evaluation
2: How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
3: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Pitch
Presented to audience
4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
The audience agreed that the video met the conventions of the chosen genre - I believe this was helped by the inclusion of the bath bomb shots and the other imagery. Had I not used these, they would not have immediately understood the genre of the song. They also agreed that the video would appeal to the target audience (male and female teens and young adults) due to the connection made between the audience and the performer. This was intentional, as I feel this could make the audience more interested in the performer. They also agreed that the digipak and poster was conventional to the genre, due to the parallels of these and the music video. This was achieved by using shots from the video and overlaying them with bath bombs, what was done in the video.
conforming to conventions of the genre:
didn't conform to conventions of the genre:
It is fair to say that from my research of the psychedelic genre, overall I didn't not conform to the conventions. However, I did for a few elements. One of these was the psychedelic imagery prevalent throughout. Psychedelic music videos ('White Rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane being a prime example), and the genre in general heavily features trippy visuals. Typically, these were done by projection from a liquid-filled slide, however for my video I used bath bombs. These created a very good effect that fitted the psychedelic music and concept of the video, and were overlaid on top of other footage using the 'Crop' function in Adobe Premiere Pro CC. I also used 'Arithmetic' on certain shots to create a bright, two-colour effect (seen when the actor is stood on the wall at 0:50). I also conformed in that I used performance shots. These are a common feature for most music videos anyway, and feature heavily in psychedelic music videos over a narrative.
Costume choices: Typical (left) and breaking convention (right)
However, I also broke a lot of typical conventions of the psychedelic genre. One of these was the feature of a narrative. Typically, psychedelic music videos do not feature a narrative, with a focus more on performance. I did this as I could explore more psychedelic imagery this way, as well as build a connection from the audience to the performer, something that may not have been possible if my video was just performance shots.
I also broke convention in the area of costume. Whereas typically psychedelic attire is composed of bright and flamboyant clothing, my performer wears a normal shirt-and-jeans outfit. He does, however, wear a paisley shirt in the 'bedroom' performance shots, although most of this is obscured by the low levels of lighting. Again, I made the decision for my actor to wear normal clothing to help the audience build a connection to him, as like an 'everyman' character. I also felt that the flamboyant attire, similar to the image, was too rooted in the 1960s, so by having the actor wear standard clothing it brings the gap of older music closer to the present day.
Another typical convention broken in my video was the lack of a studio atmosphere, which can be seen in 'White Rabbit' again. Because of the song choice, I felt it would be more appropriate to shoot the majority of the video outside in a 'park'. With all of the imagery described in the song, I believe it wouldn't be as effective a video if it was not shot outside.
Music video for Jefferson Airplane's 'White Rabbit', demonstrating psychedelic imagery, a studio setting and typical costume.