Critical Reflection

Our product of the music video doesn’t exactly relate to the genre of the song Yesterday from The Beatles which is the song we based our music video on. The genre of Yesterday is rock and pop. However, generally when people hear pop or rock they assume a cheerful or booming type of music. The visuals in our music video do the opposite. But that is only because that’s how the song of Yesterday is. Yesterday is a melancholic ballad about the break-up of a relationship. The singer nostalgically laments for yesterday when he and his love were together, before she left because of something he said.

In the music video there was a main character however due to how everyone is ordered in the video and the missing scene of the couples arguing it’s difficult to depict who the main character is. The video isn't targeted towards one specific person but represents anyone going through an unexpected breakup. Anyone who went through or is going through the emotional cost of ending a meaningful relationship. That includes disappointment, dashed hopes, and a feeling of being rejected by oneself. Resulting in loneliness and a difficult transition to a new reality without the support and company that the partnership once offered. It's a very personal process that takes time and introspection to heal.

The music video engages with the audience by using its visuals. The use of our clothing was close enough relating to the beatles. They were famous for occasionally wearing all black so that’s what was worn in the music video. The full black clothes also help depict the tone of the video. It’s a depressing song about heartbreak and wearing black makes the characters in the video appear gloomy. The music video was also in black and white. These choices would certainly resonate with viewers due to the sad lyrics, the clothing, and as well the color of the video.

If it was a professional music video it would be released on multiple platforms. Those platforms would include YouTube, Vimeo, Tiktok, and Instagram. It would be added to tons of other platforms too. The reason for this would be to expand the video to as many different users as possible. This would be extremely helpful for the video to gain popularity. Using social media, users can share the videos to their friends and the cycle repeats, so the video gets as much attention as possible. The best option would be Youtube is the largest media platform since its release. All the famous music stars use Youtube as a way to expand their audience and make bigger profits.

Throughout this whole project, there were tons of valuable skills learned that could be used for future assignments. The process for coming up with the video was not an easy one. I wanted to do something that would be different than most people would pick. No matter what people do they would naturally be different due to all the genres there are. However, from what I’ve heard others talk about their videos I noticed one thing in common. Most of them were modern videos made after the 2000s. This helped to decide the approach I wanted to take. I learned it's better to be different so I went for The Beatles who were notorious in the 1960s. While doing research on other Beatles music videos I learned how simple they were compared to how music videos are done now. That was seen as another bonus towards making the music video. It taught me that it’s okay to be simple as long as the quality of work is good. It would also allow me to make the music video with the least stress possible due to The Beatles simple nature. Most of the knowledge gained from the music video was learned through the editing portion of it. Features such as cutting, speed adjustments, reversals, music integration, stickers, text, and more. Most of that will be talked about in the next question as it has to do with the technological perspective of the project.

The music video was filmed using two phones to capture different angles of the characters. Phones were the best device we could use because of how often we use them on an everyday basis. It was also the most accessible recording device we had at the time to record the music video. No members from the group had one of those cameras with lenses so phones were the best choice to record with. The other technological use in the project was the editing. The editing software used is one that is trusted by all the members in our group. Because of its easy-to-use interface, smooth interaction with social media sites like TikTok, and abundance of free features, CapCut is the recommended tool for video editing. Its affordability and wide range of templates and effects make it a desirable choice, particularly for new users and content producers who wish to create and distribute interesting movies without having to pay for expensive editing tools. Using CapCut I learned how to adjust the speed of videos and the speed of the song used for the video. There was a section where one of our members was walking too fast so thanks to CapCut it was able to be edited to make them appear slower.