Critical reflection

This essay is a critical reflection of the planning and production of my coursework product. Throughout my final school year, I have developed my media skills and collaborated with other students to make a meaningful music video. To create the best possible product, I have reflected on my targets set at the beginning of the school year to develop my editing skills further and carry out research into music videos and their conventions. 

 

• How do your products represent social groups?

The product we created is a narrative and performance music video which explores social issues such as substance abuse and its effects on the lives of young people. Many young people experiment with drugs, with research showing that 10% of 17-year-olds have used hard drugs. However, young people may not be aware of the long-term consequences on their health and wellbeing. Through the narrative aspect of the video and the eyes of a young man, drug and alcohol abuse is depicted. We see how his drug abuse negatively affects his relationship and ultimately results its breakdown. Despite this, he is still unable to stop using drugs, demonstrating how even though the drugs are clearly having a negative impact on his life, he is compelled to continue due with his addition. In the final chorus of the film, we see our main character looking ‘clean’ or drug-free. However, this has been left deliberately ambiguous and the viewer cannot be certain that he has been able to reform. This mirrors the experience of interacting with an addict, who may conceal their habit and it is not always obvious whether they are under the influence of drugs. My production was aimed at a young age range of around 15-25 years, with most of my audience research involving white males. The research helped me find a genre for my video which was alternative pop. For the production my group used me to be the main actor as I represent the social groups of my main target audience. This will make the video more appealing and relatable for my audience. 

 

• How do elements of your production work together to create a sense of 'branding'?

In order to draw elements of our production into a cohesive brand, we used several different strategies. Firstly, we chose three key themes which encapsulated the Gabe-Atlantic Brand. These were: 

1. Aspirational wealth
2. Vibrancy
3. Global/International 

In our product, we took a synergetic approach across to our media products ensuring that there was image continuity between the digipack, social media page and music video. We demonstrated these key themes by using different images associated with wealth and used locations and sets which reflected this brand image. We also used social media posts to reinforce these themes. For example: in our video, we used a Mercedes Benz car; shot on location at a large, high spec house and outdoors in grounds which appeared to be part of an upper-class private estate. To link with this, in our social media page it shows our artist at an exclusive VIP gaming event and concert. To portray vibrancy, we used primary and other vibrant colours in the costumes and sets. We also used filters which had high colour saturations. This vibrancy is also reflected on the social media pages, where the majority of posts are vibrant. Another strategy was to create a logo which represented these themes. We wanted to create a distinct image so we chose a sophisticated font and used blocks of red colour, as red has been shown to represent power, danger and energy which tie in with our themes. We also used the colour red in the costume – with Gabe Atlantic wearing a striking red suit in the final scenes. Part of the logo shows a sound bar graphic enclosed in a circle. This represents how music is a way of connecting with the world, and how music has no boundaries. In this way, we build on the theme of ‘global/international’ with our branding. Through these different media products we created an artist based on Henry Jenkins star persona theory to make our artist stand out.

 

• How do your products engage with the audience?

Our product engaged with the audience as it explored themes which are common or of interest to our target audience. These themes included drug/alcohol use and personal relationships. It also explores how the appearance of wealth and fame can be superficial and wealth does not guarantee that you will be free of problems or personal pain. The performance aspect of the music video aims to engage with the audience in various ways. For example, the performer is making eye contact with the camera and singing directly to the audience – he also shows emotion in his performance as a way of engaging interest and helping his audience to relate to the narrative. The Social media page also allows the audience to gain insight into the artist’s real life and allows them to interact with the artist through comments, stories and likes.

 

• How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

The song we used for our music video, titled ‘STUCKINMYBRAIN’, is an alternative/pop genre. Therefore, as part of my research, I examined the conventions of pop music videos of to inform our production. My research found that the majority of pop videos use similar camera shots. For example, close-ups of the artist's face are employed to emphasise the emotion underlying the lyrics. In my research into Harry Styles' song video 'Falling,' you can see this. This video also includes a lot of panning views, which are common in pop music videos. The mise-en-scene side of pop music with upbeat songs uses brighter colours and costumes and with darker songs more dull colours are used for costume. Although our song choice has dark and meaningful lyrics it is an upbeat song and therefore, we decided to use brighter colours for our costume in the video. These upbeat videos also have high saturation such as Harry Styles’ song ‘Watermelon Sugar.’ We also have our video at a higher saturation to make the colours more vibrant. This also makes the artist look cleaner, makes the video look more professional and links with the brand of the artist as described earlier. These conventions are reflected in our music video with high saturations, close up shots and passion from the artist to emphasise the emotion behind the lyrics.

 

I have outlined above how I used my music video and social media page to create the profile of a young, singer/songwriter to tell the story of how drug and alcohol abuse can affect relationships and damage health and well-being despite being wealthy and famous.