Evaluation: 4) D - How did you use media technologies in the evaluation stages?

Technology was a crucial usage throughout the evaluation stages of this coursework. Firstly, the main use of technology was in the form of Blogspot, in order to present my findings and my evaluation in a clear and coherent form. This was a relatively straightforward process as it is the medium we have used and become incredibly familiar with over the duration of the coursework period, and we also used it as the medium for presenting our AS coursework in much the same manner, so it was a programme I knew well. It allows you to display information in a wide variety of formats and structures, therefore was incredibly useful for the wide range of media and research involved in this project.

We used a camcorder again to film audience feedback, in order to allow us to evaluate upon this and consider the success of our product. This also allowed us to make any relevant amendments to our product that were needed in order to create the best overall product we could. We also used Kuda's blackberry camera as an alternative when there were no other cameras available. Although this meant a suffering in quality, we ruled that this wasn't too important as it was the content that mattered most, which was still fully accessible. We collated these clips using iMovie, which allowed us then to edit the footage together to review it, so we could then upload it onto YouTube, and embed the video in our blogs. This meant that we would have a point of reference when discussing the feedback we have received during evaluation question 3, and improved the variety of media content on our blogs.

Evaluation: 3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The reception of audience feedback is a crucial and fundamental part of the construction process for any form of media, but particularly one where the main premise of the product is to serve as a promotional marketing tool. If this were a real life media product, and we failed to gain any feedback in any form before releasing it as a finished product, it would set up a massive danger for us in that we would not be able to tell if it would be well received with our intended target audience, and thus if it would serve it's purpose as part of a promotional package for a band or artist. If we took this risk, and the product did not go down well, this could potentially be damaging for the artist who would have that reputation attached to the rest of their musical career, as well as causing a negative impact on their selling potential.

However, if we were to gain audience feedback in various stages and formats throughout the whole project, this would allow us to reflect and re-evaluate our product at each stage, ensuring we end up creating the best overall product that we possibly could have done. It would also serve to highlight to us any minor flaws or blips in the products that we missed, allowing us to make any appropriate amendments in suitable time before the finished products must be handed in, fine tuning it to create overall professional real media products.

One of the first ways in which we gained feedback was through the initial target audience questionnaire at the beginning of the project. This allowed us to pitch our rough ideas for our video to our target audience, and to receive feedback in terms of their opinions on our plans. Receiving feedback at this stage let us sample how successful the concept would be in theory, giving us plenty of time to refine the idea before we began filming. Luckily, most of the feedback we received at this stage was fairly positive. This told us that we were on the right track with our products, and allowed us to continue developing our ideas safe in the knowledge that the basic premise would be relatively successful and well received.

One piece of negative feedback that we received for the music video at this stage was that the plot line seemed quite unclear so far. We felt this was a fair enough comment, as we were not entirely sure what we were aiming for or hoping to achieve at that point, so we took this on board as constructive criticism, ironing out a basic comprehensible plot line and and narrative to make the video easier to follow.

We were constantly asking members of our media group for feedback throughout the entire editing process of our video - for example asking their opinions on certain shots, transitions or effects, which we could then reflect upon and take on board on the spot. This active involvement with the target audience allowed us to constantly be working to improve our products throughout the whole process. Once we had finished a rough cut of our final music video, we devised a shot questionnaire to assess the success of our product. We asked a number of participants from different age ranges and genders to feedback their opinions of the product, which allowed us to see if there were any final improvements we could make to ensure we created the best product we could. Some of the positive feedback we received at this stage included liking the way the representations of the conventions of the genre, as well as a certain level of empathy with the characters. This showed us that we had the right ideas in the creation of our video, and had succeeded in the representations we had hoped to convey.

We also asked for constructive criticism, asking if there was anything we could improve upon before we finalised our video and burnt off a copy. Some of the feedback we received in relation to this was concerning the rapid editing prior to the first flashback scene. We agreed with this comment, but we didn't think there wast anything that we could do to change it without causing a major hole in the plot of our narrative. We did however, go back over our previous clips to see if there were any possible improvements that could be made. This was incredibly beneficial to us as we did actually discover a clip that we could use in place of the poorer quality shots we already had, therefore improving upon the overall visual fluidity of our video.

These are some of the questions we pitched to our audience in order to gain clear feedback on our roughly finished video:

• Do you understand the narrative of the music video?
• Do you think the video is conventional of the genre?
• Was there anything you did not like?
• What could we do to improve upon this?
• Do you think the editing of the video matched the pace of the song?
• Do you like the various effects used in the video?
  
