EVALUATION Q1: IN WHAT WAYS DID YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS? 

CINEMATOGRAPHYFRAMING;When I first started my research, I analysed 3 music video with a similar narrative and genre, I will be referring to Whitney Houston’s ‘I will always love you’ video, and using it a ‘real media product’ as it is professionally made and has over 85 million views on YouTube.

 

 

 

 

 

 The first shot I have recreated in a similar way, is the long shot. On the left in Whitney’s video, she is sat down, and is not very dominant in the frame. This connotes that she is vulnerable, that is why I decided to use this shot in my video. So I followed the conventions of using a long shot. However, I did challenge the convention by placing my artist in the right third and not the left. I did this because the audience may expect somebody to be there, but they are not, the left third is empty, this can connote that somebody is missing, which reinforces the narrative. However, I did want the artist to be in the frame so I put her in the right third. Also, I sat her down as well, because them she looks weaker, as she would be drained of life, from all the emotions.

 

First of all I will talk about my music video;

 

The second shot I have used is a close up. Close ups are very effective, and they are use many times in lots of emotional music videos. They are not only used in music videos to portray emotion, but any moving pictures, from TV dramas, to blockbuster films. I know how effective they are at portraying emotion, even when the artist is not singing, just the raw emotion in their eyes and facial  

expressions is enough to make the audience sympathise/empathise with the artist. I have used a close up of the artist crying which I think is particularly effective. I have switched thirds again, from right to left, but other than that, I believe I have followed the conventions with the use of this shot.

The third shot I have used is the Medium Close Up (MCU). This is used many times throughout the video and is often used with a zoom. I have chose this because I think it is also very effective when portraying emotion, you can still have a clear view of the actress’ facial expressions, but also some of their body language. In Whitney Houston’s video, she is in the centre of the frame for her MCUs, however in a few of mine, I have chosen to place my actress ever so slightly to the right, again, to open up a bit of space, to make it look a bit more bare, like something is missing.

The fourth shot is the Extreme Close Up (ECU). The image on the left is the most extreme close up in Whitney’s video. However, I decided to zoom in even further, to focus on just my actress’ eyes. I think the makeup is important in the shot, as my video is in black and white, in this shot you wouldn’t be able to tell she hadn’t been crying if the makeup wasn’t there as you can’t tell her eyes are raw, you would be able to if the shot was in colour, so I think the makeup makes the shot really effective. I think my extreme close up is more effective in portraying raw emotion that Whitney’s, as mine isn’t blurred, it is drained of colour and you can tell she is upset by the tears. But I have definitely followed the conventions by including this framing in my music video.  

In my video, this is the only mid shot I used. I didn’t feel that the mid shots were as effective as the others, but I wanted to include one, just so I can say I’ve used one and I know the different types of framing. I couldn’t find one in Whitney’s video, which shows that they are not normally used in video’s with this narrative as they don’t have much of an effect. Therefore I would say that I am challenging the conventions in a small way. To make this shot more effective I chose to have her leaning on the tree, like she needed some form of support as she was weak. 

CAMERA MOVEMENTSWhen researching existing media texts, I paid close attention to the camera

movements, to see what I could use in my video. I decided to use both inward and outward zooms in my video, and also a pan and a tilt. Apart from them three movements, all of my shots are by a steady camera.

However I am aware that one of my shots at the beginning, the camera gets knocked, which makes the camera work look shoddy, I was unable to take the shot again as the actress was unavailable. Other than that, I am

happy with everything else, it gives me something to talk about, and another improvement that could be made if I was to do this again.

 

The first camera movement I will talk about is the inward zoom. It is a convention of a music video, and in this particular genre, it is used often. I think it is effective because as the camera zooms in closer, you feel as if you are getting closer to that person, and the emotion becomes clearer, its as if they are drawing you and saying, ‘here, come and have a closer look’. The are letting you into there lives to see how they feel. In Whitney’s

video, her zooms are long and slow, but that’s mainly to do with her timing and editing. My zooms are also in the build up to the chorus, but mine are quicker as I know that the music speeds up a little at the chorus. As you can see from the images above, the zooms go approximately the same framing, the second of my images dissolves into the next shot. Overall I think the inward zoom is effective, and I follow the conventions of a music video by including it, but I had mine a bit faster to match the tempo of the song. Overall I used 3 inwards zooms, and Whitney used 3.

