Timothy Gosling A Level Media course work

Evaluation Q2

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

My group had a lot of freedom with the main product since there wasn’t an existing video therefore our ideas were not influenced by anything other than our own. The song choice does have more lyrics than your usual Dubstep song but this allowed us to steer towards a narrative which we felt agreed with the tempo of the song and also worked as a Game advertisement. The particular lyrics “You got to make the move” got us steering towards a real action packed product. The last thing we wanted to do was be generic and create a mainstream dance video as this is overdone and in fact not stereotypical of Dubstep but instead another genre commonly mistaken, known as Dance/Electronic. From here we made the final decision to create an advertisement for a game. We were inspire by the viral advertisement for the Call of Duty - Modern Warfare 3 game. I have attached the video below so you can see how we extracted ideas from their video.

We chose to film in the country at a group members home. The area proved perfect as we were conveniently located next to the wood and also found an abandoned car in car park close-by. The majority of the filming was done over a weekend which we scheduled long in advance to ensure all four of us could make it.

How does my advert relate to my video and other tasks?

The advert adopts a focus on the colours Blue and Yellow like the Digipak but is represented in a more stereotypical way for the Dubstep genre. The image is vivid and gives off an electronic vibe relating to the style of music and the action we later see in the music video. I decided to keep the colours of Blue and Yellow prominent throughout the tasks. I chose these specific colours because I felt the electricity of the colour blue represents the Dubstep genre very well and the yellow is good for making the advert and digipak stand out. Furthermore these colours are prominent throughout my music video and the connotations of each greatly contrast, as the blue represents the beginning mise en scene which is calm and outdoors away from the city whereas the yellow almost represents fire, tragedy and the muzzle flashes but a certain tinge of yellow is also quite noticeable as the autumn leaves have fallen. I have also ensured I kept sunglasses on; giving the impression this is the artists signature style as worn also on the Front and Back of the Digipak. Also the font is similar to the ones on the digipak maintaining a yellow shadow. However I felt I didn't want there to be any relation between the video or any other tasks. This is because the narrative in the video is purely one interpretation of the song which is also an advertisement for an action game. Also, most dubstep music videos will simply be of patterns and dance or in some cases non-existent at all, therefore I didn't feel it important to create a link with the video.

Here we see the yellow colour as represented throughout my other tasks

The colours blue and yellow also come out at the start of our video as you can see here.

Poster

You can see that I have kept the consistency of the artist's image with the sunglasses

Album Cover and Digipak

The Album Cover is not only blurry but also crystallized to make it difficult to see the details of the image. The idea behind this is that there are many different perspectives on daily life and it is up to the audience’s choice of interpretation. Dubstep is a genre that can be interpreted differently by listeners as the songs are not heavily reliant on the lyrics but instead the rhythm and beat which affects people in different ways, some may find it distorted and others may hear it as a perfect symphony of organised melodies. This artistic approach is different but imaginative narratives are not uncommon in this genre, especially in music videos which usually have little direct correlation to the song. The inspiration for the Clear and Unclear covers comes from the judgements people make on others which tend to be negative rather than positive. For example, instead of interpreting the image as confusing or uninteresting why not mysterious or perplexing? There are essentially 2 of the same image on the front and back of the digipak which are just edited differently, basically one is clear and the other not. I specifically used the image of myself reaching into my pocket, but once again it is not clear what I am reaching for but one may interpret it is a phone hence the album name “collect call”. Once opened the blue fade is continued on the front inside cover however the mystery prevails as I only reveal a shadow (of the female singer) and on the opposite side is a continuation of my image (DJ) who is maintains his image with the sunglasses. I decided not to reveal the artists face in the digipak as she can be seen singing in the video whereas the DJ is not part of it at all.

Evaluation Q1

A) 1 – This shot shows a clear link between lyrics and visuals because as Bryan smashes through as the line ‘You’ve got to make the move’ is heard. This is a very good link which relates entirely to the action of making the move towards the house. The stereotypical dress sense for someone who enjoys this genre would dress casually like Bryan is in this shot. We can also see that he makes an effort to cover his identity connoting that he is doing something wrong.

2 – The artist is represented with heavy make-up and is the centre of the frame. She is the focus and is made to look good. Her facial expressions link to the lyrics she is singing and the action in the video. She also represents the typical club goer who would be the target audience for this type of music. Her style and youthful appearance are stereotypical. She repeatedly cuts in to the narrative and acts almost as a reality check to the viewer by drawing them away from the narrative in the music video.

3 – The splashing of the puddle with the slow motion effect which has been purposefully made to look artificial is also stereotypical of the genre. The music is artificial and the splashing represents aggression and letting yourself go which relates to the audience of this genre. We wanted to create an image that was distorted but at the same time vivid. The splash directed the video along the path of a simulated game which we were advertising, as the ripples and splash are clearly not realistic.

