EVALUATION QUESTION 1

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

Media platforms I used to present my video and ancillary tasks:

In terms of the media platforms I used to present my video, I used the video-sharing website YouTube via the Internet. I used this website in particular as I knew I would be able to release content to a potential mass audience. YouTube is home to a diverse 1 billion users and set of media such as film, music, tv, video logging and more and so my production a skating music video had its place amongst many other genres. This contrasts with websites such as Vimeo, which serves the same purpose but doesnt have the same sheer mass of people utilizing it from day to day.

In terms of my ancillary tasks, my digipak would usually be a form of printed media and so I made a physical prototype to give me a realistic idea of how it would look in real life. To digitally present the digipak, I used social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook via the fan page I created to reach out to the public.

Istagram post

Facebook (left) and Twitter (right):

For my website homepage, I used wix.com for the creation of the product and weebly.com (a blogging platform) to present it on another digital platform. The URL for my website homepage is maxwellfox.wix.com/moodsmusic. I also used Facebook and Twitter to display the website.

Weebly blog post

Facebook (left) and Twitter (right):

The genre conventions: (compared to existing examples.)

There were specific codes and conventions that appeared in films that had a very similar style to that of a film I wanted to produce. A lot of the films followed a certain pattern or were shot in a specific way - here are the features of the genre that the audience would expect in my production:

Hand-held shot style Tracking shots of the skater (camera placed on skateboard - man made dolly) Fish-eye lens Slow motion (usually used during tricks) A sense of relationship and unity between the skaters involved in the film Achievement when completing a trick Some sense of cinematography aware of ways to make the video look visually impressive/appealing to the audience.

Red Bull Perspective A Skateboard Film displays a cinematic journey through the eyes of skateboarding's elite. The cinematography is usually at a high standard, there is use of natural light to create a variety of shots and sense of the skaters being creative with locations and ways to perform a trick. Sound is also very important in these films, diagetic sound (such as the board grinding metal and reactions from other skaters) is usually in films such as these as it creates a sense of verisimilitude but there also tends to be up-beat electronic music to accompany most of the skating parts of the films to keep the audience interested and enable them to get into the rhythm of the film.

Images from the film Red Bull Perspective A Skateboard Film:

I believe I have made a very stereotypical skating video including most of the major features of such productions. These include hand held effects, tracking shots of the skater, a sense of relationship between the skaters when theyre talking and laughing with each other and instances where tricks don't come off and the skater gets injured - the skater faces his fear and successfully does the trick he failed to previously complete. Sure, Im aware that the Red Bull production is not a music video however, I wanted to emulate the way in which they captured the art of skating and I wanted to adapt their style of cinematography to my production. Music videos purely containing skating are extremely rare.

Images from my music video for the song Hold Tight by Moods:

Making a conscious decision to challenge any forms and conventions:

When creating my production, I didnt want to use a fish eye lens. I wanted my music video to have a specific style and not to copy exactly the casual skating video where its all about trying to pull off the best trick. I wanted to tell the story of a day in the life of a skater, rather than produce a video with no real character to get to know or relate to. With two kids skaters pro, the audience doesnt get an idea of what the skaters a like, what their other interests or where they lived. In my production I wanted the audience to get to know my character better and so to do this I dedicated the introduction/build up of the song to doing exactly that getting to know the character and allowing the audience to have an impression of him.

Was I successful?

During the beginning stages I believe that I have succeeded in showing what the character is like, how he lives and what his main focus in life is when not at university. I Demonstrated this through the use of extreme close ups, tracking shots and by having a large introduction to the film:

Rather than going straight into skating without any sense of narrative, I went about trying to portray more about the characters lifestyle and interests. I wanted to create something a little different because after watching many skating videos, I came to realise that I didnt know the skaters any better when it came to the conclusion of the video and so I wanted to change that and have the opposite effect on the audience watching my music video. I believe I allowed there to be a connection between the skater and audience members, perhaps creating instances where people had things in common with the skater and relate to interests and ways of life. This can make a production such as mine more powerful to the audience.