Final Evaluation Question One

IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS? 

Music video:
Our music video often uses many 'typical' forms and conventions of existing music videos within the indie rock/pop genre. I feel this is important to incorporate as it shows understanding and keeping up to date of what the industry is presenting and enables us to achieve a realistic, effective and engaging final product. Using 'normal' conventions of indie music videos has allowed us to successfully reach and interest our target audience as the used features have proven to be effective among these individuals as the existing videos have been successful at producing a video in this genre.
 One example of our music video using normal conventions of indie music videos is through the opening scene featuring the title sequence presenting a form of star image motif using the name of the band and title of the song as the introduction, so the audience would be made more aware of the band and single belonging to them in future when they may come across it again- more memorable and prevents confusion of details of the single for the audience. The star image motif is created through using identical fonts on the title sequence as featured on the digipak and advert promotions.
Title introduction is something also used within music videos of many artists/ bands in this style of music, such as The 1975- Girls, George Ezra- Budapest, and many more. It could be recognised that we have developed elements of this convention used as the 'Girls' video presents the title in flowered lettering, where as our video created for Parables displays in a stylish, basic white filled font to create a sense of simplicity and minimalism from the beginning. However the convention in general has been used as the same outcome is achieved. This relates to the use of star image references within our music video, the titles contribute towards stronger branding and make the audience aware of whom the video belongs to and the name of the song it has been directed for from the beginning.

There are many examples showing clear similarities between the video we created for Parables and Slow Club - Two Cousins. Firstly, Slow Club's video features an extreme close up shot of the male dancer's hand; we also ensured this was featured in our video to emphasise emotion and feelings, we decided to replicate this convention to help deliver our message of frustration across better. When viewing both videos, the audience would be able to recognise the basic mise en scene. A major feature of our video was the white room in which the video was shot to create a sense of isolation and to ensure that all audience focus is kept on the intriguing storyline and characters. The setting inside of the white room is a convention which is also taken by Slow Club in their Two Cousins video. Another convention used in Parables' My Body is a Cage as well as Slow Club's Two Cousins is the effect of slow motion added during the production/ editing stages of creation by both parties. This feature is combined with the normal speed dance clips in both music videos and is something which I feel is effective in breaking up the video and adding emphasise onto certain points.

A convention used in Two Cousins, as well as many other indie genre music videos including the 1975- 'Chocolate', Hoiser- 'Take Me To Church', etc. is the effect of black and white added onto the clips throughout the entire video. I feel this is effective in presenting emotion clearly and allows the main focus of the audience to be on the storyline presented through the actions and emotions of the dancers, with no colour shown to distract or catch the eye of the viewers to take their minds off of this- more engaging as a result. This is a convention which is used across various genres of music and I feel it also brings an element of stylishness, emphasising the minimalistic theme which is created throughout the video.

Used conventions include the various camera angles/shots used and combined during the editing stages of creating the video. Each shot and angle used (mid-shots, close ups, extreme close ups, wide shots, panning shots, tracking shots, high angles, eye level angles, side angles, two shot and cut in shots) are 'typical' conventions of music videos in most genres, including indie/alt, and are therefore a demonstration of how we have adopted forms and conventions used in industry within My Body is a Cage.
In the introduction of Parables - My Body is a Cage, we chose to incorporate digetic sound of the setting up of the video. This is something used often in industry by indie artists/bands such as The 1975 -Heart Out and Arcade Fire -The Suburbs.

I feel that in order to achieve a successful, effective and interesting music video, some sort of development should be made on those existing to enable creation of something which stands out, engages audience and is memorable.

I also believe there are many examples of how we have developed forms and conventions used by 'normal' indie style music videos. For example, despite Slow Club- Two Cousins using performance conventions similar to Parables (dance), there was no element of meaning/ narrative behind it all. Unlike that featured in Parables' music video as this has a clear, expressive storyline presented to the audience throughout the entire production. Therefore, it could be recognised that we have developed on the idea of dance taken by Slow Club and created a completely different end product through a meaningful story behind the motions. I feel development of conventions has also taken place from P!NK- Try; the narrative is very similar as she presents a situation of heartache with the opposite sex through dance performance, however we have created a similar storyline in our video but developed on aspects of the mise en scene to make it seem more indie style and appropriate to our chosen song.

