Creative Critical Reflection for the Music Project

1. How does my product challenge conventions AND represent social groups or issues?

     The genre of the music video I have made is parody and the conventions of parody are relatively consistent. Since parody exists to emulate a work of art while exaggerating its most memorable qualities for comedic effect, there are traits that would be similar in any parody. Parodies have a comedic tone and they are meant to imitate a specific artist/work. My desire was for my video to be enjoyed by itself while still being able to clearly identify where it got its inspiration from. The song I made the video for was a parody of "Trapped in the Closet". The original music video told the story of a specific person as they navigated their way through some obstacle. The music video was meant to do the same thing, but the obstacle was some everyday inconvenience that juxtaposed with the grand, dramatic tone of the original song, using the conventions of an average parody. I tried to integrate a comedic aspect into my video, but the quality of the video might make it hard to know. 

    As for who or what the video represents, there is no real answer. The song tells the story of Johnny Everyman as he deals with an inconvenience that can happen to everybody. No real story is being told and no specific group of people is being represented. Since this song isn't about anybody, I say it can be about anybody. Some person out there, no matter their background, can put themselves into this man's bunny slippers and see themselves having to deal with it themselves. I would say this gives the song a universal appeal. If in my music video, I had tried to represent one group of people, I would have inserted a message that doesn't exist in the song and made a video that doesn't really belong with the song. 

2. How does my product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?

    My music video is a visual experience. This may seem nonsensical since it is a music video, but if the listener chose to only listen to the audio, they would be listening to a song I had no hand in creating. The product I had made was a music video and as such the only way they could enjoy it would be through a visual medium. Despite me saying that, their would need to be audio as well. A music video is designed to enhance the song it was made for, which is why very little music videos can be enjoyed outside of the context of their song. Looking back, I would have preferred if I had made a product that can be enjoyed outside of the context of the song. I feel like it would give more justification behind the video's existence. If I had made this for myself rather than for a project, I would likely feel as if I am trying to succeed off of someone else's work. I still slightly feel that way know. The music video would need to be played on something that can play both video and sound. Since you would be unlikely to watch a music video on cable television, the only way I can see this music video being distributed in a real world context would be through a video streaming site like YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter.

3. How did my production skills develop throughout this project?

    I had learned many things throughout the formation of this project. I feel confident in saying that the video turned out a resounding failure. The reasons behind my failure has taught me lessons that I can really grow from. My last second speedrun showed me that the quality if a product can't be rushed and for a project to be good and on deadline, time will need to be set aside beforehand. In other words, I should start setting schedules. My use of a website that I can't be confident in 100% of the time showed me that I should have back-up plans in case of a problem in filming or editing. These may seem like obvious lessons, but it wasn't until I had suffered from my refusal to do them did I learn how valuable they really are. I wouldn't say I learn much if at all about filming or editing, but the life lessons I learned more than make up for it.

4. How did I integrate technologies (software, hardware, and online) in this project?

    I had used the same equipment as the last project. I used Clipchamp, a free online video editing software on an old dinky computer and I used an android phone for recording. I didn't use this equipment out of choice but necessity. I can't afford state of the art equipment nor would I even know how to use it. If I come across as if I am blaming the technology, I am not. I used the exact same equipment for my last project and I am much more proud of how that one turned out. The most important tool isn't what is on the computer, but who is on the computer. The question asked for specifically technology however so there isn't much I can say. Besides the technologies I had already used, there isn't much I can say. I used YouTube find the song and a (maybe illegal) MP3 converter to get the song onto ClipChamp, this everything I a had used in the formation of this project.