AICE Media Studies: CCR for my Riptide Music Video

CCR:

Name: _______Joseph Gonzalez_________________

 

Creative Critical Reflection

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

My product is not especially different compared to other music videos when it comes challenging conventions. It does a lot of similar things and has similar aspects to other music videos in the indie folk and indie pop genre. The setting is common for a lot of songs in the Indie genre in 2013. It features a beach setting with waves, the sun, sand, and happy people on the beach. The song is folk because of the stringy guitar and mellow vocals throughout the song. It also has influences from pop rock with the upbeat melody and changes in it throughout the song. Songs it may have influence from may be “Hey Soul Sister” as it has similar aspects. It follows the interest in love and having feelings for one person and how much they matter to you. The lyrics detail this quite well and shows the message of the song well with the melody provoking an upbeat feeling. So a lot of conventions used in 2013 are used throughout the music video as we follow a similar formula of the actual music video. Our setting is on a beach, there are people, it’s sunny, and the water reflects the sunlight. Our acting isn’t exactly the best and lip-syncing wasn’t on point, but I believe we captured the message well. Along with conveying similar conventions, our video also represents the social groups that follow throughout the actual music video as well as the song. It mainly represents those people who love someone dearly and want to express there love greatly. They want to convey their feelings towards them but they may be too shy. The song could also represent those enjoy indie folk music for either the lyrics or upbeat melody. They don’t even have to like the lyrics and may just enjoy the melody of the song itself. People who also like beaches or beach themes music videos is also represented in the music video. Those are the main social groups who listen to the song that are represented more than other smaller ones, or outliers. My product doesn’t address many issues however one issue it addresses is fake love. Many people love each other but they do not show it enough for the other to know and there is confusion among them. This leads to sadness and sometimes worse. The point of this song is to convince those in love to convey their feelings towards the person they love but be weary on who you choose to love. Another issue that may be addressed is suicide. The song does have dark points throughout as the artist describes his past experiences with love and fake love. One part discusses fake friends and him being shy when talking to girls. He never found real love and eventually he did and that is the message of the song. So, this song doesn’t have many issues but there are a few along with the social groups it represents, this song has cultural value and meaning.

 

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

My product engages well with audiences by providing a captivating and memorable song with a beautiful scenery. Many people admire the beach and love it being used as a setting for film. The beach is memorable for many for various reasons and it provides a pleasant feeling when seen. People also love the song Riptide too. They may enjoy the lyrics or might just like the melody. People have different reasons for liking the song and that may engage them to the product. The message of the song may also engage the audiences. Some people may see the message as being positive while others can view a negative side to it. My product also engages with audiences by playing a memorable song. It also has a nice setting as many people love the beach. The acting isn’t the greatest, but the song can connect many people to Vance Joy. This would be distributed as real media text as it is a video and has sound. It also has a message along with it in the song. To distribute this film as real media text, me and my partner planned out and filmed a music video. In order to make it official, we had to publish it to YouTube, so it is out there. This way, we can reach more audiences and hopefully attract people to our music video.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Throughout this project, me and partner have been trying very hard to do the best that we can. We have made significant progress since the beginning of the year. Although me and him had originally did our projects alone, working together has been a big improvement for both us. Our work has been better than ever before. Working together did introduce new challenges for both us though. We did evolve past those struggles throughout the project and came out on top. In the initial phases of our project, we planned and researched only a little bit into the video which was bad as we didn’t have a good enough understanding which played into effect later on. Because of this, we had a hard time deciding where and what to film our video at. The song was easily chosen but not where and when to film. Lack of communication definitely played a big role into affecting our results. We didn’t understand each other and what we wanted to do for the project. We eventually figured it out and wanted to film at a beach and a park to compromise for each other. We learned that variety can bring more people to watch our video and we’ll have a bigger audience. When filming, confidence was low for both of us but we eventually sucked it up and completed our film. With the footage, I edited it all to make it run smoothly. Our acting wasn’t the greatest but was an improvement from last time I filmed and acted along with my partner. Compared to the last time I edited a film, I had a much easier time. Before, I was still learning and didn’t know anything. Now, I still am but I know the basics and can edit film somewhat. It still took some time but considerably less than last time. So my production skills improved from last time as I had more experience and have an idea on what to do and how.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

For my project, I used many tools and resources to solidify my video. For recording, I used my phone camera as it is one of the best and can record exceptionally well. It can clearly capture the details of the water with ease and won’t lag or shake up while recording. It also had an integrated movie software that can capture and edit movies without other installed software however I found it easier to export the video onto my computer. To update my progress, I regularly blogged about my work on google blogs to let my audience know how my work was going. This wasn’t always consistent however it did get the job done in letting my audience know what was happening. Other technologies that I used were an editing software. This allowed me to trim my footage together and put them together. This allowed the footage to be put together smoothly to make the video look like a proper video and have a formula. It also allowed me to add the song in the background to play over video. The video wouldn’t make sense if there wasn’t the song we were referencing. People would be confused and not care. Thus, this editing software helped me a ton. I also used the internet to research not only the video but the various aspects of the genre in music it is in. This allowed for a better understanding and lead the way to the final result. So for my project, many technologies were used to ultimately reach the final product and helped me greatly.