Other ways our video develops typical conventions of existing ones includes the element of performance narrative featured. This is known to be outside of the norm for indie genre videos as footage of live performance involving instruments is usually shown in the videos of indie bands such as The 1975, Metronomy, etc. From the beginning of the process, we intended to create our music video with a performance narrative which shows visuals and music fitting, therefore much of our research was based on existing videos also featuring contemporary dance. We found that this is usually a convention taken in the mainstream/pop genre of music videos- going against common conventions of indie genres. Often with indie/alt videos at present time, live performance is a typical convention but combining with a narrative is a modern twist to break up the music video and engage the audience through a more memorable series of events being shown.
It could be said that mise en scene, with relation to costume is a convention which challenges existing music videos, such as Ed Sheeran - 'Thinking Out Loud'. Our draft version presented two dancers who lacked personality and quirkiness; the basic dancer style costume did not achieve a suitable look for our intended narrative, therefore a change was required for the final version. This involved purchasing a vintage, metallic shift style dress for the female dancer, along with a smart shirt and bow tie for the male- this was something we were confident expressed a sense of identity and character for the dancers to be seen as real people. However, the idea had to be altered as we experienced an issue with the costume not fitting Sophie (the female dancer.) In this situation was had to use the only other alternative which was a plain black T-shirt of Cameron's (our male dancer) which was large enough to be seen as a dress on Sophie. This resulted in our video taking a minimalistic approach through the basic mise en scene, which was unintended but is something I feel we managed to execute to a high standard. This opposes that of 'Thinking Out Loud' as this presents the dancers in formal, elegant costume adopting a more extravagant approach. 
Development of Sia- 'Chandelier ' occurred intentionally as we set out with the idea to feature contemporary style dance. Therefore there are noticeable used conventions in our video taken from Sia's; however, I also would say that there are examples of development too. One example of development would include features of the mise en scene. The house setting in which the young girl dances within 'Chandelier' is something in which I feel we developed as both videos performed within a confined space using the walls to suggest isolation. However, I feel our white room setting was more appropriate for our video as it matched the meaning behind the song and helped achieve the idea of the space being a place inside the male's head. The blank canvas type space appeared much more restricted and allowed focus of the audience to be kept on the storyline and characters rather than the distraction of a busy mise en scene.

We used features of amplification within the music video, including the flash of light effect added during production/ editing stages. This visually emphasises the volume and tension at this point in the song. As the two dancers come together in his imagine the bright flash represents a climax point within the video matching that of the music. Emotions are expressed through the contemporary style dance, emphasising the male’s desperacy through movements and facial expressions presented through close up/ mid shots. The psychotic, manic dancing in the final scenes of the music video visually amplifies the instrumental towards the end of the song. This challenges the typical conventions of an indie music video as this is something usually featured within electropop/ mainstream music videos, etc. Sia – Chandelier as well as Sia- Elastic Heart are both examples of music videos with a similar meaning behind the contemporary, psychotic dancing, in the way that the dancer/ dancers seem as though they are trapped and have a desperate desire to escape.

Illustration occurs regularly within the video as the actions of the dancers represent the meaning behind the lyrics. One recognisable example of illustration in the video is made when the male presses his hands firmly against the wall to show the audience he wants to get out but is trapped inside; this is shown at the point in the song where the audience hear the word ‘cage’ and therefore shows lyrics in a visual form. This also happens further on in the music video where the lyrics which can be heard are ‘you’re standing next to me’. This is the point in the video where the female dancer is first shown and is stood opposite the male in his imagination. This pairs the lyrics to the visual footage. Illustration is not often seen within the performance videos which dominate the indie genre.

Star image references are used across all genres of music videos, we decided to open our video with an extreme close up panning shot of the male, who is the main focus point throughout.

As well as this, the two shadows on the floor either side of the male when he is shown lip synching in the wide shot, represents two different mind sets and him having two different sides to his personality. This is a form of star image as the shadows are constantly shown in the majority of the shots featured within the video. The idea of star image motifs being used for an indie style music video is used commonly within industry.
                                                                                                        

Digipak and Advertisement:
Due to the nature of a homage, my design for ancillary texts used conventions of real media products as it is effectively a direct copy of Bombay Bicycle Club- Flaws in terms of layout, similar fonts, colour scheme, etc. However I combined the look of Franz Ferdinand to develop the Flaws album and added a pop-art style effect to the image of the female on the front cover. The front cover image, and that featured on the advert, uses a close up shot. This is a convention largely used on albums and adverts in industry across a variety of genres. Indie bands/artists using this convention include Kings of Leon ('Youth and Young Manhood'), Lana del ray ('Born To Die'), The Libertines ('The Libertines'), etc.

Reasoning behind my use of some conventions of the digipak is due to the fact they cannot be challenged by law, such as the legal information, the barcode, catalogue number, etc. Therefore, these conventions are inevitably going to be used by all digipaks/ albums in industry as this is something which has to be followed.

In terms of the digipak, the lyrics being featured on the inside cover and inside left panel uses common conventions of the typical indie genre designs; as there is usually a booklet featured inside of the digipak containing lyrics of songs, credits and other information related to the band or album.

My decision to feature the band name onto the CD disk is also seen commonly in industry by indie artists such as Marina and The Diamonds – The Family and Jewles album as well as The Kooks with their Inside In Inside Out digipak; both of these are examples of indie musicians opting to feature text on their disk.