  This was some of the feedback we received from these questions:

In addition to the feedback for the music video, we thought it would be beneficial to gain a number of feedback concerning the ancillary texts. Initially, we showed rough sketches of our ideas to members of our target audience, who pointed out sections they liked - including the fact that the cover defied conventions by being from behind, and the cohesion of the costume and mise-en-scene in line with the musical genre. This showed us that we did not have to change anything in this respect as we were clearly on track with conveying the ideas about our genre and impressions.

Some negative feedback we received at this stage was that they did not seem to like the writing on the arm that we intended to use as the text style on our CD cover. We took this on board and started to plan different styles in which we could incorporate this onto our CD cover in a more visually pleasing manner.

These are some of the questions we asked for the evaluation of these products:

• Can you see synergy between the video and the ancillary texts?
• Do you think these texts fit the generic styles and conventions of real media products?
• Do you find these texts to be visually appealing?

Evaluation: 2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I feel that the combination of our main product of the music video and our ancillary texts in the form of a CD package and a magazine advert is fairly effective and that we have succeeded in creating a cohesive set of products. I feel that there are clear links between all three of the products, and I don't find anything to be particularly stand out or conflicting about them - I feel that the products fit and work together quite well.

The images that we selected for use in the CD booklet and on the magazine advert were all taken whilst filming, thereby creating obvious links with the mise-en-scene for the video and the images - this ensured that the characters were dressed in the same outfits and had the same appearance as they would have done in the video. This creates an immediate visual link between all three products, as the audience will be able to identify the character as a recurring visual theme across the three media sources. This approach also allowed for a recurring theme of the locations across the three products, as they were all shot at the same time, in the same park. Additionally, the key manipulation of natural light to heighten the romanticism and jubilance that is represented in the flashback scenes is cohesive with the images taken of the girl posing in the park. Both of these ideas are used to play to the conventional generic features that are so often associated with this musical style, such as that of nature, youth and innocence - In the music video, the bright sunlight implies connotations of vibrancy and warmth, whereas in the ancillary texts it is used is such a way as to make the products more visually appealing, playing on the convention of the pretty, young female artist.

Two of the images used in our CD packaging are sourced directly from the narrative itself. On of these images is used as the back cover, which is a shot of the couple sat on a bench, back-lit by the sun to create silhouettes, thereby elevating the conventional sentimental value expressed in the flashback scenes of the video. This images could also be seen as representative of the idea of unconventionality that we aimed for with our video - the images is framed slightly off center, with the bench weighted more towards the left hand side rather than the more predictable or expected positioning of the centre of the frame. Conventionally, the 'standard' positioning may be used in order to make the female actor the centre of the frame, and therefore the central focus of the image, emphasising her stance of authority and implying a possible sense of power, as well as working as a marketing tool to draw more attention to the artist, in order to create familiarity and intimacy. By alternating this typical positioning, we are in some ways undermining this representation, suggesting that the artist is slightly off the edge, potentially creating a marketing point of an off-centre, slightly unconventional style which could become the unique selling point of our artist - it harmonizes with the the more conventional approach of the ancillary texts, which perhaps serves to add extra dynamic to the image and therefore the artist herself. However, this representation of central focus is still somewhat adhered to in this image in the way that the female actor is actually more visible in the off-centre position that the male actor, who is sat more centrally and is less visible due to being silhouetted by the sunlight. This is synonymous with the approach we have taken in our video, by sticking loosely to generic conventions and ideas, but representing them in a more unconventional style, which would still be recognised as being specific to and belonging to a certain musical style.

The second image we used that draws direct influence from the narrative is the inlay shot of the scrabble tiles. Although we cannot see the whole number of tiles, these letters actually spell out 'More Than Friends', thereby creating obvious synergy with the narrative of the video in the playing of scrabble, as well as with the title of the song. The idea of scrabble is a visual motif that is additionally repeated as a form of typeface across the two ancillary texts - the individual tiles were made to spell out 'Gabrielle Aplin', which we then arranged in the editing stages to use as the artists name or logo for the CD cover, and subsequently the advert - we felt it was important that at least one of the textual styles used on the cover of the artwork was directly repeated onto the magazine advert to enforce an obvious visual link between the two. This creates cohesion with the genre style, as well as establishing evident synergy between all 3 products.

