Alex Jane Media: D1: Creating Meaning

Mise-en-scene:

Many conventions within my music video are symbolic and are open to interpretation, such as the character changing her outfit into the prop of a hospital gown, this could evoke the idea they have died or have been in hospital due to the drug and alcohol abuse previously mentioned and clearly orchestrated throughout the music video. This also shows the codes and conventions of the 'notion of looking' giving the audience a stereotype of a drug addict they can easily recognise in the dragged clothes and uncaring manner of the other outfit the character wears of a dirty jumper of ruined makeup. Other props I have used within the music video, such as fake alcoholic and drugs suggest the downfall of the mentality of the protagonist, this was used not to explicitly say the characters mental situation but yet clearly suggests it. Moreover, the location of dirty, dark streets, graveyards and flashing lit rooms suggest a melancholic atmosphere or party life of the character, thus further emphasising her mental dismay. All of these aspects of the music video convey a form of mise-en-scene (everything you can see in the shot), thus everything the audience see's in the music video is purposeful of create meaning and is a demonstration of the Stuart Hall theory of the interpretations of the media, allowing the audiences to perceive the music video in whatever way they want, however is still bent by the creators vision of what message they want to take away from the media product.

I used a specific and decisive use of different types of mice en scene, not only to be relatable for my target audience and demographic but also was used to create meaning as the edgy, dark and controversial use of props and character themes helped show the meaning of the music video, this being to show the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. These choices of cinematography and mise en scene create meaning towards my audience as they can see it is a product that may be relatable towards them and is a product they will watch.

Editing:

I constructed the music video through the platform software 'Filmora' so I could make edits and adjustments to the visuals, this including, smash cuts, cut away, zooming in/out what we see on screen (mise-en-scene), adding filters or changing the saturation, hue, brightness and contrast of the colour values. I tried to make the music video have a gritty, melancholic and dark tone, fitting with the theme of the music video, I did this by using dark toned music, sorrowful and depressing look of shots (expressions/movements from the character), disturbing filters and edits, etc.

The editing that I achieved was done decisively as when creating the broody, edgy and dark music video I aimed to appeal to my target audience by using dark shadows and low lighting, quick shots cut in between each other and a great use of saturation within specific lighting shots. All of the editing choices created meaning as it adds a new element of darkness and refurbished style to the music video, these all created a different meaning when the audience saw this. Thus the use of static filters over the footage created a new meaning and effect on the audience, this being the dark, edgy and indie intended style.

Camera Work:

I edited the music video to fit the fast paced audio of most hip hop songs, using cuts and mash cuts repeatedly to mimic the timing and lyrics of the song; this was followed by typical close ups and pans that are used in these times of music video's as well as following the Andrew Goodwin Theory. I used specific fast paced camera work of shots that clipped to the beat of the music as well as editing shots to convey the character 'falling' into the next shot as the audio progresses; I was inspired to do this from the reference of the 'Euphoria' TV Show that my music video was based off. I did this to try and create a dark yet fast paced tone to the music video, the pace of the music video mirroring the fast paced fall of the protagonist's mentality.

The camera work used, this being numerous shots of low angles, high angles, close ups, medium close ups, medium shots, long shots, establishing shots, etc. All of these created meaning as the music video was a narrative music video, therefore the decisive use of shots throughout was used to create meaning and effect upon the audience, for example the extreme close up shot of a character used to create emotion.

Is the target audience suitable?

The genre of the song I chose was hip hop/grime, this genre is normally popular in the eyes of a teenage and young adult audience, this being a reason in which I labelled my music video's target audience as 13-20 millennials; their demographic also being lower to middle class, they would then taking a liking to the concept and themes within my music video and possibly relate to them. The content within the music video is a somewhat dark and mature yet I feel in our society of mature content that younger audiences now see I feel it is suitable for there age group and target audience. Again, this follows the Stuart Hall Theory of how a audience would perceive the music video, I hoped the majority of my target audience would have perceived the music video to show a narrative that follows a protagonist who's mental health is darkened by her use and abuse to drugs and alcohol. However, some audiences may perceive the message of the music video to be the encouragement of drugs and alcoholism, however this was not the purpose of the music video, this just comes down to the numerous, differed range of audiences who may watch the music video.

Original Idea contrasted to the end Product:

Due to the Global Pandemic of COVID 19, I was unable to pursue the original idea of the music video, this being able to include parties and numerous people in one room within scenes of the music video but because of the high infection rates and social distancing rules I was unable to do this. If it were not for this, I would have included scenes of teens partying to emphasis the message of the downfall of the party life the protagonist is in. To suit to the social distancing rules I only came into contact with members within my family household and my support bubble of one other household, both of these contacts helping me to create the music video.

Music Video Screenshots - Shots & Camera Movements Used: