MV Creative Critical Reflection

 Name: Isabel Reyes

 

Creative Critical Reflection

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

Our music video uses conventions as pop songs generally make references to money or wealth. Our music video is almost entirely based on the concept of wealth and the materialistic lifestyle. Throughout the video, we flash the audience with expensive objects, like designer stores and jewelry. Another conventions is our use of close-ups, which are frequently utilized in music videos because they make it easier for the viewer to recognize the musician. This is challenged however as the artist of the song is not present in the video. Instead, our close ups are of Hailey, the actress playing the material girl. It represents social groups and issues as it challenges the idea of patriarchy in a way. In our video, our material girl is the character with the wealth, and eventually ends up going out with the poor boy. This challenged the stereotype that men are supposed to provide for the female in terms of wealth and stability. 

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

By including components that people can relate to in the music video, our production engages audiences. For instance, in one scene, our rich material girl rejects the guy who does not have money or her level of class. This appeals to the sense of humor of the audience and keeps them hooked to keep watching. We continue to convey this sense of humor as our material girl engages with the guys that do have money. We evoke a feeling of admiration as well as we flash the audience with shiny and expensive items, like the gold watch, to get the audience to feel the wanting of the material girl. The audience is drawn in by this humor and keeps watching all the way to the finish of the video. Ultimately, we give the audience a happy ending as the material girl ends up the poor boy from the beginning. Our film will be released as a real media text by being uploaded to YouTube.

 

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

    Through this project, I improved my producing abilities in a number of areas. Before filming our first project, the commercial, I had no prior knowledge of the media at first. That project helped me become familiar with the elements of film. However, I feel that this project of filming a music video really helped me feel comfortable with the process. This time around, working my way through filming and editing felt much more familiar, which also helped the process seem faster and easier. I immediately saw why filmmakers frequently work in teams and groups as we started to plan. We were able to work together and brainstormed ideas that would interest our viewers and keep them hooked throughout the music video. We got to witness how genuine filmmakers, like those of Toy Story, utilize the storyboard to help bring their ideas to life, so when we were creating the storyboard, I continued to recognized how important it was. Planning with the storyboard made the filming process much easier as we already had an idea of what we wanted to film. When we started filming, I became aware of how minor adjustments, such as changing the camera angle, might drastically influence the tone of the production. Overall, this assignment allowed me to greatly expand my expertise. 

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

  The tripod, camera, and cell phone were our main pieces of equipment. The phone we used to edit the production and create transitions from scene to scene and add the music, which made our storyboard come to life. The tripod was utilized for our tilt and supported the camera throughout the duration of filming. The software we used to edit was an easy to use mobile app called CapeCut. We organized, added transitions and music, and compressed our video content with this editor. It also provided us with access to a broad range of editing tools, among which we found transitions that flowed smoothly with our video.