Evaluation Activity 1 (part one) - Diranjeet Sohi and Meryl Cariaga

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

Part 1

• The Style of the Video

Our video subverts many typical conventions of music videos. In this case the style is very unique because instead of a human main character/artist, we used a teddy bear.

We decided not to use a band performance as it was not needed, and does not suit the mood.

• Setting/Location

Our video was shot in many areas in London, especially the central parts. These include: Tower Hill; Tower Bridge; St James' Park; Buckingham Palace; Ilford Town Centre (Car Park); a playground in Buckhurst Hill; a bus stop

in Woodford; and a charity shop in Loughton. With the Tower Bridge filming, we were able to film other landmarks within the background such as: the Gherkin and Tower Bridge. St James' Park we filmed a forest shot which turned into a form of transition. We chose to film the bear in trafalgar sqaure.

The flashback scene which gives insight into the Bear's tragic background, was filmed at the charity shop in Loughton. We specifically picked a shop that wasn't too busy. The shop keeper kindly allowed us to use a shelf and we used some of the shop's products.

One shot which depicted the Bear's miserable existence was the alley way scene. This was filmed outside a house in the back garden where there was a group of bins. We showed the Bear peering into the bin, and then accidentally falling into the rubbish.

At one point in the narrative, the Bear discovers the residence of his previous owner. This was filmed in the living room, and the outside part of the window. We showed his previous owner with another bear, completely forgetting our homeless Bear.

• Costumes and Props

When filming in London, we used two members of our group to walk past the bear. These two people were smartly dressed in suits to blend in with the other Londoners. The area we chose was in the business area of London therefore it made sense. The girl who bought the Bear in the charity shop was dressed as a young, casual shopper. The bag was significant because the Bear fell out, which places the bag and the owner as the reason the Bear is lost now. We specifically used the stuffed toys from the charity shop to depict the isolation the Bear felt because he didn't fit it. They were full of colour and plush, whereas he was dull and tatty.

At the beginning of the video we showed the bear waking up to London on his blanket, with his tin and newspaper. This signifies his loneliness and thus conveying the mood of the song. As someone passes by they fling a 10p coin in the Bear's tin. The bus stop scene consisted of another human character who owned another loved bear. This bear was dressed up which presented the fact that the homeless Bear was unloved and dirty, whereas this bear was well taken care of.

We also used another different bear for the playground scene. This bear was pushed on a swing, but the lonely Bear was not. For the suicide scene the note was written on a dirty piece of paper with a pencil, all manoeuvred by a group member in the guise of the Bear.

Moreover the bird dropping was made using a mixture of yoghurt and mud which was then dropped on the Bear's head. We used montage editing by filming different shots and editing them together to create meaning. For example, one shot filmed the Bear looking up, and other followed bird's flying. The birds were important because they showed how nobody cared for the Bear's wellbeing. Finally, we used a dog to complete a sense of companionship in the house scene.

• Camerawork

At the beginning of the music video, the camerawork is used to show the movement of the bear waking up in the morning to London.

This is because, the camera is on its side showing the bear is lying down, he then sits up. Following this, there is a long shot depicting the bears isolation as there is nothing else surrounding him, just his possessions, and passers walking by.

As a passer walks by, he tosses the 10p coin, at this point we use a close up shot of the tin. with the 10p coin being tossed inside. Also, an over the shoulder shot is used to show the point of view of the bear looking up to the passer tossing the 10p coin, this gives a sense belittlement.

Numerous shots of the bear in the background of london landmarks is used to give the sense that the bear is coming towards the end of his life. We also used many establishing shots to show the bear as the "small fish in the big sea". Below is an example of the bear in the foreground of tower bridge:

To transition between scenes, we used a panning shot of the forest. We did this by tilting the camera upwards, and spinning the camera in a circular motion.

Another type of camera shot which we had used high angle tracking shot of the birds,to show the bear had droppings fall on his head. Within the car park scene, we used another point of view shot of the bear looking down, considering jumping off the top level of the car park.

• Editing

Our music video typically subverts most of the conventions of a music video. Firstly, we did not include lip syncing. Simply because our main character is a teddy bear. Thusly, we could not make the the bear lip sync .

At the beginning of the music video we immediately used editing techniques. Such as a blur to signify that the bear is waking up.

On the other hand, we did edit to the beat, which follows stereotypical conventions of a music video. Here is an example of the song shot of the bear which is shown as the beat of the music occurs.

There are numerous parts of the music video which we had used slow motion, firstly when the passer tosses a 10p coin in the tin, the bear falling out of the bag and falling off the bus bench.

In addition, the flashback scene also uses some editing. This is because, we used another type of blur and flash to show that it is the beginning of the scene and the end.

One of the initial shots was too bright for the scene, therefore to overcome this problem we simply darkened the shot to sit the video.

In order to transition between scenes, we used fades to convey this. We decided to use these particular fades because they were simple, and they did not take away the attention from the narrative. This is unlike the flashback scenes, as here we needed to convey a shift in time.

• Other techniques used

To move our bear in the video, we had

to use puppeteering techniques to make it look effective. We originally thought about using sticks and strings, but after attempting this, we found it very difficult to move the bear around, and it looked ineffective. Instead, we simply used our hands to move the bear around. This means that the shots look relatively realistic as no visuals of puppeteering equipment can be seen, which could have been an issue had sticks or strings been used.

In the image shown, we wanted to show the bear walking through the car park. To do this, we used our hands and held the legs of the bear, and then simulated walking movements. We made sure the puppeteers fingers were out of shot. We found this difficult especially within the car park scene and bus stop scene. This is because within the car park scene we needed to film the bear moving towards his suicide spot. To overcome this problem, the puppeteer needed to hold the bear from the bottom, creating a bobbing effect. At this point the camera needed to cut off the bottom half of the bear from the frame. In addition in the bus stop scene, the puppeteer had limited space to push the bear off the bus bench. In order to push the bear off the bench we used a rod which then allowed the puppeteer to push the bear making it unobvious that another being is pushing him off.