grace manning media blog: Evaluation Question 1

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

For my evaluation against conventions i've decided to use the statements made by Craig Davis' in his article 'Approach to analysing Music Videos' which i posted on my blog here, his points enforced the conventions I gathered after looking at existing videos. Ive picked out the parts of the article which are appropriate to our video and highlighted the points i think we have established.

Conventions Include:

Illustrating the lyrics and sound with creative interpretations
Expressive Lighting
Lip synching
Jumps between a wide range of shots but primarily close ups
The pace of editing matching the pace of the music
Innovative effects
Mise en scene which mirrors the tracks genre/tone

Lip syncing

To apply to the established convention of lip syncing our male protagonist mouthed the lyrics we thought most poignant. Artists within our genre tend to only mouth parts of the song, as the video replies a lot on narrative which contrasts to the almost continuous lip syncing performed by many pop artists. To instantly catch and maintain the audiences attention the opening dramatic lyrics were mouthed framed in a close up; 'When the blood dries in my veins....I know I'll be on my way to heavens door', a static camera mirrors his static positioning and the slow pace of the song which changes immediately after. The second screen grab depicts the other main section of lip syncing to the emotional lyrics 'I can feel something happen that I've never felt before',

this image depicts the second main section our protagonist lip syncs, shot with a fish eye lens again the camera is static to capture and enhance the emotion. Our use of fish eye is used to appeal to our target audience as it creates a unique, creative appearance to the video and contrasts to the rest of the video, adding diversity and maintains the eyes interest. The lyrics mouthed here state 'I can feel, something happen that I've never felt before', as he moves toward the camera the fish eye also enhances the intimacy with the audience, as his body and eye focuses directly on the camera his emotion is transferred to the audience.

The use of blurred close ups during the protagonists intimate flashbacks suggests that his memory is becoming distant and lost, hand held camera movement around the couple emphasises the facet that is it a memory and intimate body parts such as hands and lips are framed in extra close ups to state their importance in his mind.

Our inspiration - Glass Jaw, Ape dos Mil

Editing

"Instead it is often the beat or rhythm of the track which provides the organising principle for editing movement" Craig Davis
'End credits' is a dynamic track, with sections that contrast starkly in pace, it commences with a slow acoustic pace as ends the same with slow moments laced through, creating a natural cycle in the video which explains why we repeat the beginning shot at the finish. Following the convention that editing will match the pace of the music, our editing therefore was a pace roller coaster throughout. Dissolve transitions such as cross and fade accompanied and emphasised the slow editing, yet these types of transitions had no place during the frantic editing as the drum and bass roots of the music surfaces. The top screen shot of our sequence illustrates the contrasting editing, the centre section a lapse in the quick pace followed by tight editing ,which is illustrated in the two screen shots below .

As the pace peaked, our narrative emotion peaked as the protagonist faces his disoriented anger which parallels the quick editing perfectly. The hand held point of view camera captures this confusion and delusion and invites the audience to also feel this emotion, cut fast between non point of view and fish eye lens shots creates a 'visually de-centered experience' and is visually exciting. The use of red tinted lighting mirrors his anger and isolation as his body is almost permanently in shadows, a metaphor for the inflicted regret.

A screen grab of the blurry fish eye lens shot, to enhance disorientation and diversity of shots.

Post-production innovative effects - Our use of overlays

Overlays accompanied by cross dissolves were used predominantly during flash backs of the couple together to enforce how his ex girlfriends has gone, and only remains now in his memories. The image shown above depicts this facet most, as the negative space in the long shot which shows him thinking against a lamp post is filled with a day dream overlay of the couple kissing above to portray his memory and emphasise his isolation. The dark sky in one shot complimented the dark background in the other so when overlayed both merged nicely.

Our inspiration : Director Anthony Mandler, Rihanna 'Russian Roulette' and 'Disturbia'

Used also for purely creative aestetic reason, we regularly used blurry traffic lights to overlay images, shot in darkness throughout the light overlays add vibrancy to an almost still shot.

