1. Evaluation Task 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

1. Similar to many other music videos in this genre of dance-pop music, the video starts by introducing the artist and song name. From looking at a top 100 dance music videos of week website, it seems that most dance videos have a very varied and bright colour palette. I have chosen not to follow this theme and have stuck to a more muted colour palette of black and gold, in concordance with the title of the song.

2. This shot establishes the two main performers in an intimate way. A common theme in dance videos is that the dancing is often very sexual and bordering on vulgar. This dance however, contrasts with this as it is more styled around ballroom dance.

3. This shot and the entire section set in black and white take inspiration from Madonna's vogue dancing. The quick movements and emphasis on hands and arms as well as the black and white colour filter really link the two music videos. 

4. The use of light behind Niya adds a mysterious and edgy effect that creates shadows and looks like a golden profile of his face. This mimics the sultry and shady look of singers in dark clubs etc. 

5. As well as the previous style with the singer, there are also the shots where the singer's face is more visible, getting them the publicity and 'face-time' they need to sell their image.

6. Music videos often hold a new section/scene for later on in the video to keep the audience hooked. I have chosen to put in three sections of written lyrics to add something new about half way through the music video. 

7. I chose this shot as an example of the way I put an emphasis on editing to the beat. In this shot, the movement of her eyes is in time with the beat.

8. Another feature that I saved for later was when two of the sections, the black and gold dancers and the black and white dancer, merged together into the same scene. As well as what I mentioned before about how music videos often do this, it is also a feature of this genre to mix scenes and change the set up during the video. 

9. Few music videos in the genre of dance-pop contain a storyline but I felt that one was necessary to relay the relationships of the dancers and also create a visual that went with the lyrics, The story really comes into play at the end of the video, making the audience think back through the rest of the song for other moments that expressed the bitter-sweet nature of the song.

27. Rough Edit

Here is my first and VERY rough edit for my music video. I need to sort of the lip syncing and there are a few shots that are either too long or not interesting enough that I want to change and swap with other footage I have.

26. Filming

Here are some pictures I took during the filming process. I now have all my footage.

Progress

Here are a few clips of the rehearsals for the 4 dream dancers. I put a greyscale filter on one to give an idea of how the image might look.

25. Props and Costumes

I have collected costuming for most of my crew already. For Niya, I have chosen for him to wear a suit and black fedora hat. He will also be using a retro style microphone.

For the dream dancers, they will be wearing black leggings with black leotards and pin stripe waistcoats. They will have bear feet, their hair will be pulled back in a tight bun at the napes of their necks and they too will wear fedora hats. I also want to have them in contrasting black and white make-up. I have selected some examples that I will use as a guide.

And last but not least the costumes for Aaron and Kelly. Kelly is wearing a gold fringe dress and gold dance shoes. Aaron is wearing black trousers and a black shirt, smart and classy but simple too.

I chose a mostly black costume for the majority of the dancers etc because, apart from the Black and Gold section, the rest will be in black and white. Therefore, I needed costumes that would exaggerate this and produce bold and contrasting images. It also makes the gold seem more magical and brighter too.

24. Cast Choices

I have chosen Niya Clement- Hickson as my lip-syncer as I know he can express himself well while singing, understands how to perform and song and has a strong presence on stage. I know that Sam Sparro is white, however, he is often mistaken for being black because his voice is so rich. Therefore, I have decided to chose a personality that would suit the song rather than focus on being specific in these details.

For my Black and Gold dancers, I have chosen Aaron Simmonds to be 'Black' and Kelly Martin to be 'Gold'. They are both amazing dancers, with Aaron being a professional ballroom dancer and Kelly being a very experienced and talented ballet dancer. Kelly is blonde, further developing the whole 'Gold' personna and Aaron has dark drown hair.





















Finally, for my four dream dancers, I have chosen four girls who are excellent dancers. They are Lizzie Parker, Maddy Abbs, Laura Richards and Flora de la Mortiere (pictures in this order).