In what ways does your media production use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media productions?
Our media project was to create a music video for an indie rock song by a small local band (Against the Tide), with this in mind conventions were very loose.
Rock typically aims at breaking convention, this is why it is so strongly appreciated by late teens and adolescents, therefore we struggled to find preformed conventions to follow and or challenge. The conventions that we did however settle on are the following:
- Rock music videos typically feature large amounts of live performance.
- Rock music videos typically feature abstract narratives.
- Rock music videos typically focus on more abstract issues for the teen demographic, such as dysfunctional relationships or breakups.
As we agreed that these three were the typical or generic qualities of rock music videos we decided that it would be mostly beneficial to conform to these conventions, we did however decide that we would develop and diversify on each point as we felt that rock is all about personal reflection and not generic modelling*1. We accomplished this in various ways, they are as follows;
- Indirect representation of women and relationship dynamics.
- Abstract sense of power and character roles.
We feel that these three things were most important in the development of or music video and the story arch of our characters.
INDIRECT REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AND RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS.
Women and relationships were the main role in our media production, the song is highly focused on the concept of "unreturned love" and the negative side of late teen relationships. With this in mind it was crucial that we represented women and relationships in a negative way (to best reflect the song). We accomplished the, mostly, by choosing not to cast a female role and instead use signifiers to represent women (Sexy Girlfriend Joann). Joann was shown only through the use of the photo album in which the main character rips up and burns her image, other that this Joann is purely a non physical factor without any real presence. We chose to do this as we feel that it demonstrates the emotional turmoil which is generated throughout the songs lyrics. In addition to this we decided that featuring two main male roles would change up the relationship dynamics, as this breaks the normal convention of having a music video which includes both a male and a female character in the main roles.
ABSTRACT SENSE OF POWER AND CHARACTER ROLES
We chose to have the characters as all male as we felt that would make an abstract approach to the conventional models that we have seen, in addition we wanted people to see our characters at the mercy of sEXY girlfriend Joann, who never makes an appearance in the video (excluding her images) as we felt this better reflected the general feel of loss and pain that the lyrics were demonstrating.
*1 Generic Modelling, modelling a set or group of beliefs that are accepted as the norm for society.
Friday, 27 March 2015
Audience feedback.
Audience Feedback.
For our audience feedback we had a group showing of our finished project, we played the music video and then took questions before asking for individual feedback.
Here are some of the questions we were asked:
1. How did you accomplish the fast transition between shot towards the end of the video? (Ryan Westby)
- Response: Well Ryan, using the software Premier Pro we layered two tracks over each other and then we used the cut tool to separate one track in various places, this then aloud both tracks to run at the same time whilst creating a fast transition between them.
2. How did you choose the locations that you used; the train station for example? (Robert Rickers)
- Response: Well Rob, as a team we found that we could best demonstrate the emotional weight of the music track we used (I Wont Die For You By Against the Tide) if we used the train station to demonstrate loss and then the quiet areas, such as the bench scene, to demonstrate the bond that our two characters had.
3. Your piece has some static shots throughout, why is this? (Jake Willson-Hebben)
- Response: Well Jake, although the rock genre does tend to focus more on energetic shots with large levels of panning and rotation, we felt that the inclusion of static or still shots was an interesting twist as it both defies convention , which in itself is a convention of the rock genre, but it also allows for the calmer parts of the music to be reflected through the editing.
Here is some of the feedback we received:
This is a viewing and
question session with
Scott, this is then
followed by an interview
from Hayden.
For our audience feedback we had a group showing of our finished project, we played the music video and then took questions before asking for individual feedback.
Here are some of the questions we were asked:
1. How did you accomplish the fast transition between shot towards the end of the video? (Ryan Westby)
- Response: Well Ryan, using the software Premier Pro we layered two tracks over each other and then we used the cut tool to separate one track in various places, this then aloud both tracks to run at the same time whilst creating a fast transition between them.
2. How did you choose the locations that you used; the train station for example? (Robert Rickers)
- Response: Well Rob, as a team we found that we could best demonstrate the emotional weight of the music track we used (I Wont Die For You By Against the Tide) if we used the train station to demonstrate loss and then the quiet areas, such as the bench scene, to demonstrate the bond that our two characters had.
