Our Final A2 Music Video - When I Was A Youngster

Below is the video that this whole blog has worked towards and finish off a pleasing and enjoyable year for all three of us. We hope you enjoy it!

Evaluation 4 – How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluations stages?

Evaluation 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation 2 - How effective is the main combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

After having issues with uploading PowerPoints through Slideshare we found it would be much easier and more professional to upload this presentation by saving each slide as a JPEG and uploading them to the blog. One of the key issues we had with Slideshare was that it cropped out some of the page and re-structured the text and pictures in some cases. We therefore felt uploading it this way would be much more efficient and avoid a lot of stress.

Evaluation 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1) The title of the music video - 

The title of the music video is ‘When I was a Youngster’. Unlike many popular song titles which have different interpretations and meanings,  this is very self-explanatory and we felt throughout the video we were constantly portraying the characters Rizzle Kicks represent- young, fun teenagers running around looking for fun. Furthermore, the song title is repetitive throughout the song, and shows the viewer we are aspiring to go back to our childhood which is also represented through the video and our actions throughout.

2) Costume and Props - 

It is evident throughout our video the range of costumes James and I are wearing. After watching many music videos genre specific to our production, we noted that it was almost guaranteed that the artist(s) would change their clothes to match certain scenes or fit the lyrics in the song. We adapted this into our music video, and had a number of costume changes not only to fit the codes and conventions of a Pop/Rap music video, but to also make it visually appealing and more exciting for the viewer, rather than having the same clothes on in every scene. Our costumes also were used specifically for certain scenes, for example the shot of the two of us seated in the library showed us dressed in smart office attire, which consequently matched the lyrics of the song.
Props also played an important part in our music video, the most prominent being the park equipment used in demonstrating the immature characters created by Rizzle Kicks. There is also a scene of the two of us in a car, almost contradicting the previous shots of us in playground environment and flirting throughout the video with the idea of growing up.

3) Settings and Locations -

Our settings and locations were varied and there was roughly an even split of indoor and outdoor locations. The outdoor locations were a mixture of those you would expect a typical youngster to be in such as a park and those that we felt just fit the codes and conventions of a pop video such as a garage with graffiti on.

Our lighting wasn’t too much of an issue as all of our indoor areas were brightly lit and the outdoor scenes were filmed during the day so the natural lighting sufficed.In real media products, the outdoors is used for the same genre as ours so we wanted to do the same to make our music video appear to be a real media product as the audience will have some idea of what to expect. This is evident in Rizzle Kick’s video for the same song that we used where they also play around in a park. 


4) Camera Work and Editing - 

For our music video, camera work and editing are the most important aspect because we couldn't achieve our goal of creating a fun and engaging music video without certain editing techniques that we used.Due to us making a Prelim and having experience from our Thriller, we already had knowledge of different camera angles and editing techniques. We all watched several music videos including Rizzle Kicks’ actual music video for the song we have chosen and this allowed us to see what type of editing and camera work professional artists/directors use.One editing effect that we enjoyed using was the ‘double speed’ effect. This accelerated the normal footage making some of the slower shots keep in time with the fast pace of the music.In terms of camera work, we used the conventional mid shot, close up shot which allows the audience to identify who the artist is.

5) Font and Style - 

In terms of Font and Style we have kept the same font running through our ancillary tasks. We did this as the font is very similar to Rizzle Kicks’ official logo and matches what we would expect of a pop/rap artists logo and brand image. This is due to the font having graffiti like affect, streets and graffiti features numerous times throughout our video as we chose to film in Hackney. This location has many graffiti walls and appears somewhat run down. We felt this would perfectly match the codes and conventions of rap and therefore chose to film here. The graffiti font can also appear rather childish, which matches our song title perfectly. This childish font also meets the ‘cheesy’ convention we have of pop artists. This is affective because our target audience is pop/rap fans and therefore we feel this font will appeal to people who enjoy both types of music.

6) The tone of the music video and how the opening sets it up - 

Our music video begins with a photo gallery of James and Joel when they were younger, followed by a picture of them now. We felt this would match the lyrics and song title as throughout the music video we are performing actions of a child, as well as adults in which the artists are today. We chose to do this because at the start of the song there is an introduction in which the artists do not sing or rap. We the opening to be unique as well as affective and therefore the picture gallery was the perfect match for us. We felt that showing the audience pictures of the artists would be fun for them as it gives a playful feel to the music video from the outset, in which meets the codes and conventions of a pop music video. Following this we established the artists in a road as we felt this would show the artist walking down the road back to their childhoods. Next come close-ups of ‘Rizzle Kicks’ walking down an empty road. We have done this as we wanted the audience to see what the artists look like from the start so that people will recognise them in the future. The road gives a sense of seriousness as this is what would commonly be seen in a rap music video. Together we feel that our opening shots fit perfectly into the pop/rap genre. Therefore, we believe our opening shots will appeal to our target audience of pop/rap fans.

7) Genre and how opening suggests it - 

Our opening shot was of James and Joel walking down a road rapping/singing to the camera. In Rizzle Kicks’ video for the same song, there are many close-ups of them throughout and the main focus of the video is of them. We kept this feature in our video with no cutaway shots at all and the whole video being focused solely on the two artists. Our objective was to link the locations, costumes and actions of the artists to the conventions of the pop genre and we feel we have achieved this to a decent standard.

8) How the characters are introduced – 

Our characters are introduced from the start of the video through some of their baby photos. This instantly gives the viewers a sense of affection towards the characters because babies and young children often pull on the heartstrings of the public. They then open by singing to the camera. Whilst looking down the lens, they give the impression they are talking to the viewer so the relationship that has already been established continues.