Evaluation

Question 1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This is the official video for comtemporary rock group 'Coldplay's' 2005 album X&Y called 'Fix You'. This was a very inspirational video for my group because this was the song that we made a cover of.

I was very inspired and moved by the lyrics of the song and and the message it sends across. Visually the video had a very relaxed theme back with its slow tempo. I was very impressed by the use of various location shots and street shots to depict tranquility and a melancholic tone to the video.

As part of our video we imitated some of the scene because we felt that it showed a wide variation of shots and representation of the characters body language for example;

Keith Tyler cover of 'Fix You'

This is the original shot from the 'Fix You' video and it features Martin running as the tempo of the the music increases and the song climaxes. 

I personally felt that it was quite significant to the piece because it it symbolises the fact that even after going through challenging and difficult times you can still persevere.

Original video to 'Fix You'

This however is our version of the exact same shot.    

We decided to use similarities with the video but to augment the meaning for example how our lights are more visible and brighter than that of the original video.

Another video that influenced me deeply was 'I need an angel' by gospel and soul artist Rueben Studdard. We were really moved by the message of the message.

We played on the idea put across in the video that there are two characters who are going through problems however there is always a way out.

We also loved the idea that one man can change peoples lives and the way the director was able to depict his through their transitions which also influenced us.

We decided that we would adapt the narrative of the male however we would do that of the woman instead and i based Tobi Quadri's character on her as these screen shots show;

This is from the original video and shows the female in distress and i particularly like this shot because i felt her body language worked in correspondence with the song lyrics and it visually tells the audience that she is going through a tough time.

From my depiction

From the original video

I decided that i would use this shot however i am challenging it because our shot was in black and white to add further gloom .

James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful' was another video that influenced our work. He tells the story of a girl he once knew, however what we found interesting was how the director used camera shots to show this.

The close up of James Blunt emotion shot

Close up of Keith Tyler emotion shot

A varied use of close up and mid shots of Blunt depict his melancholy feeling and his disappointment at missing his chance to get the girl. We were able to challenge this because we didn't want to imitate too many shot types from the video because there was not as wide a variation as we had in our video but we did however use the close up.

For my ancillary products i had to look widely to find inspiration for my album cover. A cover that would feature my artist (and debut album) and also represent his genre of music with the  over to allow audiences to easily recognise this and i felt james blunts cover of Chasing time: The back to bedlam sessions did this; 

James Blunt's cover

My cover of Good Day Mr. Tyler

I was influenced by how the extraction of colour and the use of lighting really clarified Blunts facial features therefore i tried to incorporate that within mine. I also like the way that the guitar was subtly added in the cover to represent the genre of music which he belongs to. I did this myself and felt by including it, it shows my target audience clearly. 

However i challenged the conventions of the genre and instead of doing a close up or mid shot, i decided to go a full body shot of Keith Tyler. By doing do my audience can see how Tyler is dressed and his fashion consciousness will appeal to them.

Promotional poster for Good Day Mr. Tyler

Promotional poster for 'History'

For my advert I took inspiration from Michael Jackson album 'History' and I was truly inspired by his body language and how his charisma and character as an artist was represented through his stance. 

I was very much influenced by this and I wanted to incorporate this in my advert, but I realised that there were certain flaws in this advert which I made sure to include in mine.

Due to the decade the album was released 'History' was not subject to having several ways to buy the album for example Itunes or Amazon therefore it was only possible to buy in store. However due to the time Tyler's album has been released i made sure to add the different retailers where the album is sold and can be downloaded.