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Evaluation Question 1.In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Conventions of real media products

After watching, what felt like, hundreds of Indie music videos, the conventions became pretty clear and I was able to come up with a list of typical conventions to be found;

Acoustic soul with hip-hop influencesRelatable lyricsClose up of the instrument Smooth transitionsTransitions between performance and narrativeFairly ominous, low key lighting with some high key lightingDistinctive clothes Instruments Set in a house or on the street

Using and developing conventions

CONCEPTAfter deciding on my chosen song, I carried out further research into the artist and the conventions of the genre. Researching the conventions helped me to establish that I wanted to create a music video with a narrative and a performance element. Aside from taking a shine to the use of two different elements, it is becoming quite conventional and I wanted to promote this idea. I wanted to create a bridge between the lyrics of the song, using the performance section, and the story I wanted to tell, using the narrative section. The idea of having a link between the two is reinforced by Andrew Goodwin’s theory of music videos. The narrative section within my music video is highly conventional, as it shows the audience the development of the couple’s relationship, taking them on a journey and making them feel a part of it, therefore being realistic and relatable. This idea is also portrayed in Daniel Powter’s ‘Cupid’. Additionally, the performance element is conventional. The music videos for Aiden Grimshaw’s ‘Curtain Call’ and The Scripts’ ‘For the First Time’ have the performance element coming from live footage of the artist(s). I felt this would work really well with our song and was something I was personally a fan of, as I wanted to develop upon an idea that is growing in popularity, rather than something which has been seen done previously. This was due to the fact that I was creating a music video for an Indie artist who is already breaking away from traditional music stereotypes, so wanted to convey this new and upcoming sense within the concept of the music video. In the music video for Mumford and Son’s ‘I Will Wait’ there is also an element of live footage as well as Ben Howard’s ‘Only Love’.

Mumford and Sons ‘I Will Wait’

My music video

Ben Howard ‘Only Love’

Daniel Powter‘Cupid’

Aiden Grimshaw‘Curtain Call’

My music video

Using and developing conventions

SOUNDSome Indie artists break away from convention and write songs which would not be typically associated with the Indie genre. I feel I followed the true Indie genre by choosing a song that had conventional meaning for the Indie sub-group, as it talks about how little the couple have. In order to represent this in a conventional way, the scenes within my music video link very closely to the lyrics in the song. Thus telling the audience a story that is believable and relatable. Once we had chosen the song that conveyed this idea, there wasn’t much else we needed to focus on to follow convention, as we had ensured the song itself was a typical Indie song. (click album icon to hear the song)

My chosen song

Ed Sheeran ‘The A Team’

Daniel Powter ‘Cupid’

Aiden Grimshaw ‘Curtain Call’

Ben Howard ‘Only Love’

Using and developing conventions

CAMERAWORKThe opening shot of my music video is an extreme close up of the male talent playing the guitar. The idea of the close up follows convention as it used in numerous Indie music videos; they generally a close up of the main instrument used to construct the music. The music video for The Script’s ‘Hall of Fame’ uses a close up of the piano, which is the main instrument within the song. However, despite this being a conventional shot I feel we developed it by choosing it as the first shot of the whole video because it gives the audience a real insight into the artist. The acoustic guitar is associated with really raw and real music, which is the message of the music video- to convey to the audience a believable and relatable story through the bridge between the narrative and performance. I think this is successful as it engages the audience who can then immediately connect the narrative to the song.

Throughout the music video I use a number of long shots, followed by close ups. I chose to do this in order to show the location and the setting, then the characters therefore allowing the audience to place themselves in the shoes of the actors and to create a relationship with them, to make it realistic and relatable. This is conventional of music videos, as seen in Aiden Grimshaw’s ‘Curtain Call’. I chose to use long shots more often because I felt it was vital for the audience to familiarise themselves with the characters, the settings and what they were doing in order to express the narrative in a true and relevant manner.

I decided to film the live footage from the ‘front row’ of the audience, not only to follow convention as seen in The Script’s ‘Fall of Fame’, but to create a bond between the audience of the music video and the artist, therefore allowing them to connect with the song.

Another camera angle which I used that followed convention was a slight high angle shot of the couple when they’re sat in the empty room. I wanted to convey the lack of money, which I felt was best interpreted through the use of a high angle as it shows they are smaller and therefore not as powerful, in purely money terms. However I didn’t want to use an extreme high angle as it may have made them look vulnerable or weak as a couple. So with this shot there is only a small high angle so the audience feel sympathy for the lack of money but do not feel pity for their relationship.

I chose to use straightforward camera angles as opposed to tilts as they represent a strong and focused sense, therefore promoting how strong the love between the couple is.

