Evaluation for music video

1. Music Video Evaluation

2. Evaluation Part 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. One of the first things that sprung to mind when choosing the track Dont Stop by Darkwood was what the stereotypical dance/trance etc videos tends to be like. They are always usually very fast paced and made visually appealing to the viewer, this will usually tend to be shown by the use of semi naked girls. These examples mentioned are in line with two parts of Andrew Goodwin’s theories on music videos. 3) Particular music genres have their own music video style and iconography 6) There is likely to be reference to voyeurism, particularly in the treatment of women, but also in terms of systems of looking Some well known examples from music videos

3. Evaluation Part 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. The worrying thing is this isn’t just a handful of videos, semi naked girls are a re-occuring theme in music videos for this genre and I really don’t understand the need. Yes you expect the video to be fast paced, in order to fit in with the track (which links in with the 2nd of Goodwin’s theories 2) There is a relationship between the music and the visuals) but are the semi naked girls really that necessary, are they really needed to help sell the track.For me the answer to that is no, first and foremost to me the most important thing is a catchy song. Yes a video helps with publicity but it is possible to do this without Goodwin’s 6th theory, for me the semi naked girls are superfluous. Because of this I wanted to create a dance music video that followed parts of Goodwin’s theory, especially the 2nd one but I wanted to challenge his 6th theory, the forms and conventions that semi naked girls are pretty much a necessity in dance music videos.

4. Evaluation Part 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. As you can see from the three screenshots, it features buildings, cars and a field. All 3 of these challenge the conventions in the form they’re in from what you’d expect from a dance music video. You would sometimes see a city landscape or cars in dance videos but they would usually be shown in a much more visually appealing or sexual manner.Despite challenging this form and convention, I have maintained the fast paced form and convention you would expect in a dance video. The entirety of the music video is filmed from a train so it is fast paced to start with but the speed of the vast majority of it is quickened up via Adobe Premier, in order for it to A) Have that fast pace and B) So that the video is in time with the track.

5. Evaluation Part 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. Another one of Goodwin’s theories that helped me to decide what to do with my music video was his 4th theory ‘There is demand on part of the record company for lots of close-ups of the main artist/vocalist’. Now from my experience the main artist/vocalist seems to appear on a very occasional basis in Dance music videos, there are exceptions EG: Lasgo, Something – above. However it’s not common place.Because of this I decided to not feature anyone in my music video, instead just film footage from a train journey. I feel this goes with the forms and conventions you would expect to see in a dance music video.

6. Evaluation Part 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. As you can see I’ve also gone with a Black and White theme in my video, it’s something that I’ve never seen in a Dance video so I thought it would be a good way of challenging all the stereotypical forms and conventions. The reason for a lack of Black and White ties in with Goodwin’s 6th theory re Voyeurism. Black and white is highly stylized and shows a stronger contrast between light and shade.Because I’m going against the grain on such an expected form and convention, it was vital I got all the parts where I was actually using the forms and conventions spot on.As well as the upped speed of the Music Video, the entirety of music is based on half a dozen clips constantly looped, this is done especially to tie in with Goodwin’s 2nd theory and to help maintain the viewers interest with the fast pace, fitting in with the track.

7. Evaluation Part 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products. Of course when you come with an idea for a music video, you need some inspiration. Mine came from the video for Star Guitar by the Chemical Brothers, made by Michel Gondry - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S43IwBF0uM I have used similar ideas to what he has done, most notably the train footage and the constant looping. The 2nd and 3rd pictures are part of the video which has the most impressive looping, something you wouldn’t notice unless you purposely went looking for it.This inspired me, I wanted to try and create loops just like Gondry has done here, of course it isn’tanywhere near the same standard but at the very least I hope people don’t notice the loops. Because of the superb nature of Gondry’s work, I decided to try and recreate something similar to his real media product.

