Media Commentry Essay

1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Using the ‘alternative folk’ genre gave us the opportunity to incorporate ideas which did not necessarily conform with just the normal ‘folk’ idea. ‘Alternative folk’ is a genre which uses conventional and stereotypical ideas of the countryside and nature such as fields, guitars, love and heartbreak and either adds to, enhances or changes these components to create either a new or slightly more complex image. For example we filmed the singer driving along country lanes, used play park equipment in a field and also wrapped fairy lights around a tree – the typical natural of ‘folk’ in contact with the, not so related, man made materials ‘alternative’.
The mise-en-scene conforms to the genre as it includes many stereotypical elements such as the filming being completely outside and using the country side and a back garden to create the most typical natural feel we could. Using natural colours such as yellow, cream and green, and (apart from the fairy lights) using natural lighting connected all the elements together more thoroughly. Out of the props, the guitar is immediately recognisable as a link to ‘folk’ music and having the yellow car driving thorough the country side along with the fairy lights and using the play park are more our own twist and adds to the theme and the ‘alternative’ aspect.
We conformed to the regular, natural and establishing camera angles and shots which included close-ups, long shots and low-angle mid-shots, while still using tracking shots and point of view shots. The only un-naturalistic camera shot we used was a zoom but this was used in areas of slow moving footage representing memory which sometimes features in real media products.
We created a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound throughout the music video. This both conforms and goes against the stereotypical ‘folk’ music video but is incorporated in the ‘alternative’. We decided to do this to create a connection to the audience when the singing was diegetic and performed and then to continue the connection and add a story mood with non-diegetic over the memory images to create an interest.
2- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
The combination of our music video and ancillary tasks is very effective and works well as it connects visuals, text and genre in a flowing and relaxed manner joined with a happy and fun atmosphere. We decided to integrate certain photos from filming such as playing the guitar in the back of the car and additional group photos such as all three of us out and about together in the college grounds and mould together what we hoped would appear to be a recognisable, friendly product. Our aim was to represent the artist in a non-provocative, stereotypical, friendly way which conformed to the genre and appealed to the target audience.
3- What have you learnt from your audience feedback?The audience feedback throughout the entire project was on the whole very complimentary and helpful. Some of the feedback we were most pleased with was: “The lights are very effective”, “Lip Syncing is effective”, “Has done back and forth from different sections of the video well” and “General pace is good”; We appreciated these comments the most as they pointed out the areas that we took most care with spent the most time on. We were only given a couple constructive criticisms. These were: “More close ups of lead singer” and “Another location, cut to and back from?” we found these to be very helpful as we were able to create more variation in unsung areas by filming more varied footage. We also were asked to add “More dissolves” which would continue the pace of the music video and were commented that we should think about adjusting a couple of grainy shots when they said: “close up on the guitar is 'grainy' needs to be re-shot.”
4- How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? Throughout the planning and making process of our music video we used a number of different technologies including equipment, internet and computer software. These included Cameras, Itunes, Final Cut Express, Photoshop, Wikipedia, and Google. We used the internet for our research into the specific ‘alternative folk’ genre and what it incorporates, the original artist of the song and what her own views and form of style is and also for our digipack ideas, what it is, how it works and general familiar layouts for maximum audience participation. The camera was vital for filming our music video and we used it to our advantage by being able to use it as hand held which contributed to the ‘home video’ and authentic effect we were looking for and by sitting it on the tripod which allowed us to focus in the artist without moving around and creating a natural frame. Photoshop was another programme which without we would have had to make our ancillary tasks by hand and to a lesser quality as it allowed us to upload, cut fade, change the colour of and move pictures and text around the screen. Final cut was very helpful as well in fields of editing such as cutting, transitions and placement of footage along with colour changes for picture manipulation to create our own stamp and feel to the final products. Finally, we used an online blogging system to keep track of our progress and create updates of our work. Being able to use these technologies as an amateur filmmaker to create a product from concept to consumption has been very helpful and insightful. It has allowed me to have an opportunity to produce a piece of work which I would have otherwise not been able to if they were non-existent or unattainable. It has given me an insight into what kind of procedures, preparations, time limits, equipment and focus is needed to create a product which can be viewed and/or interacted with by or with a target consumer.