JS: Evaluation Q1, Q2 and Q4

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

• Our music video uses many conventions of psychedelic rock videos. According to Andrew Goodwin's critical framework in 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' (1992, Routledge), music videos demonstrate genre characteristics. Psychedelic rock videos are often enigmatic in their approach, with disjointed and unclear narratives. We have used a similar approach with our narrative to create narrative fuzz, to help identify to the audience our genre of music. 

• In contrast, we have not identified an immediate relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are often disjunctive 'with a gun and a pack of sandwiches or nothing' and if we had illustrative visuals then our music video could have looked unusual. However, we developed the conventions of psychedelic rock videos by amplifying certain lyrics 'I want to be someone else or I'll explode'. This highlights our theme of social alienation which dominates our music video. 

• Furthermore, there is evidence of some form of relationship between the music and visuals at the beginning of our music video. At the editing stage, we cut our footage at certain beats of the song, which gave us the ability to be synchronised and worked for aesthetic purposes; to look professional and visually appealing. On the other hand, when the cutting rate of the video increased, the link between the visuals and music was less noticeable, as our cutting rate varied and was less synchronised.
•  As 'Radiohead' are a world renowned band and for band promotion, they are not known to promote their faces through the use of close ups,  the visual motifs for our music video would challenge conventions of modern real media products. Through the use of visual effects such as ghosting and altering time through the use of time stretcher, we developed conventions of psychedelic rock videos as through this visual style, the audience can identify that 'Radiohead' are making a track that is for the psychedelic rock video. 

• In modern music videos, there are frequent references to the notion of looking and to gain capital from consumers, promoters sometimes use 'soft porn' for sales for music videos. This is achieved through voyeuristic shots of the female or male body, through the inclusion of close ups and meat shots. Our video challenges this view by adopting an artistic approach and having none of these shots evident. 
• Finally in Goodwin's model, it states that intertextuality is common in music videos. As our track is an iconic song from the hugely successful film 'Romeo and Juliet' (Luhrmann, 1996), we included a shot of a character reading the VHS box of the film. This reminded the audience of the importance of the track and its history, and this is common in modern music videos, but less common in the psychedelic rock genre from bands I have explored, so we are challenging our genre.

• The text is polysemic as it features a convoluted plot. Many music videos our group have explored from psychedelic rock bands such as 'Long Distance Calling' have disjointed videos, that are often open to interpretation. We wanted to achieve this by including a man in the middle of a lake on a lilo, as the audience try and figure out why he is there. This ensures the audience become captivated by our narrative which is common and conventional for the psychedelic rock genre.
•  Meaning is created through the use of semiotics. The long shot of the man on the lilo is symbolic as it has connotations of loneliness which amplifies our theme of social alienation. Another symbolic shot in our piece is the close up of the man in the hospital gown, as the consumer finds out it is also the protagonist. This has connotations of fear and thus reflects the mood of some psychedelic rock tracks, for example 'Speak to Me' (Pink Floyd, 1973). We amplified this fear as we made a music video that contained elements of fear.

• The video is postmodern in its style, for example, there is an alterior reality that highlights the power of the human mind. This was shown through editing effects such as the use of ghosting in the chase scene towards the narrative closure. Psychedelic rock has a history of using postmodernism, to convey the ideologies and beliefs of the band about what the future may hold. For example, 'Tame Impala' are a modern psychedelic rock band who comment on the present and the shape the future is taking in their 2012 album 'Lonerism'. 
• The narrative draws on binary oppositions, such as the protagonist and antagonist. The protagonist is a character who has a sense of enigma about him, but the audience appeal to his character as they feel sympathetically towards him and this builds emotional nuance towards him. The antagonist on the other hand, due to his costume and mystery is viewed negatively by the consumer and seems to be an opposite in character. the twist in our plot was that these two contrasting figures turned out to be the same character. This binary opposition and twist develops conventions of psychedelic rock videos because usually narrative based videos focus on the troubles of one character, such as the man in Radiohead's 'Just' (Radiohead, 1994).

• There is a discourse of gender, as the three parts in the video were played by males. The protagonist is seen in a formal suit which has connotations of business and the working world. This reinforces the residual ideology that men are the dominant sex for jobs in the business world. Conversely, the protagonist also conveys an image of fear and worry in his non-verbal language through the use of close ups. This challenges another residual ideology that men should not show feelings or be seen as 'weak'.