Creative Critical Reflection

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

My product uses conventions by taking place somewhere that a lot of pop music videos take place, which is the beach. Also my music video overall has a very upbeat theme, which is prominent in other pop music videos. My music video features my actor having fun which is also in a lot of pop music videos. I decided to make these choices since I wanted to make my music video similar to a pop music video, but I didn't want to completely copy the conventions of a pop music video. I wanted to make my music video individual instead of basing it exactly what other pop music videos do, this would make my music video different from other people. However my music video also challenges conventions in multiple ways, like how there is no lip syncing or singing in my music video. I decided to make this decision since I believe my editing skills are not up to that level yet; however, I am trying very hard to work on my editing skills since that is a weak spot of mine. Also in my music video there is no dancing included within the music video, which goes against conventions of a pop music video. I decided on not adding any dancing because it would have made my music video even longer than it already was, since initially my music video was excessively long. Overall by going against the conventions of an average pop music video, it makes my music video stand out and differentiates my music video from the rest.

 This music video represents social groups since it is a pop music video, it represents people who like to listen to pop music. My music video represents these types of people because it involves pop music which represents avid pop music listeners. This music video could represent those who could be avid watchers of music videos and enjoy watching them in general, no matter the genre of music. Since pop music is a big part of my music video, this may get pop music listeners to listen to more of the artists music. If someone doesn't typically enjoy pop music, a music video may convince this person to listen to more of this music. Also, this could represent those who enjoy watching things instead of listening, since they would be able to watch a visual representation of the music. This would overall help the artist since more people are listening to their music. 

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

My product engages with audiences since it is catering to those who watch music videos and like pop music. My music video would engage with them since this is a pop music video, therefore this would overall fit their wants within a music video. My music video gives visuals for the song which makes people want to listen to the song even more now that they have visuals to go with the song. Some people are visual learners, or enjoy watching something instead of listening; therefore this would also engage with them. This engages with those who enjoy watching something instead of listening, since my music video tells a story and one doesn't necessarily need to listen to the audio, even though it is suggested. My music video could also engage with audiences by making them want to listen to more songs by the artist. This would be because a music video could be very entertaining, therefore making the artist seem more interesting which would make people want to listen to more of the artists music. My music video overall engages with audiences who like to watch music videos consistently. If a music video is interesting, this would add on to the want of wanting to watch more music videos.

 My music video would be distributed as a real media text by being posted on online streaming platforms like YouTube. YouTube is a very well known streaming platform used internationally to post videos, even those that aren't necessarily music videos. YouTube is also where most artists post their music videos, and where most music video watchers, watch their music videos. I would post my music video there since it would reach my target audience and others, since YouTube is such a wide streaming platform. Also, people who don't typically watch pop music videos may watch my project since YouTube recommends videos to others, therefore expanding the audience it would reach. Also my music video could be distributed on television channels dedicated to music, like MTV. MTV is also a well known company, however it isn't online, it is on television and that is where they stream music videos and television. MTV has been known for music and television for a very long time, even longer than YouTube, this means I could reach a wide audience using MTV. However, an issue that comes with using MTV to stream my project would be that it wouldn't be able to be played at any time, since it would only be able to be played at a certain time. Therefore, my project being streamed at a certain time means only a certain group of people who are watching at that time would be able to see it.

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Throughout this project I would say my production skills developed a lot due to how long the project had to be. I was used to doing small thirty second projects, so now doing a full sixty seconds was a big task for me to complete. At first I was wary of completing such a large video and task, I was nervous of not being able to complete it by the due date. However I got better when it came to time management throughout the entire music video, since I had to learn how long I would spend planning, filming, and editing. I believe the planning portion of this project definitely was an enormous help when it came to time management. I also got better in my filming skills, since I had to think about the different scenes I had to film and how I would film each scene. The storyboard helped build my confidence and skills in filming since I had to think about each scene and draw it out to see how it would look visually.  I also believe that I got better when it came to editing since I filmed a lot and I had to decide on what to trim down and what to cut out. I also learned how to think quickly when a challenge presents itself and how to overcome that challenge. I faced multiple challenges throughout the entirety of this project, and if I had never overcome these challenges, this project would have never been completed. I also had to think about these challenges before hand, which prepared me to face them as they came along the way. I overall honed some of my production skills throughout the entirety of this project, and grew as a person throughout. 

How did you integrate technologies- software and hardware and online- in this project?

I had to use multiple different forms of technology to complete this project in its entirety. I had to use my iPhone to film every thing within the music video. I had to dump all of the film onto my laptop, and then use iMovie to edit every thing together. I used an mp3 downloader website to download the music onto my laptop since I didn't have the song initially. After I had completed the entirety of this project, I used YouTube to upload the music video so it could be posted onto my blog, and therefore be turned in.  I also had to use my laptop to complete each of these blogs throughout this project, and use it to download pictures for the blogs.