“Soon We’ll Be Found”

Analysis

Does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products? We believe that our media product conforms to the conventions of a real music video, in the sense that it uses many close-ups of the artist and in the way that a real music video would to sell their artist. We have also used simple yet relatively common locations for a music video of our genre, i.e. outdoor, forest locations and a bedroom; therefore the audience will be able to relate to previous music videos and recognise that it is a slow and very emotional song.

However we also think that we develop and challenge the genres conventions as, we haven’t used typical costumes to make the artist look ‘angelic’, ‘girly’ or ‘helpless’; instead we have tried to make our artist look edgy and bring her own style into the costumes and through to the song. For example, where she wears a white dress, her make-up is purposefully very heavy and full on.

Sequined detail and netting on front makes plain white dress look edgy.

Dark make-up and thick eyebrows give our artist a distinctive look and also separates her from other young female artists.

However if we were to have a chance to make the video again, we would’ve liked to have at least 2 more locations, as in real music videos, many locations and outfits are used. We would’ve especially liked to have a piano scene, as there is a strong piano playing throughout the song. Nevertheless if we had had the opportunity to use a piano and film our artist playing on it, we would have again made it more abstract and edgy to challenge the conventional concept of using a plain, empty, white room, with only a piano and the artist playing on it in hardly any clothing and bare legs. Instead we had an idea of using a piano shop as our location, with our artist playing on one baby grand piano, with many other pianos around her. 

Artist against dark purple, satin backdrop wearing a flowery dress portraying that she is the innocent one and the victim in the relationship she is singing about. Also the fact that she is well lit and the back is dark highlights the contrast.

One of the main outdoor locations was the gothic temple. We chose to film on days where the weather was cold, because we wanted the shots to look icy and we wanted a sense of stillness in the atmosphere.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After showing people our music video we received mainly positive but mixed reviews.Many people commented on how easy to watch our artist is and how our video didn’t become boring because of this. We have also been told that our video has a re-watchable quality because of our artist. We were also told that we cast our artist well; she is really believable as an artist who would sing our song. You wouldn’t question that she was the real artist.Others commented on how aesthetically pleasing one of our locations is (Painshill Park). We were told that because of this location our video looked more professional; it isn’t a very recognisable place and therefore it looks exclusive, like it has been set up for a star.Another thing that people said stood out was camerawork; tracking shots in particular. We were told that the moments in the video where the camera is tracking are really engaging and demand attention. We have also been told that it is at these moments were are artist is most convincing; she looks most comfortable singing and connects more with the viewer.Because most of the best shots in our video are the tracking shots people told us that their should be more and that our video isn’t as engaging when the camera is stationary.

How did you use media technologies in the construction,

research and planning and evaluation stages?

Blogspot.com – where we created the blog detailing the stages of our project.

Youtube.com was incrediblyuseful in enabling us to viewexisting media productssimilar to the one we werehoping to create.

Research and PlanningMusic channels like mtv2 where they show music videos of less well known alternative artists similar to ours.

Stills camera for location research.

Myspace.com is where many new artists, such as Lily Allen, have been discovered. It is a true reflection of the way the music scene has developed in recent years. It is the perfect forum for artists to be first heard and we wanted to exploit this new medium for our artist.

MySpace

Mini DV camera – portable, relatively highquality. However, in poor lighting it is essentialto use a lighting kit.

iMovie – where we constructed and edited ourentire project.

iPod Speakers – we used these whilst filming so that our artistwould be able to mime in correct time.

Lighting Kit – This ensured that our shots were still rich even whenwe were filming in poor light.

Construction

Evaluation

YouTube was useful in allowing us to watch other existing music videos and compare it with our finished product.

It also allows us to upload it and make it available for others to see. This means we can easily get audience feedback.

Websites such as YouTube enable media consumers to become media producers.

How does your media product compare with other existing media texts?

Click picture to view video

Comparison with ‘Don’t know why’ by Norah Jones

- Similar mood - Similar colour scheme- Use of static shots with artist looking at the

camera- Main and only focus of video is the artist - No storyline to the video and is very simple- Norah Jones video however, is more simple. In

our video there is more emphasis on mise-en-scene.

- Location is more interesting in our music video.

Click picture to view video

- In both videos, the locations are very similar. Both are set outdoors.

- The mood is different, Florence and the Machine is more playful and lighthearted.

- Our video uses a colder kind of mood. - Our music video completely conforms

to generic conventions, whereas the Florence video doesn’t.

How does your album cover link in with your finished product and artist as a

whole? Ally takes up the entire cover which links to the video because she is the sole focus of that.

Photo was taken on location, she is instantly recognisable from the video

The watercolour effect is a common theme throughout the video as well

XL recordings is a label which also represents artists such as: Sigur Ros – which is significant because they are an icelandic band. Our artist is supposedly from Norway.

Photo also take on location, linking with the cover and the video.