Matt Jones Evalutation

The song ‘Lights and Music’ by Cut Copy is of the electro-pop genre and therefore stereotypical ideas such as a colourful vibrant set and characters that interact through dance or a fast paced tempo such as the night of a party. An appropriate theme which was used in our music video was a dance, this develops on conventions in real media products because it is what fans of this genre would expect and enjoy. An example of a well executed dance in a real media product is the music video for ‘Beat Again’ by JLS, however our product differs as it is not solely of a boy-band dancing. The reason for this is that we felt it necessary to add other elements in order to seem original. Other conventions used include the mis-en-scene, the band members were in matching outfits and the setting complimented the song as it was heavily lit in darkness, playing on the theme of light in the song. Having matching outfits, for instance the iconography of the grey hoodies and sunglasses enables the audience to immediately recognise the performers and give them a trademark look which viewers can associate with. Another theme which is relevant to this genre is a slight narrative aspect. At the beginning of the video there is daylight, there is then a transition from sunlight to torchlight which signifies the time of day. Beginning in the daylight enabled the music video to begin with introducing shots of the setting and reveal to the audience where the music video took place. The setting is urban and therefore relates to the song and genre of music because it is a dance which could be played in social settings rather than a contrasting song which could relevant at any occasion.
At contrasting convention to real media products is the comedy element. The use of humorous shots such as using a shopping trolley enables the band to cover other elements of the industry, because using comedy allows the band to attract new audiences which may not have been interested in a normal dance video. Also a genre characteristic that was not featured is a stage performance; this is because individual shots of instruments are shown as well as lip-syncing and a dance performance. Therefore the elements in the video could be seen as minimalistic. However, by maintaining the use of simple shots but editing them in an intuitive way, for instance, the four-way split screen capturing all band members in a close-up shot. This close up shot enables the record label to use the artist as a product and develop motifs of the bands visual style.
Different locations and shots also help to keep the video interesting and engage the viewer. In addition, the amplifying relationship can be seen in the dance that is shot several times because the moves/actions in the dance relate to the lyrics.
The ancillary task compliments the music video well because they contain similar conventions and continues themes featured in the music video, such as the use of colour and striped lighting. On criticism could be that the font on the digipack cover and magazine advert differ and mat not be clearly linked. However, the band and album are clearly labelled as well as the features of the digipack. Although this could be beneficial as ait highlights the products contrasting elements such as the conventions it doesn’t follow. The screen grabs from the video onto the front of the digipack work well because they introduce the band members as well as linking the video. The use of varied colours and fonts on the magazine advert relate to the different location and effects used in the video consequently enabling the consumer to make the link between the two media products.
Receiving audience feedback allows for a higher level of media product the next time. In our feedback the general theme was complimentary, for instance; appropriate lighting, good variety of shots, interesting location and well executed lip-syncing. However criticisms included; the need for more locations and costumes, whether the dancing was needed and a general need for more variety. This criticism is useful and relevant and with more time we could have implemented these changes. However, some elements would remain the same in order to maintain the feel of not conforming throughout the video.
Different media technologies that were used to create the video and ancillary tasks were Photoshop and FinalCutExpress. Websites that were important for our research and ideas were YouTube and blogging sites. Such sites are proving very influential in the current market of music videos, this is because aspiring amateurs are able to create their own portfolio of work and then post it on the internet with the hopes of being noticed. By using the latest technology we were able to enhance our media product and take it to another level, for instance after importing our footage it was evident that some effects were needed. This is clearly apparent in our rough cut, the lack of unusual effects and slow editing makes each shot drag and become almost annoying for the viewer. We avoided this in our final product by taking interesting effects and experimenting with them. Although at times it was clear that too many effects can become just as irritating. By achieving a balanced proportion of simple and complex shots we were able to engage the viewer without excessively using the tools of FinalCutExpress. Also, by maintaining our own blog we were able to note down ideas and reveal how progress was able to be achieved throughout, this was important as it was a way of recording pices of media that inspired and that we could relate to in our final piece.