3. Your piece has some static shots throughout, why is this? (Jake Willson-Hebben)
- Response: Well Jake, although the rock genre does tend to focus more on energetic shots with large levels of panning and rotation, we felt that the inclusion of static or still shots was an interesting twist as it both defies convention , which in itself is a convention of the rock genre, but it also allows for the calmer parts of the music to be reflected through the editing.
Here is some of the feedback we received:
question session with
Scott, this is then
followed by an interview
from Hayden.
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
Attitudes and the representation of women.
Attitudes and the representation of women. (A response to views of Sexy Girlfriend Joann)
Women within music video's have increasingly become tools of sexual promiscuity, a symbolic reference of wealth, power and status amongst various other connotations, however, as times are changes mens sexuality is being more and more frequently discussed. In response to some of the extreme views and opinions that we have received regarding Sexy Girlfriend Joanne we are now being inclusive of the female participants within our project.
The following are various quotes from members of the local town regarding their personal views to the images of women within the media.
comments and Responses.
-"Men see us as objects and we should be represented in a stronger way, we are not sex objects"
Holly Webb.
- While it is true that women are often represented in negative ways we do feel that voyeurism is not just male over female, instead we feel that women are increasingly becoming more dominant in female music videos.
-"Overly sexualised, objectifies women"
Savana Whitfield
- We do agree that women can be represented in an overly sexualised way, however we do feel that it is important to note that artists such as Niki Minaj will often represent themselves as objects of sexual desire. The video Anaconda for example features close to pornographic imagery displayed by Minaj.
"you say that being portrayed sexually is a negative thing, why?"
Richard Lunn
- We do not feel that all representation of sexuality is negative, instead we feel that the exploitation of sexual imagery to generate interest in a media piece is not something that should be encouraged. Sexuality is something that we feel should only be addressed if it has real relevance to the media piece.
Women within music video's have increasingly become tools of sexual promiscuity, a symbolic reference of wealth, power and status amongst various other connotations, however, as times are changes mens sexuality is being more and more frequently discussed. In response to some of the extreme views and opinions that we have received regarding Sexy Girlfriend Joanne we are now being inclusive of the female participants within our project.
The following are various quotes from members of the local town regarding their personal views to the images of women within the media.
comments and Responses.
-"Men see us as objects and we should be represented in a stronger way, we are not sex objects"
Holly Webb.
- While it is true that women are often represented in negative ways we do feel that voyeurism is not just male over female, instead we feel that women are increasingly becoming more dominant in female music videos.
-"Overly sexualised, objectifies women"
Savana Whitfield
- We do agree that women can be represented in an overly sexualised way, however we do feel that it is important to note that artists such as Niki Minaj will often represent themselves as objects of sexual desire. The video Anaconda for example features close to pornographic imagery displayed by Minaj.
"you say that being portrayed sexually is a negative thing, why?"
Richard Lunn
- We do not feel that all representation of sexuality is negative, instead we feel that the exploitation of sexual imagery to generate interest in a media piece is not something that should be encouraged. Sexuality is something that we feel should only be addressed if it has real relevance to the media piece.
Sexy Girlfriend Joann.
Sexy Girlfriend Joann.
The representation of women in our media piece is one of the most important factors as the song focuses around a one-sided between the narrator and his girlfriend (we are unsure if the girlfriend is really a girlfriend or just a friend, we opted with girlfriend, however the video works either way).
We decided to represent women through the use of Sexy Girlfriend Joann for various reasons;
- Negative images and stereotypes for women.
- Suits the abstract rock genre.
- Gives an alternate approach to relationships.
The actual representation of women in our piece is through a book album in which we took various images and constructed an identity without any actual physical presence. We felt that the best way to give representation of women was to leave room for audience interpretation, instead of giving a set and obvious idea surrounding women, we thought it would be more interesting to allow the audience to generate their own idea of women.
NEGATIVE IMAGES AND STEREOTYPES FOR WOMEN.
Women in rock, we feel, tend to be represented in a negative image, whilst we disagree with this, we also felt it was important to address this concept. To achieve this we had the female stand our male character up. This suggests a sense of aggression towards women, something we feel is reflected in the lyrics of the song.
