1) How do your products represent social groups or issues?
The main social issue that my music video represents is a toxic and abusive relationship. I decided to represent this social issue as I personally feel like it is not talked about enough in mainstream media, especially in music. I felt like my coursework song "You Don't Love Me Anymore" by "Weird" Al Yankovic best represents this issue in a negative light; showcasing how this type of romantic relationship affects people both physically and mentally. The only two social groups that are portrayed in my video are a man and a woman, and how they reject traditional gender norms. Throughout the video, we see the man's point of view of abusive relationships, which are not common to hear, as we usually hear about a female being the one being mistreated, and we as a society only hear the female’s point of view. The song itself and my music video reject the traditional norms of femininity, as the female in my video is seen as more domineering than the man, and is the one that is committing abuse to her partner. The traditional standards of femininity state that the woman in a relationship should be the submissive one, and are not allowed to be controlling and intimidating, and must be obedient towards men. It also does not adhere to the traditional gender norms expected from men, as men are expected to not express any human emotions, and have to be both physically and mentally tougher than women, and should be the dominant one in a romantic relationship. My music video also rejects Laura Mulvey's "male gaze" theory. This is because the man is not looking at the woman in the video in a sexual way, nor do the camera angles and the shots make her look like an object of sexual satisfaction. Instead, it portrays her in a negative light; an abuser who causes her partner’s physical and emotional destruction.
2) How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Throughout my coursework, I only used two fonts; Versailles and Benedict. I used Versailles for my artist's name, as well as the track listing on the back cover of my digipak. I used Benedict for the song name. I only used these two specific fonts in order to not only contain cohesiveness, but to also make my products more eye-catching for my audience, making it distinguishable from other music products.
I also mainly only used one house color; beige for my coursework. This specific color has two meaning; simplicity and deception. With the simplicity meaning further emphasizes the minimalistic aesthetic for all three of my products. The color itself also represents deception, as well as mourning or sadness. The negative connotation helps further emphasize the dark tone and mood of the song; an abusive relationship. There are only two main common symbols that are featured throughout my coursework; a guitar and music notes. The music notes symbolize the music and rhythm of the song, and the guitar is there to highlight the genre of my coursework song; a soft acoustic guitar ballad. The constant repetition of the guitar and musical notes make my products more recognizable, therefore creating a brand identity.
3) How do your products engage with the audience?
My coursework conforms to the traditional distribution of music promotion in the 21st century. I have posted my video on Youtube, a social media platform where many artists post not just their music videos, but their whole music catalogue as well. It is used by many people all over the world for many purposes, including watching music videos and listening to music in general. So posting the video online to Youtube helps me gain a wider audience. I also created an fake Instagram account, which is beneficial because Instagram is also a heavily used social media platform, used by people of many different ages and backgrounds. People can like, comment or send direct messages on Instagram, so it creates a sense of intimacy between the artist and the audience. Artists also use the platform to promote and tease new music, so my coursework also aligns with the traditional standard of promoting music in the digital age.
My music video also targets those with a hearing disability. This is because the lyrics of each corresponding scene are highlighted in black marker. This helps those who are heard of hearing. This is due to the fact that since people with a hearing impairment cannot fully hear the song itself, so the highlighted lyrics can help guide them along through the narrative. My video is in English, which is very widely understandable by many people all over the world, especially in the 21st century, particularly due to the globalization of the media, especially music and music videos created by Western artists. However, it may not help those with a vision impairment, as they cannot fully see the visuals of my video, and may have difficulty interpreting the events that occur throughout it.
4) How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
The main research I conducted was about Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos since it helped me figure out what I want to feature in my video, as well as helping me generate ideas of what I can include in my video. I have decided to create a narrative-based video, as the song itself is a narrative that takes place over a period of time, so it made more sense to create a narrative based video, instead of a performance based or concept based video. I rejected the idea of having a traditional music video with human beings. The reason why I deliberately chose to do this is because I thought that creating a music video entirely made up of drawings would best represent the social issues that is represented in the song; an abusive relationship. I thought that presenting this social issue would be too complex to present with actual human beings, and can also result in my models being injured, which is something that I do not want to occur. The usual acoustic guitar ballad music video includes a performance based video, with the artist lip-syncing the song to the camera, while occasionally simultaneously playing the guitar as well. I completely disregarded the idea of having a traditional acoustic guitar music video with human beings, as I had thought that the idea of having a narrative based video made with drawings, turns into an animated video, which I think is a concept that is very creative when it comes to music videos, and is not very common. I figured that taking a more artistic approach to my coursework video would help me stand out from the traditional acoustic guitar music video.
My music video also rejects the idea of high budget videos. This is because I did not include any elaborate shots, with a visually pleasing background or color palette. This is because since my music video is a narrative-based video made up of drawings, I thought that taking a more artistic approach to my coursework video would help me stand out from the traditional acoustic guitar music video.
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