Media Evaluation Question 1 Final

Media Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Genre

We decided to create our Promotional Music Pack for a local band named ‘Fear The Unknown’. The genre of this band’s music is ‘metalcore’, which is a subgenre of heavy metal containing various elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. Successful bands of this genre include ‘As I Lay Dying’ and ‘Bullet for My Valentine’, so there were some comparisons we could make regarding the creation of the music video. Typical genre conventions of metalcore videos include darkness, and the portrayal of fear. In addition to this, metalcore videos often shows real passion amongst members of the band when performing. In order to show this, it was important that we included close-up shots of the members singing the lyrics. This allowed us to capture their passion and emotion when singing, which is very popular in metalcore songs.

Shot types

Like the majority of metalcore music videos, we decided to shoot a performance based video. This meant that a lot of focus would have to go on including close ups of the instruments being played, as well as shots including all the members of the band. We aimed to shoot a large variety of shot types in order to give us plenty of material to work with as well as giving the audience lots of different angles to see the band from.

We included a few examples of panning shots, especially during the intro, as this was a good time to show the entire band before the singing began. Despite this, the majority of the shots were fixed. We did vary the angles of the shots, especially when showing Con, the back-up singer and guitarist, as this helped to show a towering effect over the audience when the low pitched notes were sang, as this did help to represent fear and conform to the genre of metalcore.

Camerawork

We used two CMOS, 6.1, Mega pixel, still image recording cameras and two Sony handy cams, HDV, 108i/min DV cameras to shoot out music video. We also used two Manfrotto tripods, (190 x B). We decided that we would base one of our large CMOS mega pixel cameras on a tripod at the front of the room for the entire duration of filming. This allowed us to see the entire band, but with the main focus being on the lead singer. We then decided that we would use both of the handy cams to get a close-up of the instruments being played. We also used our second large CMOS camera to be based below the second singer/guitarist.

Editing

In order to relate to the metalcore genre, we have decided to include plenty of fast-cuts in order to show a fast, aggressive style. As we were filming a performance based video, it was important that we included plenty of cuts between different members of the band in order to show what instruments were being played. It was important that we used colour as a way of signifying the genre of metalcore. During the parts of the song which were a lot more fierce and loud, we decided to darken the colour of the shots.

Whilst we were researching some metalcore bands for inspiration, we found contrasting the colour for different parts of a song was very effective. The song ‘Tears Don’t Fall’ by metalcore band ‘Bullet For My Valentine’ used this technique. It appeared that the louder notes being played and sung were more effective as there was also a change in what you see rather than just what you hear.

Locations

Our music video was filmed at Earth Studios in Sprowston. This was perfect as it was fairly local, and had enough space to fit in all the filming equipment and the band as we were shooting a narrative based video. Performance based metal-core music videos tend to be performed on a clearing or on a stage, but we found that shooting in a room like this would be equally effective as the focus was always on the band.

Digipak

This is my digipak in comparison to another metal-core genre digipak made by slipknot. As shown, successful metalcore digipaks should include lots of colour and vibrancy. This helps it to stand out, as well as giving it an aggressive style, which is very similar to the nature of metalcore music itself.  I also noticed that many metalcore digipaks included pictures of the band, so I have decided to include this as well. A genre characteristic of metalcore is blood, so it was important that I included a lot of the colour red. I used this theme throughout my digipak, but decided to make sure I used it on the front cover of the digipak, as this would be the first thing people see, allowing them to realise the genre of the band without already opening it.

Magazine ad

This is my magazine ad in comparison to ‘Kerrang!’ magazine, which often includes plenty of metalcore content. The ‘Kerrang!’ example included an image of the band ‘Biffy Clyro’, which is similar to what I have included on my example. In addition to this, like the digipak examples, there is again a lot of colour in order to mimic the metalcore genre. Again, like the digipak, I made sure I included the colour red somewhere on my magazine ad. I decided to use this for the logo (FTU), as not only does it represent the metalcore genre in general, but it also directly relates it to the bands name.

Application to theory

I can apply 6 of Goodwin's elements to my music video. These are:

• Relationship between lyrics and visuals

Throughout the song, there are plenty of examples of reference to death and fear. It was important that we expressed these through what the audience sees when listening to these lyrics. We therefore decided to darken the visuals when these more effective and violent lyrics were sung. For example, “I am, I am the watch tower, I watch, but I only watch them die” makes reference to death, so in order to portray these visually we needed to show darkness. Also, it wasn’t just the actual lyrics being sung which would account for this, but also the tone and speed. We therefore decided to darken the visuals when low pitched lyrics were sung at a fast pace. After this, when the lyrics seem less aggressive and the pitch and speed returned to normal, we needed to lighten up the visuals again. 

• Links between Music and visuals 

As we filmed a performance based video, it was important that we kept what was being seen (the visuals) in time with the track in the background (the music). In order to do this we kept cameras placed predominantly facing the two members of the band singing at all times. We also always had cameras facing the members playing instruments for inclusion in the video during solos, as these would be the focus of attention for a short period of time

• Genre characteristics

As referenced above, applying the traditional genre characteristics to my music video was very important. In order to do this, i had to match the characteristics of darkness and fear, as well as following the characteristics of a narrative based music video.

• Intertextual reference

The band members all wore clothes which they would wear if they were playing at a gig. In addition to this, they played their own instruments. This was considered in order to make the band more recognisable, as well as showing the audience their own personal identity.

• Notion of looking

The main priority of the video was to show the whole band playing for the majority of the song, but we did pay compliment to the notion of looking. Examples of this include when we show a close-up of the drums being played. It appears that are looking over the shoulder of the drummer (Callum). Not only did this help to show the aggressive style of the drums being hit hard, in relation to this genre, but it helped to make the audience feel closer to the band.

• Close ups of artists

We did aim to show an even share of the band members, but it was natural to have more shots of the lead singer (James) and back-up singer/guitarist (Con). We did however show many close-ups of the other band members playing their individual instruments to vary the notion of the shots as well as showing all the different areas of what was going on during the performance.