SUITS THE ABSTRACT ROCK GENRE.
In an attempt to suit the abstract feeling that rock genre tends to follow we decided to remove the female role entirely and replace her with a sense of absence. This is where we came up with the idea for Sexy Girlfriend Joann, named so to represent a sense of superficiality.
GIVES AN ALTERNATE APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIPS.
We decided to stick with Sexy Girlfriend Joann as we felt that this gave us a different and unseen (for the most part) approach to female representation.
The representation of women in our media piece is one of the most important factors as the song focuses around a one-sided between the narrator and his girlfriend (we are unsure if the girlfriend is really a girlfriend or just a friend, we opted with girlfriend, however the video works either way).
We decided to represent women through the use of Sexy Girlfriend Joann for various reasons;
- Negative images and stereotypes for women.
- Suits the abstract rock genre.
- Gives an alternate approach to relationships.
The actual representation of women in our piece is through a book album in which we took various images and constructed an identity without any actual physical presence. We felt that the best way to give representation of women was to leave room for audience interpretation, instead of giving a set and obvious idea surrounding women, we thought it would be more interesting to allow the audience to generate their own idea of women.
NEGATIVE IMAGES AND STEREOTYPES FOR WOMEN.
Women in rock, we feel, tend to be represented in a negative image, whilst we disagree with this, we also felt it was important to address this concept. To achieve this we had the female stand our male character up. This suggests a sense of aggression towards women, something we feel is reflected in the lyrics of the song.
SUITS THE ABSTRACT ROCK GENRE.
In an attempt to suit the abstract feeling that rock genre tends to follow we decided to remove the female role entirely and replace her with a sense of absence. This is where we came up with the idea for Sexy Girlfriend Joann, named so to represent a sense of superficiality.
GIVES AN ALTERNATE APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIPS.
We decided to stick with Sexy Girlfriend Joann as we felt that this gave us a different and unseen (for the most part) approach to female representation.
Thursday, 26 February 2015
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Research and Planning.
CD designs.
For our final piece we are required to create two pieces of print media. A poster to advertise our band and CD cover with at least 4 faces and 6 images.
Below you can see our first draft for the CD cover and the research and planning that is going into its development.
This is the original idea for the cover photo, it relates to our as in our original draft as we were focusing on the representation of emotional turmoil through everyday objects. The mirror would smash when our actor became distressed and the rose would die over the course of the video. An additional idea we have is to have an image of a photograph burning which would be more relatable to our actual video.
This image is likely to be the final image used for our cover photo, if we go with this concept. We used Photoshop to colour correct to darken the rose's reflection and tidy the cracks in the mirror. We used the rose on a black stand as these colours are likely to be our final colour scheme.
The image below shows our first draft for the internal section of our album cover. It shows the CD holder on the left and a booklet and a booklet holder on the right side. The colour scheme is not accurate yet as we are likely to change the colours to black and red.
Posted By Scott and Hayden.
For our final piece we are required to create two pieces of print media. A poster to advertise our band and CD cover with at least 4 faces and 6 images.
Below you can see our first draft for the CD cover and the research and planning that is going into its development.
This is the original idea for the cover photo, it relates to our as in our original draft as we were focusing on the representation of emotional turmoil through everyday objects. The mirror would smash when our actor became distressed and the rose would die over the course of the video. An additional idea we have is to have an image of a photograph burning which would be more relatable to our actual video.
This image is likely to be the final image used for our cover photo, if we go with this concept. We used Photoshop to colour correct to darken the rose's reflection and tidy the cracks in the mirror. We used the rose on a black stand as these colours are likely to be our final colour scheme.
The image below shows our first draft for the internal section of our album cover. It shows the CD holder on the left and a booklet and a booklet holder on the right side. The colour scheme is not accurate yet as we are likely to change the colours to black and red.
Posted By Scott and Hayden.
Friday, 24 October 2014
What changed.
When we came to edit our work we came to the horrific realization that making a music video is actually really hard, we were constantly having to change and adapt our plan. Every action we undertook had lead to a re-think in order for it all to come together in the editing. It's because of this that our final piece will look different to the original plan. This was expected, however we were not aware of the extent.
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