CCR Blog

 How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?

As I look back at the research blog that my group and I posted on 10/10/23 I can say that from looking at the conventions we did not do something in our genre. And rather switched it up in some aspects to our own liking, and took inspiration from the music video “ I Want It That Way”. For example, we didn’t follow the props that were in the original music video, such as jewelry, instruments, and microphones. Also, we chose no the follow the convention for costumes with matching outfits, 2000’s look, baggy jackets, baggy shirts, baggy pants, jewelry, and same-color attire. We also didn’t follow the original plans for the location. Originally the group had planned on recording at a beach, a park, and a field of grass. But we all ended up just recording at in Lucas’ backyard, front house, and city streets. Overall you can see that my group in the end chose to not to completely follow the conventions of the music video and the genre. We took inspiration from them, but in the end, decided to add our own aspects to it. We are glad that we actually chose to participate in the music video this way because it was actually a good to express ourselves and come into contact with our creative and thinking sides.

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

I believe that our product actually does engage with audiences and can be distributed as a real media text. I say this because the product can actually be a good way to reach out and engage audiences that are nostalgic about the period of their lives or audiences that enjoy Backstreet Boys or just music in general. I think that people would choose our video over any other videos because maybe they can relate to us in a way. A big part of the reason we chose to do “I Want It That Way” from Backstreet Boys is because that song and that group are very special to us as that is what we listened to as young children growing up from our parent's radios. Not to mention the visuals would only further enhance the effect on viewers. This would happen because they could see a group of boys that are close, getting together and having fun with something they hold dear to their hearts, all while doing it for a grade. If it were a professional video I would choose to release it on TikTok. The main reason is that TikTok is relatively easier to get views on than other platforms like YouTube. A good portion of TikTok’s audience is young adults and teenagers who also probably have a connection to the song and group from their childhood. 

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

My production skills throughout the production of this project have grown rather well. Before I started the production of the music video I thought I actually had a pretty good understanding of production and how I should’ve gone about it. But by the time I had actually finished the music video, I realized I had a much better understanding of production and how it was supposed to go compared to the start of producing the music video. I remember when we first started recording I was having the most trouble setting up the camera in certain angles that we needed for the music video. Also, I was having trouble at first setting up certain important shots such as close up, extreme close up, over the shoulder shot, low angle, high angle, and medium shots. If you would've asked me what all of those shots are I would’ve been able to tell you almost immediately, but when it came to real life I had some trouble actually doing it. But during production, luckily I had good and understanding group mates who helped me and showed me what to do. Throughout the production, I could actually see genuine improvement and a newfound understanding of these things. So much so to the point that toward the end of production, I was actually leading the group for a bit with ideas and how to execute them properly. 

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

When integrating a technological aspect to the music project I decided to just record our music video on a mobile phone. The reason behind this is simply because none of the group mates including me had an available camera. And none of us were about to go and buy a camera for the project when we could’ve just used a mobile phone camera. My group and I decided to use not only my phone but also Lucas’ phone. We decided to use our phones because we both had the best camera, being me with an iPhone 14 Pro and Lucas with an iPhone 14 Pro Max. I decided to update throughout the production on blogger.com simply because that’s what not only my group was told to do, but the whole class. And finally, we decided to edit on Capcut because it was free and convenient. Capcut is a very easy app to maneuver through even if it's your first time. And I’m glad we ended up choosing Capcut over iMovie despite having differences in deciding which platform to use because when I was looking at iMovie it seemed a bit more complicated and tedious in comparison to Capcut in my opinion.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1k4L8T8xiDZsM0lUPx3izHvxe0GA7yvlpkeogQcfgAYM/edit