I tried to challenge codes and conventions of indie music videos and products as much as I could. The first way we challenged real media products was by using a female protagonist within the narrative element of our video. This is very uncommon in indie music videos and near enough most of the time males are used. We decided to use a female to link directly link with the lyrics, which are associated with reminiscing teenage years and how middle age life is mundane and generally boring with little going on. We decided to use a female to portray the lyrics as they are best suited to a woman and it was a lot easier to film for several reasons.
Another way we challenged media conventions was by putting a filter on the performance footage. In indie music videos, it is not uncommon to see a black and white filter, as it can link to certain brands and creates a sense of mystery which is heavily featured in indie videos and something desired by indie artists. We decided to add a filter to boost the colour of the footage and to avoid making the video look dull. It worked nicely and wasn’t too much colour, the reason I think it worked well was because the narrative clips contained dark colour throughout veering towards the dull, black and white aspect seen in many videos. We insisted on using the vintage filter to add a tinge of orange to the clips which makes the video look more vibrant and more colourful. This completely contradicts real media examples because artists prefer dark to link with directly with their image, for example The 1975 use dark colours to link with their look and products like their album cover etc.
Another way we challenged codes and conventions was through the vagueness of Propp’s character types. As we only used one actor, it was hard to get character types into our video and looking through my previous tasks, I noticed that it’s quite rare to see an indie music video with no real character types. We didn’t purposely miss this out although we wanted to use minimal actors for the narrative, our protagonist was the hero. The hero leads the narrative and sets out on a task. Although not really developed, you could argue that our character isn’t a hero because she doesn’t set out and complete a task although I see it as she does. I feel the protagonist’s task is to be ready for the night out, she has to overcome the task by getting ready late on as she had forgotten about the event. Obviously, there is no villain or princess in the video because of the lack of actors but we feel we have used a dispatcher. Usually, the dispatcher is a person who sends the hero on the quest but in our video, the dispatcher is the night out or the friends we don’t actually see as they are sending the hero onto the quest of the narrative, to go out and meet up with friends. This challenges the real media in a couple of ways. Firstly, the dispatcher is normally a visible person and in this case it’s the event and secondly we only use a hero and no other character. I feel it is effective as it keeps the narrative clear and very basic.
The final way we challenged real media would be by the use of VHS clips throughout the video. We gained feedback which enticed us to add clips of an 80’s party which had been filmed on VHS. We decided on an 80’s party because the protagonist would be in her late teens in the 80’s and it linked in well with the reunion side of the narrative. Adding these short clips challenged media products because no one had done it before and we thought it would add depth to the narrative; showing what the protagonist used to be like when in her younger days of being a teenager. We tried to make it like the actor wad reminiscing of her past by adding the clips in when she looks bored or later on, when she’s getting ready and thinking about what she used to wear and look like on a night out. I feel it worked well and the subtle amount of clips used developed the narrative quite considerably.
In terms of my digipak and poster, I feel used minimal elements to challenge the conventions of an existing indie product. My digipak especially was linked heavily to indie products and I wanted that so when the audience look at it, they know that the band is indie, which is important for smaller artists/bands to gain popularity and publicity fast. However, there were parts of the digipak that did challenge conventional forms such as the use of colour on each panel. It is rare for a number of different colours to be on an indie digipak and the majority of the time they are usually all one colour, or black and white. I wanted to avoid black and white as much as possible as I know how often it is used in real media examples, like The 1975, which is all black and white or The Script, which is mainly gold and black. I wanted my digipak to stand out and show colour as it’s uncommon in the indie genre to do so. I also felt that colour would complement the video as there is a filter used to add colour on the performance, and the band are heavily featured on my digipak which links the two together.
My poster hardly challenged conventions and i decided to leave the poster black and white, although minimal amounts of colour were added through the advertisement of Spotify. I decided to keep the logos of both Spotify and Apple Music fairly large as the poster is to advertise the album and suggest to the audience where to access it so I wanted to advertise them a lot as it helps the band get recognised, which is crucial for the growth of smaller, establishing bands.
