Evaluation 1

Evaluation

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

Conventions of Indie Genre In Music Videos

• Appearance of the artist• Lyrics of the song influences the narrative• The editing fits in with the pace of the song • The clothing is usually dark to compliment the negative mood• Typical rock instruments are used, e.g. guitars, keyboards etc.• Lip syncing to increase authenticity• Staging as the main location

Conforming or Challenging?

The video conformed to the generic conventions as the artist was the main focus throughout. The cuts were edited so that they fitted in with the pace of the song in order to compliment the track and to also just simply make the video more eye-catching. Most Indie music videos usually have a dull, greyish tone or are edited to create a sepia effect. A black and white effect was used in some of the shots, where I manipulated the brightness and contrast to achieve it. We challenged the conventions by not including any instruments and not using a stage as the main location, with a band performing the song. The reason for that choice was because it would not have that much of an impact and did not suit the narrative. Minimal amount of performance shots were also used as I felt that various captivating shots such us the artist in the white dress, were more significant.

Shots that followed the generic conventions of an Indie music video

Shots that challenged the generic conventions of an Indie music video

The main intention to produce the music video was to capture our target audience by creating an engaging whilst applying the generic convention of an indie/rock music video. To do this, we researched various videos of that particular genre and found that they had many elements in common including long shot performance shots of the artists singing their song.

One particular video of an Indie genre stood out; The Shins – Simple Song as the artists used home videos and clips of the past to reflect on the positive moments of the past. To make this clear to the audience a filter was used in the transactions to produce an ‘old moving image’ effect, which is similar to the filter we selected for the beginning part of our video in order to achieve that same result.

Our ideas also came from other genres such as Pop and Dubstep. One main music video gave us Pink –Sober, a certain scene caught our eye which involved the artist being in a complete white room and with this we decided to incorporate a similar style to our piece. I noticed the way the artist moved her body; the ridged stiff movements to keep the intensity throughout the music video.

The beginning part of the music video features a 15 second, anecdote-like, mini movie. There isn’t any sound when this is being played in order for the audience to have their full focus on what is being shown. The ‘old movie’ effect used was to illustrate that this is in a different time period to the clips where the artist seems to be in an irrational state. The objective for this was for it to show the difference between the person she was in the past, to who she is now.

The scene of the artist in a subway tunnel followed after the ‘happy’ shots consists of the troubled character staggering into a narrow setting. This long shot and the horizontal and vertical lines on the wall encourage this and the fact the entrance appears small, represents her feelings. I like the end results of these shots and I feel that the aims for this were accomplished.

The use of repetitiveness of this shot emphasizes the intensity and builds up the tension as the audience cannot see her lip syncing, provoking a sense of anxiety. The black and white effect also provides a classical effect whilst keeping in theme of the negative mood. The shot is a constant reminder for the audience of the characters’ anguish. I feel that the aim for this was successful, however it may have been better if I had used close up shots of other features as well.

The artist dressed in black (connotes fear, mystery, death) is being followed by characters in masks, each presenting a different emotion. Increasing the contrast creates a clinical effect; as if she’s in a mental hospital. I wanted the scene to look like she’s paranoid, schizophrenic and suffering from hallucinations, and I feel that this was achieved.

The contrast between the long, clean, white dress against the dirty surroundings makes it seem as if she does not belong here, however her mental state and exaggerated make-up does the opposite. This does follow the genre conventions of an Indie music video as they usually consist of dark imagery in order to suit the often negative lyrics.

Andrew GoodwinAndrew Goodwin suggested that in all music video’s, there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals and how the lyrics are represented with images (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting). Our music video falls under all the first category as the lyrics “Leave young thing alone” “Anytime she goes away” was illustrated but in a more symbolic way. Her ‘going away’ is a metaphor for how she is feeling emotionally. “There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc.) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.” This representation was not the case in our video, in fact it was more of the opposite. The female in the video appears as a weak, insecure woman, not the typical confident, sexual female that is usually portrayed in music videos.