Music Video-CCR

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

My music video contained many conventions often seen in pop style music videos. These conventions include choreography, back-up dancers, costumes, lip-syncing, hair and makeup, location/setting, colors, lighting, props, and style. In the last 3 scenes of my music video I had two background dancers and we choreographed a dance, which we practiced multiple times before recording. I wore three different costumes in my video, and my back up dancers and I wore color coordinated costumes. I lip-synced in the 5th scene and partially in the 6th. In total I styled my hair four different ways throughout the video. I also did my make-up a little, I did my eyebrows and put on a little lip gloss. Usually pop-music videos record scenes are recorded in different settings/locations. In my video I recorded my scenes in different locations throughout my house. In my last 3 scenes I used blue light.  For my lighting I mostly used  Since the name of the song I used in my video was "Umbrella", and an umbrella is an object. So it would be expected for me to use an umbrella as a prop in my video. 

The social groups represented in this video are not of a specific age group. But instead this video represents people facing hardships and in need of support. Whether it be support from an actual friend or someone who can fill the shoes of a friend like a mother or a sister. The lyrics in the song are uplifting and allow others to hope for better days. For example in the song it says, “told you I’ll be here forever said I’ll always be your friend“. These lyrics alongside the visuals help the audience remember that friends are by their side and here for them. These lyrics are then followed by “now that it’s raining more than ever know that we’ll still have each other”. This emphasizes that even when it gets tough a friend will stand by your side through your troubles. In a way this video represents the issue of depression and loneliness. Clinical depression is a huge issue today and has become very common. There are more than 3 million cases per year in the US. The visuals in my video are bright and fun, and I tried to avoid including visuals that would bring a dark and sad feeling. 

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

My product gives viewers a visual representation of the song/lyrics. My product engages with audiences by allowing them to feel a little better in their lowest points. My video gives bright and positive vibes. I do not view the umbrella as a sad song but instead a song that should bring joy and encouraging. But for others they may have a different interpretation on the song and may view the song as sad. This could be due to the fact that the song is associated with rain. Some people feel down when it rains and in some extreme cases this can cause someone to feel depressed.

My product would be distributed on YouTube as a music video. 

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

My production skills definitely advanced throughout this project. I learned so many new things about editing and filming from this project. I learned how to do things like add a “green/blue screen” behind my videos. Although, the “green/blue screen” acted more as a background instead of an actual green/blue screen. When I uploaded all of my scenes into my editing platform iMovie, the top part of my scenes were cropped. This was an issue I had to resolve because it made my video look weird. I resolved this issue once I found out how to zoom in/out on the videos. Some of my scenes I zoomed in a little on them and some of them I zoomed out on so that the whole video would be visible. But before even doing this I had already edited my videos prior to uploading them to iMovie. I cropped out anything that threw the video off beforehand. So now that I have discovered that I can zoom in/out directly in iMovie for future reference I may use this new tool as opposed to doing it before. I also discovered the advantage of using the straightening tool on my phone for my videos. This was my first time using filters for a filming project and they definitely add a nice touch to the video. I already had experience with filters in my camera roll before but this was my first time discovering that iMovie has a couple of filters that are different than the ones in my camera roll. As for filming, I was able to create my first tilt in a video and my second pan. I was also able to create my first close-up which I filmed myself from the front camera of my phone. This project definitely helped emphasize the importance of filming scenes multiple times and saving them for later in order to decide what looks best. Recording the scenes multiple times really helped me save time. I also had a difficult time trying to have the sound align with the lyrics I was singing in the video. But after cutting a few seconds off each scene and making of a few of them a little longer is how I managed to have the audio perfectly align with the words I was lip syncing.

4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project? 

In this project, I filmed off of an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I filmed my scenes using the front and back camera of this device. I had to crop some of my videos and I cropped them directly from photos. I also adjusted the length of each video beforehand. After this I uploaded them into iMovie and from there I edited. I also applied some filters