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.