A2 MEDIA

STUDIES

EVALUATION

Question 1

By Christopher Blower

IN WHAT WAYS DOES

YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT

USE, DEVELOP OR

CHALLENGE FORMS

AND CONVENTIONS OF

REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS?

I FEEL MY MUSIC VIDEO MAINLY USES

THE CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA

PRODUCTS THROUGH THE USE OF

CAMERA ANGLES AND SHOTS INSPIRED

BY OTHER MUSIC VIDEOS. I WAS

INSPIRED TO CREATE A MUSIC VIDEO

UNIQUE TO MOST VIDEOS CREATED FOR

INDIE ARTISTS AND SONGS, AS MY

VIDEO WAS DRIVEN ENTIRELY BY THE

NARRATIVE AND WHAT I PERSONALLY

FELT THE LYRICS WERE TELLING AS A

STORY.

I DID A LOT OF RESEARCH INTO THE LOOK I WANTED TO

GIVE THE MUSIC VIDEO AND WANTED TO SEE IF

ANYTHING SIMILAR HAD BEEN PRODUCED. I

EVENTUALLY FOUND THE IDEAS I HAD WERE SIMILAR TO

THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR ‘KEANE – BEDSHAPED’, SO I TOOK

A LOT OF INSPIRATION FROM THIS. I WAS ABLE TO

CONVEY SIMILAR USES OF ANGLES AND SHOTS IN MY

VIDEO BECAUSE BOTH MY VIDEO AND ‘BEDSHAPED’ HAD

A SIMILAR FEEL AND NARRATIVE STRUCTURE, DESPITE

THE GENRE BEING DIFFERENT FOR EACH VIDEO –

‘KEANE’ BEING A MAINSTREAM ENGLISH ROCK BAND

SIGNED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL RECORD LABEL

‘ISLAND’, AND MY PROJECT AND ARTIST BEING FOR AN

INDEPENDENT RECORD LABEL.

I TOOK INSPIRATION FROM THIS PARTICULAR VIDEO TO

FORM THE STYLE OF MY ARTISTRY. HERE, FOR

EXAMPLE, THE STREET LAYOUT AND HOUSING WERE

SIMILAR TO WHAT I CREATED WHICH WERE APPEALING

TO ME BECAUSE THEY SHOUTED OUT A ‘TIM

BURTONESQUE’ FEEL.

I FELT THAT THIS WOULD GIVE MY VIDEO A DISTINCTIVE

AND SLIGHTLY CREEPY FEEL, BECAUSE PEOPLE IN

GENERAL FALSELY CONSIDER ANIMATION TO BE RESERVED

FOR FAMILY FILMS, SO I WAS AWARE OF THE DANGER MY

MUSIC VIDEO COULD LOOK TOO CHILDISH OR PLAYFUL.

HOWEVER, THE LYRICS OF THE SONG ARE SERIOUS SO I

WANTED TO CHALLENGE MY AUDIENCE’S CRITICAL

OUTLOOK ON ANIMATION, GIVEN ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEOS

ARE RARE BUT THERE ARE ENOUGH FOR THERE TO BE A

PROFITABLE MARKET. I FOLLOWED MANY OF THE LYRICS OF

THE SONG LITERALLY, SUCH AS HERE – ‘IN THE SKY THE

BIRDS ARE PULLING RAIN’…

TO DO THIS, I WANTED TO CONVEY EMOTION WHICH I

DID LARGELY THROUGH THE ANGLES AND SHOTS I

USED. FOR EXAMPLE, I USED A LOW ANGLE SHOT OF

MY MAIN CHARACTER LOOKING UP TO THE WINDOW OF

THE ROOM WHERE THE GIRL IS, VERY SIMILAR TO A

SHOT FROM THE ‘BEDSHAPED’ VIDEO.

I ALSO USED LONG SHOTS IN THE VIDEO TO CREATE A

SENSE OF ISOLATION.

THE SECOND SHOT (SHOWN

HERE) ALSO DEMONSTRATES

HOW I CONVEYED THE

NARRATIVE ON SCREEN TO

ACCOMPANY THE LYRICS OF

THE SONG, BY USING

WRITTEN WORDS AND PLAY-

ON-WORDS. THE ABOVE ONE

IS FOR A DATING WEBSITE

WHICH IS NOT HIGHLY

REGARDED, BUT MAY BE A

SOLUTION FOR THE MAIN

CHARACTER EVEN THOUGH

THE HIDDEN GIRL IS THE ONE

HE TRULY WANTS TO BE

WITH.

THIS IS DONE

THROUGHOUT

THE ENTIRE

MUSIC VIDEO

AT KEY

MOMENTS.

AGAIN THIS WAS DONE IN

‘BEDSHAPED’, BUT I

TOOK THIS FURTHER

AND DEVELOPED THIS

TECHNIQUE TO CONVEY

THE NARRATIVE

THROUGHOUT THE

VIDEO. THIS WAS DONE

SO THAT THE AUDIENCE

FEELS SYMPATHY FOR

THE MAIN CHARACTER

AND THE ACTION ON

CAMERA LOOKS

REALISTIC. I ALSO

INCLUDED MID

SHOTS, SO THAT WE CAN

SEE THE CHARACTER’S

EMOTIONS AND

SYMPATHISE WITH HOW

HE IS FEELING.

I FEEL THAT THROUGH USING A WIDE RANGE OF ANGLES AND

SHOTS AND BEING CREATIVE WITH THE NARRATIVE, MY

MUSIC VIDEO IS CHALLENGING OF MOST OTHER MUSIC

VIDEOS BECAUSE IT IS UNIQUE. AT THE SAME

TIME, HOWEVER, IT PORTRAYS SIMILAR CONVENTIONS TO

LIVE ACTION AND ANIMATED MUSIC VIDEOS SUCH AS

PORTRAYING THE EMOTION EFFECTIVELY AS EXPLOITED

WITHIN THE SONG’S LYRICS WHICH DOES JUSTICE TO THE

SONG’S INDIE GENRE.