PROJECT UPDATE:In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
“Sweet Little Gun” by Caroline Larsson is a Pop/Rock song conveying a woman in a taboo relationship in a bold and catchy way. What the “Sweet Little Gun” is can be debated, yet it is believed that it is a euphemism for a certain male organ. With this in mind, I wanted footage of my singer contrasting with a fun and playful storyline that also reflects the music. In the video, there are two settings; a studio performance environment featuring Caroline and then a home environment that would feature two actors portraying the storyline.
The storyline features a woman desperate for attention from her partner, who is a wasting lout who doesn’t want any fun time with his girlfriend, nor does he want to give her any attention. Several female stereotypes feature in the video as the girl is shown ironing and preparing a meal, reflecting the humdrum that the girl has fallen into. Eventually the girl decides to phone up her friend, stand up for herself and together, they throw out her boyfriend and then proceed to throw his clothes out of the window too! The fun feeling of the video and the physical altercation is evocative of the relationship between characters in the video for Kelly Clarkson’s hit, “My Life Would Suck Without You” by Kelly Clarkson. This video was one I analyzed in the planning stage and served, as an inspiration of what a Pop/Rock video should be like.
Another video that that I though of after the production with girls getting the upper hand is the video for 2004 Number 1 hit “F.U.R.B (F**k You Right Back) by Frankee. In this video, the girl similarly throws the belongings of her boyfriend out of the window and humiliates him in front of her friends. This shows that my video reflects the standpoint that makes women look in control whilst still being sexy. However, the female character in my video is initially not in control of her situation and then finally turns it around and throws her lout boyfriend out. This makes it unique to other videos previously seen where the girl in the video is in control throughout. My interpretation of this gives the characters more personality and also makes the scenario more realistic.
Elsewhere in the video, I have used the conventions of a Pop/Rock video in that my artist is seen rocking out in traditional rock style leather clothing. The singer conveys sass, attitude and looks to be having fun, which is exactly what the distressed character in the storyline wants to become. At the end of the video, she emulates Caroline and becomes confident and in control.
My ancillary tasks also adhere to the expectations of what a regular CD/DVD Digipack would look like. The CD/DVD has an artist logo, Holofoil style sticker showing what the CD features, a voyeuristic photograph of the artist that dominates the cover (the serious and composed facial expression reflects her behaviour in the video) and features various titles showing that the CD comes with a DVD. The inside covers advertises a competition on the artist’s official website (which I have seen in other CD packaging before) and it also features a track list, which is something usually on the back cover. I decided to put the track list inside the CD as the album is a Deluxe Edition. Fans of the artist would already know what songs where on the album, and to people new to Caroline’s music, I feel that the blurb on the back detailing what new special features are on the Deluxe Edition and the voyeuristic image of Caroline were important in order to drive sales. The blurb mentions “Number 1 singles” that Caroline has released and if they were top hits like that, then people would be familiar with her music anyway.
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
When designing my CD/DVD Digipack and Magazine Advertisement, I wanted to convey my artist as the raw rock performer I believe she is; not the image seen on her official website. I wanted to use bold fonts, images and poses to portray this, and I believe I succeeded. I chose a bold and unique font “Copasetic”, (downloaded from dafont.com) to represent Caroline’s strong rock music and it is a clear font to read, whilst being unique to make the CD/DVD cover and Magazine Advert more aesthetically pleasing and eye catching. My artist using popular poses related to rock music, whilst also looking voyeuristic and feminine. I think they worked reasonably well and the Overlay effect I used on the images is great to look as it conveys the artist’s subtle femininity and also doesn’t detract from the logos and text on the CD/DVD or Advertisement.
I also used a Crowd background for each task, and this created another link between the ancillary tasks, whilst also creating a tangible link with the content on the CD/DVD, as the album features live tracks. In terms of linking with the video, images of the artist are present and the bold colour scheme throughout the ancillaries represent with the bold attitude of the singer and the storyline within the video, in which a woman decides to stand up for herself and escapes her humdrum relationship. The exuberant confidence within the poses of the singer displayed on the Digipack also reference to the video and the sassy way in which Caroline is portrayed.
The costume worn by the artist for the photographs present in the ancillary tasks is the same outfit worn in the video. A leather jacket and scarf can be seen in the photographs and the leather is a classic convention of rock music and the scarf adds a feminine twist to the expected/clichéd. I also wanted to my singer to wear 80’s style rock make-up on her face, reminiscent of artists like Kiss and David Bowie. However due to an allergic reaction, my actress couldn’t wear the make-up like planned. This was only a small setback and doesn’t detract at all from the final product. I also wanted my singer to have a distinctive hairstyle to separate her from other women in the Pop music scene, and this outlandish style is present in the video and ancillary task photographs.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
The feedback that I received from my audience was helpful and was realistic in that advice given was referencing things that I could actually achieve. Firstly, many people said that in the scene featuring the singer rocking out and performing, there could have been more use of a guitar to make the artist more authentic and stand out more. Some people also said that a band would be a good idea, and an all female band would be even better. I also received comments saying that some more voyeuristic shots of my artist would enhance her appeal. Another statement I received was that the location of where the storyline took place didn’t really look like somewhere a music video would take place. I can definitely agree with in some ways, however the messy house location suited the male character perfectly and I think that it is an ok contrast from the strong white background of the performance section of the video.
In terms of positive feedback, the lip-syncing and storyline were well received. I got a variety of comments saying that the storyline was quite clear and the ending was suitable for the context. This is an encouraging sign as it shows that I have successful realized what the audience want. I have learned from the feedback that more effort could have been placed in locations and actors. A band and more suitable locations with stronger lighting would have been more effective, yet overall I am pleased with the comments I received.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
When editing my video, I used an array of media technologies to produce it to the best of my ability. When filming the parts of my video featuring my representation of my chosen singer, Caroline Larsson. I used a combination of Sony HDV 1080i Camera and ReflecMedia’s revolutionary suite of products, which includes the Basematte, Chromatte and a LiteRing. These products enable me to film and to add whatever background I wanted and to do these in the highest quality possible. I also used the Newtek TriCaster PRO 2.5 and this is an outstanding piece of software, which enables me to easily edit my work and transfer it easily to a portable camera to connect to another piece of editing software I used, IMovie. IMovie is build into Apple Mac computers and captures the footage in chronological order ready to then be transferred into Final Cut Express. Final Cut was an easy and accessible way to edit my footage and allowed me to add a variety of extra features including Filters, Transitions and Motion Paths. All of these features that I have incorporated into my video make the footage more interesting to watch and are relevant to the genre.
In order to showcase all of my coursework, I used Blogger.com. Blogger was an easy program to use and presents my work in an appropriate fashion. I added a suitable background to my blog, which was fit for the genre of music I was using, and I downloaded another font from Dafont.com to help start off each blog post in a vibrant fashion. I also embedded Youtube videos into my blog. Although this is an easy process, it added another dimension to my blog posts, which helped the blog become more entertaining to view.
When creating my ancillary tasks and presentational titles for my blog, I used Photoshop Elements to make them to the best possible standard. Whilst making them, I gained new understanding of how to perform certain tasks and this will certainly help me in the future when needing to use a program other than MS Paint!
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