Interpretation and illustration of lyrics

The two marquee images above depicts the directed emotion which mirrors the dramatic lyrics. The second montage shows how we used close ups to capture depth of emotion.

"rather than simply illustrate the lyrics or sounds the director will 'amplify' both with creative interpretation" Craig Davis

From the instant we heard the track and read the lyrics we stated words which we thought captured the essence of the emotion in the track stated on our moodboard. These words were: regret, anger, loneliness, lost, destruction, despair, distortion, contemplation, thus we endeavored to portray these emotions consistently throughout the video, different emotions surfacing at differing parts in the music's pace.

The shot below is repeated throughout the opening acoustic introduction and shows blood running from his nose, this is a an almost literal interpretation of the lyrics which states 'As the blood dries in my veins'; we reversed the dripping blood so that it too dried into his nose just before he sings. This is an example where we have creatively interpreted the lyrics.

During the conflict scene following the kebab shop, a hand held point of view from the second male is used to illustrate to the audience our protagonists violent, crazed yet fragile emotions, instant close up anger is thrown at the male accompanying his ex-girlfriend thus us, as he invades the camera he invades us and it is almost uncomfortable.

Point of view shots from our male protagonists are used when his disorientation and despair peaks, finding himself back in the room where they were once intimate, lost. Thus we have used point of view shots to convey the protagonists two different powerful emotions, lost and angry.

Inspiration from Evanescence 'Nobody's fool' in which the protagonist is also alone in a stale room

The use of shadows in the garage scene portrays and emphasises his isolation, as his only company is the sinister shadow thrown onto the brick wall. His shadow appears superior as he is framed in the bottom left hand corner, his body language suggesting closure and the high angled camera emphasising this further.

Lighting: By employing headlights as lighting which flooded into the garage, the shadows were more prominent, this lighting overall was effective, it added vibrancy and richness to our shots. The yellowish light created by the headlights used in the garage scenes contrasts starkly to the red musty lighting used in the bedroom which differentiates the two rooms as well as the two moods felt in either room, the garage hosting his despair and the bedroom his intimacy.

The video is predominately shot in darkness, thus artificial lighting such as streetlamps, tunnel lighting and traffic lights and utilised consistently throughout. The nighttime setting as well as these artifical lights identifies with the urban,gritty theme.

Mise en scene which mirrors the genre, image and tone of the track
Our chosen locations instantly establish a urban tone: tunnels, graffiti, derelict garages and gritty kebab shops.

'Or is there an intentional exaggeration of image as in many rap videos'

This image above is framed by the fish eye lens, which when used in the tunnel creates visual depth and intensity and uniquely manipulates the vibrant gritty mise en scene.

To emphasise this facet and encourage audience relation, a majority of our shooting was located in Leake St. a railway tunnel near Waterloo and an autherised graffiti area. Graffiti has typical connotations to the urban scene and would relate to many of our target audience, it also mirrors the track and compliments his costume and mood - aggressive and relentless.

His costume throughout is casual and reflects an urban image as a hooded jacket has obvious street connotations. Here framed in a medium close up the low angle camera conveys him in a superior light, however it is a reflection of his mood as he is attempting to rise above his emotions, this shot used at the beginning and end of the video again parallels the cycle of the music and would suggest that during the middle his volatile emotions are uncontrollable because of the events but either side he is attempting to feel superior.

Location shot - The garage's mise en scene is naturally gritty, exposed brick work and breeze block fit with the urban tone and the random props were kept in shot to illustrate where his situation has resorted him to, a desolate and grimy location.

Underneath Hackney Rd bridge. Green neon lights predominate underneath the bridge and highlight the tattered advertising posters curling from the brick, the shadows emphasise the sinister feel to the location and urban image of the brand we have created.

The established conventions of ancillary tasks can be found previously on my blog here (magazine adverts) and here (digipak)