CCR Reflection (Music Video)

 Spencer Dalis 

 Recording the Yon Yonson music video was certainly a challenge. Looking back on everything I did will help see what impacts my efforts lead to.  The first thing that should be looked at when reflecting upon media is how it challenged conventions. A normal folk song is meant to be entertaining so I really wanted to try to encapsulate that in the music video. I think just adding in clips made it different from the usual convention of folk music however. For the most part I followed the formula of the folk song video to a tee. I played an instrument, wore the clothes of a lumberjack and acted like one as well. All these things helped me follow the conventions of a folk song. I'm quite proud of how well I followed the conventions although I admit it would have been more interesting to change up the meaning of a folk song.

 The next question that is asked in a reflection is if and how the video would tackle or represent social issues. This question is basically asking if the video represents any groups or issues that are taking place in society. My video doesn't really talk about any issues which is completely intentional. Folk music is supposed to be fun and to be honest I've never liked music that talked about social issues. I suppose that this could represent immigrants since Yon Yonson most likely immigrated from another country. Even if this is the case however I want the music video to be more entertaining than informative so I tried my best not to represent social groups or issues. As I said before I'm pretty against this when I hear it in music so I'm glad I was able to avoid real world issues. The intentions of the song were simply to tell the story of Yon Yonson's life and I wanted to stay true to the music.

To engage with audiences I tried to make the video entertaining. If a video is entertaining people will retain attention which is a desirable outcome. Although the music in the video is the same tune looping the video keeps viewer attention by having different actions in each segment. This is intended to keep things fresh and from the reactions of my test audience it seemed to work. Since the video is so short keeping the viewers engaged wasn't too hard though. The Yon Yonson song itself was already great, my goal for viewer engagement was simply to accent the already funny song lyrics with interesting actions and interactions happening on screen. I'm glad that I was able to succeed in making the video interesting to watch.

Another question asked is how could this media be distributed. Honestly I wouldn't see this as an official music video. When I look at this music video I get an unofficial for fun vibe which makes me think the best platform for it would be somewhere like YouTube or Vimeo. I say this because its entire purpose is to entertain and that's what video sharing platforms are most used for. With that being said it could easily be shared on the internet but I don't see it appearing on anything like television. With the internet as big as it is there simply would be no reason for It to appear on the TV. Of course another place it could show up is on social media like Facebook and Twitter. These platforms as always are home to many videos and it would make sense to upload the music video onto one of these.

 Throughout this project a learned a few things. Although I used the same editing strategies as last time, I used different recording techniques this time, like zoom and tilt. I also tried to lip sync in this video unlike the advertising video. Although I admit the lip syncing wasn't perfect, it was a neat skill that I learned a bit more on. I also think my acting improved in this video. Although I cannot play the instruments showed in the video I believe I did a pretty convincing performance. To do this I had to study how people hold and play the instruments which was quite interesting. I also studied lumberjacks to see what kind of attire I had to wear for the video as well as the motion I had to make during the third segment. One important thing that I learned was the fashions of different cultures since I had to research what I was going to wear. Not only did I learn filmmaking but some cultural history as well! Overall I think although I didn't gain a ton of new skills through the making of this video, I still gained some valuable skills and knowledge that will surely help in future projects. The editing and acting skills that I learned throughout this period of time will definitely go towards the making of the final video task.

 The final question usually asked in a reflection is how technologies and software were used. I used a Samsung phone to record the video which  was done in my backyard. Although this camera isn't the best in quality it served its purpose and got the footage without too much of a hassle. After recording all the footage I connected the phone to the computer and extracted the files. Once the files are extracted they can be put into the photoshop video editor which is where I finished the video. In photoshop I spliced together recorded footage and clips extracted from the internet together in order to make the finished Yon Yonson music video. Together all this footage made a pretty solid music video talking about the life of Yon Yonson.

 After all that looking back and reflecting I think I can say the video was pretty well made. Although it definitely had some flaws, it fit a lot of the criteria of a music video. used softwares, and taught me a few new tricks. With all those great things that happened because of the music video, I'd call this project an overall success.