The typeface used for the album name on the CD cover, and for the most important information on the magazine advert is written in a similar, cursive handwritten style, as is a common generic feature of the genre. Although I don't think two fonts are exactly the same, which would have been the most ideal, they are extremely similar in style so serve the same purpose of adhering to conventions and creating a link between the two products.

The synergy between the main product and the ancillary texts is emphasised in the CD booklet, where we have included a lyrics page for the song we used for our video. This creates an obvious link with the video, allowing the audience to learn the lyrics to the song, increasing familiarity and therefore the selling potential.

Whilst we felt it important to establish a number of evident links between the three products, we also considered it just as important to have a small element of difference between them in order to establish each product as individual in it's own right, thereby adding more power and authority to 3 products separately, as opposed to replying on the side-by-side combination of the three together to sell the product. One of the main ways in which we conveyed this is through the use of the guitar as a prop. It is not featured often throughout the video - in fact I think in the final video cut it is only shown once, but in that one clip it is portrayed as being significant enough, and of a personal value to the girl - this is demonstrated when the guy kicks it over after leaping out of bed in frustration. This perhaps implies that he wants to express his anger or inner annoyances with her belongings of great importance to her, or alternatively that the guitar has in some manner been a source of irritation prior to the time frame of the narrative. In this sense, there could be seen to be a visual link here, in that the guitar is a prop used in the video, however it is less of a straightforward and immediately recognisable link that other examples may be. It could perhaps be better linked in with the song itself, as the audience would recognise the instrument as being in line with the music and the song as opposed to the visual content of the video.

Overall, I feel that the three media products work well together, both harmonising and contrasting each other in part. There are obvious links between all three products, and none seem particularly unusual, but additionally each product serves to stand as a promotional tool in it's own right.

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

Overall, I would say that there is an effective mix of conventions across our finished media products, both in terms of adhering to conventions and avoiding them in places. I think that the majority of the technical aspects we have used have been fairly conventional of real media products, as well as products of this genre, whereas the themes and content of our narrative takes a much more unconventional approach.


MUSIC VIDEO:

I think our music video for the most part challenges the forms and conventions both a a typical video, and particularly for a video belonging to this particular genre of music. One of the main ways in which I feel it is portrayed in an unconventional form is that structure of the music video consists entirely of narrative. This is quite an uncommon approach to music videos as there is usually at least a slight performance element about the video, in order to portray the appealing live aspect of the artist, as well as showing them in more direct association with the visual interpretation of the track - this creates familiarity with the audience, and established the image of the band or artist with the audience. However, we chose not to take a performance approach, as we did not know the artist personally, and therefore did not want to cheapen the effect of the video by using a substitute singer. I feel this was fairly effective in making our video more unconventional, as is set the video apart from the typical expectations of the product and genre. This could potentially have positive implications on the artist in the long run, as it is very easy to become 'samey' in this sort of genre, and therefore any alternative methods which serve to distinguish the artist from the rest of the crowd are likely to be embraced rather than rejected.#

Another manner in which we served to make the music video unconventional was through the use of the content of the narrative. Typically in this sort of genre, the narrative would be expected to consists of a typical love story, perhaps the whole boy meets girl cliché. The relationship within the typical narrative would tend to be of a more idyllic nature, likely to be representative of perfection, flawlessness - a similar convention to films, adhering to the audience by making them connect with the aspects of love, longing and desire. Our narrative however put a completely different spin on this typical portrayal, indicating the relationship and dismal and crumbling as opposed to perfect and desirable. I feel this worked in our favour, elevating the feeling of realism we were hoping to convey, thereby making the product much more relatable to our intended target audience than perhaps the traditionalist, worn conventions may be. In doing this however, I feel it may potentially have had a slight negative impact on the song - our narrative plays on these typical portrayals and skews them in a humerus and slightly satirical light, which slightly undermines the lyrics value of the song. Typically, songs from this sort of genre are written from quite a personal and heart-felt level, so potentially challenging the conventions in this manner would be detrimental to the impact or message the lyrics were representative of.

