My creative reflection!

Hey blog!

    Now that I finished my project, I can reflect on the process of creating a music video. I hope you all enjoy!

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

My music video both uses and challenges conventions. The song for my video was Pink + White by Frank Ocean, which is an R & B song. While I researched, I noticed many similar conventions in this genre. In most of the music videos there were many dull colors. However, in my video I had many bright colors and scenes. There was also dialogue in a few of the videos, however I decided not to include any. These are two of the ways I challenged typical conventions for the genre.

Meanwhile, in the R&B genre there are many types of angles. A lot of these music videos contained low angles. Because of this, I made sure to include some into my music video. At first I had forgotten about this angle in my initial footage, so I am happy I made sure to include them later on. I also noticed many pans in my research. In my original footage, I began with a pan on the beach, however after losing this footage, I recreated pans in many of the scenes. I remember including a pan at the park and downtown. Using this movement and angle I was able to include typical R&B conventions into my product.

This video represents a young age group. It shows my friends and I preparing for a dance. I wanted to make the video more personal to me, and more relatable to my targeted audience. My targeted audience is fellow teenagers, specifically girls. The video shows how we can share an experience, even if we are not all in the same room. The simplicity and relatability is really what I wanted this video to represent.

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

My product engages with the audience through relatability. Everybody knows what it's like to get ready for an exciting event, especially without all of your friends present. Some inspiration for this approach was a teenage influencer. Her name is Emma Chamberlin, and she became famous for her youtube videos. She is seen as relatable and funny and her videos are still popular today. Emma’s quick fame inspired me to make my video about a shared experience between many people. Shared experiences would allow the viewer to build a connection to the video, making them more interested in watching.

My video would definitely be shared on YouTube. Most music videos you would find are on YouTube. If I were to play music on my TV, I would go to youtube and select a playlist of music videos. I am also aware many others do this as well. I would also share clips on Youtube shorts, Tik Tok, and Instagram. Short clips are everywhere, and almost all social media has a feature where you can scroll endlessly. While someone is going down a media rabbit hole, my video may pop up. From there, they may go to YouTube and watch the full music video

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

Throughout this process I learned that things are not as simple as they may seem. I also learned how to be more creative in my work. The first thing I had to do was figure out if I was going to work with someone. Typically I would work alone because I believe that it makes the process go faster. However, I remembered my friend Mya also takes Media Studies, so I could work with her. I believed working with Mya was a good idea because she is a kind hardworking student. Once my partner was decided, I knew we had to figure out when to do research. That weekend we researched at a nearby mall.

Mya was stuck in Miami, so I had some time to figure out where we could do the research. I decided we should sit in the back corner of a smoothie and juice bar, Jamba Juice. When Mya arrived, we began watching R&B music videos in order to decipher typical conventions. Mya and I watched the videos on her ipad, and I took notes on my laptop. This way, we could look back at the shared themes. When we finished our research, we came up with a plan for a music video. We were going to make it birthday themed and we were going to film at the beach, the park, and at a house.

The date was set, and only two other people arrived. At first this was okay because the beach scene was supposed to be small anyways. I filmed the shots I knew I wanted to include and that was it. Then when we filmed at the park, only two other people arrived as well. Still it was not a very serious issue. 

Then a couple days go by, and my phone breaks. I hadn't upgraded my iCloud storage, so all the media I filmed was lost! This was the biggest lump in the road yet, so I knew I had to adapt to this situation.

When my phone was fixed, I texted Mya and let her know what had happened. Luckily, our homecoming dance was coming up so she decided we could film that. From there I knew I could ask our previous actors to film themselves getting ready.

From all this, I learned original plans may not always map out the way you would like them to. Next time I will film with enough time to allow time for emergencies. At least in this, my creative skills grew from the need to come up with a last minute plan.

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

I filmed my video on my phone, because it was the most accessible tool. I do not own a camera, and I bring my phone everywhere. I was able to film anything interesting or pretty wherever I was. This became very useful after I lost my original media. It was also easy to edit off of my phone.

I used CapCut again because of the simplicity and interesting features. CapCut is an editing app on your phone that already has templates, filters, and cool transitions accessible to anybody. Using this software was very useful because I could do it right off of my phone. Once I was finished, I just had to email the video to my computer. This made for a simple process that I cannot wait to do again!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qEbR4zhQFEcXRuMoOu7sUY631LtHB3AJeZiqSBvbjhs/edit