I think an important aspect of my video which coincides with other media products is the use of connotations and reoccurring themes within the mise-en-scene. In this video, B a noBody by SOAK, there is a reoccurring theme of round balloons in various places, usually high in the sky. This may connote a person's disposition within society which doesn't fit and appears strange. This suggestion also coincides with the title of the song, "B a noBody".
Furthermore, my video expresses connotations in a similar way, in that the use of fire is used to represent destruction as well as water to represent death and drowning, which are two reoccurring themes within my video (the shots below show this)
Within the editing features of this video, there are cuts on the beat of the music which is a feature present is my video, as well as cuts on the beat of the lyrics. Furthermore the use of effects are similar because the majority of the colour has been stripped from this video to create a duller, more melancholic mood.
Another feature which is similar is the range of cinematography used to draw emphasis on certain subjects. An example of this, in the video above, is the shot where the girl opens the drawer where there is a close up of the photographs in the drawer. Also, the long shot of the balloon with a town in the background, the balloon being the subject and the town being in the background.
Another similarity is the use of slow motion. However, in the video above, the slow motion for the most part is very subtle. The purpose of this, in my opinion, is to coincide with the speed of the song. This is a feature which I used because I wanted to express a slowness in the artist's reality, and to suggest that she doesn't have any purpose in life and that she's living in a reality without progression.
I think this is a good way of engaging an audience because it makes the audience empathize for the artists: because most people, including the audience, have probably experienced a feeling of lacking purpose and direction at some point in their lives.
A feature of which challenges conventions is my use of effects in my video. The effects used further perpetuates an ideology of a morphed reality. This is through the use of colour, exposure and emphasizing light within shots. The most extreme example I have of this is the shot of the gratified wall. (pictured below) I got this effect by using the "keyer" effect as well as the "luma key" effect. these effects bring down the exposure of shots and make the screen almost purely black. after applying these effects I used many layers of the "glow" effect which makes any light in the shot glow. I achieved this effect through trial and error and I haven't seen an effect in a music video which looks anything similar to what I created.
Another effect I used which I haven't seen in any other commercial videos was the use of the "keyer" effect to make a persons eyes look extremely dark. (such as the image below) I achieved this effect because the sun was more or less directly above the artist. This meant that the light from the sun did not reach her eyes because there was a shadow from her brow. This enabled me to bring down the exposure of shadows creating an effect which makes her eyes appear to be completely black. This effect is apparent when you look at the shadows under her bottom lip and under her nose: the shadows are exaggerated so they look darker.
The use of shadows also created a good effect in the skin, giving it a lot of texture and separating the light shades from the dark. This effect was also used in Ben Howard's music video, "The Fear", however, in Ben Howard's video, the effect was used more naturally along with artificial lighting.
I used examples such as the effects and lighting used in Ben Howard's video to develop the effect I used to make my shots match the mood of the song.
A feature of which I chose to neglect in my video was the use of lip syncing. This is because I thought lip syncing would spoil the mood of my video and give it more poppy, mainstream, and possibly light-hearted feel. I wanted my video to feel as moody and as eerie as possible. Also, I though the absence of lip syncing made my artist seem more mysterious, as well as making the audience consider the meanings behind the imagery more without being distracted by the artist lip syncing.
Another reason for not using lip syncing was that I think it's extremely easy for it to go wrong because of the fact my video was in slow motion. This meant that there would have been a greater risk for the audio to be out of sync with the clips. when bringing the clips to post-production.
An aspect of real media videos which coincided with my video was the use of shots where my artist looks directly into the camera at a medium close up/close up. There are multiple videos in the industry which use this shot. Here are some examples
Keaton Henson- Sweetheart, what have you done to us
Soak- BLUD
Matt Corby- Letters
The image below is a still shot from Keaton Henson's music video, Healah.
An aspect of this shot I took as inspiration for my video was the
portrayal of suggestion by the use of blurring subjects. The man in the
white shirt is a significant part to the video however he is blurred.
this creates anticipation for the viewer. I used this technique in my
video by creating Imagery such as the still shot below. Instead of
blurring the subject I used effects to alter colour, brightness and
contrast, as well as turning the middle of the shot into a fish eye
effect. This meant that the viewer's perception of reality is warped
into what I want them to see, similarly, in Keaton Henson's video, the
reality of the shot is warped into what the director wants the viewer to
see.
To amplify this, the use of reflection from the water further signified the ideology that what is visual is not always reality.
In reference to Laura Mulvey's "Male Gaze" theory: my video challenges conventions of this aspect through the lack of direct sexualisation of my artist. However, there are aspects which suggest that my artist is sexualised by the use of the close up shots of the lips and the blowing out of the candles whilst she keeps full eye contact with the camera. I decided that directly sexualising my artist through the use of provocative clothing wouldn't have been necessary because of the fact males aren't my specific target audience. Also because of the fact that I wanted the focus to be on the imagery and what the connotations behind the shots were rather than the artists sexual features. However, I had an idea of my artist as a naked silhouette walking into the ocean to signify vulnerability and naivety. In explanation to this I was going to have her wear skin tight clothing whilst reducing the exposure on my camera whilst having the sun in the shot behind her so that she'd appear to be a naked silhouette. However, I decided this wasn't necessary because I could express the same connotation whilst she's wearing a dress and keeping the effects the same. This would also prevent the connotation being misinterpreted by an audience member. An example of a video that is very sexualised would be Nicki Minaj's video, Anaconda
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