In terms of representation of character, we took a fairly unconventional viewpoint in this - having seen a number of videos from this kind of genre previously, we were aware of the typical representations of the characters in narratives of this sort, including the gentlemanly, dominant male, with the almost princess-like representation of the 'precious' female. We chose to defy these conventions, in order to create comedic effect and to make a video of a less conventional format. Our male actor was portrayed as being a little more on the soft, 'dopey' side as opposed to the gallant, chivalrous hunter-gatherer. We originally intended to portray the female actor as fairly feisty and cold, but I don't think this is an effect that has necessarily transgressed as well as it could have done. Representation was also key in terms of the characters style, as dress and image was important to convey the ideas about the genre and the artist. Overall, Beth dressed in a fairly typical style, in portrayal of the genre, whereas Oscar was shown to be fairly unconventional and not belonging to any particular fashion or style, serving to emphasise the separation between the two.

Alternatively, the video can be see to adhere to many conventions of the typical music video, and conventions of this genre. We used a range of editing varieties to convey meaning, such as flash backs and fades, all of which can be found in real media products. Many of our technological aspects in this stage could be seen as fairly typical of both form and genre - we very much wanted to portray a strong relationship between the music and the visuals, even if the content was not the most typical match. To do this, we edited the footage to fit in time with the song, as is a frequent feature throughout real media products such as this. Many of the camera angles and movements were fairly typical examples of this. Additionally the use of lighting to create a romantic atmosphere in the initial flashback scenes was inspired directly from visuals fitting to this sort of genre, and could therefore be seen as a convention in our product. We aimed to utilise a number of conventions of the genre in the flashback scenes in order to imply the connotations of warmth and happiness that are generally associated with the genre, linking with the theme of the visuals.

ANCILLARY TEXTS:

Our ancillary texts could be seen as much more conventional and representative of the artist and the genre. They obey typical forms and structures as expected of real media products - for example, the CD packaging contains a booklet including song lyrics, the back cover contains information relating to copyright and various other legal information. Additionally, the magazine advert contains relevant information concerning the release date of the album and reviews, all of which are typical expected features of this sort of form which overall combines to create the feeling that this is a real media product.

The use of colour and editing in these two products was highly conventional, I feel. Typically, images from this sort of genre tend to be fairly natural and unedited, which was a feeling that we knew we wanted to convey in our ancillary products. We used only slight amounts of editing, merely to bring out colourings to convey a sense of brightness and warmth. This ensured that the overall impression of the images remained very natural and promoted the desirable sense of realism and relatability that we wanted to convey with our product.

These ancillary texts could also be viewed as unconventional of sorts, again going back to the basic idea that we did not want to have somebody pretending to be the artist due to the overall cheapening and slightly tacky effect we felt this would have. To avoid this sort of representation, we used images of the actor from behind, in order to convey the typical ideas of the pretty, young girl, but not to imply her being the artist. This approach also serves to add an element of mystery and enigma to our product that works to distinguish it from other products in this genre.

Evaluation: 4) C - How did you use media technologies in the construction stages?

MUSIC VIDEO:

Technology was a crucial part of the process during the construction stages. Firstly, we used digital camcorders to capture the shots we required, using 3 separate cameras to allow each member of the group to control one. This allowed us to not only film the main shots that we had intended and planned on the storyboard, but additionally provided us with extra shots of the same footage from different angles and viewpoint - this was effective as it meant we saved time by not having to repeat the same action a thousand times in order to capture all of the necessary angles and footage we required, and it also proved to be a useful technique in the editing stages, allowing us a wide choice of footage to select from. This turned out to be incredibly helpful, as not all of the shots we had captured from the 'main' viewpoint - that which we had planned on the storyboard, ad turned out in the way which we had envisioned them. Luckily, this provided us with the opportunity to substitute clips of the same action, but from a different perspective, without dramatically affecting or ruining the running narrative. The cameras were one of the main problems in the construction stage, due to the fact that we had learnt from last year the importance of being quite thorough in shooting our footage, therefore requiring prolonged periods of filming. This evidently made for trouble with the cameras, as their battery life was not sufficient enough for the extensive filming we had hoped for, however this was resolved fairly easily by the fact that we had multiple cameras, and therefore we were still able to capture all of the footage that we needed.

While our usage of camera in our coursework last year was fairly basic and simplistic, we decided to be more adventurous in our use of camera this year. We chose to experiment with different effects and uses of the camera in order to achieve different visual styles. One of the main effects we had hoped to achieve through the use of camera was that of the conventional focus shift, allowing the two character to be together in the frame, but causing one of them to be blurred and out of focus, whilst the other is clear to the camera. We felt this technique would be effective in our portrayal of the distance between the two, perhaps insinuating the blur that their relationship has become. However unfortunately, this was a technique that we could not seem to be able to create, and therefore we found alternative means and manners in which to convey this idea of separation between the two characters.