8. Evaluation Part 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

9. Evaluation Part 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? One of the tasks we had to do alongside our music video was a magazine advert for the music video/band. The darkness of black and white was a very keen theme of my music video and I feel the black works especially well here, with the band’s name being ‘Darkwood’ I felt it would look good for the band’s name to be in Black. This is something that I feel could make people look and take notice to anyone who sees the advert. Another aspect of my main music video was the keep it simple theme and I’ve maintained this for my magazine advert, there is nothing fancy about it at all. It is a black background with stand out white text and some red brushes, the red brushes being the only artwork for both the digipack and the advert, something that links up well with my desire to have a basic music video, with no visual pleasures (eg Semi naked women that is seen constantly throughout the dance genre) Because of the challenging of conventions in my music video it is vital the band and track is advertised as well as possible, the white text on a black background is very striking and stands out, the text shows the importance of buying quickly due to the short number available and show casts some various special offers that would definitely interest people. The music video, digipack and advert work together to create a brand identity for Darkwood– something unique and different from established brand codes and conventions for dance/house music.

10. Evaluation Part 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

11. Evaluation Part 2 How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? The other part we had to do alongside the music video project was to create a DVD digipack for the artist. As mentioned with the magazine advert the idea behind my DVD Digipack was like the video to keep it simple, I’ve stuck with the Black and Red theme for all parts of the artwork. While the front and back have parts that stand out the middle part with the CD was designed to be as basic as possible, with only a black background and a couple of photoshop brushes used. For me it is all about music and once you’ve opened it you’re desire should be to listen to the CD, not worry about any fancy artwork. Again this ties in with the constant theme of challenging the forms and conventions of pleasure visually associated with dance music, however as also mentioned there does need to be something to sell the band to you. The music video has the fast paced video with loops, the advert has special offers and so does this CD, with bonus and live tracks. The front cover while only having a the artists name and a few brushes still stands out, in fact covers like these are often more striking to a casual buyer than one with pictures. Yes semi naked women would probably stand out more and immediately get the potential buyer to take note but that was one form and convention I was desperate to challenge, in all 3 parts of my project.

12. Evaluation Part 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? For audience feedback I linked the YouTube video on both my Facebook and Twitter pages in order to get peoples thoughts. Some of the feedback was as follows. I really like this, it perfectly fits the music with the outside view and speed it goes perfectly in sync. I also really like the black and white; but most of all I like the reflection of the camera, it makes it feel like you're just watching the world go by. I like the black and white stuff plus your reflection in the window looks good It appears to represent ones journey through various different places, the music indicates that this is an adventure, a happy adventure with excitement waiting at the other end. It reminds me a bit of Robert Miles song Children from 1996. I like how the video is relevant to you, I'm guessing you filmed it on a train. I quite like the monochrome look too seems to go with the song, the feeling of hustle and bustle seems to go with it too, the fast movement due to the train moving seems to work. The repetition works because the song does that all the way through it seems. overall Ilike it, think it works well with the song.

13. Evaluation Part 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? One of the most interesting bit of feedback I got was as follows. The music for the video clip is very suggestive of movement. I have not heard Darkwood before, but it sounds very much as if it is German electronica.The video, together with the music beat, suggest a train journey, but there is the aberration of the still image in the shot that draws your attention. It appears to be a camera on a tripod, suggesting a reflection in the window of the train as the video is being shot. The fixed image acts as a reference point and adds to the sense of movement.The video has been cut and spliced to suit the music clip, with high speed parts of the journey matched to faster segments of the music. The discontinuities add interest by breaking up the video image. There is an interesting section of forward/reverse movement about half way through the clip that made me think about that odd sensation you can get when the wheels on a car seem to be going backwards. Interesting use of the same images but running in reverse and/or oscillating later in the clip. Looks like cars in a car park. Again, generally matches the tempo of the music quite well. And all the while there is that camera that now seems to be looking at you... it could get to be a bit sinister and play on your mind. Is it just a reflection?

14. Evaluation Part 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? I have learnt from my audience feedback that almost everyone seems to like the black and white theme (‘I also really like the black and white’ + ‘I like the black and white stuff’). Something I’m pleasantly surprised about as I expected a few to find it a bit dull. While the aim of my music video was to create something different to the stereotypical dance video I also wanted to keep the viewers interest whilst doing so and judging by my feedback I have done this. Some of my favourite quotes from the feedback were ‘The repetition works because the song does that all the way through it seems. overall I like it, think it works well with the song.’ and ‘I really like this, it perfectly fits the music with the outside view and speed it goes perfectly in sync.’ This links back to Goodwin’s 2nd theory ‘There is a relationship between the music and the visuals’ – One of the main parts of my music video is that I wanted the video to link with the beat of the song, this was done in various different forms through repetition and by cutting and speeding stuff up – also shown with the audience feedback ‘The video has been cut and spliced to suit the music clip, with high speed parts of the journey matched to faster segments of the music. The discontinuities add interest by breaking up the video image.’ I’m glad that I have managed to achieve this and also by the sounds of the feedback made it enjoyable to watch.

