My Music Video: Critical Creative Reflection

Good evening everyone! How are you guys? Here are some answers to explain questions of my whole project process. 

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

My music video genre is contemporary R&B, when I researched songs in that genre. I found a couple that I liked. Can We Talk - Tevin Campbell,  Broken Clocks- SZA and Heartbreak Anniversary by Giveon. After I looked through the conventions of all and I chose Heartbreak anniversary by Giveon. I did use the conventions that the usual contemporary R&B song would have but especially the chosen song conventions. I use black and white scenes, two shots, pan, over the shoulder, three shots, tracking and more to be able to portray the meaning of our music video. The music video represents teen/young adult social group. My music video shows a teenage girl and boy who are dating, they are together going on dates and giving each other presents. It then shows where he was seen with the girls friend and she feels angry, betrayed, sad that they both did this to her. She gets in a fight with her now ex-boyfriend about what he did. She thought they were both deeply in love, that he loved her but she was wrong. She then is seen reminiscing with her friends about her and her ex-boyfriends good time and they comfort her and make her feel better. Celebrate that she needs to move on. Many teenagers think that relationships at these ages where there is still immaturity that they last forever. Boys just want to get as many girls as they can and the girls want forever boyfriends that is the social group represented. They need to learn to move on and accomplish a lot more. 

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

My music video is about heartbreak. A relationship between two teenagers who are in love till betrayal happens. My music video is special and fun because of the social group it represents (teen/young adult) and what they go through. The fighting scenes are also really funny and interesting because of the camera angle and shots. My product engages with almost all audiences, except children, because it depends on what you are looking to get out of the video. If someone wants a cliche/cringey teen romance they got it. If someone wants a relatable video they got it. If someone wants a sad song with a betrayal they got it. The story is the same but the interpretation/perspective and feelings it gives is what goes with what the audience wants. If my music video was a professional video, I would advertise it on tiktok, little snippets of the music video to bring viewers and audience. TikTok is know for people being able to advertise their media material and more. However, the full music video would be posted on YouTube and probablyFacebook depending on its success. YouTube is a main source of music videos.  Both YouTube and Facebook have multiple target audiences so it would allow for higher potential success in views. 

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project? 

This was the first time I ever had to plan, film and edit a music video all together. It was a super interesting process and I gained a great amount of knowledge. The planning was definitely the most difficult part. Coming up with the storyline was easy. The video is called Heartbreak Anniversary so I knew it was going to be a break up story. Now making sure enough scenes were established and what to do was interesting. I wanted to do betrayal but the order was crucial to get right. I learned placement of scenes is very important to be able to get the story right. The planning of where the scenes were gonna be taken was easy. Before making the scenes I chose the place to make the rest a little easier. Next was filming, filming in Florida weather made me learn I have to be prepared for any costume, hair and makeup malfunction. I was not only the main lead in my music video but also the director and producer. I helped direct the scenes and filmers. Adapted to weather and lightning. It's a lot of work but I loved it. Lastly, I have edit videos before but not a music video. It is different. I have used CapCut before but not to the extent like I did for this project. I assisted in checking the order of scenes and what effects should be used, such as black and white scenes, speed of scenes. Also, where in the song lyrics should each scene be. Learned again how you have to be detailed to make sure everything works well together. 

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

There was multiple technology used for this project. In filming, two iPhones were used to film scenes. One was used by a groupmate and another by me. Car scenes were filmed from the inside and outside of the car perspective. Using the iPhones made everything very accessible and easier to use/carry. The iPhone camera quality was also a big factor since both iPhones were different models, their camera settings were put as similar as possible so there was little to no difference noticeable in the music video. An iPhone and computer were also used to edit the music video. CapCut can be used in both types of technology. I have used it in past projects so I was not fully inexperienced to use it. I mostly looked at the editing on the iPhone as it's more accessible to travelling on oneself. Also, showed me the quality the video was going to be seen in. All our process and music video have been posted online on blogs in blogger, this allows it to be open to anyone and I am super familiar with it as I have used it in past projects. The structure is easy to adapt to, and inputting media as well. Overall, all technology use was not new, allowing everything to flow more smoothly.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/198HtAq4YFtQtZawgVjXg4jY61FCmshCiEXL_00hMxzU/edit?usp=sharing

This is the end to this project!

Thanks for Reading,

- Mariajose :)