Creative Critical Reflection

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

    My music video was for the song “Brutal” by Olivia Rodrigo. This is a pop song, but it has the feel of a more punk pop or angry song. To research conventions of music videos similar to this type of song I looked at other Olivia Rodrigo music videos as well as music videos from similar artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Conan Gray. The research showed me that the conventions of modern pop punk and Olivia Rodrigo music videos include use of editing to make it seem like they were filmed with a film camera, dramatic elements like rain or fire in the background, and a general storyline being followed that relate to the song.

    My product challenged some of these conventions. It doesn’t use a film camera, and there is no rain or fire for dramatics. Some elements of dramatics were kept however, with the angles and transitions throughout the video, for example the cut from the car to outside that seemed magical and unexplainable. The product followed the convention of a story line being told that relates to the song.

    In the video the idea of a monster being in every reflection and ending up being the main character herself anyway relates to the song which talks about troubles with being a teenage girl and comparing yourself to others. Teenage girls face issues everyday with trying to be perfect and pretty while also dealing with other social pressures, that is a social group and issue which is portrayed in the music video.   

 

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

My product engages audiences by immediately using movement and suspense, as well as quickly introducing a mystery and reason to stay watching the video (to see who is under the mask or if the main character that is getting chased is caught). It also relates to the issues that many people face with social pressures and insecurity, which engages them. By using a popular song that many people know the product intrigues people and allows it to be distributed as real media text. This product would be found on social media apps that teenage girls have a lot of access to, like TikTok and YouTube. It may also be distributed to companies like MTV or Vevo because their audience is interested in popular songs music videos, especially when they tell an important and relatable story. 

 

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

Going into this project, I had limited production skills that I learned from the commercial project I did at the beginning of the year. In that project I did mostly directing, with some insight on the editing and angles. In this project on the other hand, I was mostly acting. This taught me more about the props and lighting process and developed those production skills. It specifically taught me how much I need to prepare with costumes and props because of how I almost didn’t bring the right clothes to the filming day and having to find a mask to use last minute.  With both projects I have learned and developed my skills in acting, directing, costumes, props, and creative camera angles. In the future I would like to develop my editing skills as they are the only thing I haven't worked on extensively.  

 

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


  3. This project was filmed on an iPhone, which was the only camera we had available. That’s okay though because iPhone quality is very good, and they are easy to work with. Using a familiar device came in handy throughout filming, especially since it was filmed with a tripod as well, which was new and more confusing technology. At first, figuring out the tripod was easy, it could be portrait or landscape and it came with a remote to move it however needed. The tripod also had a stabilizing feature which was very helpful and made the finished product look very clean. Online, iMovie was used to edit the music video. I didn’t do very much of the editing, but I suggested to my group mates to use this app since it was easiest and didn’t leave a watermark on the project. Not many other technologies were used in the product.  

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