Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of realmedia products?

My group's choice of song for the music video held the musical genre of acoustic, meaning acoustic instruments were the only thing recorded in the song. In our case Joshua Radin's 'Winter' involves only acoustic guitars and vocals.

The acoustic genre usually has slow paced music videos if it compliments the tempo of the song. Examples of this include: Joseph Arthur - In The Sun
(Click HERE to see the video)

The lyrics to the song were fairly simple to interpret, so instead of contradicting the lyrics with the video narrative, or simple just having a performance of the song; we decided to stick to the meaning of the lyrics and create our own story behind it.

The lyrics are as followed:

"I should know
Who I am by now
I walk
The record standssomehow

Thinking of winter
Your name is the splinter inside me
While I wait
And I remember the sound
Of your November downtown
And I remember the truth

A warm December with you
But I don't haveto make this mistake

And I don't have to stay this way
If only I wouldwake

The walk has all been cleared by now
Your voice is all I hear somehow
Calling outWinter

Your voice is the splinter inside me
While I wait
I remember the sound
Of your November downtown
And I remember the truth
A warm December with you
But I don't have to make this mistake
And I don't have tostaythis way

If only I would wake
I could have lost myself
In rough blue waters in your eyes
And I miss you still
I remember the sound
Of your November downtown

And I remember the truth
A warm December with you
But I don't have to make this mistake

And I don't have to stay this way
If only I wouldwake,"

With lines such as "Your name is the splinter inside me," and "I remember the sound of your november downtown," it is clearly about the singer losing someone and is lost in himself. Whether or not the singer wrote the lyrics about someone dying or losing a child (for example), we decided to interpret it as the singer losing his lover.

The story line goes as followed:

- Man and woman (the only two inthe video who are the characters) appear to have a healthy relationship, taking photos with each other on their days out and enjoying each others company.

- There are short clips -mostly at the start of the video- of the woman in a white dress with ribbons on her wrist, holding a red rose, hinting depression and death. This suggests early on that maybe something becomes twisted later on in the narrative.

- Eventually, the couple start arguing and the watcher realises that maybe they're not as happy as the watcher thinks.

- Some of the final scenes have the man in a first-person camera shot taking one last chance at winning the girl back with roses, but she rejects him.

- Woman picks up a rose from the bunch, then fades in to the costume of the white dress and red ribbons. This ends on a cliff hanger, so the watcher can decide whether the girl commits suicide or just goes in to a depressive state.

Scenery

The scenery we chose in our music video fits in well with the song title mostly, So we filmed it in a woods in West Kingsdown, wrapping up the man in warm clothes and capturing shots of him singing with condensing air coming out of his mouth.

Not only was the weather fitting but the colours in the shots were drained-looking, and the clouds in the sky were thick and grey, so generally the scenery looked bleak and fitted really well with the mood of the song.

The scenery also became a kind of memorial for the couples times together, viewed when the man sticks up photos he takes in previous scenes on the tree.

Camera Shots and Angles

The camera shots for the performance side of the video had to focus on the singer as we did not include any other musicians. We wanted to portray the singer as being a solo artist, working independently on his music. We dressed the singer appropriately, styled his hair and made sure he lip synched without concentrating too much and not being able to perform.

We made the singer of the video the main viewing point in his scenes by centralising him and using different kinds of close-up shots whilst performing.

The narrative included a wider range of camera shots and angles, including:

- Full body shots of the couple

- Extreme close up shots

- Every distance shot available at the start of the video

- Medium close up shot of the mans leg

Lighting

As stated above, the lighting was mostly natural and we didn't edit any of the shots filmed outside. The natural greys of the sky emphasised the dull mood of the song.

The shots inside of the house (in the narrative) sometimes had the lighting changed to fit the scene. This is shown in the clip of the couple on the sofa as we tried to portray them watching television.

Editing

The video was not heavily edited, but when it was edited in the right places, it complimented the genre brilliantly.

The 'Cross-Fade' transition was used in nearly every single clip switch in the video. This emphasised the slow pace of the video which went really well with the tempo of the song.

The 'Fade to Colour' transition was used to emphasise the camera flash on the clips of the couple together in the narrative. I edited the transition so that the flash was quick.

In the shots of the memories, the clips were edited a good amount. The memory clips included the following effects:

- 'Edge Blur'

- 'Motion Blur'

(and in some clips) - Slow motion. Speed of the video reduced by 50%.

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