Our music video used codes and conventions of real media products throughout the entirety of the piece. We felt it was crucial to do so to link with the needs and wants of the intended audience and we wanted the video to match the genre we had picked.
We decided on a very clear, straightforward, linear narrative which is very common in the genre of indie/indie rock. Our narrative portrayed what it’s like to be a middle aged woman who leads a mundane and tedious lifestyle. The narrative develops when she realises that she is to attend a school reunion and proceeds to get ready for the night, by ironing her dress and applying make-up. Many indie videos apply a linear narrative because it is easy to follow and provides a storyline to engage the reader. We had looked at many music videos, not just indie, to gain an idea on how we could represent the narrative. For example, Logic’s 1-800 music video uses camera angles and movements to show something is going to happen as well as mise en scene. We then looked at more specific examples in the indie scene and we viewed Bastille’s Pompeii which is a great example of a clear narrative. We decided to use mise en scene and camera to represent the clear narrative and we frequently showed facial expressions on how the protagonist felt.
We also used the technique of cross cutting from narrative and performance frequently. We felt that we needed to do this to engage the audience and to keep them interested in the narrative and video, this technique is used in many music videos and it keeps the pace of shots and editing up which was useful for us throughout the video as some scenes began to become tedious as well as towards the end where we picked up the pace of editing to match the increase of pace in the song. We too decided to, in some places, keep just narrative because we didn’t want to break the shots up so we could expand on what was happening in said scenes, this was at first hard to do as we needed to find the correct balance of narrative and performance to link in with the conventions of real media piece but we feel we got the balance right and we were all happy with how this technique panned out. However, looking through some existing products, it is quite common to see both more performance and a lack of narrative or vice versa. I feel that for us to show off a whole narrative and to include performance, we got the ration correct and it worked out well.
Another way we used conventions of already existing music products was through mise en scene. It is very familiar for indie videos to show the instruments they use when performing the song as well as the costumes and make up they wear. We had done a lot of research on indie fashion and had made a Pinterest page showing the stereotypical clothes indie artists wear. We knew that fashion was a key aspect of the video and I feel we got the outfits spot on. The indie genre usually discourages brands when performing and it is common to see performers wearing clothes with no brands on. We used this convention and dressed the band in dark, brand less clothes to suit the genre; we felt the costumes used were appropriate as it linked into existing bands such as Catfish and the Bottlemen, who are usually seen in blacks and browns when performing. The lead singer also had facial hair which is also very common in indie music and it could perhaps link to the way the band want to be perceived as scruffy and edgy, other artists who have facial hair include Michael Rosenberg, also known as Passenger. It just links to the image of the band and is a common feature of indie/ rock music. We too decided to include instruments in near enough every shot of the band playing because it linked to the indie rock sub genre a lot. The instruments represent a desire to make and experiment new music and a lot of indie artists create their own music, unlike the vast majority of pop singers. Instruments are heavily featured in growing indie and established indie acts such as Coldplay’s Sky Full of Stars and they show the authenticity of the sounds and band in general.
Furthermore, we used codes and conventions of the genre when it came to editing our video together. We had decided to use parts of Vernallis’ theory of editing which suggests how the editing can change with distinct elements of the song. This was clear in our video as the pace of the video increases towards the end. The pace links well to the shots and we were able to use jump cuts and other fast paced shots to show this. I feel this is a useful convention because it adds intensity and enigma codes of what’s going to happen next which further grips the audience; the main intention of a music video.
My digipak and poster features a variety of forms and conventions of real life media products. The front cover of the digipak clearly shows who the main singer is and who the drummer is. I decided to show the singer to have more power over the drummer because the singer is included more and is the main persona in the band. From looking at a number of front covers in different genres the front cover shows who the singer/ band are to make it easy for customers to distinguish and recognise the band. Also, the band name is at the top of the page in large lettering with the album name at the bottom in smaller lettering. This is a usual convention in most genres because it easily states who the band/artist is and the name of album which is important. I also wanted to make the image and lettering bold to engage the audience; I did this by having a light background and dark font, similar to Franz Ferdinand. It goes against each other making it stand out more and the image doesn’t fit the whole page so the same principle applies and the image is made to look bolder.
The other panels are also typical of an indie product as they show the band members as individuals and five out of the six panels include the band members which give the audience a better understanding of their roles in the band and what they look like.The poster is very typical and has numerous conventions of the genre. The poster has a slight tinge of blue but it made to look black and white with a little colour. Many artists use the lack of colour to represent themselves like Arctic Monkeys. It adds mystery and a sense of character to the product and is heavily associated to the genre which is known for the dull colours used. On the poster I also included a website which is getting more common as another way to promote their brand as the websites usually include merchandise, tour dates and the sales of CDs.
USES
We also used conventions in the camera work we did. From our research we learnt that in real life media products, a lot of the clips when performing consist of close ups on the singers and band members which we included in our video. The close ups show facial expressions and the happiness they show when performing. As performing is a massive part of a singer’s job it shows the type of people they are which is common in other products as they want to build a sort of fan base and they want to appeal to a lot of people and by looking calm and edgy it does. Moreover, we used a mixture of on and off tripod shots to create an edgy look. Many creators and artists in the indie genre also do this such as Ratboy as it links to the mystery behind the artists. In pop videos, it would be expected that the entire video would be filmed on a tripod because it makes the quality look better to suit their demographic but indie artists want to be unique and the difference between on and off tripod shots makes the video look edgier and more sort of home produced.