Critical Creative Reflection Music Video

1 How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?

My music video product both uses conventions, and represents social groups within these adhesions to the status quo. The main social group I highlighted within this product was the elderly population. The video centers on the mostly sedentary life of an old man, and how his memories coalesce within it. I utilize a convention used often in films that reflect on the lives of the elderly. Specifically, this can be seen within the start of the movie UP.  Mainly, the story itself is very closely tied to mainstream conventions of neglected elderly people. It tells stories of loneliness, regret, and desperate wants for return to the past. One way I challenge common conventions is within the music paired with the actual film. I use a song from Twenty-One pilots, a band usually associated with youth and punk. This songs name is stressed out, which connects back to the stresses of old age and loneliness. I challenge conventions with the use of this song because it creates an oxymoron of sorts, which pairs a song of youth with a life already experienced. The song represents an urge to return to the past, which the old man can never truly fulfill. Overall, we challenged and accepted conventions of sometimes forgotten social group.

2 How does your product engage with audiences AND how it would it be distributed as a real media text?

The media product I made engages with audience by providing additional context to a song, and thereby adding a human edge to it. The music video I have created creates new imagery for the song. This makes audiences interpret it differently than they would without it. It relates the audio to a specific scenario within it, and injects more of my purpose into it. The audience becomes more invested with the song as a result, as they will interpret the emotional themes of the video when hearing the song again. It adds another layer of meaning beyond the lyrics. Adding a visual element allows for a much generally engaging experience for audiences, as the interaction is more akin to something experienced in daily life. This video would be distributed like many other music videos are. The main platform it will be seen on will be YouTube, where most music videos are experienced in the modern day. Additionally, other adjacent social media can be used to host it. The main goal of any music video is to both inject context and advertise a song. So, I would put it on any accessible media available. So, I would realistically engage with listeners through accessible means.

3 How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

The production skills I developed were mainly in the region of camera work, with some slight editing peppered in. I tried out many new methods of capturing the main actor of scenes, trying to convey something to the audience through this work. The main emotion's I wanted to show through my camera movement are opposite in nature. I wanted to convey both a monotone mood and a nostalgic one. I had two types of scenes to film, flashbacks and ones occurring in the current life of the old man. For the scenes of the old man, I attempted to create a feeling of flatness. The camera moved in an almost uninterested manner, showcasing how solitary and still his life was. Overall, I learned how to film in a more meaningful manner. When it came to editing, I had to piece together elements from different eras of time. I did this with traditional flashback transitions consisting of zoom and cutting effects. This taught me how to more complex changes to the camera position completely within the editing software. I also had to compile clips shot very far apart from each other, so that was another skilled gained through this process. These skills gave me more experience in realistic filmmaking.

4 How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project? 

I integrated several technologies into this project, ranging from complex to crude. The most important piece of technology I utilized was the camera, creating the media in the first place. This tech allowed me to shoot the video through different angles and motions, and overall creating a visual element. The next piece of technology is the hardware of my computer and the editing software iMovie. These allowed me to piece together the media captured into something more complete. The individual clips all came together to a real music video. These integration allowed me to make the story complete. The final crude technology I used, were props. I built a carboard rocket ship for a flashback, constructed fake photos for a photo book, and printed fake money for the old man's fortune. These technologies are needed for adding authenticity to the scenes. They carry elements of the story forward, giving actors something concrete to interact with. Overall, this tech assisted and added detail to the media.