In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
G324 Media Evaluation Question 1
In order to create a music video that fits in with the conventions of your genre you must have had to do some research to find what your genre consists of. How did you go about discovering the conventions of which you adhered to?
For my research I had to analyse both the conventions of music videos but also that of the ancillary texts I was to produce. Music videos are promotional videos made in order to sell an artist. Therefore they must link to the artist either through narrative or performance. I chose the later of the two for my video. I did this for a few reasons. The main of those reasons was it is conventional of a music video of the genre of alternative rock or folk-rock, of which my music video falls into, to be performance. This allows the band to sell their identity and to appeal to their specific audience. When planning my video I analysed two music videos, one of which was Shot At The Night by The Killers. In this analysis I picked out the features of the genre in order to apply them to my own media text. Features such as camera angles, shots and movements, post production and mise en scene were highlighted and it was these conventions of genre which I was able to choose to adhere to or contrast. One example of genre convention I chose to conform to is the use of high angle shots of the artist, presenting them as empowered or idolised, helping to create a star motif. For example in Shot of the Night Brandon Flowers is portrayed as powerful through the use of close ups and high angle shots. Similarly I analysed two digipaks, one, Coldplay’s Viva La Vida and Death to all his Friends, and the second, Kings of Leon’s; Come Around Sunshine in order to find the conventions of Digipaks in the same genre. For example the use of fonts colour and the appearance or omission of the artist’s image. I decided to conform to the use of a six panel digipak in order to create a professional product. This is usually conventional of a digipak because of the additional substance included in a digipak in comparison to a standard album is easier to fit into six panels instead of just four and it also allows for two discs. I also decided to follow the route of Kings of Leon by not featuring the artist on the digipak. This was for a few reasons, one of which is I wanted to be able to represent the music and style of the group without the influence of their appearance. I also decided on similar neutral and subtle colours for the digipak like Come Around Sundown. These colours also helped to represent the chilled themes of the music and have connotations of warmth and relaxed tones. I also analysed a music tour poster in order to gain an understanding of the conventions of printed music advertisements. Analysing this I was able to pick out features such as the consistency of colour and the idea of band identity. This allowed me to create a professional digipak and magazine advert by using a house style, through colours and graphics, in order to create an artist identity and creating a whole product through synergy.
How did you decide on your use of actors, locations and props in accordance to said conventions and how did these conform to or challenge them?
When deciding on an actor I had to both, consult my research on conventions but also my audience profile because I was making a product to sell the artist therefore it had to appeal to those who made up it’s audience. looking at my artists social media i was able to get a clear understanding of who their audience consisted of , males between 18 and 30. Therefore when i went about choosing an actor I limited myself to these parameters. Joe was a good fit, in-keeping with the age group and of course gender, as well as fitting in with the conventional male lead role in similar productions of the same genre. I decided to conform to these conventions of a young male because of the target audience. It also links to goodwin’s theory of star image, featuring heavily on the main protagonist and selling their identity to the public. However contrasting this I was unable to use the actual artist themselves due to logistical problems and had to use my creative initiative in deciding on how best to create a performance video which conventionally features the artist themselves without them. When I chose Joe this was something I had to think about and i decided that the best way of getting around the issue was by representing him as the artist himself. This way it conforms to Goodwin's theory of the importance of an artist in a performance video and therefore keeping the audience engagement by doing so. The location choices were more logistically minded using what was available locally but also fitting with the genre conventions. The location of a remote woods is used in many videos in order to create mystery and suspense, for example it is featured in Imagine Dragons video, Radioactive. Mise en scene was also another factor of genre conventions for which I had to consult my planning when making my video.
How did your construction link with these genre conventions?
The use of timelapse in Alternative and indie music videos are prolifent. They can be used to signify and symbolise different things from the simple passing of time to the idea of the protagonist feeling lost in his or her environment. In Shot At The Night a timelapse of an establishing shot of Las Vegas is used to display the bustling nightlife and create a theme of happening. In my media production I used timelapses both to show the passing of time but also to suggest the importance of the main character/artist. My video only features the main protagonist, the only exception to this being people featured in the timelapses. This signify the lack of importance of anyone else, which links to the theme of living your life as you want to featured in the song. Links between visuals and lyrics are an important convention in all genres of music video, especially alternative and indie. Goodwin states that it is important for there to be a succinct relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. In the opening shot of my video I start with the link between lyrics “I’ve been sitting down” and the visual of Joe sitting on the bar stool. This match-up creates a clear link between the song and the video which is very important in a performance video. This is similar to Gnarls Barkley - Going on which clearly links the two throughout the video.
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