The Script ‘Hall of Fame’

My music video

Aiden Grimshaw ‘Curtain Call’

My music video

My music video

Using and developing conventions

EDITINGSimilarly to numerous Indie music videos, I cut each clip in time with the music in order to keep the music video sequential and to ensure that it flowed, therefore enabling the audience to follow the narrative smoothly.

I chose to keep the editing very simple resembling most Indie music videos, due to the fact that if there is too much going on it distracts away from the message of the music video and can become confusing for the audience. I chose to use only one type of transition, ‘cross dissolve’, from the narrative to performance and performance to narrative. I feel I developed this as a convention because usually in Indie music videos there is a just a simple cut between narrative and performance. The main reason I chose to include a transition was due to the change from black and white to colour, without a transition I felt it looked messy and unsystematic. I feel it merges the two different elements really well and highlights the reasoning between the choices in including both narrative and performance.

Furthermore, another editing choice I made was the use of black and white for the narrative and colour for the performance. This is an editing technique that is becoming more conventional to Indie music videos and so I chose to use it in order to convey the ‘independent’ idea behind Indie music- I didn’t want to use conventions that had been seen over and over again. The change between black and white to colour is a convention used in The Script’s ‘For the First Time’. The black and white effect on my music video is very conventional to the Indie genre as videos such as Ed Sheeran’s ‘The A Team’ use this composition. I believe this effect is simple yet very effective in conveying a traditional relationship that every person desires for, therefore enabling the audience to place themselves in the music video, making it realistic.

My music video

My music video

The Script ‘For the First Time’

Using and developing conventions

MISE-EN-SCENEMise-en-scene played a significant part in my music video because when watching other music videos it is the mise-en-scene that allows the audience to connect with the actors and believe what is happening. The locations, the costumes and the props are what make a music video look realistic and convey the genre in a true manner. Nonetheless, it is difficult to judge how conventional a location or certain props are because it depends on the meaning behind the song and what the artist is trying to convey.

I specifically chose to film my music video in the Autumn/Winter time due to the low sunlight and stereotypical romantic Winter whether. I wanted the sun to be low in the sky in order to shine onto the couple, I felt this was a stereotypical romantic feature which would convey to the audience the warm glow couples get when in love. Autumn/Winter seemed like a conventional season for my Indie music video to be filmed due to numerous music videos for Ed Sheeran and Aiden Grimshaw being set on quite dull and cloudy days. I liked the romantic mood that both of these music videos created so wanted to follow convention and use this myself.

The costumes I chose for the actors were extremely significant, as they were a key prop in order to portray the Indie genre truthfully. Additionally, as I was representing a developing relationship, it was vital that I ensured the actors were wearing different costumes in each scenario, representing a different day. Furthermore, I had to ensure the costumes were within the demographic of the target audience in order for a connection to be made between the narrative and the audience, consequently making it believable and realistic. I believe this was successful as the female character wore quite typical Indie clothes and the male character did the same.

My music video

Ed Sheeran ‘The A Team’

Typical Indie clothes

My music video costumes

Challenging conventions

There was only one element of my music video that can be deemed as unconventional for Indie music videos; I chose to create a music video which had minimal lip synching. It is clear from watching music videos, not just Indie, that lip synching is a fairly common factor. However, I wanted the narrative and performance to be completely separate in order to create the idea that the artist was singing in the present but the song was about the past, and the narrative takes the audience on that journey to the past. There are very few, but still some, Indie music videos which have previously broken this convention, such as Ed Sheeran’s ‘The A Team’. This has no lip synching throughout, just tells a narrative which I particularly warmed to when I watched it, therefore I felt it was a very effective element to include.

In my opinion challenging conventions is a vital part of creating a music video or in fact any media text, because it is this that makes the music video individual to each artist. Especially taking into consideration the fact that I created an Indie music video, the idea that it supposed to be represented is that the artist is ‘individual’ and doesn’t want to follow other artists. Nonetheless, I am aware, as a fan of music videos myself, that people like familiarity. There is an element of knowing what is going to happen that people have a connection with. In this respect, I believe that the convention I challenged was successful and did not, or will not, completely throw the audience from what they’re used to as challenging one convention in a video is useful. This is because if conventions weren’t challenged then every music video, or other media text, would just be the same and never adapt to changing circumstances, it is the small but effective changes that bring variety and diversity to a music video, keeping the audience interested.

My music video narrative

My music video performance with

lip synching

Overall

Overall, comparing my music video to already existing ones I feel the conventions I used, developed and challenged were all extremely successful. I believe they created a conventional Indie music video which still remained individual to the artist whilst conveying the message I had intended.