The second camera movement I used was the outward zoom. I only used this once, but it was used in Whitney’s 3 times. I didn’t feel that it was very important to use, especially not to the extreme lengths that Whitney’s did, hers went from a ECU to a Long Shot, mine only zoomed out a fraction from

a close up, not even making it to a mid shot. I chose to have an outward zoom in this part of the video, as a form of transition to the next shot. It is a performance shot, that zooms out and fades into a flashback. I think I have used it in an effective way as it is like were taking a step back, which can be perceived as a step back in time, as we reminisce on the day she took

flowers to the grave, and visited her loved one. Whitney has used it to make her grow smaller, maybe to look more vulnerable, but I don’t thin the reason is clear. I genuinely think the way I have used it has a better effect

and fits with the narrative better than it does in Whitney’s, therefore I would say I have developed this convention and used it in a different way.

 

I used a pan in my video. A pan is where the camera’s base doesn’t move, but it is rotate on the tripod to follow the movement of an object or

person. A pan isn’t used in Whitney’s video, but a track is. A track is where the camera moves alongside the action in an attempt to keep up with it. It is used in her video to keep up with the quick action in a flash back, so a track is more suited. I chose a pan rather than a track because I wanted the audience to feel like they were watching my actress, and they were

looking in on her, not that they was part of the action. 

It the beginning of my video, in the first shot, I use a tilt. I chose to use a tilt as I wanted to start with a MCU, and finish with her on the floor. If I

kept the framing the same she would have disappeared out of the shot. I didn’t want to use an outward zoom to keep her in the frame. I thought it would be more effective to fall with her, That way we could empathise with her and it gives us an idea of what is going to come within the

video.  

The main effect I used that had a big influence on the feel of the video was the fact I used black and white. Whitney’s video wasn’t really colourful, but it wasn’t drained of colour that much. The other 2 video’s I analysed in my research was Faith Hill’s; ‘There You’ll Be and Rascal Flatt’s; ‘Here Comes Goodbye’. In Faith’s video, some of her flashbacks are in black and white, and Rascal’s video is never in black and white, but there isn’t any real colours throughout, its more of a greyscale effect. But the fact that all 3 of these video’s lacked in colour, I decided to follow that convention. I started with sepia, but then I developed it to Black and White, and then received good feedback for that so I kept it.  

Time framing. For the shot where she is walking through the graveyard, I stretched the shot across a bigger period of time, so that it would be slower, and it would match the tempo. I think the slower shot looks

better because it is like time is moving slowly, there is a lot of things running through her mind. I didn’t recognise any slow-motion shots in

any of the video’s that I analysed, therefore I would say I challenged the conventions by adding it in.

 

I used layers in two different ways. I used layers to create an echoed effect, and also to lay a performance shot over a narrative shot. For the echoed effect, I laid two clips, which were identical to each other, on top of one another, and I set them slightly out

of time. I then changed the transparency on the top one so the layer beneath was visible, then I slowed the top clip down, which created the echoed effect. I think this

was really effective, as I use a few clips where she is seen with alcohol, so it can reinforce the fact she is drunk, but also it can show that her head is messed up because she has just been told that a loved one has died. I know from previous

experiences that it’s not easy to think straight when you have just been told something as important, and life changing as that.

I thought that the clip of her walking through the graveyard was a bit too long to just have it on its own, but I really wanted it to be in the video, at that point in the song. As this clip was part of the narrative, I thought it would be a good idea to add an element of performance. Instead of cutting to a clip and back, I thought I would lay on over the top, but so you can still see the graveyard shot. I was really happy with the outcome and I think it shows that I am creative when it comes to editing, and I don’t just use

basic straight cuts all the time.