From our AS coursework last year, we had learned the importance of using a tripod in our construction stages in order to stabilise the shots and reduce hand shake which can have an abrupt and unsettling affect on the audience, not allowing for ease of viewing. Unfortunately, this was an idea that worked more in theory than in practise, as we were only able to borrow one tripod, meaning the other two camera's had find a different source to steady them. This meant that when the original stable clip was ruled unsuitable and unusable in our video, many of our alternative substitute clips were of a less stable and perhaps even less professional execution. Fortunately we were able to overcome most of this through the use of editing, cutting out any wobbles or shakes that had a major affect on the ease of viewing and the flow of our visuals, however this was unfortunately unavoidable in some places.

In preparation for the filming days, I purchase a pack of 5 mini-DV tapes, which allowed us to have one per camera, and 2 extras should we encounter any problems with the original tapes. We found very little problem with these, as we were all familiar in how to use them due to our coursework from the year before. We had learnt from last year's experience that it was beneficial to wind the tape on for a few seconds at the beginning in order to prevent a loss of visual quality should the beginning of the tape start to become damaged in any way. This meant that we would not loose any of our shots, or sacrifice the original quality of them in any way. We had also learnt not to excessively and continually rewind the tapes for replay, again so as to not sacrifice any of the original visual quality. However, we did recognise the importance of reviewing the shots we had already taken as demonstrated through the troubles we faces in the filming process last year, when we did not review the shots we had taken and therefore did not know how they had turned out and if they needed to be re-shot, which led to problems at the editing stages. This year however, we did take one or two opportunities to rewind and review the shots we had taken up to that point, allowing us to see if any shots needed to be redone.

In the editing process, we used a Firewire to import the footage we had filmed from each individual tape, uploading it into iMovie. We had grown incredibly accustomed with this programme through the AS coursework, and so we were able to navigate the software itself with relative ease. Our group found a number of small complications during this process, but we were able to overcome these fairly quickly with the help of other members of other groups. We each broadened our knowledge of the programme, using it to a much bigger potential than the fairly basic approach we chose to take last year. This year, we experimented with a range of effects in order to create the desired impression, such as editing the flashback scenes to a slightly more sepia colour, creating connotations of warmth and happiness, whilst clearly distinguishing the scenes from the modern day narrative. We encountered some problems at this stage regarding the quality of the footage we had captured - for example in the flashback scene of the couple playing scrabble, our use of low-key lighting to create a romantic atmosphere had not turned out to be the most effective, and therefore the shots we were left with were fairly dark and poor in quality. Unfortunately, almost all of our shots from this part of the narrative had turned out in pretty much the same manner, however we were able to resolve this slightly in the editing stages by changing the brightness and contrast of the clips.



ANCILLARY TEXTS:

We used a digital still camera throughout the entire construction process, in order to document the process in the form of production stills showing our group in the act of filming. It's main usage however was for the various photo shoots for the images for our ancillary texts. We captured each picture shooting mainly for the image as opposed to the effects that could be added during the editing stages. We felt that this was important as we wanted to emphasise the conventional naturalistic themes that are often associated with the indie / folk genre. I personally feel that this was an effective approach to take, as it meant that the editing stage would merely be for enhancement to bring out the full potential of the image, as opposed to creating a much more constructed, computer graphical image that we did not feel would be at all in fitting with this particular genre, and therefore not at all reflective of the music in any way.

We spent the day at the i-City Learning Centre in Horfield working on the construction of our ancillary products. We had already prepared the images that we intended to use in our products, and stored them on a USB in order to transport them with us for use on this day. As a back up, in case anything happened to the images on my USB, I emailed the images to myself as attachments, meaning that if we encountered any problems with the memory stick, we would still be able to access the images to work on.

We were given a brief introduction to Photoshop elements, helping us to get acquainted with the software, and given an indication of how to achieve certain effects. Although this was useful to us in order to help us familiarise ourselves with the programme, this was not particularly adhered to in our group, and we had always intended to keep editing to a minimum to emphasise the idea of naturalism and innocence synonymous with both the genre and the artist.