15. Evaluation Part 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? The one part that stood out in the audience feedback was ‘Interesting use of the same images but running in reverse and/or oscillating later in the clip. Looks like cars in a car park. Again, generally matches the tempo of the music quite well.’ The bulk of the music video is based on loops and while I’m glad a lot of people didn’t notice and just saw it as continuous footage I am also glad some one did. While this is actually praise I take it as constructive criticism, in an ideal world the loops would have been on a Gondry level where it’s almost impossible to notice the fact that stuff is repeating itself. However that’s not to say I’m not happy with what I’ve produced in fact I’m very happy, it’s just good when people notice the technical side to what you’re doing. Every single person, including Gondry, can improve at what they specify on.

16. Evaluation Part 3 What have you learned from your audience feedback? Another noticeable thing about the audience feedback was how people interpreted the video differently. ‘And all the while there is that camera that now seems to be looking at you... it could get to be a bit sinister and play on your mind. Is it just a reflection?’ ‘It appears to represent ones journey through various different places, the music indicates that this is an adventure, a happy adventure with excitement waiting at the other end.’ What struck me most about this is how people can identify things in different ways, people who know my situation will know the reasoning behind the video. However it got me thinking, what if everyone who watched the video had never heard of me? How would they interpret it? – Would it be seen as sinister? Or would it be seen as a happy adventure with excitement?. To me some of the best music videos are the ones that leave you guessing and wondering. A favourite of mine ‘Just’ by Radiohead has left everyone speculating for years. The fact that the video can have people wondering the meaning, and for people to be wondering completely different meanings, shows to me that I have created a successful music video.

17. Evaluation Part 4 How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? The first thing I decided with my project was that I didn’t want to have a band in my music video, this meant that I had to find a copyright free track. This meant I spent a lot of time on Jamendo, Jamendo is a site where bands can upload their music and get it heard. Jamendo is also a place where people can download copyright free music for free and are free to use the track pretty much as they wish. Jamendo wasn’t the only new media technology I used at this stage, a number of the bands/artists checked out also had MySpace and YouTube accounts so time was spent looking at these also in order to make my mind up.Once I had a found a track, I had to come up with an idea. This is where YouTube came in especially handy as any director worth his salt will have his videos on there. I spent time looking at a vast amount of Cyriak’s videos but eventually stumbled across some of Michel Gondry’s work, most noticably Star Guitar and the idea went from there.

18. Evaluation Part 4 How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Once the idea was sorted, it was time to get the footage needed. A treatment sheet was filled in and then filming started. The filming involved one train journey from Norwich to London, once a table seat had been found the camera was set up with a tripod in order to maintain stability. With almost two hours worth of footage from the journey home, there was plenty of potential editing material to help with my idea.

19. Evaluation Part 4 How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Then came the main part of the process, the actual construction of the music video. Because of the idea I had, all of it was done via Adobe Premier. Special effects such as cross dissolve were added, speed + brightness and contrast were adjusted, clips were copied in order to maintain a loop and also cut in order to keep the track in with the beat. In terms of the other parts of the project, the magazine advert and DVD digipack, this was done in Photoshop. The brush was downloaded from brusheezyand the fancy text for the band name was downloaded from dafont. All of the rest was done using Photoshop. Paint while very basic has also came in handy, both for copying the text from dafontand also in helping me with this presentation, screen grabs are taken from the various parts needed, cut in paint and then copied to here. With the evaluation, audience feedback was also needed. In order to collect this I have relied on comments on my video on YouTube and comments on Facebook and Twitter. The promotion of the video has been done via my Facebook and Twitter accounts asking people to watch and to give me some feedback.