Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms of real media products? 

Prior to pre-production, we looked at the theories of Andrew Goodwin, Carol Vernallis and Laura Mulvey.

Their theories effected the way we would make our video as in we had to consider whether or not we would add another layer of meaning to the lyrics through the video, feature a lot of jump cuts and work away from continuity editing and go against the male's perception of females.

Apart from that, we were also influenced by several videos including some from the original artist.

The SBTRKT videos were very artistic and did not follow the convention of the singer singing to the camera but for the purpose of following the course's specification, we had to have the singer. So this video influenced us more. (There's a blog where I analyse it but I can't find it!) The video is classified as Disjuncture as some scenes added a whole new layer of meaning to the song, especially as the song is titled 'Right Thing to Do', we had her do the 'wrong thing' at the end by smoking.

There used to be a storyline to the video as mentioned in the pitch but it grew difficult trying to build consistency. Vernallis' theory is employed as there are a lot of jump cuts and the song is edited precisely to the beat (mostly the kick or the clap). Continuity is broken as shots are fairly random and range from the 8 or so base tracks. Though if there was consistency, it would get darker as the video progressed as originally planned.

There are no objectifying shots of Ruth in the video. Most of them are close ups of her face. There are some shots where she walks into the frame which could be interpreted as the male gaze following her body upwards, however, my group has addressed this and has disagreed because she is not wearing provocative clothing.

However, Ruth is dismembered frequently and is featured a lot in the black room alluding to the convention that women are isolated - though it was not our intention to have her objectified. We did not feel that the song should have any sexual intent because the lyrical content had a deeper, moral meaning. It could also be argued that if it was Leanne's own song, she could be objectified in order to develop a fan base.

For the ancillary products, I wanted to enforce the Electronic genre. I think I have done this well through the blue 3D graphic in the background, the font and the laptops on the CD as they all connote futuristic and electronic themes.

Rebecca said to use a simpler font for the other texts such as the copyright because most CDs use them (easier to read, less important in relation to promoting the artist).

Moreover there are the common features of a digipak and advertisement found such as the record label, barcode, tracklist, an image of the artist, the artist and album name, websites, the featured single and the 'OUT NOW'. These are conventions of a typical digipak/ad.