We experimented again with the brightness and contrast tool, in order to enhance the image slightly and accentuate the colours, in line with the generic conventions. We cropped the images to fit to the size of the template provided for us, which was significantly smaller than the size of our original images. This allowed for some creativity in the framing and composition of the images that we had perhaps not devoted enough attention to when capturing them.

Editing Diary: 6

We have finally completed the construction of our music video, using today's lesson to add all the finishing touches.

Firstly, we decided to make the modern day and the flashback scenes more distinguishable by adding a Sepia effect to the flashbacks. Whilst creating a visible difference between the two timescales, it also serves to emphasis the elements of romanticism, accentuating the use of bright colours and the connotations of happiness and warmth we were aiming to portray. Originally, we had envisioned used the vintage film effect, giving an almost home movie style to the flashbacks, enforcing a feeling of reminiscence and nostalgia. However in practise, the iMovie effect was not in line with what we had imagined, so we decided to take a different approach instead.

The sepia effect also proved to come in useful in the earlier flashback scenes of the Scrabble playing, as it made the lighting seem more natural and overall enhanced the poor lighting. This also allowed us to slightly increase the brightness and contrast of these clips, making them more visible and defined, whilst not causing any suffering to the overall visual quality of the images.

We additionally wanted to represent the flashbacks in a more obvious way, in order to create cohesion between our product and the audience, as we found that this could often be confusing when we showed the video in various stages of completion to members of our target audience. We had hoped to do this in the conventional way of a short, clear flash effect, however, when experimenting with this effect on iMovie, we found that our clips were to sure to apply the effect to, and therefore had to find an alternative. We experimented with the overlapping effect, blending the two images together in one frame, however again as the clip was fairly short, it created a freeze frame at the end of the transition, which disrupted the smooth, flowing visuals of the video and created a really obvious jarring in the comfortable reception a sleeker style allows. Eventually, we decided on the 'White In' effect, which is basically a fade in from a whit background as opposed to black. We feel this effectively represented the 'flash' idea that we were hoping to achieve but in a more effective, and smoother style, synonymous with the pace of the song.

We showed the video to one of our media teachers, who provided us with some useful feedback. She picked up on the section toward the beginning that we had been concerned about - the scene leading in to the flashback. She felt that it would perhaps be worthwhile trying to find a substitute clip to replace the short and abrupt clips that we had been left with. We took this on board and found a discarded shot of a pan across the Scrabble box. We removed the rapid shot-reverse-shot that showed her reaction to the box, and instead replaced it with a clip of this shot, which served to act as a point of view shot. This clip slotted perfectly into the timings of the previous succession of clips, thereby not creating any dramatic effect on the timings of the rest of the video, and allowing a much smoother and more comfortable transition into the flashback scenes.

We added a long fade out effect at the end of the video to keep in line with the more conventional aspect of the image we wanted to portray, and also to heighten the stereotypical generic feature of the 'happy ending', as a fade implies much more gentle and softened connotations than perhaps an abrupt cut at the end may signify. We additionally added a short fade to the beginning of our video primarily in order to contain the titles that we were required to included on our video, but iMovie would not allow us to use these two effects simultaneously. We overcame this slightly by dragging and dropping the title effect onto the opening clip, which added the titles - we decided to keep these basic and simplistic, with the artist and track names being the only information we chose to include, in order to best represent the more simplistic style of the artist and indeed the music itself. We decided to keep the fade in at the beginning anyway, as it created a much gentler beginning to the start of the video, in line with the soft instrumental beginnings of the start of the song.

Now we have finished our video, we will next save it onto the external hard drive for backup purposes, and burn it onto a DVD for the examiners.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a contemporary concept that suggests the artists and audiences have departed from realism in some manner, implying a shift away from the formal modernist rigours. It is an idea that is commonly used throughout many media products in modern society, particularly transgressing through the film and musical styles.

We have not incorporated a great deal of postmodernistic elements in our work as the folk style genre is very much about traditionalist ideas and values, therefore we didn't think an excess of postmodernistic elements would be at all complementary to the track or the artist.

One element of postmodernism that we chose to include was the traditional product convention of the disjointed narrative structure music videos often adopt. We did this in the form of flashback scenes to convey a happier and more jubilant time. We felt that this would create for a more interesting visual than a standard, slightly restricting format would have been.

Additionally, we utilised an element of hybridity in our video, in the form of cinematic conventions. For example, at the end of the video, the couple walk off into the sunset, which conveys a typical 'happy ending' impression that is common through films of a romantic orientation.