Evaluation Question Two - Colours

The bold colour of red features in my music video quite frequently and so because of this I used it as the main colour for my ancillary tasks. The titles of the band on all parts of the DVD cover and among other things are mainly in red. Sticking with the urban theme through the music video, I decided to have a grey/silver metallic colour for the background of the DVD covers to reflect this urban theme as well as reflect the shots in the video such as the stairs and railings from the start.

Evaluation Question Two

Firstly my task was to create a music video as my main product. Then once I had created the music video I then had to create the ancillary tasks which consisted of the DVD covers to promote my band. My band was called South of the Drop and I used the song “Tarantula” by the band Pendulum. As I had created the music video first it allowed me to have more ideas about how to link the music video to the ancillary tasks. The music video was very much filmed outside apart from the small band sequence that we had which is common in nearly all types of music videos. As it was primarily filmed outside I knew I needed the right kind of setting for my ancillary tasks, and so I used very urban and gritty pictures for the front cover. There is the patch of grass and the metal gate which relates to my music video through the forest-type shots at the start and the shots of the gate railings and the metal emergency exit stairs.

Evaluation Question One - Bordwell and Thompson

My media product uses and follows the conventions of real media products through editing types. Bordwell and Thompson have an editing theory of “Rhythmic” where the shots in the product are edited to change in time with the beat of the music. This was quite a challenge when creating the Music Video as the beginning of the song is very slow and low tempo whereas when the beat “drops” and the pace and tempo quickly rises and so clips are changing every half a second. However there was enough footage to use to be able to edit enough clips to fit in with the song, as there was a lot of space to fill with very short length clips

Evaluation Question One - Montage Editing

My media product again uses and develops the forms and conventions of real media products as well as following the conventions of the Drum and Bass genre. In my music video I have used a lot of montage editing which is common in Drum and Bass videos. The emphasis of montage editing can be seen clearly when the beat in the song finally drops and the tempo becomes very fast. In order for my work to be effective through the video, the clips would have to consistently change on the beat and so montage editing would fit this best. Montage editing allows the audience watching to look for the deeper meanings through the editing and formulate ideas from why this editing type was used. In my case montage editing was used to suggest the hectic, vibrant and fast paced life that people may lead, mainly appealing to a younger teenage audience. This can be seen in my video through the teenage actors in the video, the use of drugs and the setting of the video which is in a forest and industrial type area. Other music videos that I have studied that also use montage editing similar to this is the Pendulum “Granite” video which the clips speed up a lot as the music drop and tempo is raised.

Evaluation Question One - Music Video

Despite my media products using and developing the forms and conventions of real media products, it also challenges some of the conventions. Many music videos that I have studied don’t consist of a story or narrative which is common in the Drum and Bass genre, instead having a video that doesn’t really relate to the lyrics or the theme of the song. Some of the videos I looked at have a slight narrative such as The Prodigy’s “Warrior’s Dance” video, however other than that nearly all videos are very abstract. My media product of a Music Video consists of a narrative about a controversial topic of drug use. These types of issues are sometimes used in the Drum and Bass genre but not all the time, as sometimes they are just simple storyline like the “Warrior’s Dance” video where there are matchbox’s that come to life and act as people. Therefore my music video challenges the conventions of real media products as well as challenging the genre of Drum and Bass. Other videos that I have studied that do not consist of a narrative are Pendulum’s video “Granite” that is just lots of different pictures and videos of people including a lot of shots of news readers/Television news channels.

Evaluation Question - Ancillary

My media products have followed the forms and conventions of real media products through the various different colours themes used. My ancillary task work consists mainly of dark bold colours such as reds, greys and black suggesting an urban style of genre, as you can see from the screenshots of my music video below which coincide with my ancillary work. This is using the conventions of real media products as the bands I have studied including Pendulum, have also used similar colour schemes. For example the front cover of my DVD work has the title of my band South of the Drop in bold red, with a black highlight around it to make it stand out, as well as similar types of colour such as reds and yellows throughout the rest of my work. This is beneficial to my work as it is a common colour theme in the Drum and Bass genre to make the work seem urban and gritty, allowing my work to be considered a Drum and Bass genre as well. Another way that my work has followed the conventions of real media products is through locations and styles. My band image is set mainly outdoors, for example the front cover of my DVD work is a picture of a sounds system and turntable out on the grass in front of a locked metal gate. This again emphasises the genre of Drum and Bass as being urban and also uses the conventions of other media works; for example The Prodigy’s video “Warrior’s Dance” is based pretty much out on the streets for the whole video, as well as Enter Shikari’s video “Juggernauts” which is based out in the desert. This emphasises the natural feel that these well known videos create and so I wanted to create this feeling in my video. Therefore for the most part of my music video it was set outside, within lots of greenery and forestry to emphasise the natural style.

Evaluation Question One

The media products that I have produced seem to use develop and challenge the forms and conventions of other real media products that I have studied in detail. I have studied many other media products and used them to compare, develop and improve my own work with. My media products have been based around the genre of Drum and Bass and Experimental. Other works that I have studied and referred to are bands such as The Prodigy, Faithless, Pendulum and a band called Enter Shikari. The media products that I have created include DVD covers for my band’s DVD as well as a Music Video for their song. When creating the music video and DVD covers I had to create a common theme that would be noticeable throughout my pieces of work so that it would be recognisable for the audience to see. This is something very important that all pieces of media works do so that their band is easily recognisable and in theory allows them to raise their popularity.