Creative Critical Reflection
How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?
My music video both uses and challenges conventions present in the genre of music the song belongs to. Like a lot of music videos at the time of the song was released, my music video included clips of the songs' instruments being played (although it should be noted I only pretended to play them, I do not play guitar or piano) and the vocalist lip synching along to the video. I also included costumes that felt as though they fit with the theme and tone of the song. The sets I included were minimalistic, even if the garage does not really look like a sound stage. The fact that I used two settings could be considered a challenge to convention, which it ultimately is as these music videos don't often change settings. However, the second setting (the pond) is relatively simple and more so fits the aesthetics of the low-key music videos of the day. One of the biggest conventions I challenged was establishing more of a narrative within the video. Most rock music videos do not contain real stories within them, they are mostly comprised of the band members performing the song. While the narrative I included was simple, it was still present and challenged the typical elements of the genre. The narrative of the man getting proposed to also ties into the social issue I tried to represent, masculinity and gender. This music video was originally planned to star one of my very good friends, who is a man, which likely would have made this theme more evident. Nevertheless, In this video I tried to show how people can mix up their gender roles and expressions and still be a valid man or woman. While the character in the musical wears masculine clothes and appears to have short hair, he still does things that could be considered "feminine". The big one is obviously him getting proposed to and wearing a ring, but there are smaller details like his nails being painted. I do not typically wear nail polish but I thought wearing it could be a benefit to the theme, as painted nails are becoming a much more socially acceptable form of expression for men. The nails were also blue, which is a recurring color in the video. The nails are baby blue, the blanket the main character lays on by the lake is navy blue, and in the garage there is a navy blue banner. The color blue is meant to represent masculinity, as it has in the culture at large for decades. The blue being there, nearly constantly shows how even if the band does stereotypically feminine things, it does not make them less of a man. This theme is not out of place in the genre at large as rock stars, especially Queen's Freddie Mercury, were known to disregard gender roles.
2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?
This music video's primary purpose is to make its song, Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy, more well-known. Music videos allow songs to take up space in a whole new form of media, and allow people who may not have otherwise heard the song on the radio hear it. Whether they see the video scrolling through MTV or more recently the internet, if they like the video, they'll probably like the song. Unlike some of my previous projects, the music video never directly engages with its audience, there are no fourth wall breaks, no calls to action, and no addressing the audience. Of course this doesn't mean that it does not engage with the audience at all. Viewers with a particularly keen eye may also notice some of the mise en scene and theming placed into the video, such as the aforementioned color blue. Most importantly my music video uses pathos in order to get the viewer to sympathize with the characters, which will make the viewer far more engrossed. The audience gets to witness the characters in vulnerable and joyful moments, such as the proposal. If the viewer finds an emotional connection to these characters or story they may be more likely to share the video or watch it again. If they share the video then more people will watch it thus fulfilling the goal of making the song more well-known. In order to help with the ability to watch and share this music video it would be posted on YouTube. The reach of the video will be increased as it is shared to social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. The band would post the video to their social pages in order to immediately get the word out to the fans, and the video would only spread from there. My primary audience for this product would be left leaning people aged 13-35 and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Both the video and the song can be easily interpreted to have queer themes and ideas. In order to reach this audience I would pay celebrities and influencers who are beloved among these groups to share the music video. My aim for a young audience is part of the reason I don’t want to air this commercial on television. People are watching TV less and less, especially young people. Additionally people aged 65+ are more likely to have cable and while seniors are perfectly welcome to enjoy the video, I would rather the video not get backlash from people who do not like or understand it’s themes. My project is not nearly as in depth or as nuanced as an introduction to queer themes and gender roles. It is designed for people who are already familiar with those ideas to enjoy.
How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
As I worked on this project my production skills developed in a few key ways. One of the big skills I developed was how to use and position my tripod. While it was rather intuitive to begin with, I had to figure out solutions for problems with the tripod I faced throughout the filming process. For instance, I had to figure out how to position my tripod to be the correct height for the first scene. On the flat ground it was too short but on a table or chair it was too tall and too close. I eventually figured out that if I positioned that if I positioned the tripod so that it was leaning diagonally against the back of a couch and moved the camera so it would look straight ahead I would get the perfect shot. Another struggle that came with the tripod was filming the outdoor scenes. The ground by the pond was very uneven so I had to look and test different locations for the tripod, and even then it was always in danger of topping over. When I filmed my high angle shot I had to hold the tripod so it wouldn't fall over from the weight of my phone facing down, but I also had to keep it subtle enough to not be noticeable to the viewer. I also had to learn to allow my plans to be changed for this project. A lot of my plans initially presented in the storyboard had to be scrapped or adjusted because they were no longer feasible working by myself. I had to accept that I could not have complete control over the filming process, and that sometimes it is more important to get things done the best you can in a reasonable amount of time. The thing I probably learned the most about doing this project was editing. I have gotten a lot better at the things I've done before like cutting and transitions, but I also learned a lot of new skills. The first new thing I learned how to do was reverse a video but that is far from the most exciting editing skill I learned. Learning how to adjust white balance and color grade is a truly game changing skill that I hope to incorporate in future projects. Being able to adjust the warmth of the video has made my shots look so much nicer, and it helps remedy the yellow-ish lighting I get when I film inside. Using color-grading in future projects would also be very useful, for instance I could do something similar to what I used it for and this project and adjust the colors of the video so it looks like it was filmed at night.
4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
Like my projects before I used Blogger in order to document the process of making the product. All of my blogs were hosted on the site. I used YouTube in order to research the conventions of the genre by watching rock music videos. After researching and creating my storyboard I used my Google Pixel 4a to film my music video. While it certainly is not the most high quality camera, it gets the job done. It also has a lot of storage space so I can do numerous takes without worrying about running out of storage. The camera also fits perfectly with the tripod I bought, which uses bluetooth to allow me to start recording without having to touch the phone. Being able to just start recording saved me a lot of time in the editing process that would have been spent cutting portions of the video where I’m just hitting record out. Using my phone to record meant that I could easily move my camera around and just put it in my pocket when I was done filming. After editing I uploaded all of my videos into Google Photos, that way I could easily download them from there and onto my desktop computer. I initially used OpenShot to edit my video as I have done in projects past. OpenShot is intuitive and easy to use, but it lacked some of the features I needed for this project. I did some research on Google and downloaded a few editing software that just didn’t work. Finally, I found Shotcut, which had just what I needed. Shotcut is not as easy to navigate as OpenShot, but this may be because it has many more features. After I completed editing my video I exported it onto my computer. In order to make the video easier to share and watch I uploaded it to two different video hosting websites. I posted it on YouTube, but because YouTube tends to take down videos with copyrighted music I also uploaded it to Vimeo, so I could have an alternate link. In the end, it all came back to Blogger, where I shared the link to my music video.
