot. It could be interpreted that the artist is getting ready to perform or she is at a photo shoot.




6. The sixth still shot is from Sia- 'Breathe Me' the photographs in 'Breathe Me' shows the artist in different places in the house and the artists movement. For the seventeen opening beats in our music video we wanted to use seventeen photographs showing the artist growing up, which fits with the idea of time and how quickly the youth of today grow up.



7. In our music video we wanted to show that our artist is an established performer, from watching Keri Hilson- 'Slow Dance' we was influenced to use an iPhone to introduce the song which creates synergy as we used a photograph of the artist to make the audience recognise the artist.



8. In Jessie J- 'Nobodys Perfect' clocks are used to show that the artist wants to go back in time to change certain events, in 'Nobodys Perfect' the clocks are used to taunt the artist and it shows that the events keeps playing in her mind. However, in our music video we are representing how quickly time passes.



9. The ninth still shot is from Labrinth- 'Let The Sunshine' we liked the close up silhouette shot of the artist as it adds mystery to the artist and the meaning of the song. We thought that we could use a similar shot would suit our music video as the heart silhouette has a dream affect, which portrays that love is a desire of hers which reflects the theme of growing up.



10. The still shot on the right is from Lady GaGa- 'Just Dance', in the still shot one of the extras writes on a mirror Dance which fits with the lyrics in the song. In our music video we decided to make the performer write a lyric of the song on a steamed mirror.

Evaluation Question Two

Media Evaluation 2

Evaluation Question Three

3) What did you learn from your audience feedback?

From the viewing of our music video we received great audience feedback and we feel that we have learnt a great deal from our feedback, here are some of the following comments:









To get a better understanding of our audience feedback we asked 10 people to complete a scoring questionnaire of 8 topics of our music video. Lip-syncing, Editing on Beat, Narrative, Colourful, Success of projected background, Stop Motion, Mise en Scene, Enjoyment. Here are the results of our responses in the formation of a bar chart.

Media Audience Feedback

Overall from analysing our audience feedback we have learnt we were successful in producing a music video with precise lip syncing, however we learnt our audience would prefer to have more of a narrative in the video because they were interested to know what happens next, also because the pop genre is targeted towards young females who are able to relate to the female protagonist in the video. At the beginning of the course we constructed a questionnaire to gain information from our audience preferences for a pop genre video. From this we learnt that the audience preferred a performance based video as they enjoyed seeing the artist, however from comparing the feedback received before the video and the feedback received after the video viewing, we may have conformed to a performance based video too much because it was commented that the audience would have preferred to see more of a narrative video.

From the feedback received it was clear that the audience enjoyed the fast paced editing, especially of the photographs at the beginning of the video because the shots were edited to the best of the music. We learnt that this was successful because the photographs represented the theme of our video, 'Time'; a girl growing up and the change in time. We learnt that the mise-en-scene of the video was important for informing the audience of the pop genre. From the bar chart it is clear that the mise-en-scene was well received by the audience because the artist changed costume and make up throughout the video similar to Alexis Jordan's 'Good Girl' video. This made the video appear professional along with the studio lights in the photography room of the extreme close up shots.

Therefore we learnt how important the mise-en-scene is in a pop video from the original questionnaires aimed at the audience. We are pleased that from the following feedback we achieved successful mise-en-scene and from the bar chart and questionnaire we have learnt that our music video was well received and enjoyed by our audience.

Evaluation Question Four

Evaluation Question 4 Media

Time Speeding Up

This is a video of the clock speeding up on Final Cut Express which was quite difficult to do. We used this clip in order to convey the idea of time passing by quickly when Michaela is changing.

New Opening Kaylas Photos

This is the new opening that we filmed with Kayla's photos instead of the wedding album that we had previously. This is because this idea made more sense with the narrative of our video being the female protagonist growing up and how quickly time passes.