EVALUATION Q1

Our music video is made for Electro Pop / Dance genre of music. We aimed to follow genre conventions at every stage from planning to creating a digi pack. Our main influences were Calvin Harris himself, David Guetta, Olly Murs and Example. From each, we got an inspiration to create a new artist- Mic CTRL. Conventions are accepted standards and forms, the electro pop explores themes of bright lights, fun, and visual elements.

Our video also follows the conventions of music videos from different genre of music, this includes Carol Vernallis, who's theory covers what the good music videos should have. 

-We have made a master shot also called a base track that is repeted to give the video a clear structure. Each verse had a different base track, which changes on the beat, we thought that quick changes between shots will also make the video more lively and energetic.  

base track shots

-we used jump cuts, which not only shortens the time but makes the video more exciting and striking because it looks like a lot more is happening. The intended audience (16-25) will be attracted to anything interactive, rather that still and boring, especially with such an upbeat song. The making of this shot took us around 20 minutes and it was shortened to 3 seconds. Even though the shot itself if still, there is a lot going on such as fast movement and makes the jump cut seem like an animation. It relates to the conventions of our music video because of the bright colours and movement and makes the video seem more energetic. 

-and the camera moves in time with music, which makes the video 'flow', and comes away from the idea of a repetitive, still image. The movement creates a more energetic feel of the video, which is what we aimed for.  

Linking our video to Goodwin's theory I would say we've produced a mixture between an amplification and a disjuncture. Our video takes the basic lyrics of the song (about relationships) and uses them to illustrate the passion and love that teenagers feel for their hobbies and creative pursuits. This is amplifying the basic theme of the lyrics (as per Goodwin’s theory) but is also providing a degree of disjuncture as these are meanings created and made by our video.

The lyrics state that that it's a love song-'I feel so close to you right now', 'your love pours down on me', 'there is no stopping us right now'. By watching our video it's clearly not a love song, however there may be some aspects that might state so.
E.g. Robert's singing 'i feel so close to you right now' and there's a transition with Evie blowing the glitter, which may make it seem as if he's singing to her.

The next important link is that the singer often looks at the camera and therefore we see him both as an artist and a narrator. Goodwin states that the performance involves the viewers at home. I think that through this they feel part of the video and they get the sense of feeling it was made for them. In our video this was really useful as Robert gives a really funny and energetic performance in front of the projector, looking directly at the camera, that’s why this helps us to promote him even more, by looking into the camera the audience is more engaged with the video and see Robert as energetic and happy, that’s why it’s they want to be part of it, and I feel like this appeals to them even more. 

Goodwin also states that pop video rely on repetition. The video repeats images the way the song repeats choruses or lines. The intertextuality help the viewers become familiar with the genre and certain repetitions, which then helps them to be familiar with the genre. For instance the repetition of the projector on Robert helps us to link to the genre, we get a colourful and bright images many times and that’s what electro pop is about.

Camera work:

Olly Murs: Heart Skips a Beat.

This really showed us and helped to understand Vernallis' theory. A lot of movement is involved, which fits with the beat and makes the video more exciting, rather than still, used in movies to tell the story, not to promote artist. Similary to our video, My Heart Skips A Beat also seems energetic and fun, that's why it was a big influence to us. 

We also liked the editing in this video, especially the quick cuts when the beat changes

So we used it in our video, which I feel created a stronger impact on the audience, because so much is going  on and it changes really quickly. This again links back to the conventions: bright, striking, moving, fast. This also creates the idea of fun and more importantly links to the target audience of our genre. :

This video has also influenced us when it comes to camera shots. The video included shots of skateboarder and we liked how different shots are used, for example:

Analysing these shots and then using them helped us create a visually striking image, which seems to have a greater impact on the audience, this combined with quick cuts made out video more exciting and moving.

We also decided to use the projector. While producing an extra base track, we thought of using the projector, like in Calvin Harris ft Rihanna- We found love. We found a good movie on YouTube, witch colourful writing and images that frequently change. This worked out really well, and made our video even more colourful and fun. I also think this effect works well in the orginal video 'we found love', the projections such as clouds and storm,  might connote feelings such as chaos or peace. 

We Found Love:

Editing:

The biggest influence was Black Eyed Peas- I gotta a feeling. We loved the slow motion edit, when the song is fast It creates a powerful effect and we used in when the dancers jump, then suddenly the pace is back to normal on the beat. We also used slow motion when the beat breaks for the first time, it's the scene where Evie blows glitter. I feel as if this is a break in a fast edited video, however the slow motion looks effective; it goes to the beat, however is still colourful and bright because of the glitter.The jump however isn't 'bright'- dancers aren't wearing anything colourful and the studio itself look really dull. But I think that the slow motion of the movement created a powerful impact, especially when we're looking out for the drop when the beat changes, and the jump is brought back to normal pace.  

our video: 

While producing an ancillary work I looked at artists of closer genre, including electro pop such as Kaskade and David Guetta, to look at colour and font use, which is conventional for the genre of our genre of music. 

Album Cover on Prezi

In order to create a powerful piece of work, we looked at the conventions of already existent electro pop artists, including Calvin Harris. 


The first studio album called 'ready for the weekend' has a party feel, the woman on the photo is attractive, we can't see her eyes because she's wearing big goggles, which seem to have a repetition of circles, circles link to CD's and vinyls which DJ's use.  Electro Pop seems to be a type of music which sets the audience in a good mood, before the party, might be even heard at them. This is what we tried to have in mind while producing our work. 

I wanted to continue the idea of repeated circles to represent vinyls so I actually used a real cd for the back cover:

















The conversions we used are similar to Calvin Harris'- the album should create an exciting feeling, just as electro-pop music itself. The bright colours should strike the audience (16-25yrs old), who are attracted to catchy colours and CD albums, especially to listen before going out, or to inspire them to produce their own music. 




As well as following the genre conventions for our music genre, we also wanted to challenge some ideas and stereotypes. Teenagers are usually portrayed as lazy, often associated with parties and alcohol. In our video we wanted to challenge this and show youths in a good light, as talented and valuable, who have passions and ambitions. Also, Laura Mulvey's theory states that females are portrayed as passive. We also wanted to challange that, every female in the video is dressed and isn't showing body, we used make up but not in a provocative way. 
The dancers are actually wearing full costume, unlike some videos such as Britney Spears- 3

I also think that we varied conventions of a music video by simply giving an insight into a teenage lifestyle and creativity, which isn't usually found in a pop/dance genre of music.