I didn’t see anything like this in the video’s I researched, but I know the echoes are used in dance video’s, and when people are drunk or on drugs, so I thought that it

would work well in my video. So they are not conventional in this genre, but I think it is effective in mine and it reinforces the narrative. 

TRANSITIONSI used three different transitions when creating my video, I chose ones which I thought best suited the tempo and pace of the video.

shot never goes black. It is a smooth and delicate transition, which I think suited the slow parts of the song well. In the image to the left you can see the middle of the transition, where both shots are half way in/out, the middle of the shot. Cross dissolves are conventional to music video’s which are to slow paced or emotional songs, they are used in all 3 of the videos that I studied.

The one I used most was the ‘Cross Dissolve’, which is where one shot fades out as the other fades in, the

Towards the end of the video I faded in and out from black, little flashes of some facial expressions and shots from the video, in time with the music, as a final reminder and a recap of the video, and all the times she cried. In the real media texts that I researched, the ‘fade to black’ transitions were used quite a lot, mainly when the time period has changed. I challenged this by not using them for changes in time, as I wanted everything to be one big blur. But I thought it would be effective at the end to have flashes of those moments.The final transition I used was just a straight cut. There was no editing involved, I simply just placed on clip next to the other and it just switches on the screen. I didn’t add this in until later when I got feedback saying I should make the fast bit of the song more interesting. So I decided that the change in tempo was not fast enough, so I made more shots and faster transitions to make it fit with the tempo. Straight cuts are the most common transition used in all forms of moving picture, even in slow songs. The music video’s I studied are mainly straight cuts, but I decided to save them for the end, so it really made an impact when the tempo changed. Most music videos’ editing changes when the tempo of the song increases, so it is very conventional to do this, so I have followed the conventions.

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There are three structures of the narrative; narrative, performance and abstract. Narrative is when the video tells a story, and reinforces the lyrics of the song. Performance is when you see the performer singing or playing an instrument, and abstract is when the video has no clear structure, and is not relative to the song. My video is a mixture of performance and narrative. I have many shots of my artist singing, and also flashbacks of her suffering with her loss, and reflecting on the ‘day they slipped away’. In similar songs, it is conventional to have performance, and to include flashbacks of the person who has been lost, happy memories with them, or just clips of them. I decided follow the convention of including performance, as I feel that the audience can feel the emotion when the artist is singing, through their body language and facial expressions, and I chose to use flash backs. But I decided to challenge the conventions of the content of the flashbacks, as I wanted to add a sense of mystery to my video. The song simply says ‘slipped away’, I wanted to keep the viewers interested, and trying to guess what happened, whether they had just broken up with someone, or if they had died. When I was watching people watching the video, they look really intrigued, and when the graveyard clip comes on at the second chorus, you see them react, and the say things like, ‘aww no they died!’ and ‘aww that’s so sad’. I think the fact that they are unsure about it, and then they all of a sudden find out is really effective, and they don’t really ask who it is. I think that it is easier to relate too if I don’t specify who is lost, because people can then associate it with whoever they may have lost. If I was to specify a person, e.g. a boyfriend, people who have lost parents/children/family etc. may not feel as emotional.

NARRATIVE.

SETTING AND LOCATION.

Conventionally, in a music video for a song that is about loss, there is some footage in a graveyard, or some indication that a person has passed away, to make it clear I decided to use a graveyard. Not all of the videos include shots with graves in, for example, there isn’t one in Whitney Houston’s or Faith Hill’s videos, but there is in Rascal Flatt’s and Martina McBride’s ‘Concrete Angel’ videos. I think that the way I have set out my narrative, it makes a quick impact in revealing to the audience that somebody died.

In the video’s I analysed, all of the performing was in a location, not just in front of a blank canvas, e.g. a

forest, walking down a street or in a theatre.

PERFORMANCE LOCATIONS

I chose to follow the conventions and I filmed some of the performance at the graveyard, but I did not have the graves in

view. My video is about trying to show the raw emotion through the actress’ performance, so I decided to also shoot

some of the performance in front of a white wall, so that there were no distractions, just the music, the actress, and

bottomless emotions.