Evaluation: Question 1
- 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge former terms and conventions of real media products?
- 2. Portfolio task. There were two tasks that we had to complete for this advanced portfolio, these are a music video and two ancillary tasks that relate to the music video. The purpose of this assignment is to analyse the portfolio tasks that we have created and to compare them to real media products to look at whether they have supported or challenged the conventions of the genre. The genre that our video comes under is ska-pop.
- 3. Colour - Video. The Madness ‘Baggy Trousers’ video is rather colourful, I believe that it was held back by the technology of its time. Given that the video was created in 1980 the camera quality is not very good compared to the camera we had available which means we could do more with the colour. In our music video I applied a colour correction which made the colours more vibrant, I feel that this helped to represent the genre because if the video was full of dull colours throughout it would not suit the genre because the genre is supposed to be fun as appose to mundane .
- 4. Colour – Ancillary tasks. We decided to keep the same idea of using bright colours for both of the ancillary tasks. I feel that Having a black background for the digipak and magazine advert is good because it helps to emphasise the colours that are in use. Also I applied a colour correction to some of the pictures such as the lockers are brighter because I put a colour correction on that emphasises yellow to make the picture seem more vibrant and attractive to people that look at the digpak and advert.
- 5. Costume - Video. The costume for our video was simple to decide. We decided to support the conventions of the genre and to follow the general costume that Madness The costume in the ‘Madness – Baggy Trousers’ video has them all dressed very smart. We decided to imitate the type of costume that Madness wore during their video. Generally, for the ska pop genre the costume is very smart looking and we decided to support the conventions of the genre by following the same type of costume for our video.
- 6. Costume – Ancillary tasks. For the ska pop genre the album covers are generally quite relaxed and informal looking, we decided again to support the conventions of the genre when creating our album cover because we feel that having a relaxed and laid back look for the album cover helps to support the conventions.
- 7. Lighting - Good. The lighting in the majority of ska pop videos is very bright and vibrant, we tried to recreate this in our music video because we felt that having bright colours will emphasise the fact that the video is supposed to be fun as appose to being dull. Screenshot from ‘Blur – Park Life’ Screenshot from our music video.
- 8. Lighting - Bad. There were certain points in our video where the lighting could come across as bad, this was unintentional however. Given at some points the lighting may come across as being too dark or too dull this would challenge the conventions of the genre because it is expected that videos of the ska pop genre are bright and colourful to reflect the fun nature of the genre. A point in our music video where the lighting could be considered to be too dark.
- 9. Lighting – Ancillary Tasks. We made sure to keep the lighting for the ancillary tasks very bright and colourful to ensure that the right image comes across. The image that we were trying to get across with the ancillary tasks is that we are a band who like to have fun and do not take ourselves too seriously, having pictures with dull lighting and colour is not that way to do this so I applied a colour correction to the pictures to make the colours stand out more and look more vibrant because I feel that brighter colours help to get across the image that we want to portray. Magzine advert. Pages 3&4 from the digipak.
- 10. Shot Types - Support. In the ska pop genre there is often a good mixture of close up shots and groups shots which allows for the main singer to be seen singing/dancing and then for the whole band to be seen having a good time and messing around. In our music video the majority of the shot types are group shots to show that we are all having a good time, we have supported the conventions of the genre with this aspect of the shot types in our music video. Group shots from our music video. Group shots from other music videos.
- 11. Editing - Support. In the majority of ska pop videos the are edited using quick cuts with no transitions, we have supported the conventions of the genre by having the music video only include cuts from scene to scene and there are no transitions throughout the video. The pace of the cuts is also important because we have made sure that the cuts remain quick where possible to support the conventions of the genre.
- 12. Editing - Challenge. This scene lasts for around 7 seconds. There are some points in the video where the editing could be considered to challenge the conventions of the genre. For example, in the majority of ska pop music videos the cuts are very quick with most shots lasting for a maximum of 3-4 seconds. An example of where we have challenged this convention is in the picture below where the clip lasts for 7 seconds. It is not too much longer than expected but it is still a longer shot than normally seen in ska pop music videos. Scenes in this video last up to 3 seconds.
- 13. Narrative. Looking at Andrew Goodwin’s theory that “Narrative is simply an extension of the lyrics.” we have agreed with this theory and decided to support it because where possible in our video we have used the narrative to extend the lyrics, an example of where we have done this in our video is when the lyrics are “The lunchtime bell will ring again” the video cuts to a shot of a school bell. Also, when the lyrics are “Back of the head with a plastic cup” the scene is one of the people in the video getting hit round the back of the head. There are points where we have challenged Goodwin’s theory in the fact that we have decided not to put in scenes that do exactly what the lyrics say. “Back of the head with a plastic cup”“The lunchtime bell will ring again”
- 14. Location. The convention for location in the majority of ska pop music videos would be suburban, the Madness – Baggy Trousers video is set in a school and we have imitated that with our video. I do not think that a school is a ‘typical’ location for a ska pop music video however it is what was used in the Madness video so in a way we have supported the convention and in a way we have challenged the convention. The location used for our music video. The location used by Madness.