4 – In this shot we have used the typical worms eye view shot from the bags level. This emphasises the significance of this bag and its contents. A scene like this would typically be seen in a gangster movie and adds further mystery to the contents of the bag. The bag is clearly of significance and is the objective of the intruder.

5 – We used a range of different camera shots to film the singer to make it less dull. She remains in front of a brick wall and has no change in outfits so we felt interesting camera shots would maintain interest on her character. As these shots were purely focused on Phoebe we felt it necessary to keep these simple shots powerful and effective. To achieve this we had Phoebe put on strong facial expressions to add emotion to the song and also used a range of camera angles to emphasise these emotions.

6 – Outside we had trouble finding the right lighting conditions. As you can see in this shot we positioned both characters perfectly to enable a sufficient amount of natural light to swarm over the character close up as well as in the background.We chose the day time to film as we wanted to use natural lighting.

7 – This shot demonstrates the mise en scene very well. You can see a hooded man, dressed in black with a balaclava covering his face. In his hands is not only a large gun but also a vicious looking dog which he Is gripping tightly by the lead. Around him no one else is to be seen but lots of quiet looking land. The balaclava helps establish his character very quickly. Though the intruder also attempts to hide his identity with a hood, it is clear that this character is in a uniform and seems more organised. The guard comes across as more professional looking which is how the audience can distinguish between him (doing his job) and the criminal who has reason to conceal his face.

8 - This shot demonstrates we have watched other music videos and recycled material. The close up of the weapon is generic of many action thrillers. We wanted to create a sense of suspense by placing a focus on his hands which ultimately have control of the outcome. The focus on the gun connotes its power and the authority it gives the user behind it.

9 - We represent the character as mysterious as the mise en scene and his concealed identity do not reveal anything about him. The colours of his clothing are also bland and we cant even make out the characters colour until a few frames later. As he walks away with his hood up it suggests he may be in shame or trying to hide. The reason he attempts to hide himself becomes evident in the video however his purpose is still a mystery as is his character.

B) 1 - We can see the artist counting money which is stereotypical to the artists genre and image "Get rich or die tryin'". Many of the lyrics in the Hip-Hop genre relate to making money through criminal activity such as Drugs, Hustling and Theft. Many of the artists portray Money as God and work towards it. In this shot we see 50 cent counting a large amount of money suggesting he has reached his pinnacle of success and wants the audience to see that.

2 - From this video we can see a Medium shot of Pink singing from a side angle. We also used this style of shot when filming Phoebe in our video. We can see her punk style hair which is also generic to her style of music which is alternative rock. If she were to be dressed in a mainstream way with a pony tail, the image would contrast with that of her audience and music. This type of shot helps emphasise the emotions from the lyrics being sung as you can see the artist from different angles which you wouldn't usually see them from, as the standard image of a artist would be face on. This makes it feel more personal and comfortable to the viewer.

3 - This shot is conventional of a dance video as we can see a heavy use of lights and fast shots as you can tell by the still image not being clear. The fashion portrayed in this image are conventional to the dance genre that the group "Far East Movement" are part of. The audience for my video would also dress in a similar way and also appreciate our song in a similar venue too. Overall the target audience for Dance/Dubstep music are represented in a stereotypical way which from audience research I have found out to be accurate.

4 - This worms eye view represents the status of the 3 main artists from "FAE" approaching the private aircraft. People that have access to such luxuries would be people with a high status in society and with that will have authority. Travelling private allows you to cut queues and take off before others making you unique and sigificant which is portrayed with the help of worms eye view shot. The shot makes them appear larger than they are and adds a sense of importance to these characters in the video. However I feel they are representing their real life as most of the people surrounding them, such as fans would usually look up to them as they are celebrities.

5 - This close up of the artist enables the audience to feel the emotion of the singer. Again the artists every facial expression can be seen by the audience. Furthermore, the mise en scene is also used to add to the sombre and relatively mellow nature of the song.

6 - This over the shoulder shot gives the audience a sense of the artists vulnerability. I like the way the darkness and gloominess result in an uncomfortable image for the audience which is further supported by the artist facing away in a long shot. This gives a sense of mystery as to what caused his emotions but it is clear that he is in a dark place with dark emotions.

7 - This long shot allows the audience to take in the mise en scene and his small figure represents insecurity and sorrow. We can see he has shut himself off from the world as everything is closed. We can tell its still daytime as the natural light is illuminating him but he has closed his curtains in the daytime which is unusual and also has nothing turned on.

8 - This shot shows the artist on the side of the frame whilst the money is at the centre putting emphasis on the money not the artist. The shot demonstrates a clear use of mise en scene which we found important to bear in mind with our video.