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

PART A -
HOW HAVE YOU USED MEDIA LANGUAGE IN YOUR MUSIC VIDEO?

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MISE EN SCENE

COSTUME: 

In my music video I used simple clothing, everyday outfits for the characters to wear, this is so the audience relate to the characters and their storylines, so they can see themselves in their lives and within their experiences. The theme that I wanted to keep was the neutral coloured clothing, blacks, whites and beiges. This is done so the bright white brightness effect on the location and background allows the character to stand out and be identified and eye catching to the audience eye. Not only for me is the neutral darker costume colours significant for relatability but for a deeper meaning that both characters are alone, they are unhappy, the colour black emphasising bleak and darkness, this wanting to be expressed by their body language and dress-code. I believe costume is a vital element to portraying a storyline because it is a way of establishing their personality and emotion for the audience without them having to mime or even speak their thoughts and feelings, it is an indirect form of stating their emotions, it accompanies their behaviour. 

PROPS: 

My music video does not include many Props, for me the storyline had clarity from just the action and costume of the characters, they establish the narrative because the narrative is devoted to them. The bigger objects on screen that you could identify as a Prop is the Train, this was a driving force to push the video into the narrative and establish location of a city area. This Prop needed to be bold and eye-catching, because the theme of a train sets a key location in the video, the train station returns to screen frequently because it gives one of the characters screen-time, it is their setting. A limitation of my video would be the lack of Prop because it may have connected the two characters together more, however we made do by using such shots as the shots 7 and 8 from the above list whereby connection is made through direct mode of address and flip shots.

COLOUR AND IMAGERY:

The colours used in the music video are simplistic, at times bold to establish locations, such as the train. However they are simplistic and easy to the eye, the colours in my video needed to be calming to fit the slow pace of the verse and then when entering the chorus brings in more colours and the beat increases. For instance when the lip sync is introduced the back drop from the projector is appealing to the eye, it introduces colours, and in the screenshot of a lip sync scene below shows the contrast of the opaque beach and city scenes to the live performance aspect, whereby the performance aspect needs to be appealing because it is where one of the main characters is sending a message to the other and audience, the message that gives verbal introduction to the narrative, the lyrics address someone, the loved one - "you don't have to play that game, you don't have to be part of the system." colour is introduced into the video to accompany the awakening beat and audience to spread that message. 

CAMERA AND COMPOSITION

CLOSE UPS:

In my music video the use of close ups were vital, because of the lack of Props and significant objects facial recognitions of characters are key. Close ups are not only used in my video to establish the characters identity but also to express their emotion, and for me their neutral facial expression throughout was key, because I wanted the video to be enigmatic, their emotion about each other needed to be disguised until the end, where in another close up seen in image 7 and 8 their contact is made with each other, this for me was key in expressing their longing for each other, a memory of each others faces, happiness is shown and it becomes a form of a home video. The variety of close up to mid shots are vital when we filmed the performance element of the video. This is because it allows the audience to see the performer up close and personal so to speak. It allows the viewers of the video to create a connection to both character and musician. The bond is also enhanced with close ups being used in vast locations such as the beach, with the audience being with the character/performer on their own, it allows them to think about how the character would be feeling or even thinking.

IMPORTANCE OF MOVING OBJECTS - The Train, inside the train and the escalator

Moving objects are used in my production to drive the narrative, to give it movement to fit the prominent drum beat. As seen in the beginning of the music video, the time lapse and the first 30 seconds all cut to the beat before lyrics are introduced. Not only does the moving objects provide movement they provide a solid link to to the lyrics and symbolism of the narrative. The lyrics being about not following the rules set and not allowing yourself to be set up by systems of society, I believe the use of the train passing and the escalator show systems in society and especially the train being a part of the system that allows distance to grow between people. It moves people on and in some cases away from each other. This in relation to my narrative being two people with distance between them.

LOCATION SHOTS - 

The use of location shots sets the scene for characters and for our production is an element we need to show due to their being two locations completely in opposite to each other, both beautiful and these shots provide the opportunity for the audience to take a moment and have reflection on the narrative and listen to the music that accompanies it.

LONG SHOTS - 

Long shots in my music video allow the audience to see the characters in their setting, it gives the viewers an opportunity to see themselves with the characters and it allows them to experiment with ideas as to why the character is there or why the production has chosen that for that person specifically.

PART B -




PART D -

When assessing how fitting Todorov's narrative theory concept is to my video, I came to the conclusion that it fails to meet the three structured pattern. My video has a non-linear narrative, as well as being narratologically interesting because of this, it has also been split into different sections of the characters lives therefore allowing audience interpretation and enigma. The main aspect of the video that creates this narrative confusion is due to the memories aspect, it consisting of memories the couple shared, communicating their longing and missing each other to the audience. This is done very subtly to the viewer, through filming just their feet on steps next to each other, to then as the ending shots being a combination of direct mode of address shots, whereby its as if the audience was the missed loved one, or almost a home video type of shot, whereby the couple are filming each other. We decided to edit this and place these shots at the end to show the locational differences, to really emphasise that the two people are now worlds apart but thinking of each other, stereotypically like most young relationships. With the addition of live performance and lip sync with the use of projection, it creates a conjoining of the different images, bringing the narrative more closely into the video. The projection being of city shots and art shows that the character lip syncing is thinking of the other in their location, but also the art allow moments for the audience to think and realise the complexity of love and relationships, with the different patterns and colours placed over the face of the performer it symbolises the entwined thoughts.

The production is open ended, in some respects it leaves the audience frustrated and guessing but at the same time it expresses that the characters still have so much to endure, they may meet again, that in itself is an enigma, the ending consisting of one character disappearing and fading out of shot into darkness suggests an end to the memory of the relationship, therefore arguably the production actually being a closed text, however in my opinion that is for the audience to determine. The production holds huge opportunity for interpretation as does most pop culture videos, they stereotypically want the audience to talk about it, ask questions, they want the attention on the video.

Theorist Rolan Barthes created five codes to determine and describe the meaning/s of a text. For my video Symbolic Codes were most predominantly used. An example where this has arose is my locational shots, for instance when the character walks along the beach with the bleak grey water and sky as a backdrop emphasises the negative mindset and space they are in, the lost unknown thoughts they are having, there is no bright yellows or crisp greens to emphasise new exciting life. The ocean is rough and can express a mental battle, and waves of thoughts the person is having. Another being the other variety of location shot, this being the city landscape. This expresses that the other lives a busy life, a life of distraction of the thoughts of the other they are missing. The constant movement and pace and the constant surroundings of systems shows a mentality of confusion and need to be distracted from what the thoughts are, this then leading the character from the city into the darkness, ending the video itself, suggesting that the distraction was not enough, and the dark mentality of loosing someone you love has taken over.